Lesson 4 - The Bible as Divine Revelation

Forms of Divine Revelation

1. The revelation of God in creation (Ps. 19:1-2; Rom. 1:18-20).
2. Revelation in Christ (John 1:18; 14:9). Jesus is a revelation of the Father to mankind; yet, we know about Jesus only from Scripture.
3. Revelation in the written Word (1 Thess. 2:13; cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21).

Special Revelation

1. God the Holy Spirit illumines the Christian mind to know the Bible (1 Cor. 2:10-13).
2. The natural man (i.e. the unbeliever) cannot know the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14).

Interpretation of the Bible

1. Individual passages of Scripture must be viewed within the context of the whole Bible, within the context of the book in which it appears, and within the immediate context of chapter and paragraph.
2. Each passage must be interpreted according to the person(s) to whom it was written. Primary and secondary application must be considered.
3. Because God is the divine Author behind each human author, there will be theological continuity in Scripture. This means that when we interpret a passage, we must seek to do so in light of other theological statements in Scripture.
4. Knowledge of the original languages of Scripture (Hebrew and Greek) helps shed light on the meaning of words and phrases. Where such knowledge is lacking, the student must rely on lexicons and commentaries for help. “In addition to determining the actual meaning of the words, proper interpretation assumes that each word has its normal literal meaning unless there are good reasons for regarding it as a figure of speech.”[1]
5. The Christian must guard against prejudice. “While it is proper for any interpreter of Scripture to approach a passage with theological convictions arising from a study of the entire Bible, care should be taken not to twist a text into what it does not say in order to harmonize it with preconceived ideas. Each text should be allowed to speak for itself even if it leaves temporarily some unresolved problems of harmonization with other Scripture.”[2]

 

[1] Lewis Sperry Chafer; John F. Walvoord; Major Bible Themes (Grand Rapids, Mich. Zondervan Publishing, 2010), 35.

[2] Ibid., 35.