04.04 - Revelation a Possibility and Reality

(4) Revelation a Possibility and Reality The possibility and reality of a Revelation from God to man is grounded in the character of God and the needs of men, and the relation existing between them, of which revelation is the necessary corollary.

It is reasonable to suppose that in the event of a revelation being made, it would be such as would best reveal the Person and mind of God, and most effectually meet the needs of men. To say that such a revelation is impossible, that God cannot communicate with men by way of speaking to them and declaring His will is, says Professor Fairbairn, “ the negation of God Himself. The Gocl who could not speak would not be rational; the God who would not speak would not be moral; and so if God be a person intelligent and moral, there must be some such form of revelation.” 1 The revelation must be made to men and be known by them; it must enter their minds and consciences, either by a direct and immediate revelation from God, or be mediated through the experiences and history of the race, and realised in the development of their moral and spiritual nature. This distinction between immediate and mediate revelation had its origin with the theory of mechanical inspiration, and by some has been abandoned with it. The sacred writers arc the active agents in receiving and declaring divine revelation, the Scriptures which record that revelation are the media by which the revelation is made known to us. The revelation is mediate because it comes to us through the minds and writings of inspired men, who make known to us what was divinely made to them. The revelation was given by God to the sacred writer in some extraordinary way, while the writer was left to his 1 Review of Martineau’s “ Seat of Authority in Religion. own mental apprehension and spiritual activity aided by the Holy Spirit to receive and make it known to others. The revelation to the writer was direct, immediate, and divine: to him it was an idea, a thought, concept, or light shining in his mind; it lacked order and expression, it only became “ a sure word of prophecy “ when it took form and shape in thought and language. “ It is this mediate revelation,” says Ewald, “which alone deserves the name of revelation, and which in the fullest sense is the revelation of the Scriptures.” 1