My Doctrinal Statement on Revelation

The Doctrine of Revelation

I.            General Revelation:  I believe that general revelation is God disclosing limited truth about His greatness and glory to humanity through His presence in creation, in history and in forming men and women with a conscience and reason.

a.       Forms: I believe that there are three forms of general revelation: God’s Creation, God’s interaction within history and God’s image in man (reason and conscience).  

b.      Content: God’s general revelation:

                                            i.      Through creation: I believe that creation reveals God’s glory through its vastness and beauty (Ps. 19:1-6). I also believe that the structure of creation gives evidence of a purposeful creator (Ps. 19:2; Acts 14:15-18).  

                                          ii.      God’s image in man:  I believe that man is made in the image of God, which comprises man’s ability to reason and his or her conscience (Gen. 1:27). This allows man to perceive the transcendent greatness of God and to come to the realization that there is something greater than himself (Rom. 1:20). I also believe that man’s conscience reveals the existence of God (Rom. 2:11-16).

                                        iii.      God’s interaction in history: I believe that God directly intervenes in the affairs of man. This is noticeable to humanity by studying the events of history (Job 12:23; Ps. 47:7-8; Isa.10:5-6; Acts 17:26).

c.       Result: I believe that general revelation results in giving man knowledge of God’s existence, nature and glory, but lacks the ability to alone bring one to the saving knowledge of Christ.

II.            Special Revelation: I believe that Special Revelation is God’s specific revelation disclosed by the Holy Spirit who enables believers to have a relationship with God, through Christ the ultimate revelation of God.

a.       Forms: I believe that the Holy Spirit uses Christ encounters, messengers (angels/Christians), dreams, visions, miracles, and Scripture.

b.       Content: Special Revelation as:

                                         i.      Christ encounter: I believe Christ is the ultimate revelation of God and His nature (Col 2:9; Acts 9:1-22).

                                          ii.      Messengers: I believe that the Spirit reveals God and his saving nature through angels and prophets of God to bring people to a saving knowledge of Christ (Luke 2:8-14; Matt 28:16-20; Luke 3:2).

                                        iii.      Dreams and visions: I believe God interacts with man directly through dreams (Dan 4) and visions (Acts 10:9-22; Rev 1:1-11).

                                        iv.      Scripture: I believe that Scripture is the divinely inspired, inerrant word of God, sufficient for all that is needed to give God glory and is understandable through the Spirit for man’s salvation, for meaning and for life application.

1.      Inspiration: I believe that every portion of the Bible is completely inspired (2 Tim 3:16).

2.      Role of human author: I believe that the authors of the Bible were holy inspired men who wrote the Scripture with the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit who moved them to write (2 Pet19-21).

3.      Inerrancy: I believe that the original autographs are God’s Word breathed to holy men, and properly interpreted are completely true in all things including morality, doctrine, and academic studies(2 Tim 3:16).

4.      Sufficiency: I believe that the Bible has everything needed to bring one to salvation, and to equip and train a Christian in holy life (2 Tim 3:15-17).

5.      Authority: I believe that Scripture is the final authority or standard in a believer’s life, because God is the authority in a believer’s life and God is the author (2 Tim 3:16-17).

6.      Canon: I believe the Canon consist of 66 books and is closed (Jude 3; Rev 22:19).

7.      Method of interpretation: I believe that scripture can only truly be interpreted with the help of the Holy Spirit, and should be interpreted within the historical context of the author and the audience (2 Pet. 1:20).

8.      Illumination: I believe that the illumination of Scripture is an internal work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, and enables believers to be able to understand the meaning and personal life application of the Bible (2 Cor 2:12-14).