Exam 4 - part 1

Question 1

What is special revelation?

Answer 1

“God’s manifestation of Himself to particular persons at definite times and places, enabling those persons to enter into a redemptive relationship with Him” (Erickson, p. 144).

Question 2

Why was special revelation necessary?

Answer 2

“Humans had lost the relationship of favor that they had with God prior to the fall” (Erickson, p. 144).

Question 3

What was the objective of special revelation? Why were some details about Jesus’ appearance and interests left out of the Bible?

Answer 3

The objective was relation. Knowledge about God was for the purpose of knowing Him personally, not academically.

Question 4

What indicates that special revelation may not be purely remedial, or necessitated by the fall of man?

Answer 4

Gen. 3:8-9 implies that God visited Adam and Eve several times before the fateful encounter regarding their sin. Also, in Gen. 1:28, God directly instructed His human creation, suggesting that special revelation preceded the fall.

Question 5

What did the fall of man necessitate regarding special revelation?

Answer 5

It needed to become remedial, providing a means of atonement, redemption, and reconciliation for man.

Question 6

True or false: Special revelation is superior, therefore does not need general revelation at all.

Answer 6

False. General revelation is inferior, but “special revelation builds on general revelation.” General revelation provides the concepts for humans to “understand the God of the special revelation” (Erickson, p. 146).

Question 7

How is special revelation personal?

Answer 7

“A personal God presents Himself to persons” (Erickson, p. 146). He has a name, enters into covenants with people, and the Psalms record testimonies of personal experiences with God.

Question 8

How is God’s special revelation anthropic?

Answer 8

Humans can’t go up to God to try to understand Him, so revelation must involve his condescension: His “coming in human language and human categories of thought and action” (Erickson, p. 147).

Question 9

What is an example Erickson gives of God using a human language?

Answer 9

Koine Greek was the vernacular, or native language of the region where the apostles ministered, and idioms of the day appeared in the Scripture.

Question 10

How is special revelation analogical?

Answer 10

Whenever God revealed Himself, He chose to use elements that are univocal, or analogous, in both our universe and His. The difference may be in degree, such as His power and our power. His power is obviously much more than ours, but we both possess power.

Question 11

Why do humans fumble when attempting to make meaningful analogies to God’s attributes, and how must we receive Scriptural analogies?

Answer 11

Humans don’t understand God’s realm, so we always come up with conundrums. God understands both sides of the analogy. We have to take what He says to be true by faith.

Question 12

What are the modes of special revelation according to Erickson?

Answer 12

Historical events, divine speech, the incarnation, and Scripture. (Dreams and visions may be another mode that Erickson discusses under Divine Speech.)

Question 13

What does it mean when Erickson says God revealed Himself through historical events?

Answer 13

“God has been at work in concrete historical ways within our world, affecting what occurs” (Erickson, p. 149).

Question 14

What are the three views concerning the relationship of revelation to history that Erickson discusses?

Answer 14

Revelation in history, through history, and as history.

Question 15

What are the views of G. Ernest Wright concerning the view of “revelation in history?”

Answer 15

The Bible is not the Word of God but a historical recital, a written record of God acting and humans responding. Doctrine can be inferred from this.

Question 16

What difficulty arises from restating the Biblical concepts found in history in a modern way?

Answer 16

It’s bad practice to “allow a 20th-century presupposition to control the interpretation of biblical events” (Erickson, p. 150).

Question 17

What popular view demonstrates the concept of “revelation through history” and what is it about?

Answer 17

Neo-orthodoxy, which teaches that “God has worked within history, manifesting Himself to humans” (Erickson, p. 150). His revelation comes as a personal encounter with humans.

Question 18

In neo-orthodoxy, what purpose do events in history serve?

Answer 18

“They are merely the means through which revelation came” (Erickson, p. 150).

Question 19

True or false. According to neo-orthodoxy, God is not completely sovereign in revelation.

Answer 19

False. (Erickson, p. 151)

Question 20

When neo-orthodox people speak of revelation, what do they have in mind?

Answer 20

Process as opposed to product. Revealing as opposed to revealed. It is a direct connection to God and not historical events that can be researched.

Question 21

The men of the “Pannenberg circle” saw revelation in what way?

Answer 21

Revelation as history, or in other words,”God has acted in history in such a way that the events actually were and are revelation of himself” (Erickson, p. 152).

Question 22

What incorrect view does Wolfhart Pannenberg and his circle hold?

Answer 22

“All of history, not simply or exclusively the events recorded in Scripture, [is] a revelation of God” (Erickson, p. 152).

Question 23

What is the most Biblical of the three views concerning the relationship of revelation to history that Erickson presents?

Answer 23

“Historical events do not merely promise or contain or become revelation, but actually are revelation” (Erickson, p. 152).

Question 24

What forms does divine speech take according to Erickson?

Answer 24

Audible speaking; silent, inward hearing of God’s message; or “concursive” inspiration where revelation and inspiration are given together, like when the Scripture writers wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Question 25

How was revelation shown in the perfection of Jesus’ character?

Answer 25

“Here God was actually living among humans and displaying His attributes to them” (Erickson, p. 157).

Question 26

What was a very common expression in the Bible, especially the Old Testament, that gives evidence of God divinely speaking to people in Bible times?

Answer 26

“The word of the LORD came to me…” The prophets and apostles had a consciousness that their message came from God.

Question 27

Does God’s use of language make His divine speech direct revelation?

Answer 27

No, it’s mediated, not direct. God presumably does not have a particular language, but speaks to us in our own.

Question 28

What was quite frequently the purpose of the spoken Word of God?

Answer 28

The interpretation or prediction of an event.

Question 29

What did James Barr conclude regarding the status of direct communication from God versus revelation in actual historical events such as the crucifixion?

Answer 29

The Biblical position is that direct communication of truth from God is just as valid as, or even goes beyond His recorded acts in history.

Question 30

What is the most complete modality of revelation according to Erickson and why?

Answer 30

The incarnation, because the life of Jesus contains “the pinnacle of God’s acts” in redemptive history as well as “revelation as divine speech” (Erickson, p. 156).

Question 31

Is Christ’s humanity direct revelation from God, or God fully present with us, according to Erickson?

Answer 31

No, because God does not have a human form. According to Erickson, “Christ’s humanity must represent a mediation of the divine revelation” (Erickson, p. 156).

Question 32

How is revelation seen in the perfection of Jesus’ character?

Answer 32

“God was living among humans and displaying His attributes to them” (Erickson, p. 157).

Question 33

What is the primary result of special revelation?

Answer 33

Knowledge of God - His person, His acts, His creation, the human condition and God’s relationship to us. “This is real, objective, rational information communicated from God to humanity” (Erickson, p. 157).

Question 34

What is the 20th century view that God’s revelation is not the communication of propositional truths, but is personal?

Answer 34

The view that revelation is God’s presentation of Himself. In this view, “theology is not a revealed set of doctrines, [but rather] the church’s attempt to express what it has found in God’s revelation of Himself” (Erickson, p. 157).

Question 35

What is a person’s object of faith according to the personal and propositional views of revelation?

Answer 35

Personal - one’s self, a father image, or a superego
Propositional - belief in affirmations about God such as His omnipotence, omnipresence, and perfect love, and placing trust in the God so described.

Question 36

According to the neo-orthodox view, how does one learn about God?

Answer 36

Not from revealed information, but from an encounter with Him.

Question 37

Why is Scripture also revelation?

Answer 37

It includes propositional truths, therefore it can be preserved in written form. Revelation is also the product, the revealed truth (Erickson, p. 163).

Question 38

How is the revelation of the Bible progressive?

Answer 38

Liberal scholars believed that parts of the Old Testament were obsolete and annulled. This is not what is meant by Erickson’s use of the term “progressive.” It means “revelation builds on earlier revelation, complementing and supplementing, rather than contradicting it” (Erickson, p. 163).

Question 39

What are the avenues of special revelation according to Ryrie?

Answer 39

The lot
The urim and thummim
Dreams
Visions
Theophanies
Angels
The Prophets
Events
Jesus
The Bible

Question 40

What was a lot?

Answer 40

It was like modern dice or drawing straws, but God was in control of the outcome.

Question 41

What was the umim and thummim?

Answer 41

Possibly two precious stones placed in the pouch of the breastplate worn by the high preist in the Old Testament. These stones were also used like dice, but God was in control of the outcome.

Question 42

How were dreams used as God’s avenue of special revelation?

Answer 42

Dreams were used by God to reveal truth to both believers and nonbelievers. He will use this method again at the second coming of Christ.

Question 43

How were visions used as God’s avenue of special revelation?

Answer 43

The human took a more active role in receiving a vision (Isa. 1:1, 6:1; Ezek. 1:3). The emphasis was more on what was heard than what was seen however.

Question 44

What was a theophany?

Answer 44

Before the incarnation of Christ, a theophany was an appearance of the Angel of the Lord for the purpose of communicating God’s message to man.

Question 45

How are angels related to special revelation?

Answer 45

“God … used created angels to carry His message to people” (Ryrie, p. 72).

Question 46

What was the purpose of prophets in relation to special revelation?

Answer 46

The prophets of the Old and New Testaments spoke God’s message to people with authority. But modern preachers are not prophets because they are explaining the Word of God already given.

Question 47

How are historical events related to special revelation?

Answer 47

God’s activity in history constitutes a channel of revelation, but they need to be interpreted through divine inspiration if we are to understand their meaning (Ryrie, p. 72).

Question 48

How does Ryrie say that Jesus Christ was a major avenue of special revelation? Give Bible references.

Answer 48

“[Jesus] exegeted the Father (Jn. 1:14), revealing the nature of God (14:9), the power of God (3:2), the wisdom of God (7:46), the glory of God (1:14), the life of God (1 Jn. 1:1-3), and the love of God (Rom. 5:8)” through His actions and words (Ryrie, p. 73).

Question 49

How is the Bible related to special revelation according to Ryrie?

Answer 49

It is the most inclusive of all the avenues of special revelation, encompassing the record of many aspects of the other avenues as well as all we know about Christ’s life. It is the record of special revelation and revelation itself (Ryrie, p. 73).