Divine Revelation– the manifestation of God in the world, revealing to people the knowledge of Him and true faith in Him; self-revelation of God to man. It differs into the natural - the visible world, the history of mankind, conscience in man, and the supernatural, when God reveals Himself directly (the coming of the Savior to earth) or through righteous people - prophets, apostles and holy fathers of the Church.
Divine Revelation is God’s revelation of Himself to man in response to the human desire to know his Creator. The creation of man by God presupposes an active search for God on the part of man. God created the entire human race so that people would seek Him, lest they “feel Him and find Him, although He is not far from each of us” (Acts 17:26, 28). Striving for God, a person cannot know God through his own efforts, but a person’s very desire has a value before God, who reveals himself to a person in response to his free search.
Natural Revelation is that God reveals Himself in His creation, just as an artist reveals himself in his painting or an author in his writing. But this method of knowing God is very limited, because Divine existence is uncreated. In His super-existence, God surpasses all His creatures. Not being an intelligible object or a phenomenon perceived by the senses, He cannot be known through the efforts of the human mind or senses as a part of this world. That is why, revealing Himself, God descends to man Himself. “The Savior did not at all say that it is absolutely impossible to know God,” teaches St. Irenaeus of Lyons - but only said that no one can know God without the Divine will, without teaching from God, without His revelation (“and to whom the Son wants to reveal”). But since the Father deigned for us to know God, and the Son revealed Him to us, then we have the necessary knowledge about Him.”
By revealing himself to man, God imparts to him knowledge of Himself in a supernatural way. “Supernatural knowledge is that which comes into the mind in a way that exceeds its natural methods and powers,” teaches St. Theodore the Studite. “It comes from the one God, when He finds the mind cleansed of all material attachments and embraced by Divine love.” Supernatural knowledge of God is communicated to the human soul by Divine grace emanating from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. It is through the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit that a person assimilates the truths of Divine Revelation. The Apostle Paul states that: “...no one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). This means that only one whose mind and heart has been influenced by Divine grace can confess Christ as Lord.
Divine grace abides in the Church and is given in the Holy Sacraments. Therefore, the Church is also the custodian of Divine Revelation. “God is known only by the Holy Spirit,” teaches St. Silouan of Athos. “Our Glorious Church has been given by the Holy Spirit to understand the mysteries of God.” The entire fullness of truth received from Christ was proclaimed by the apostles to the Church (Acts 20:27). According to St. Irenaeus of Lyons, the apostles put into the Church everything that relates to the truth. Being “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:14), the Church preserves divinely revealed doctrinal truths, called dogmas.
Divine revelation occurs to a person when God reveals Himself to each of us in a natural way - through the world we see, nature and through our conscience.
Considering the world around us, we come to know God through the beauty and harmony that fills it. We enjoy the sight of moving clouds and flowering plants, which come in many different colors and types. We listen to the singing of birds, woven from wonderful melodies... Looking into the depths of the sea, we enjoy the extraordinary beauty of the fish...
Looking at the stars scattered across the sky like beads, we never cease to be amazed that these are all separate worlds. Many of the stars are the same as our sun and moon, but there are some that are many times larger. They all move harmoniously and in harmony along their own trajectories.
Contemplating the space around us, a person asks himself the question - who is the Creator of all the diversity and splendor of our planet? After all, there is nothing random in nature, everything is thought out and interconnected. The entire world around us is the great book of God's revelation, testifying to the omnipotence and wisdom of God the Creator..
However, natural revelation through nature alone is not enough. Sin darkens a person's mind, conscience and will, the heart becomes callous, and a person becomes unable to notice the amazing harmony of the world. That is why the Lord supplements natural revelation with supernatural ones - miracles and words that He reveals to man Himself and through His Angels.
Not all people are worthy to accept revelation from God Himself, and the Lord chooses special, righteous people who can accept this revelation. The most complete revelation was brought to earth by the incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. This Divine revelation is now spreading among people and is preserved in the true Holy Orthodox Church through Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture.
From the beginning of the world until Moses there were no sacred books, and the teaching about the faith of God was transmitted orally - by Tradition, that is, by word and example, from one to another, and from ancestors to descendants. Subsequently, in order for the Divine Revelation to be preserved quite accurately, at the inspiration of the Lord, some holy people wrote down the most important things in books. God the Holy Spirit Himself invisibly helped them so that everything that was written in these books was correct and true. All these books, written by the Spirit of God through the prophets, apostles and other sanctified people, are called Holy Scripture, or the Bible.
We divide the Bible into two unequal parts - the more ancient, Old, or Old Testament, and the later, the New Testament. The Old Testament records a huge historical process that took place before the eyes of contemporaries for about two thousand years. The New Testament covers the period of the earthly life of the God-man Jesus Christ and his closest followers. For us Christians, of course, the New Testament is more important.
The main content of the New Testament is that God really sent people the promised Savior, His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave the New Testament to people. We need to study Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition in order to learn more about God, who created the world for the life and benefit of people - for each of us. God loves us so endlessly.
And if we love God and live according to His law, then much in the world will become clear and understandable to us. And our soul will be full of harmony, love and joy. This joy will never end, and no one will take it away, because God Himself will be with us...
Library “Chalcedon”
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His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill
About Divine Revelation
From the book "The Word of the Shepherd. God and Man. The History of Salvation"
To the Egyptian hermit
IV century, a famous philosopher came to Abba Anthony the Great and asked:“Ava, how can you live here? in the desert, deprived of the consolation of reading books?” Pointing his hand at blue sky, scorching sun, mountains, desert sands, sparse vegetation, the hermit said: “My book, philosopher, is nature created things, and when I want, I can read in it the works of God”.The Great Divine Book of Revelation is our world
. Peering into it, anyone endowed with intelligence, observation and with a penchant for analysis, a person cannot help but be amazed by the harmony, beauty, expediency and rationality that are present in everything - from molecules to galaxies. And the question involuntarily arises: how can something unreasonable, chaotic and unconscious begin to be a source of reasonable and harmonious existence?People who deny God explain everything by chance. Always and
the everywhere existing matter, they claim, at some point began to develop in such a way that as a result this wonderful world.Why do they think this? Yes, because in our wisely arranged and purposeful world there is no visible source of reason
. It turns out that there is a reasonable world,and the source of reason No. It is natural to assume that this source is outside our world, but then we inevitably have to admit the existence of God.Otherwise, you should abandon the search altogether. intelligent beginning of existence. And then the only reason for birth The universe remains to recognize some randomness“spontaneous combustion”, some unexpected push, which laid the foundation, again, for a random combination of circumstances, which in some inexplicable way predetermined the fantastic in its complexity process of improving matter from simple to complex, from inanimate to living, from unreasonable to intelligent, from volcanic lava to the human brain, to conscience, to love, to a sense of beauty... So, was the beginning of the world reasonable or accidental? Was it created or accidental?The Church teaches us that the universe is the great book of Divine Revelation, that the cosmos is revealed as God’s natural testimony to Himself. Contemplating this world, we can indirectly
,but really feel the Divine presence in it. By the reasonableness of the structure of the world, it is natural to judge the reasonableness of its Creator, and explain the fact of the existence of life by the fact that God is the Source Life.However, looking at the world around us
,different people come to different conclusions. For a great scientist XX century of Albert Einstein, our world was truly a natural book of Divine Revelation. The scientist himself wonderfully expressed this in the following words: “My religion is a deeply felt belief in the existence of a higher intelligence, which is revealed to us in the accessible knowledge of the world." Einstein was not a theologian, but, considering the world around him,made a very important conclusion:cognition of the physical the world reveals the wisdom of the Creator.But not all people of science are inclined to such conclusions, since among them there are both believers and non-believers
.There was a time when most scientists in our country spoke of themselves as atheists. History has shown that many of them did so because they were afraid to say otherwise. And this is quite understandable. In those days, to be a believer meant to be an outcast from society. And not everyone had the courage admit that he, a scientist and researcher, at the same time is a believer. But there were courageous people even then. I cannot forget the outstanding biologist Academician A.A. Baev, with whom the Lord brought me together in 1984. This man told how he, a scientist, reads the great book of natural Revelation, which we call living nature. For this academician, a man of faith and a lot of suffering, this world is truly was a living book of God's Revelation.However, to explain the universe, not everyone needs one
only natural Revelation. It happens that observations of the world around us lead people to different, and often directly opposite, conclusions. That's why The Lord was pleased to give people another the message of Self - supernatural Revelation.In the history of mankind there have always been people who were able to hear
the voice of God Himself. These are prophets. In communication with them, God revealed Himself. But He revealed Himself fully in Jesus Christ, born two thousand years ago in the Jewish city of Bethlehem. In Christ the fullness of Revelation was given to the world.The revelation that God made about Himself to the prophets and which He showed to the world through the Son
His own, our Lord Jesus Christ, is called supernatural Revelation . This Revelation has always been preserved in the community of believers: during the Old Testament - among the Jewish people, and after the Nativity of the Lord and Savior - in the Christian community. It was stored carefully, being passed on from generation to generation. And so as not to accidentally distort the received Revelation by a lack of human memory or subjective interpretation, it is already in ancient times they began to write down. This is how the Saints appeared books.Revelation passed down from generation to generation is called Sacred Tradition. And the part of Tradition written by the prophets and apostles is the Holy Scripture
.Thanks to Divine Revelation, people have the necessary knowledge about the supersensible world.
Of course, Revelation does not say everything. People will learn everything only when they cross the border separating physical life.
from the life of the next century. But Divine Revelation contains everything you need to build the right relationships man with God.When we read the Holy Scriptures, we have before us
Divine revelation
The Creator of the Universe and our Creator revealed Himself to humanity in the Holy Scriptures, the Bible.
God wrote three books to man: the book of nature, the book of our conscience and the book of Revelation, the Written Word, confirming the authenticity of all this with the Living Word, the Incarnate Son of God. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth”... (John 1st chapter).
If we talk about the presence of a REVELATION of Divine Truth, then it must be said that this revelation can only be seen in the Bible and nowhere else. Not a single book in the world, except the Bible, either in its general consistency of ideas, laws and principles, or in its historical foundations, can claim to possess the fullness of Divine Revelation.
Let us take, for example, the narratives of the Bible alone and delve into the miraculous influence that these narratives had on the lives of all those people who came into close contact with them. The content of the Bible contains such an internally clear, irrefutable and irresistible possibility that we simply cannot escape such a soul-soothing insight that comes to us in moments of reverent reading. In such blissful moments, who among us has not said to himself: “Yes! Such words can only be words emanating from the mouth of God; they cannot be the product of human genius or an invention of the human mind”...
The Bible amazes every thoughtful reader with two things: its amazing diversity and its exceptional unity. Its diversity in the languages in which it was written, the diversity of the places where it was written, the diversity of the authors by whom it was written, the diversity of literary themes and forms, etc. And with all this amazing diversity, the Bible testifies to its greatest connections, harmony and unity: unity in its structure, historical unity, prophetic unity, doctral unity, spiritual unity... The Bible was written, or rather dictated by the writer, by the Spirit of God and only in the same Spirit can it be known and interpreted.
The Bible amazes us with its unified purpose. Containing diverse works written by 40 writers over a period of 1,500 years, the Bible is a consistent presentation of God's progressive Plan for the Salvation of fallen humanity, a plan incomparably more magnificent and accurate than all the works of epic and drama available in the world.
The Bible manuscripts have been the most complete and closest to the historical events they describe. No author of ancient Greek literature can boast of this. The manuscripts of the Bible have always been considered by scientists, and to this day remain in their eyes, a documentary uniqueness bordering on an obvious miracle.
There is no other God in the world except the True, One, Living God. There is no other Truth in the world except that about which it is said: “I am the Truth!” And finally, there is no other Divine Revelation in the world except the Bible.
The Bible is the only book in the world that can be said to be inspired by God. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:16). Therefore, “no prophecy in Scripture can be resolved by itself. For prophecy was never pronounced by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1st chapter). The Bible itself serves as the best proof of its inspiration. In our time, Universal History is the history of fulfilled prophecies of the Bible.
The prophecies of the Bible apply not only to the people of Israel, but to all ancient nations and dominant empires, to the incarnation, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection of the Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, to the founding of the Church, the universal preaching of the Gospel, to the last centuries, the end of earthly history humanity, to our era and to the Second Coming of Christ.
The best politicians in the world, ignoring Bible prophecies, wander in the dark, groping, not knowing “what the coming day has in store for them,” while believers, “being sons of light,” “have the surest prophetic word,” which “shines like a lamp, in a dark place" and gives them the necessary wisdom to understand the meaning and purpose of modern events.
God revealed himself to people using not only prophecies, but also miracles. And how else could God reveal himself to a limited being, being Himself a supernatural being in all respects? Therefore, everything that is connected with God must logically be connected with a miracle.
The Bible contains scientific truths that God revealed to His servants. many millennia before they became known to modern scientists. The Bible is inspired by God and there is no reason to fear that any new scientific discoveries may refute the scientific claims of the Bible.
Geologists say that there is hot lava inside the globe. Job knew about this before all the scientists. Job says: “The ground on which bread grows is dug up inside, as if by fire”... (Chapter 28).
In the distant eras of Job and Moses, there were different “scientific theories” on the question: what does the Earth stand on and rest on? Can you imagine what would have happened to the Bible if Job had written in his book that the Earth stood on a huge turtle or four white elephants? But Job didn't do this; for he received from God a special revelation on this issue, which he expressed in one phrase: “God hung the Earth on nothing.” (Chapter 26). How did Job know the law of gravity, which was discovered by scientists only in the last century?
Scientists learned that the earth was round only at the beginning of the 16th century. Magellan and Columbus confirmed this scientific truth by discovering new oceans, straits and continents. Where did the prophet Isaiah learn this truth from, who 700 years BC said: “God is the One who sits above the circle of the Earth” (above the globe, the original says). (Isa. 40th chapter).
Scientists have discovered that the Earth rotates around its axis, but this is stated in the first chapter of the Bible: “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day”... On one side of the Earth it is evening, and on the other it is morning. If there were no rotation of the Earth, we would not have day and night. Christ had this same truth in mind when he said about the moment of the rapture of the Universal Church: “I tell you: in that night there will be two on one bed: one will be taken, and the other will be left; two will grind together: one will be taken, and the other will be left; in the field: one will be taken, and the other will be left”... (Luke 17th chapter). From these words of Christ it is clear that when He appears for His Church, on one part of the Earth people will sleep, and the other side will be busy with their daily work.
Scientists astronomers say that stars in their movement produce vibrations in the ether and thus emit their own specific sound, which is not perceptible to our human hearing. The Bible mentions these various stellar sounds as their musical delight, saying: The Lord established the foundations of the Earth “with the general rejoicing of the morning stars”... (Job chapter 38).
With powerful modern telescopes, astronomers have discovered that the entire Universe is dotted with stars, with smaller or larger clusters of them in different places and that only the north is an exception to the general rule. In this regard, the north was, as it were, an empty place. Scientists were extremely intrigued by this fact, but could not explain this phenomenon. One and a half thousand years BC, when people had no idea about telescopes, and the naked human eye could not see many planets and nebulae, Job, by the inspiration of God, wrote: “God stretched out the north over the void.” (Job chapter 25). By the way, some theologians connect this fact of emptiness over the north with the fall of Satan, who “said in his heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mountain in the assembly of gods, AT THE EDGE OF THE NORTH; I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will be like to the Most High"… (Isa. 14th chapter).
The Bible says that God created not only the world that we see, as many thought, but also other worlds that are inaccessible to our vision; for it is said: God “spoke to us in the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the worlds”... “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that what is visible was made out of things that are invisible”... (Heb. 1 -I and 11th chapters).
The Bible contains some passages that we do not understand, but this does not mean that everything we do not understand is wrong. Often things that are incomprehensible to one generation are understandable to another.
Not so long ago, learned atheists mocked the fact that Moses “took the golden calf that the children of Israel had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to dust, and scattered it on the water, and gave it to the children of Israel to drink.” (Ex. 32nd chapter). Later, scientists found that turning gold into powder was practiced in Egypt. Moses, “taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” possessed this art, which has reached our days. The transformation of gold into powder is carried out at high temperatures by heating, crushing and grinding this metal. Gold dust poured into the water gives the water the color of a scarlet rose.
Why did Moses "give" this drink to the "children of Israel" to drink? This happened during the murmuring of the Israelites and their decision to return back to Egypt, where the golden drink was used as a means of punishment. A mixture of gold powder with water causes the most nauseating effect in those who drink it. The same mixture is used in the right doses in modern medicine.
The above case is not exceptional or the only one. There seems to have never been a time when the Bible was not attacked and ridiculed by people who called themselves “scientists” and claimed to have “discovered” some fact in the Bible that did not correspond to the data of science; this or that event is not historical. But subsequent research and excavations only confirmed the authenticity of the Biblical records.
Let the “painfully smart” people continue to argue about the reliability of Biblical truths and events, World History has long ago resolved this issue. History has repeatedly confirmed that it cannot be a “fairy tale” that it overthrew the temples of idols and forced the peoples of the earth to fall prostrate before God and the Calvary sacrifice of Christ. What has always sowed and still continues to sow Truth, Freedom, Justice and Love among all the peoples of the earth cannot be a “fable”. That which destroys the “deeds of darkness” and brings people “words of life and light” cannot be “priestly inventions.” What gave countless lost sinners deliverance from terrible vices and brought peace, joy and eternal salvation to their souls cannot be “opium”; for the saddened - comfort; for those who are desperate - new hope; to the dying - courage and hope. What has reigned and will always reign in human hearts without any civil power, military power, external threats and violence cannot be “stupefying the working people.” Secular and ecclesiastical history, nations and individuals, family and community, young and old, all unanimously testify that the Bible still has healing and regenerating power and has countless spiritual benefits and blessings for those who choose to walk in the way of Christ.
The Bible is a spiritual waterfall, never cut short, which has quenched the spiritual thirst of millions of souls who have lived before us and will continue to satisfy the needs of mankind until the end of time.
The Bible is a universal book, the only one that is read by peoples, races, tribes... It has crossed all boundaries: national, class, church... The Bible is read by princes and beggars, workers and factory owners. It is read by people of all cultural levels of development: professors and students, scientists and common people.
In the world in which we “live, move and exist,” there is nothing unshakable, durable, stable: everything changes, collapses, passes, and about the Bible it is said: “heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” No one can ever destroy the Bible. “For ever, O Lord, Thy word is established in heaven; Thy truth is to all generations and generations”... (Ps. 118).
In the Bible we see the Finger of God, clearly manifested by Him in the destinies of individual nations and all mankind. The fulfillment of numerous prophecies confirms the fact of God's repeated intervention in the salvation or punishment of nations. The prophecies about Babylon, Akron, Escalon, Tire, Sidon, Egypt, Israel and others were exactly fulfilled. “For I am God, and there is no other God like Me. I have declared from the beginning that there will be at the end from ancient times what has not yet been done, I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do everything that pleases Me” ... (Isa. Chapter 46). “The Lord does whatever he wants in heaven and on earth” (Ps. 134). “Why do you compete with God? He does not give an account of any of His deeds”... (Job 33rd chapter).
The Bible is the book of Truth, not only a symbol of Truth, but its treasury, “pillar and foundation”... By placing their hand on the Bible, witnesses at the trial promise to speak “the truth and only the truth”; kings and presidents, rulers and various other representatives of power place their hand on the Bible and take an oath of allegiance to the state in the performance of their high duties.
The Bible is an exceptional, special, unique book in every way. Not a single work of world literature depicts the Creator of the Universe as so holy and, at the same time, accessible, so fair and loving. Nowhere in any other book, except the Bible, is man presented to us with such truthful, characteristic features of his past greatness and current insignificance, his strength and powerlessness, his wisdom and madness.
From the beginning of the creation of the world to the present day, the Bible has never changed its view of God and man, of sin and holiness, of earthly life and... afterlife. The truths expressed in the Bible are unchangeable and immutable. Over the entire centuries-old history of mankind, the views of the Bible on the origin of the Universe, light, life, energy, movement, space, earth and man have not changed one iota, while the truths that were declared by science, as completely proven by it, were later changed and denied and were cancelled. With each new “discovery” of science, textbooks of natural science, geology, archeology, etc. had to be replaced by others, but the Bible always accepted new discoveries as confirmation of its correctness.
No book has ever penetrated the recesses of the human soul like the Bible. No book can so trouble a sinner and re-comfort him as the Bible. The Bible touches our hearts to tears, humbles us and humbles us to the dust. It ignites a person indifferent to spiritual issues with sacred enthusiasm, fills his heart with a readiness to obey the will of God in everything, disposes his heart towards holiness, towards purity of thoughts, words, deeds and entire character. It enlightens the darkness of the human soul and inspires it with hope. She weighs our feelings and our judgments, gives orders to our hearts, pronounces a categorical verdict that decides the eternal fate of our soul.
This is why atheists and wicked people do not like to read the Bible. They know that by reading the Bible they are putting themselves at serious risk. The Bible can begin to read their hearts, can awaken their sleeping wicked conscience and put them in the dock before the Almighty and Just Judge.
Without the Bible, our soul would not be able to experience neither the depths of spiritual sorrow, nor the heights of spiritual delight, nor trembling reverence, nor blissful tenderness, nor the powerful upsurges of daring faith, nor God’s amazing love and affection for us, which, unfortunately, cannot be discussed here proper speech.
Isn’t it amazing that the most complex and subtle construction of human thought and the deepest penetration of human wisdom have never been able to penetrate those facets of Divine Revelation that are so simply, accessible and clearly revealed to us by the Bible.
And what other book in the world, besides the Bible, offers humanity the only correct solutions to all perplexing questions and reveals the only, most certain, centuries-tested Path of Salvation?
Despite the mockery of the ignorant and the ridicule of fools, despite the doubts of skeptics and the open unbelief of the atheists, the Holy Scripture remains true and faithful, pure and holy, deep and miraculous.
Anyone who has experienced at least some of the beneficial influence of the Bible, without hesitation and with deep confidence, accepts everything that God says about the afterlife, “on the worn pages” of this most wonderful book.
The Bible recognizes two principles: material and spiritual, visible and invisible: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”...
The Bible says that “God Himself is spirit” and “Father of spirits,” for whom there are “no dead” people, “for Him all are alive”... If all people who have ever lived on earth are still spiritually alive, that means there is an afterlife.
From the Bible we learn that belief in an afterlife was the bright hope of the best people who lived in all centuries of human history. Someone correctly noted that the idea of immortality and the afterlife is the basic idea of humanity, from which all other ideas flow.
Patriarch Abraham “believed that God was able to raise” his son Isaac from the dead. (Heb. 11th chapter).
The long-suffering Job testifies to his faith in the afterlife in this way: “Oh, if only my words were written down! If only they were inscribed in a book with an iron cutter and tin, they were carved on stone for eternity! But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last day He will raise up this decaying skin of mine from the dust, and I will see God in my flesh. I will see Him myself; no one else’s eyes will see Him” (Job chapter 19).
To continue the list of men and women of God who lived by faith in the afterlife would mean rewriting the Bible into this book - they are so numerous.
We see that the question: “Is there an afterlife?” The Holy Scriptures provide God's complete answer. Behind every text of Scripture is God Himself. Before each phrase of Scripture affirming the truth of the afterlife, one can put: “Truly, truly, I say to you!”, and at the end of it: “Thus says the Lord!”
Unfortunately, for scientific materialists, and atheists in general, it does not matter at all what God said. What is more important to them is what they think and say.
A great connoisseur of the Russian soul, F. M. Dostoevsky wrote: “It is easy for a Russian person to become an atheist, easier than for everyone else in the whole world! And Russians not only become atheists, but will certainly believe in atheism, as if in a NEW faith, without noticing it at all.” that believed in ZERO"…
Fortunately, this cannot be said about people who believed in Divine revelation, in the Word of God, the Bible.
The Bible answers every question of the soul. She is a source whose waters are always pure and abundant. She is the sun that never sets and shines for everyone. It warms hearts frozen in human selfishness. She awakens consciences sleeping in sin. She elevates and ennobles those who obey her truths. Whether youth turns to her, she leads. Does old age need a staff - it supports. Whether a hungry soul seeks food, it satisfies. Whether weakness calls to her, she clothes her with strength. The Bible leads to Christ and restores us to eternal life. Centuries pass, generations change - it remains unchanged. Empires... dynasties rise and fall - she remains. Agnostics and fools cynically ridicule it - it is invulnerable. Ignorance and false science renounce it - it is irreplaceable. Over the centuries, its value does not decrease, but increases. She is the revelation of God to all nations. She contains the treasures of eternal wisdom, She stands above all human layers. She removes the mask from the most clever hypocrite. She directs the gaze of the most sinful person to heaven. Read the Bible and you will be wise! Follow her commandments and you will be holy! Trust her testimony and you will be saved!
“And what a book this is, the Bible! – majestic and vast as the world, rooted in the depths of the Universe and rising to the mysterious azure of heaven!.. Truly, this is the Word of God, while all other books of the world express only their human art,” said Heinrich Heine.
“Let the world progress and develop as much as it pleases, let all branches of human research and knowledge be revealed to the highest degree, nothing can replace the Bible; it is the basis of all education and all development!” - said J. F. Goethe.
A. The Early and Medieval Church
Early Christian writers did not discuss the issue of revelation-inspiration as a separate issue, but the Church Fathers talked about it a lot. In the early days of the Church there was general agreement that a new and complete revelation had been given in Jesus Christ. In the New Testament, Christ is called the Word of God, the image of the Father, the Lord, the Teacher, the Way, the Light of the world. Irenaeus (130–200) calls Christ “the only true and steadfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ” (Against Heresies, 5) and argues that “in no other way would we know God if our The Lord, who exists as the Word, did not become a man. For no other being had the power to reveal the Father to us, except His own Word" (Against Heresies, 5.1.1). Clement of Alexandria (150–215) says that “our Teacher is the holy God Jesus, the Word, who is the guide of all mankind. The loving God Himself is our Mentor” (“Mentor,” 1.7).
However, this emphasis on Christ as the supreme Divine Teacher and Word of God did not mean to deny or diminish the revelations given in the pre-Christian era. According to the same Clement, the Word “appeared as our Teacher.” He is “the Lord, who from the beginning gave revelations by prophecy, but now directly calls to salvation” (Instruction to the Gentiles, 1). In contrast to the Gnostic heresies, Irenaeus emphasized the unity and progress of revelation in the Word: from the creation of the world to its culmination in the incarnation of Christ and the subsequent witness of the apostles.
René Latourelle summarizes it this way: “Irenaeus is conscious of the dynamic and historical aspects of revelation. It emphasizes movement, progress, deep unity. He sees the Word of God in action from the very beginning... the apostles, the Church - all these are distinctive moments of the activity of the Word, for the Father revealed Himself more and more clearly through the Word... Hence the indivisible unity of the two Testaments” (14, p. 105). These views express the general position of the early Christians on this issue.
Already in the New Testament, and especially among the Christian writers of the second century, we see an obvious acceptance of New Testament works as parts of Holy Scripture. Irenaeus speaks of the Scriptures as “good words of revelation” (“Against Heresies,” 1.3.6). Similar thoughts were expressed by other early Christian writers.
Opposing heresies such as Montanism, Gnosticism or Marcianism, the Church Fathers defended the Christian faith on the basis of all Scripture, appealing to the subordinate apostolic tradition. There is little doubt that “among the early Christian Fathers of the Church, tradition (paradosis, tradition) means the revelation given by God, which He communicated to His faithful people through the lips of the prophets and apostles” (Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1983, p. 1388). However, as time passed, certain trends began to undermine the supreme authority of Scripture.
Appeal to the tradition preserved in the churches formed by the apostles, especially the church of Rome, gradually gave way to the assertion that the Bible should be accepted on the basis of ecclesiastical authority. It was argued that it was the Church that determined which books were included in the biblical canon. In addition, under the influence of Basil the Great (330–379), Christians began to believe that unwritten traditions of apostolic origin, not included in the Scriptures, but preserved by the Church, could be accepted as having Divine authority. Another tendency was to give special authority to the writings of the Church Fathers. These changes did not happen all at once, but gradually; in the West they were further consolidated by the papal power that had been strengthening over many centuries.
In the Middle Ages, scholastic philosophy raised to the fore the problem of the relationship between reason and revelation. The first question, posed by Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) in his work Summa Theologica, is formulated as follows: “Do we need any knowledge other than philosophical science?” He answers this question in the affirmative, explaining that “for the salvation of man it was necessary that certain truths which transcend human reason should be revealed to him (47) through Divine revelation." He adds that even those truths about God that human reason could discover had to be conveyed by divine revelation, since “the rational truth about God would appear only to a few, and then after some time, and moreover, mixed with many.” errors" (Summa Theologica, 1a.1.1). Thomas Aquinas makes a clear distinction between the truths of reason and the truths of revelation. The Christian's faith "rests on the revelation given to the prophets and apostles who wrote the canonical books, and not on the revelation given to any other teacher, if such a thing exists" (ibid., 1a. 1.8). However, the believer must adhere to the teaching of the Church, which is based on the truth revealed in Holy Scripture as an infallible and Divine rule (ibid., 2a:2ac.3). Although Aquinas accepts Scripture as the primary source of revealed truth, nevertheless, through his teaching and through his rationalistic approach to theology, on the one hand, and his emphasis on the infallibility of church teaching, on the other, he erodes its authority. In the late Middle Ages, the question of the relationship between Scripture and tradition as sources of revelation became more acute. On the one hand, some scholars believed that Scripture and tradition are essentially identical and equivalent. Since tradition was perceived as the correct interpretation of the revelation given through the prophets and apostles, both seemed to come from the same Divine source and preserved the unity of faith in the Church. Others believed that there were two different sources of revelation: the written tradition of Scripture and the oral traditions passed on by the apostles to their successors. Both of these sources must be accepted as having Divine authority.
B. Reformation and Counter-Reformation
Martin Luther (1483–1546) argued that in their sinful, corrupt state, people do not know God and cannot know Him. To solve this problem, God Himself revealed Himself to them in a special way. God is not a vague something, but “an open God, or, so to speak, a God in plain sight. He limited Himself to a certain place, the Word and signs, so that He might be known and comprehended” (“Commentary on, Ps. 50:8”). God revealed Himself most sublimely in the Person of Jesus Christ. The Word became Flesh, and Christ is revealed in Scripture, the written Word, and in the preaching of the Gospel. A proper knowledge of God, as Luther said, “is uniquely given to us in the pages of Scripture.”
At the very beginning of his career, Luther became critical of the rationalistic method of scholastic philosophy and theology, as can be seen from his “Controversy with Scholastic Theology,” written in 1517. Luther came to the conviction that the highest standard of faith and teaching should only be Scripture (sola scriptura). “The Scripture alone is the true master over all earthly writings and doctrines” (The Works of Luther, 32:11, 12). All the truth and doctrines that we need to know God and be saved are revealed in the Word.
Unlike the scholastic theologians, Luther was unwilling to recognize that the authority of the Church was required to determine the sacred canon of God's Word or the correct interpretation of Scripture. Rather, it is the mission of the Holy Spirit: to bring the word of Scripture into the heart and convince the human spirit that it is the Word of God.
John Calvin's (1509–1564) views on revelation and the authority of Scripture were similar to those of Luther. In his influential Institute of the Christian Faith, he took the position that man, blinded by sin, could not benefit from the revelation of "God's eternal kingdom if he looked into the dark mirror of his own works" (ibid., 1.5.11 ). In His goodness and mercy, “God has added the light of His Word, which is able to make us wise unto salvation” (ibid., 1.6.1). Like his predecessor Luther, Calvin rejected as a pernicious lie the assertion that the reliability of Scripture depended on the judgment of the Church. Rather, the Church itself must be grounded in and dependent on Scripture. The Reformer emotionally declared: “Let the truth stand that those whom the Holy Spirit has enlightened from within truly rest on Scripture, and that this Scripture is self-authenticating” (ibid., 1.7.5).
The essence of revelation, according to Calvin, is the Gospel, which is “the clear manifestation of the mystery of Christ.” It includes the promises of the Old Testament and the testimonies God gave to the ancient patriarchs. However, in the highest sense the word is “the preaching of the grace revealed in Christ” (ibid., 2.9.2). Calvin pointed out that “if the whole law is taken into account, the Gospel differs from it only in its clarity” (ibid., 2.9.4). Therefore, in essence, the Old and New Testaments form a single whole, since both are the revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, in the New Testament the identity of Christ is revealed more clearly than in the Old.
In response to the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church restated its position at the Council of Trent (1545–1563), declaring that apostolic tradition included both Scripture and the oral tradition transmitted by the Church. In 1546, the Council issued the “Ordinance on the Canonical Scriptures,” which stated that the ancient Gospel promised by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures was set forth by the Lord Jesus Christ and, at His command, preached by His Apostles to every creature “as the source of all saving truth and moral instruction.” " However, “this truth and instruction is found both in writing, in the books of Scripture, and in oral traditions.” This is why the Old and New Testaments, as well as the traditions relating to faith and morals, should be received and revered with the same feelings of reverence and piety, “since they were either spoken by Christ personally, or inspired by the Holy Spirit and preserved in the Catholic Church by the law of succession.” (5, p. 244). The Council included in the Resolution a list of sacred and canonical books, in which (48) included the so-called apocrypha, and declared anathema on anyone who did not accept this list in its entirety. Although the Council of Trent rejected the position that the apostolic tradition is partly contained in the Scriptures and partly in oral traditions, it gave rise to a long debate. The dispute was over whether we have two sources of revelation: Scripture and tradition, or whether they should be considered two streams of the same tradition - written and oral.
B. Age of Reason and Enlightenment
The modern discussion of revelation and inspiration began in the Age of Reason, with the rise of rationalism, modern science, and biblical criticism. All this, along with such intellectual movements as deism and the Enlightenment, led many to question the necessity or even the very existence of Divine revelation. Doubts challenged the very foundations of the Christian faith and manifested themselves primarily in sharp and harsh criticism or even mass denial of the Bible as an inspired source and written form of Divine revelation. This, in turn, pushed people who defended fundamental Christian beliefs to think more deeply about the reality and nature of revelation.
The discoveries of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) and Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) led to the rejection of the geocentric and adoption of the heliocentric model of the solar system. When the scientific case for the heliocentric model eventually proved irrefutable, divine revelation and the inerrancy of the Bible, which were thought to uphold the geocentric model, were called into question. Other scientific discoveries made in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially Isaac Newton's (1642–1727) laws of gravity, strengthened mechanistic views of the universe. From this perspective, supernatural revelation seemed unnecessary and even confusing. It was perceived as a myth or a crafty invention of religious fanatics.
The dawn of modern science coincided with the emergence of rationalism, which declared human reason to be the criterion of truth. René Descartes (1596–1650) laid the foundations of a philosophical revolution when he formulated his axiom “Cogito, ergo sum” (“I think, therefore I am”) in 1637 as a fundamental principle for the acquisition of true knowledge. Being a zealous Catholic, Descartes did not at all intend to deny the necessity of Divine revelation; however, his philosophy inevitably became a catalyst for discussion about the relationship between reason and revelation. His younger contemporary and admirer Baruch Benedict de Spinoza (1632–1677) went even further and drew a clear distinction between the realm of reason and the realm of revelation (by which he, of course, meant Scripture), declaring reason to be the main arbiter in the matter of what in Scripture can be accepted as truth. Much of Scripture seemed unacceptable to Spinoza because it contradicted rational ideas, and he pointed out what seemed to him insurmountable contradictions.
The emergence of biblical criticism, as in the case of Spinoza, strengthened rationalistic tendencies in relation to the Bible and accordingly adjusted ideas about the role of Divine revelation. Other factors also contributed to this development. Perhaps the first full-fledged work written in the spirit of biblical criticism, “Historical Criticism of the Old Testament,” was published in 1678 and earned its author, the French priest Richard Simon (1638–1712), the fame of “the father of biblical criticism.” Simon wanted to demonstrate the insufficiency of Scripture and the need for ecclesiastical authority and tradition to interpret it. However, at that time neither Protestants nor Catholics could accept his critical view of the Bible.
In England, the criticism of deists was directed primarily at the so-called moral imperfections of the Bible, especially the Old Testament. In 1693, Charles Blount (1654–1693) published a collection of articles and letters under the general title "Proverbs of the Mind." In it, Blount rejected the need for a religion that recognizes the need for revelation. Deists generally believed that human reason was sufficient to form natural religion and that true Christianity was nothing more than a religion of reason. The sacraments of the Christian religion, such as the Trinity and the atoning death of Christ, were considered late additions that were not in the simple, original Christian faith. Many of Boyle's famous lectures, beginning in 1692, dealt with the theme of revelation. Joseph Butler's (1692–1752) Comparison of Religion, Natural and Revealed, with the Constitution of Nature and the Course of Natural Science, published in 1736, vigorously defended the idea that many of the objections to supernatural religion apply equally to to natural religion, since both of them recognize the existence of inexplicable mysteries. Butler insisted on an inductive approach to the question of Divine revelation and, unlike Blount and other deists, rejected the idea that Divine revelation must meet any a priori conditions.
To somehow sidestep the issue of moral and historical criticism of Scripture, a number of British theologians have suggested that the inspiration of the Bible is partial or that there are different degrees of inspiration. The theory of degrees of inspiration was thought to allow for historical inaccuracies and moral imperfections in Scripture while at the same time upholding its inspiration and authority in matters of faith and practice. However, others, such as John Wesley (1703–1791) and Charles Simeon (1759–1836), rejected such compromise with rationalist theology and advocated the inspiration and inerrancy of the entire Bible.
In the eighteenth century, during the Enlightenment, controversy over the necessity and nature of Divine revelation, as well as authority and inspiration (49) The Bible, provoked by English deistic literature, also spread to other countries. François-Marie Voltaire (1694–1778), thoroughly familiar with the English deists and their writings, never denied the existence of God, but was extremely critical of any form of organized religion. In Germany, the works of English deists played an important role in the emergence of higher criticism in the second half of the century. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), a German writer and playwright, published between 1774 and 1778 seven fragments from the previously unpublished Apology or Defense of the Reasonable Worshipers of God by Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768). These fragments contained the by then familiar deistic arguments against supernatural religion. Lessing argued that historical records, including the biblical account of miracles, can only have relative reliability and that the truths of reason cannot be proven by history. Lessing himself did not completely deny revelation, but in his work The Enlightenment of the Human Race, published in 1780, he compared revelation to education. Just as education helps us to comprehend everything faster than we could do it on our own, so revelation teaches us truths that we could sooner or later reach with our minds. When the mind improves, the need for revelation will disappear.
D. Modern development
In the last two centuries, the doctrine of revelation and inspiration has become central to theological debates. The endless stream of literature on these topics, sometimes calm and balanced, sometimes turbulent and passionate, challenges Christians. One can see how faith in divine revelation and inspiration, and in the reliability and authority of Scripture, is being eroded in a variety of ways.
In contrast to the rationalist approach of the eighteenth century, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) put forward the idea that the basis of the Christian faith was a sense of absolute dependence on God. He called revelation “a genuine fact underlying a religious community,” but did not want to accept its cognitive aspect, since “this, in essence, turns revelation into doctrine” (22, p. 50). He assigned a subordinate importance to inspiration. He clearly limited the authority of Scripture in the formulation of doctrine to the New Testament. Not Scripture, but spiritual experience has become the main criterion of spiritual values and truth. The center of theological thought has noticeably shifted from the transcendent to the immanent.
Nineteenth-century liberal or modernist theology, with its anthropocentrism, often attempted to combine a strong belief in human progress with a critical attitude toward so-called dogmatism and bibliomania. According to this theology, the Bible cannot be equated with the Word of God; it simply contains the words of God. Scripture is not so much the revealed Word of God as it is a unique record of spiritual experiences in which Jesus Christ is the highest manifestation of God-consciousness or the greatest moral example.
Belief in human progress was reinforced by rapid scientific and technological development. Following the publication of the works of Charles Lyell (1797–1875) and Charles Darwin (1809–1882), the theories of geological uniformitarianism and biological evolution undermined many people's belief in the authenticity of the creation, Fall, and flood stories described in the Book of Genesis. Faith in the reliability of biblical history, the accuracy of the biblical text, and the authenticity of the authorship of many biblical books was further undermined by the supposedly verified results of historical and literary criticism. Adherents of a critical methodology, whose basic premises excluded the possibility of supernatural revelations or interventions such as predictive prophecies or miracles, studied the Bible like any other book, placing it on the same level as the rest of ancient literature.
The theories of revelation and inspiration were reinterpreted to fit the new theology. Albrecht Ritschl (1822–1889) in Germany defined revelation as the manifestation of the Divine ideal for man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. J. Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872) in England regarded it as the direct revelation of God to the soul. From the point of view of Ernst Troeltsch (1865–1923), a leading representative of the school of history of religions and the historical-critical method, no Divine revelation can be considered absolute due to the historical relativity of all events. Troeltsch emphasized that historical data, including biblical data, must be assessed according to the principle of analogy, which means that past events can only be perceived as probable if they are similar to current events. According to this principle of historical criticism, many biblical events, such as the incarnation, the virgin birth, and the resurrection of Christ, cannot be considered historical.
Two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century shattered all dreams of human progress and exposed the inadequacy of mainstream theology with its emphasis on the immanence of God. Karl Barth (1886–1968) initiated a revolt against this theology. He and other theologians such as Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) and Emil Brunner (1889–1966) emphasized the transcendence of God as a Being of an entirely different order. Barth developed a theology of the Word, according to which God speaks His final word in Jesus Christ, who alone can be considered true revelation. Scripture and the preached word are but reflections of revelation, but God in His grace speaks to us and through them.
Although neo-orthodox theologians placed revelation at the center of their theology, they considered Scripture to be merely an imperfect human reflection of that revelation. Like their liberal predecessors, (50) they defended the historical-critical method as necessary for the study and interpretation of Scripture and rejected or interpreted in their own way such concepts as the authority of the Bible, inspiration and truth. Brunner taught that truth does not lie in propositional statements, but in the I-Thou encounter.
In response to calls for radical renewal and change in the understanding of revelation and inspiration, many religious scholars from various faiths have pointed to the teaching of Scripture itself, arguing that the concept of revelation includes all types of supernatural manifestations and interactions mentioned in the Bible, including works and the words of God Himself. This view was comprehensively expounded by Carl F. H. Henry (1913) in his comprehensive work God, Revelation and Authority (6 vols., 1976–1983). Modern evangelical theologians generally defend the idea of the unconditional, verbal inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible, although there is not complete agreement among them about the precise meaning of these terms. However, a number of evangelical theologians, such as Clark H. Pinnock (1937), have expressed some concerns about these concepts.
Despite the influence of liberal theology, biblical criticism, and theories of evolution, the Roman Catholic Church took a very conservative position in the nineteenth century regarding the doctrine of revelation and inspiration. Papal encyclicals rejected modernist views and supported the traditional Catholic point of view set out in the resolution of the Council of Trent. However, this position underwent dramatic changes in the second half of the twentieth century. Since Pius XII issued the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu in 1943, Catholic theologians have quickly moved to the forefront of biblical criticism. This led to the emergence of a variety of theories of revelation and inspiration, as shown in Averius Dulles's Models of Revelation (1983). At its fourth and final session, the Second Vatican Council promulgated the “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation,” which emphasized that the object of revelation should be considered God Himself in His works and words, which are inextricably linked with each other. “The most intimate truth which this revelation gives us about God and the salvation of man shines in Christ, Who Himself is both the mediator and the supreme essence of Revelation” (8, p. 751). The Constitution supported the position formulated at the Council of Trent that “both Scripture and Tradition should be received and revered with the same sense of devotion and reverence” (ibid., p. 755).
The position of some Protestants is moving closer to the Catholic point of view. Even evangelical theologians began to place greater emphasis on the consensus and authority of the Christian tradition. It seems that this will inevitably lead to a limitation of the principle of sola scriptura, which for many centuries was considered the main principle of Protestantism.
D. Adventist understanding
From their earliest publications, Seventh-day Adventists have claimed to accept the entire Bible as the inspired Word of God. In a short article entitled “A Word to the Little Flock,” published in 1847, James White succinctly stated this view: “The Bible is a perfect and complete revelation. This is our only rule of faith and practical life” (p. 13). However, for many years the topic of revelation and inspiration was hardly discussed in denominational publications.
In 1874, George Ide Butler (1834–1918), then president of the General Conference, outlined the theory of degrees of inspiration in a series of articles published in the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. Although this idea was popular for a short time, it was not accepted by the majority of Seventh-day Adventists. Nor was the theory of verbal or mechanistic inspiration accepted. Although the theory of inspiration of thoughts found wide acceptance, the Church never formulated a precise doctrine of inspiration and revelation. However, for more than a hundred years, Adventists developed the beliefs shared by the pioneers of the Adventist movement, grouping them into fundamental tenets of faith.
The final statement of fundamental beliefs adopted by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists at its session in Dallas, Texas, in 1980, states that the one God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is “infinite and beyond the reach of human understanding, yet is known through His revelation about Himself" (No. 2). This revelation of the Divine about Himself found its fullest expression in the incarnation of the Son - the Word made flesh. “Through Him all things were created, through Him the character of God was revealed, the salvation of mankind was accomplished, and the world will be judged” (No. 4).
However, this revelation of God is conveyed to the world through Scripture, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and through the preaching of the Church. The first clause of the fundamental creed summarizes this idea in the following words: “The Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, are the written Word of God, given by Divine inspiration through holy men of God, who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In this Word, God imparted to people the knowledge necessary for salvation. Holy Scripture is the infallible revelation of His will. It is a measure of character, a standard of experience, an authoritative source of doctrine, and an authentic record of the historical acts of God.” (51)
