A. 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 states that "in no other way would we have come to 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 for His own Word” (“Against Heresep”, 5.1.1). Clement of Alexandria (150-215) says that “our Guide is the holy God Jesus, the Word, who is the guide of all mankind. The loving God Himself is our Instructor” (“Instructor”, 1.7).
However, this emphasis on Christ as the supreme Divine Teacher and the Word of God did not mean denying or belittling 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 through 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 this as follows: “Irenaeus is aware 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 the distinctive moments of the activity of the Word, for the Father more and more clearly revealed Himself through the Word ... Hence the indivisible unity of the two Testaments ”(14, p. 105). These points of view express the general position of the early Christians on this issue.
Already in the New Testament, and especially in Christian writers second century, we see an obvious acceptance of the New Testament writings as part of the Holy Scriptures. Irenaeus speaks of the Scriptures as "the 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 subordinate apostolic tradition. There is little doubt that "with the early Christian Fathers of the Church, tradition (paradosis, tradition) means the revelation given by God, which He gave to His faithful people through the mouth of the prophets and apostles" (Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1983, p. 1388). However, over time, certain trends began to undermine the supreme authority of Scripture.
The appeal to the tradition preserved in the churches formed by the apostles, especially the church of Rome, was gradually replaced by the assertion that the Bible should be accepted on the basis of ecclesiastical authority. It has been 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, can be accepted as having divine authority. Another trend was to give the writings of the Church Fathers special authority. These changes did not take place all at once, but gradually; in the West, they were also consolidated by the papal power, which was growing stronger over many centuries.
In the Middle Ages, scholastic philosophy brought to the fore the problem of the relationship between reason and revelation. The first question, analyzed by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) in his work "The Sum of Theology", is formulated as follows: "Do we need any knowledge besides the science of philosophy?" He answers this question in the affirmative, explaining that "for the sake of man's salvation, it was necessary that certain truths, transcending human reason, be revealed to him. (47) through divine revelation. He adds that even those truths about God that the human mind could discover had to be communicated by divine revelation, since “the rational truth about God would only appear to a few, and then after some time, and, moreover, mixed with many errors" ("The Sum of Theology", 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 there is such a thing" (ibid., 1a. 1.8). However, the believer needs to adhere to the teaching of the Church, which is based on the truth revealed in the Holy Scriptures, 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 inerrancy of church teaching, on the other, he erodes its authority. In the era of the late Middle Ages, the question of the relationship between Scripture and tradition as sources of revelation arose more acutely. On the one hand, some scholars believed that Scripture and tradition are essentially identical and equivalent. Since tradition was perceived as a true interpretation of the revelation given through the prophets and apostles, both of them 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 handed down 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 certain place, Word and signs, so that he may be known and comprehended” (“Commentary on Ps. 50:8”). In the highest way, God has revealed Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ. The Word became Flesh, and Christ is revealed in Scripture, written Word and in preaching 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 conclusion that the highest standard of faith and doctrine should be only Scripture (sola scriptura). “Only Scripture is the true master of all earthly writings and doctrines” (Works of Luther, 32:11, 12). All truth and doctrine that we need to know God and be saved is revealed in the Word.
Unlike scholastic theologians, Luther was unwilling to admit that the authority of the Church was required to determine the sacred canon of God's Word or to correctly interpret 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.
The views of John Calvin (1509-1564) on revelation and the authority of Scripture were similar to those of Luther. In his influential work, Instructions in the Christian Faith, he took the position that man, blinded by sin, cannot benefit from the revelation of "the eternal God's Kingdom if he looks into the cloudy mirror of his deeds” (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 malicious lie the claim that the authenticity of Scripture depends on the judgment of the Church. Rather, the Church herself must be rooted in and dependent on Scripture. The Reformer emotionally declared: “Let it be true that those whom the Holy Spirit has enlightened from within truly rest on Scripture, and that this Scripture authenticates itself” (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 promises Old Testament and the testimonies given by God to the ancient patriarchs. However, in highest sense the word is “the preaching of the grace manifested in Christ” (ibid., 2.9.2). Calvin pointed out that "if we have in mind the whole law, then 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 person of Christ is revealed more clearly than in the Old.
Reacting to the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church restated its position at the Council of Trent (1545–1563), declaring that apostolic tradition includes both Scripture and the oral tradition transmitted by the Church. In 1546, the Council issued a "Decree on the Canonical Scriptures", which stated that the ancient Gospel, promised by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures, was expounded by the Lord Jesus Christ and, at His command, was preached by His apostles to every creature "as the source of all saving truth and instruction in morality ". However, "this truth and instruction is found both in writing, in the books of Scripture, and in oral traditions." That is why the Old and New Testaments, as well as the traditions relating to faith and morality, should be received and honored with the same feelings of reverence and piety, “because they were either spoken personally by Christ, 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 Decree a list of sacred and canonical books, in which (48) included the so-called apocrypha, and declared an anathema on anyone who does not accept this list in its entirety. Although the Council of Trent rejected the notion that apostolic tradition is partly contained in the Scriptures and partly in oral traditions, it has generated a long debate. The dispute was about whether we have two sources of revelation: Scripture and tradition, or whether they should be considered two currents 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 currents as deism and the Enlightenment, has 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 in the mass denial of the Bible as an inspired source and writing Divine revelation. This, in turn, pushed people who defended fundamental Christian beliefs to a deeper understanding of the reality and nature of revelation.
The discoveries of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) and Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) caused the rejection of the geocentric and the acceptance of the heliocentric model of the solar system. When the scientific case for the heliocentric model was eventually found to be irrefutable, divine revelation and the inerrancy of the Bible, which were thought to have supported the geocentric model, were called into question. Other scientific discoveries made in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially the laws of gravity by Isaac Newton (1642–1727), reinforced the mechanistic view of the universe. From this perspective, supernatural revelation seemed unnecessary and even confusing. It was perceived as a myth or crafty fiction of religious fanatics.
Dawn modern science coincided with the emergence of rationalism, which declared the human mind the criterion of truth. René Descartes (1596-1650) laid the foundations of the philosophical revolution by formulating his axiom "Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am") in 1637 as the fundamental principle of acquiring true knowledge. Being a zealous Catholic, Descartes did not at all intend to deny the need for divine revelation; however, his philosophy involuntarily became the catalyst for the 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 line of demarcation between the realm of reason and the realm of revelation (by which he meant, of course, Scripture), declaring reason to be the ultimate arbiter in the question of whether which in Scripture can be accepted as true. Much in Scripture seemed to Spinoza unacceptable 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 the rationalist tendencies towards the Bible and adjusted the ideas about the role of divine revelation accordingly. 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 the time, neither Protestants nor Catholics could accept his critical view of the Bible.
In England, deist criticism was directed primarily at the so-called moral imperfections of the Bible, and especially of the Old Testament. In 1693, Charles Blount (1654–1693) published a collection of articles and letters under the general title Sayings of Reason. In it, Blount rejected the need for a religion that recognizes the need for revelation. Deists generally held that the human mind was sufficient to form a natural religion, and that true Christianity was nothing but the religion of reason. The sacraments of the Christian religion, such as the Trinity and the atoning death of Christ, were considered late additions that did not exist in the simple, original Christian faith. Many of Boyle's famous lectures, beginning in 1692, dealt with the subject 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, vehemently defended the idea that many of the objections to supernatural religion apply equally to to natural religion, since both of them recognize the presence 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 sidestep the issue of moral and historical criticism of Scripture, a number of British theologians have suggested that the Bible is partially inspired or that there are varying degrees of inspiration. It was believed that the theory of degrees of inspiration allows for historical inaccuracies and moral imperfections in Scripture and at the same time defends its inspiration and authority in matters of faith and practical life. However, others, such as John Wesley (1703–1791) and Charles Simeon (1759–1836), rejected this compromise with rationalist theology and argued for the inspiration and inerrancy of the entire Bible.
In the eighteenth century, during the Age of Enlightenment, controversy over the necessity and nature of divine revelation, as well as the authority and inspiration of God (49) Bibles, provoked by English deistic literature, also spread to other countries. François-Marie Voltaire (1694-1778), thoroughly acquainted with the English deists and their writings, never denied the existence of God, but was highly critical of any form of organized religion. In Germany, the writings of the English deists played an important role in the emergence of higher criticism in the second half of the century. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), German writer and playwright, published between 1774 and 1778 seven fragments from the previously unpublished Apology or Defense of the Intelligent Worshipers of God by Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768). These fragments contained the now familiar deistic arguments against supernatural religion. Lessing argued that historical records, including the biblical account of miracles, can only be of relative certainty and that the truths of reason cannot be proved by history. Lessing himself did not completely deny revelation, but in his 1780 work The Enlightenment of the Human Race, 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 is perfected, the need for revelation will disappear.
D. Modern development
In the last two centuries, the doctrine of revelation and inspiration has become the key to theological debate. The endless stream of literature on these topics, sometimes calm and balanced, sometimes stormy and passionate, challenges Christians. It can be seen how faith in divine revelation and inspiration, as well as in the authenticity and authority of Scripture, is 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 foundation of Christian faith is a sense of absolute dependence on God. He called the revelation "the true fact underlying the religious community", but was unwilling to accept its cognitive aspect, since "this, in essence, turns the revelation into a doctrine" (22, p. 50). Inspiration, he assigned a subordinate value. He clearly limited the authority of Scripture in formulating dogma 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 shifted noticeably from the transcendent to the immanent.
Liberal or modernist theology of the nineteenth century, with its anthropocentrism, often tried to combine a strong belief in human progress with a critical attitude towards 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 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. After the publication of the writings of Charles Lyell (1797–1875) and Charles Darwin (1809–1882), theories of geological uniformitarianism and biological evolution undermined the belief in the validity of the history of creation, the fall, and global flood described in Genesis. Faith in authenticity biblical history, the accuracy of the biblical text and the authenticity of the authorship of many biblical books was further undermined by the supposedly balanced results of historical and literary criticism. Adherents of critical methodology, whose premises preclude the possibility of supernatural revelations or interventions, such as predictive prophecy or miracles, studied the Bible like any other book, placing it on a par with 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), the leading representative of the school of the history of religions and the historical-critical method, no divine revelation can be considered absolute because of the historical relativity of all events. Troeltsch emphasized that historical data, including biblical data, should be evaluated according to the principle of analogy, which means that events of the past can be perceived as probable only 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 rebellion 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 a completely 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 regarded Scripture as merely an imperfect human reflection of that revelation. Like their liberal predecessors, (50) they advocated the historical-critical method as essential to the study and interpretation of Scripture, and rejected or interpreted in their own way such concepts as biblical authority, inspiration, and truth. Brunner taught that truth is not in propositional statements, but in an I-Thou meeting.
In connection with calls for a radical renewal and change in the understanding of revelation and inspiration, many scholarly theologians from various denominations have pointed to the teaching of Scripture itself, arguing that the concept of revelation includes all kinds 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 (in 6 vols., 1976-1983). Evangelical theologians of modern times generally advocate the idea of unqualified, verbal inspiration and the inerrancy of the Bible, although there is not complete agreement among them on the exact meaning of these terms. However, a number of evangelical theologians, such as Clark H. Pinnock (1937), express some concern about these notions.
Despite the influence of liberal theology, biblical criticism, and theories of evolution, the Roman Catholic Church took a very conservative stance in the nineteenth century regarding the doctrine of revelation and inspiration. The papal encyclicals rejected modernist views and supported the traditional Catholic point of view set out in the decision of the Council of Trent. However, this position underwent a dramatic change in the second half of the twentieth century. Since Pius XII issued the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu in 1943, Catholic theologians have rapidly moved to the forefront of biblical criticism. This led to the emergence of a variety of theories of revelation and inspiration, which is shown in the work of Averius Dulles "Models of Revelation" (1983). In its fourth and final session, the Second Vatican Council promulgated the "Dogmatic Constitution by Divine Revelation", which emphasized that the object of revelation should be considered God Himself in His deeds and words, which are inextricably linked to each other. “The most secret truth that this revelation gives us about God and the salvation of man shines in Christ, who himself is both the mediator and the highest essence of Revelation” (8, p. 751). The Constitution upheld the position formulated at the Council of Trent that "both Scripture and Tradition must be received and revered with the same feeling of devotion and reverence" (ibid., p. 755).
The position of some Protestants approaches the Catholic point of view. Even evangelical theologians have begun to place more 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.
E. Adventist Understanding
From the 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 summarized this view as follows: “The Bible is a perfect and complete revelation. This is our only rule of faith and practical life” (p. 13). However, over the years, the topic of revelation and inspiration has hardly been discussed in denominational publications.
In 1874, George Ide Butler (1834–1918), then president of the General Conference, expounded 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 most Seventh-day Adventists. Nor was the theory of verbal or mechanistic inspiration accepted. Although the theory of thought inspiration has found wide acceptance, the Church has never formulated a precise doctrine of inspiration and revelation. For more than a hundred years, however, Adventists have developed the beliefs shared by the pioneers of the Adventist movement, grouping them into fundamental creeds.
The final statement of fundamental beliefs, adopted by the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference at its session in Dallas, Texas, in 1980, states that the one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—“is infinite and beyond human understanding, yet is known through His revelation of myself” (No. 2). This revelation of the Deity about Himself found its fullest expression in the incarnation of the Son - the Word made flesh. “Through Him all things were created, by 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 communicated to the world through Scripture through the illumination of the Holy Spirit and through the preaching of the Church. In the first paragraph of the Fundamental Doctrine, this idea is summarized in the following words: Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, is 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 gave people the knowledge necessary for salvation. Holy Scripture is the infallible revelation of His will. It is a test of character, a test of experience, an authoritative source of doctrine, and an authentic record of the historical acts of God.” (51)
Divine Revelation- the manifestation of God in the world, revealing to people the knowledge of Him and true faith in Him; self-disclosure 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 about Himself directly Himself (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 look for Him, “whether they feel Him or find Him, although He is not far from each of us” (Acts 17:26, 28). Aspiring to God, a person cannot know God by his own efforts, but the very desire of a person has a price before God, Who is revealed 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 composition. But such a method of cognition of God is very limited, because the Divine being is uncreated. In His superexistence, God transcends all His creatures. Not being an intelligible object or a phenomenon perceived by the senses, He cannot be known by the efforts of the human mind or senses as part of this world. That is why, revealing Himself, God descends to man Himself. “The Savior did not at all say that it was absolutely impossible to know God,” teaches St. Irenaeus of Lyons, - but said only that no one can know God without Divine will, without learning from God, without His revelation (“and to whom the Son wants to reveal”). But since the Father deigned that we should know God, and the Son revealed Him to us, then we have the necessary knowledge about Him.
Revealing itself to man, God informs him of knowledge about Himself in a supernatural way. “Supernatural knowledge is that which enters the mind in a way that exceeds its natural means and powers,” teaches St. Theodore Studite. - But it happens from the one God, when He finds the mind cleansed from all material addiction and embraced Divine love". Supernatural knowledge about God is communicated to the human soul by Divine grace, proceeding from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. It is through the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit that man assimilates the truths of Divine Revelation. The Apostle Paul states that: "...no one can call Jesus Christ Lord, except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3). This means that only those whose mind and heart have been affected by Divine grace can confess Christ as Lord.
Divine grace abides in the Church, is served in the Holy Mysteries. Therefore, the Church is also the guardian of Divine Revelation. “God is known only by the Holy Spirit,” St. Silouan of Athos. “It has been given to our Most Glorious Church by the Holy Spirit to understand the mysteries of God.” All the fullness of the truth received from Christ, the apostles proclaimed to the Church (Acts 20:27). According to St. Irenaeus of Lyon, 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.
The term "revelation" in theology is commonly understood as those actions by which God reveals Himself and His will to people. At the same time, revelations can be sent down both by the Lord himself, and come from any intermediaries or through sacred texts. Most people in modern world professes three main religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism, which are based on Divine Revelation.
What is supernatural revelation?
In all major world religions, it is customary to separate such concepts as supernatural revelation and natural knowledge of God, which is also often called revelation. The supernatural form is understood as a wide range of Divine actions aimed at transferring to people the knowledge necessary for their salvation. In this regard, among theologians (theologians) there are two different concepts - general and individual Revelation.
What is its general form, it is clear from the name itself - this is a Divine message addressed to a significant number of people, perhaps even a separate people or humanity as a whole. Such a general Revelation is the Holy Scripture and the Sacred Giving of the New Testament, as well as the statements of the prophets and apostles, which were the result of the influence of the Holy Spirit on them.
In them, Revelations are given to people created in the image and likeness of God, but as a result of original sin who have lost unity with their Creator, and, as a result, are doomed to eternal death. It was for the salvation of all mankind that Jesus Christ appeared in our world, bringing with Him the greatest teaching that history has not known before. The same category includes the Revelations of angels and other incorporeal forces, for example, the gospel of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.
Gospel Revelation
In the general Revelation, revealed through the holy evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as in people, the foundations of the new faith were taught, in which the truth about the Divine Trinity, about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, about His crucifixion, and the subsequent resurrection was revealed. In the same place, it was reported about the second, coming coming of the Savior, about the general resurrection and the Last Judgment. These were no longer Old Testament commandments, but Revelations to the people of the New Testament.
Prophecies and their fulfillment
The supernatural nature of the Christian Revelations is undeniably evidenced by the fulfillment of the prophecies contained in them, which in their essence could not be made on the basis of any calculations or historical analysis. They stretch far into the distance for many centuries and even millennia.
Suffice it to recall the gospel words of Jesus Christ that in time the gospel will be preached to all nations and throughout the universe. He spoke them to a narrow circle of His followers, and meanwhile, having gone through all the persecution, Christianity today has become one of the main religions of the world.
The words of the Virgin Mary that all births would glorify (appease) her could seem incredible, but meanwhile, for almost 2 thousand years, the entire Christian world has been honoring her. And how can one naturally explain the prediction of Jesus about the destruction of Jerusalem that came true in forty years? Thus, all subsequent history has undeniably proved that the gospel prophecies are nothing but the Revelations of the new age that has come on earth with the coming of the Son of God. They could not become the fruit of the activity of any, even the most powerful human mind.
Individual Revelation
What are the Revelations bestowed on individuals (most often saints) can be understood by reading patristic literature - books written by the church fathers, canonized after they completed their earthly journey. As a rule, they do not communicate new, previously unknown truths, but only create prerequisites for a deeper knowledge of what was revealed in general Revelations.
A characteristic feature of individual revelations is that, according to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, set forth in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, they “cannot be told verbatim” to other people. Therefore, from the patristic writings and hagiographic literature (lives of the saints) one can learn only the external side of the miracle that happened. As a rule, they speak about the state of people at the time of the Revelation given to them, their experiences and feelings.
The Danger of Unauthorized Intrusion into the Spiritual World
Concerning the issue of individual Revelations, the Christian Church draws the attention of its followers to the inadmissibility of attempts of unauthorized penetration into the spiritual world. In this case, curiosity, combined with frivolity and daydreaming, can lead to the most disastrous consequences.
That is why Orthodoxy has an extremely negative attitude towards spiritualism. There are many cases when attempts to communicate with the spirits of dead people ended in difficult mental disorders and even suicide. The Church Fathers explain the reason for this by the fact that in most cases it is not those to whom they turn to contact the spiritualists, but demons - the gloomy spirits of the underworld, bringing madness and death with them.
Falsification of Divine Revelations
Unauthorized penetration into the spiritual world is not only dangerous, but also fraught with the generation of false revelations. A vivid example of this is the activity of such organizations, deeply alien to true Orthodoxy, as the Mother of God Center and the White Brothers. The extreme arbitrariness allowed by them in the interpretation of Christian teaching often leads people who have fallen under their influence to severe mental and physical trauma. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that they are trying to pass off their fabrications as Divine Revelation.
What is natural knowledge of God?
In addition to the above forms of knowledge of God, in the tradition christian church there is also the concept of natural or universal revelation. In this case, we mean the possibility of knowing God, which He gives people through the world he created, nature and man himself. A characteristic feature of natural Revelation is that it does without the intervention of supernatural forces, and for its comprehension, only the mind of a person and the voice of his conscience are needed.
Since ancient times, when a person realized himself as a part of the world around him, he never ceases to sing of its beauty and harmony. An infinite number of examples of this can be found in religious and secular literature, in ancient monuments bygone civilizations, and in contemporary art.
Since the question of who is the creator of this world, believers give an unequivocal answer - God, then they attribute the merit in creating all the magnificence surrounding them to Him. Further, it is easy to draw a parallel between how, contemplating the work of an artist, we get a clear idea of the depth and features of his talent, and how, when we see the diversity, grandeur and harmony, forms of the world, we draw a conclusion about the wisdom, goodness and omnipotence of his Creator.
The Gospel Imprinted in the World
Visible nature is a kind of book in which the language accessible to all people of the world eloquently tells about the deeds of God. This was repeatedly testified not only by the ministers of the church, but also by people of science. It is well known, for example, the statement of Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, in which he calls nature the Gospel, incessantly proclaiming the creative power of God. The scientist adds at the same time that the visible world is a true preacher of the wisdom, omnipotence and greatness of the Creator.
However, with all this, it should be borne in mind that natural Revelation, like any other, cannot give an idea of the fullness of Divine existence, and the human mind is powerless in comprehending it. It is for this reason that, revealing Himself, God Himself descends to man. The Holy Fathers teach that it is impossible to know the Creator without His will, manifested in various kinds of Revelations given to people.
Contemporary Evidence for God's Will
The innumerable number of messages addressed to people from the Heavenly World suggests that the concept of "last revelation" often found in literature can be perceived only in its ordinal meaning, but not as the final process of God's communication with man, which began with the creation of the world. Starting from the time when the Lord spoke through the Old Testament prophets with His chosen people, and throughout all subsequent centuries, evidence of His will has invariably appeared.
Therefore, in our days, waiting for the promised second coming of the Lord, Christians are closely watching everything that in one way or another can contain the Revelation of God. In this case, we are talking mainly about ancient texts that have received new interpretations and new understanding from the lips of modern theologians.
In addition, it is worth mentioning the extremely rare, but still taking place in our days, cases when the Lord in one form or another expresses His will through the ministers of the church, chosen by Him for this high mission. In this regard, we can mention the so-called Revelations to the people of the New Year, that is, manifestations of the Divine will at the turn, when the old year gives way to the new.
Straight Talk
In conclusion, we note that the word "revelation" itself, in addition to the purely religious meaning in which it was considered above, also has its own secular interpretation. In most dictionaries, it is defined as an explanation of something hidden in secret and inaccessible to a wide range of people. Usually these are confessions of some facts that were not previously subject to publicity.
INTRODUCTION
1. NATURAL GOD REVELATION
2. WHY MAN IS GOD'S REVELATION
3. SUPERNATURAL GOD REVELATION
4. THE PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER OF GOD'S REVELATION
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
God, who created our earth, populated it with a variety of living beings, definitely had a plan for his creations. Man, created by the Creator in His image and likeness, has always sought to unravel the mysteries of existence and the One with whom everything began and with whom everything will end. But the knowledge of God for a person by his own efforts is impossible, since the limited human mind is not able to comprehend the infinite God. This is possible only if the Lord Himself wants to reveal Himself to man in His revelation.
In Christian teaching, divine revelation refers to everything that God Himself revealed to people about Himself and about true faith into Him. God communicates His revelation to people in two ways: natural and supernatural.
By natural revelation, the Lord reveals Himself to every person, through the world we see (nature) and through our conscience, as well as through the history of all mankind. The whole world around us is a great revelation of God, testifying to the omnipotence of God the Creator. Considering the world created by God, a person can also know its Creator “For His invisible, His eternal power and Divinity, from the creation of the world through the consideration of creations are visible” (1, Rom. 1:20). But this knowledge is imperfect and can serve only as some aid to the knowledge of God. Therefore, the Lord fills the natural revelation with the supernatural, which was revealed in all its fullness and perfection in Jesus Christ.
The purpose of writing this work is to consider issues related to God's revelation. And why this revelation has a progressive character, that is, the Lord reveals himself to us step by step, gradually giving us what we are able to accept as we grow in the faith of Christ.
1.NATURAL GOD REVELATION
Creating our world, the Lord seemed to have poured Himself into it, leaving many testimonies about Himself. A scientist studying natural laws will see the trinity of many physical things, just as our Lord is triune: three-dimensional space, three states of matter, three basic times - past, present and future, etc.
Even a person far from science can notice the harmony, order and harmony of the surrounding world. It is like an orchestra, where, with all the variety of instruments and scores controlled by the conductor, a single harmonious melody is created. But to see this harmony is possible for a person who thinks and asks questions, who is able to stop and calm the inner fuss. One can compare this with a dialogue that God starts in the world he created and is continued by man. Here is the answer to the question “Why does God need this mystery, why not come openly?” Yes, because in order to know God in the sinful and corrupted human consciousness, something must move, some kind of movement towards the eternal must begin.
Very accurately, in my opinion, this is conveyed by the words of the Monk Parthenius of Kyiv, “If we do not see God in our hearts on earth, we will not see God in heaven.” This is God's revelation, which is visible in the nature created by Him, tells a person that there is a Creator, an Architect of the whole world visible to us. But this revelation is not enough to know what God is like and what His plan is for us. Tearing his gaze from the outside world, a thinking person directs it inward. If there is a Creator who left his signs in the surrounding world, then it is fair to assume that He left similar signs in us.
And indeed we have the voice of God in us, which tells us what is right and what is not, what behavior is worthy and what is reprehensible. We are born with this God's mark within us - this is our conscience. Until a person sinned, conscience did not reveal itself in any way, since it had nothing to determine in a person as bad or unworthy. But the sin committed by Adam and Eve awakened her to work. It was their conscience that made them hide from God after their sin.
The Lord endowed man with a conscience, as he created him in his own image and likeness. And also because in His boundless love the Creator wanted to warn us against insane actions. After all, if we do not know God, what can keep us on the edge of the cliff and not allow us to completely plunge into sin? Only the conscience given to us by God, which, like a pilot, protects us in the sea of passions, although not completely, since our sinful nature has learned to drown out its voice. But even this revelation of God in our conscience is not enough. Since it does not give knowledge about God himself and, as mentioned above, our conscience itself is distorted and dulled because of sin. Being a rational being, a person is able to study and analyze. And so we often look at what happened to us and how it affected our present. In a word, we study our history. Here the Lord also manifests himself in his revelations. After all, it is He who is the manager of the destinies of entire nations, some enter the arena of history and rise, others go into oblivion. We may not fully understand why the Lord disposes of us in this way, but there can be no doubt that everything is determined in the end by Him. “But God is a judge: he humiliates one, and exalts another” .
And the Bible gives us vivid examples of God's management of history. On its pages we see how God led his people out of Egypt, how He led the Assyrian empire to fall, the whole history of the Israeli people is the history of their relationship with God, which determined their whole way of life: civil and moral laws, the system of sacrifices and holidays. As we can see the revelation of God in nature, in conscience and in history is universal and open to everyone. It allows us to see and understand that there is a Creator who created the world we see, but this revelation is not complete, since it does not give us personal knowledge of God.
2.WHY MAN IS GOD'S REVELATION
What is the value of God's revelation? Why do Christians discuss this topic so much and why do each of us so passionately want to receive these revelations? In answering this question, there are a few things to note:
Without divine revelation, a person would never have received answers to pressing questions about the origin of life, about the meaning of human life, about death, about what is after death.
Without divine revelation, man would not be able to distinguish good from evil. We simply would not know what is good and what is bad.
Without divine revelation, man would be left without a plan of salvation. An inner voice, conscience, tells a person that his soul needs healing. In search of an answer, he wanders in the dark, but he cannot find an answer. Without God's revelation as a remedy against sin, man would continue a meaningless existence.
Without divine revelation, we would never know God.
With his natural mind, a person can only partially approach God, knowing His natural attributes.
Of course, to see the power of God in nature, to know His actions is good. But to build a personal relationship with God, to learn moral character God, can only be built with the help of another order of knowledge, which man is completely unable to achieve on his own - this is Divine Revelation. The Lord wants us to know Himself, only then is communication possible between corruptible man and the almighty God. The Lord himself solved the problem of our separation by sending His Son into the world “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made manifest” (1 John 1:18).
And with his coming into the world, the Lord opened the era of revelation. The Lord has become so close that everyone can come to him. So the purpose of revelation is the communication of man with God the Creator. Revelation is also valuable because it encourages the cooperation of those who have entered into communion with the Lord.
In other words, the Lord leads us into ministry. And therefore, only that service is valuable, which is based not on human desire and vision, but on communion with God. And this happens because communion with God is impossible without love for Him, and love for God produces love for people. For example, the ministry of the prophet began with the fact that he heard God, accepted His word by faith, then the need of a perishing people was revealed to him, and he began to convey the revelation received from God for the salvation of this people. A prophet's ministry was only successful if he was in close fellowship with God. Because ministry needs the constant guidance of God, it is impossible without revelation. So, revelation is valuable because it brings us into fellowship with God, enables us to serve Him, reveals His will to us, and directs our path.
GOD'S SUPERNATURAL REVELATION
Unlike God's natural revelation in nature, in conscience and in history, supernatural revelation reveals to us God Himself, His nature, His will. This revelation is of a special nature, as it is revealed to special people. These revelations include:
1.Revelation of God in miracles
2.God's Revelation in Prophecy
.Revelation of God in Jesus Christ
.Revelation of God in Scripture
.Revelation of God in personal experience
A miracle is a phenomenon that a person cannot give an explanation based on known laws, it is an act of supernatural interference in the laws of nature.
The Bible describes many miracles performed by God. Moreover, being unlimited by nothing, the Lord uses a multitude of various forms. Suffice it to recall the ten Egyptian plagues, or the passage along the bottom of the Black Sea, when the waters parted, or the long day of Joshua. Miracles are a revelation of God's power. However, their true goal is not a demonstration of strength, but the desire of God to bless and return a person to the true path. The greatest miracle created by the Lord was the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The prophets of the Old Testament were people specially called by God and supernaturally endowed with the ability to communicate God's messages to people. God put His word into their mouths and guided the hand of the prophets as they wrote down what He said. Prophecy was both a prediction of what was to come and a declaration God's will. The Holy Spirit, descending on the prophets, endowed them with the gift of putting into human words what God wanted to convey to people. This is why Bible prophecy often began with the words, "The Lord speaks." Prophecy is the revelation of God's infinite knowledge.
The revelation of God in Jesus Christ is the most complete, so in it the Lord reveals to man all the facets of His personality, clearly showing His will, character, His essence as such. Therefore, when people say "Show me God and I will believe," we can safely say - look at Jesus Christ - He is the expression of God in a human hypostasis. “No one has ever seen God, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed” (1 John 1:18). The evangelist speaks so simply and clearly in Scripture about this. There is nothing higher and more complete than this revelation.
4. The revelation of God in Scripture is the written word, that is, in writing. Miracles and prophecies revealed God directly to those who could see and hear them. Jesus Christ, walking and teaching, was a great blessing to those who walked with him, who witnessed the presence of the living God on earth. But over time, there arose an urgent need to convey the revelations to all nations. And then God wrote the Bible. Although this book was written by forty different men in three languages, God Himself is its indisputable Author. He inspired people by directing His revelation in the human mind in such a perfect way that the undistorted truth would be revealed to the world.
5. Revelation in personal experience. Throughout the existence of God's relationship with man, millions of people have known God through their own experience, that is, they have seen His undoubted action in their lives. There are many examples of this in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments. Suffice it to recall Noah, who walked with God “... Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God” (1 Gen. 6:9), Moses, to whom the Lord revealed himself in the burning bush “...and God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said: Moses! Moses! He said: here I am! (1, Ex. 3:4), the Apostle Paul, who received a personal revelation from God “He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?" (1, Acts 9:4). If we look at people who lived not so long ago, we will see that God's revelations were present in their lives. It may be very interesting here that many scientists known to us who made discoveries in various fields of knowledge were believers. And they were such not in spite of their occupation, but just the opposite, due to the fact that as a result of their research, the Lord was revealed to them.
Newton, the great scientist who discovered the laws of motion of celestial bodies, as if exposing the greatest secret of the universe, was a believer and was engaged in theology.
The mathematical genius Pascal, one of the creators of the new physics, was not only a believer, but also one of the greatest religious thinkers in Europe. He said: "All the contradictions that most of all seem to want to remove me from the position of religion most of all and have led to it."
The founder of all modern bacteriology, Pasteur, who penetrated deeper than others into the secret of organic life, said: "The more I study nature, the more I stop in reverent amazement before the deeds of the Creator."
The astronomer Kepler exclaims: "O great is our Lord, and great is His might, and His wisdom knows no bounds. And thou, my soul, sing the glory of thy Lord all thy life."
THE PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER OF GOD'S REVELATION
And as it was said above, for everything created in the Universe, God the Creator has his own perfect plan. And God's revelation serves precisely to fulfill this plan. The goal for all mankind is that each person should achieve the likeness of God. This is the great goal for man. It cannot be reduced only to becoming better, purer, more honest, more generous; but to become like Christ by grace.
In the world just created by God, the first people, before they sinned, talked with God, felt God's grace. This became possible because God revealed Himself and this was God's first revelation to man. In God's plan, a person had to be a priest - in order to accept his being and the world as a gift from God and in return give joyful praise and thanksgiving to the Creator, a prophet - in order to learn the Divine mysteries, a king - in order to reign over external visible nature and his own. If man had not sinned, then everything would have been exactly like this. And he would be a king, a priest, a prophet. But it didn't happen like that, perfect God's world sin entered, distorting beyond recognition both the man himself and the world around him. Sin has changed the universe, our earth and man himself. Man has exchanged love and obedience to God for the so-called selfhood, thereby cutting himself off from God. But the Lord, out of compassion for His creation, wants to restore man in the lost state of a priest, a prophet, and a king. It is necessary to understand that sin that entered the world struck a person right in the heart, changing his nature. It's not like soiled hands that can be washed. Sinful dirt entered inside and began to be transmitted from fathers to children. The final consequence of the penetration of sin into the world was death. Sickness and death entered the world, because sin opened the door for them, and nature and man became vulnerable to them. But the spiritual death of a person became more terrible than physical death because of the endless separation from God.
God is life. Separation from him is separation from physical and spiritual life. Therefore, the fact that humanity is constantly fighting diseases that destroy human body, whose number is increasing, originates in the Garden of Eden. Man has become a victim of his own rebellion and dead to God. The Lord drove a man out of the Garden of Eden "And the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken" (1 Gen. 3:23). But being God perfect in love, the Lord at the same time gave people hope, saying, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel” (1 Gen. 3:15).
The story of man's return to God begins with the Fall in the Garden of Eden, the story of how God raised people. You can call it Divine Pedagogy. It is similar to the human relationship between father and son. As a little boy, the son implicitly trusts his father. Having become a teenager, having found new idols, he begins to consider his father as not understanding anything in life and, as a result, ceases to listen and obey him. Having matured, having gone through life's losses and victories, the son is able to appreciate the wisdom and love of his father. In the centuries before the coming of Jesus Christ, mankind learned many lessons. Prophets, historians, poets, interpreters recorded in their works an understanding of the nature and character of God. People inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote down on paper everything that has come down to us as the Old Testament. While recording their personal experiences, they also reflected God's plan for the salvation of mankind. Having sinned, man no longer had a close spiritual union with God, he could no longer understand what was on the heart of the Father or what God was saying to his children. Through the ages, the lessons were firmly learned, and the Holy Scriptures emerged, reflecting the character and love of God. Periodically, the Holy Spirit revealed to the writers of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the future that hinted at something more than the mere fulfillment of the law. It is unlikely that the authors themselves understood such lines as: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner” (1, Ps. 117:22), and the Old Testament is full of similar revelations. When Jesus came, the Jewish people were under the authority of the Roman Empire.
For most, the messiah was just the one who was supposed to deliver from this tyranny. The Lord chose Joseph and Mary to fulfill His plan. And the fact that they were able to accept and understand the words of the angel who visited them is the result of God's preparation before these events, His Divine pedagogy. The entire history of the Jewish people and their relationships had prepared that time and those people to receive the wonderful message. Since the visitation of angels is very specific, the more valuable is the confidence of human beings. We can imagine the joy with which they perceived what was to happen to them, how they rejoiced at Simeon's greeting words, now known to the whole world: “Now you let your servant go, Master, according to your word, in peace; For my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (1, Luke 2:29-32). Simeon knew that he could now die in peace, since the child about whom he was prophesied was now born. His life's work is over, God has fulfilled His Word.
Through an angel, Joseph knew about the calling of little Jesus to save the people from their sins. for He will save His people from their sins” (1, Matt. 1:21). However, nothing was said about how He could achieve this goal. To ordinary people it was difficult to understand how a child who has given birth can redeem the whole world from sin. This revelation is given by Jesus himself in conversation with Nicodemus, simply saying that God so loved the world (that is, the people He created) that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. The Lord, who came in the flesh to earth, showed a complete revelation about Himself and about salvation for man. It can be said that God's revelation throughout the ages is God's school.
divine revelation believer spirituality
CONCLUSION
From the moment of the fall of Adam and Eve until today, the Lord has been going towards man, caring and supporting him in the hope of salvation. People have repeatedly transgressed His commandments, but the Lord has not departed from His plan to save mankind. He chose Abraham and instructed special role The people of Israel, brought them out of Egyptian slavery with the help of Moses, and tested and strengthened their faith in the wilderness. Then the Lord made His covenant at Mount Sinai. He allowed attacks on Israel and called them to repentance through the prophets. So for thousands of years God prepared the souls of people for a meeting with the Savior, revealing himself throughout this time.
Jesus, who appeared to the world, revealed God's full revelation for the salvation of the entire human race. Thus, the Creator descends to perishing people, gives them His revelations, and patiently leads them along the paths of salvation.
Bibliography
2.Kevin J. Conner Fundamentals of Christian Doctrine Part I. A Practical Guide to Christian Doctrine. - Kharkov: "SIM", 2012, -74 p.
3. Law of God
4. Ufa diocese Divine revelation
G. Gololob. Salvation in the Age of Revelation
Newspaper "Protestant"
Revelation of God Explanation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Frank S.L. Religion and science
Archbishop Michael (Mudyugin). An introduction to basic theology.
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His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
On 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:“Abba, how can you live here in the desert, deprived of the comfort of reading books?” Pointing his hand at blue sky, scorching sun, mountains, desert sands, sparse vegetation, the hermit said: “My book, the 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, everyone endowed with reason, observation and with a penchant for analysis, a person cannot but be amazed at the harmony, beauty, expediency and reasonableness that are present in everything - from a molecule to a galaxy. And involuntarily the question arises: how can the unreasonable, chaotic and unconscious begin to be a source of rational and harmonious existence?People who deny God explain everything by chance. Always and
everywhere existing matter, they argue, at some point began to develop in such a way that as a result this wondrous world.Why do they think so? Yes, because in our wisely arranged and expedient world there is no visible source of reason
. It turns out that there is a reasonable world,but the source of the mind no. It is natural to assume that this source is outside our world, but then one inevitably has to admit the existence of God..Otherwise, the search should be abandoned altogether. rational beginning of being. And then the only reason for the birth The universe is left to recognize some random"self-ignition", some unintentional impulse, which marked the beginning, again, of an accidental combination of circumstances, which in some inexplicable way predetermined the process of improving matter, fantastic in its complexity, from simple to complex, from inanimate to living, from unreasonable to reasonable, from volcanic lava to human brain, to conscience, to love, to a sense of beauty ... So, is the beginning of the world reasonable or inadvertent? Is 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 evidence of Himself. Contemplating this world, we can indirectly
,but really feel the Divine presence in it. According to the reasonableness of the arrangement of the world, it is natural to judge the reasonableness of its Creator, and the fact of the existence of life is explained by the fact that God is the Source life.However, considering the environment
,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 famously expressed this in the following words: “My religion is a deeply felt certainty in the existence of a higher intellect, which is revealed to us in an accessible knowledge of the world." Einstein was not a theologian, but considering the world around him,made a very important conclusion:knowledge 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 so 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 of society. And not everyone had the courage admit that he, a scientist and researcher, at the same time is a believer. But there were also courageous people 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 really was a living book of the Revelation of God.However, to explain the universe, not everyone needs only one
only natural revelation. It happens that observations of the world around us lead people to different, and often directly opposite, conclusions. So The Lord was pleased to give people another news of self - supernatural revelation.In the history of mankind there have always been people who can hear
the voice of God Himself. These are the prophets. In fellowship with them, God revealed Himself. But He revealed Himself fully in Jesus Christ, who was born two thousand years ago in the Jewish city of Bethlehem. In Christ the world was given the fullness of Revelation.The Revelation which God communicated about Himself to the prophets and which He revealed to the world through the Son
His, our Lord Jesus Christ, is called supernatural revelation . This Revelation has always been preserved in the community of believers: in the days of the Old Testament - among the Jewish people, and after the Nativity of the Lord and Savior - in the Christian community. It was kept carefully, being passed down from generation to generation. And in order not to accidentally distort the received Revelation by a lack of human memory or subjective interpretation, it is already in ancient times began to record. Thus the Sacred books.Revelation passed down from generation to generation is called Sacred Tradition. And the part of the Tradition written down 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 know everything only when they cross the border that separates physical life.
from the life of the next century. But Divine Revelation contains everything you need to build the right relationship man with God.When we read Holy Scripture, we have before us not