General and Special Revelation
God speaks in two registers: creation's silent witness and the saving word in Christ
Christian thought distinguishes two ways God makes himself known. General revelation is God's self-disclosure through creation and conscience, available to all people, which Paul addresses in the opening chapters of Romans. Special revelation is his saving self-disclosure in Christ and Scripture, given to bring salvation. Theologians from Augustine onward developed this distinction, holding that the natural witness points toward God while the knowledge needed for redemption comes through Christ.
How it traveled
- RomansCorinth · 67explains
- GalatiansEphesus · 67explains
- ActsRome · 84explains
- Hortatory Address to the GreeksRome · 165explains
- Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1])Paris · 1274explains
- Treatise on The One God (QQ[2-26])Paris · 1274explains
- Book First. of the Knowledge of God the CreatorGeneva · 1564explains
- Man's Natural Blindness in ReligionNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Fifteen Sermons. On Various SubjectsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Five Sermons. On Different OccasionsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
Love Alone Is Credible · Hans Urs von Balthasar
Church Dogmatics · Karl Barth
Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity · Karl Rahner
Systematic Theology · Paul Tillich
Treatise on Sacred Doctrine (Q[1]) · Thomas Aquinas
To place our purpose within proper limits, we first endeavor to investigate the nature and extent of this sacred doctrine. Concerning this there are ten points of inquiry: (1) Whether it is necessary
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Book First. of the Knowledge of God the Creator · John Calvin
3. For if we reflect how prone the human mind is to lapse into forgetfulness of God, how readily inclined to every kind of error, how bent every now and then on devising new and fictitious religions,
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Commentary on Galatians · Martin Luther
Those who do not know God in Christ arrive at this erroneous conclusion: “I will serve God in such and such a way. I will join this or that order. I will be active in this or that charitable endeavor.
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Fifteen Sermons. On Various Subjects · Jonathan Edwards
In the Bible, we not only have those warnings which were given by inspiration of the prophets, but we have God’s own words, which he spake as it were by his own mouth. In the Old Testament is his voic
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For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Hortatory Address to the Greeks · Justin Martyr
Since therefore it is impossible to learn anything true concerning religion from your teachers, who by their mutual disagreement have furnished you with sufficient proof of their own ignorance, I cons
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because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.
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For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without ex
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Treatise on The One God (QQ[2-26]) · Thomas Aquinas
Objection 3: Further, the knowledge of natural reason belongs to both good and evil, inasmuch as they have a common nature. But the knowledge of God belongs only to the good; for Augustine says (De Tr
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A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 19 [XII]—The Knowledge of God Through the Creation. And then the apostle very properly turns from this point to describe with detestation those men who, light-minded and puffed up by the sin
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Five Sermons. On Different Occasions · Jonathan Edwards
Preached at Northampton, and published at the desire of some of the hearers, in the year 1734. Matt. xvi. 17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and bl
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Man's Natural Blindness in Religion · Jonathan Edwards
Practical inferences and application of the subject. Having shown how the truth of the doctrine is evident, both by what appears in men’s open profession, and by those things which are found by inwar
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The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril · Cyril of Jerusalem
Lecture IX. On the Words, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of All Things Visible and Invisible. Job xxxviii. 2–3 Who is this that hideth counsel from Me, and keepeth words in his heart, and thinketh
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A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, in Three Parts · Jonathan Edwards
From what has been said may be learned, wherein the most essential difference lies between that light or understanding which is given by the common influences of the Spirit of God, on the hearts of na
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Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel · John Calvin
To charge the intellect with perpetual blindness, so as to leave it no intelligence of any description whatever, is repugnant not only to the Word of God, but to common experience. We see that there h
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Christian Knowledge · Jonathan Edwards
What is intended by divinity, as the object of Christian knowledge. Various definitions have been given of this subject by those who have treated on it. I shall not now stand to inquire which, accord
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up General and Special Revelation. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- Karl BarthChurch Dogmatics(1932)View on Amazon→
- Paul TillichSystematic Theology(1951)View on Amazon→
- Hans Urs von BalthasarLove Alone Is Credible(1963)View on Amazon→
- Karl RahnerFoundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity(1976)View on Amazon→