An Introduction to Systematic Theology: Prolegomena and the Doctrines of Revelation, Scripture, and God by Cornelius van Til

Author:Cornelius van Til
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Religion, Systematic, Christian Theology
ISBN: 9780875527895
Publisher: P&R Publishing
Published: 1974-05-30T20:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11: Scripture

In our discussion of special revelation we have dealt with the disruptive power of sin. If redemption had not come into the world at the moment of sin’s entrance the world would have been in ruin. Once the world lay in sin it would have to be upheld by the everlasting arms of God’s redemptive mercy or it would have fallen to pieces. By saying this we do not wish to convey the idea that grace, either saving grace or “common” grace, had to take the place of providence. We mean that the purpose God actually had in mind with the course of history could not be accomplished without redemptive grace. It is this fact of God’s final purpose that accounts for the necessity of saving grace and “common” grace alike. In the second place, we saw that this redemptive revelation of God had to be as comprehensive as the sweep of sin. Redemption must, in the nature of the case, be for the whole world. This does not mean that it must save every individual sinner in the world. It does mean, however, that the created universe which has been created as a unit must also be saved as a unit. In the third place, we saw that this saving revelation of God must, in the nature of the case, testify of itself. All the testimony with respect to it must, in the last analysis, be founded upon the self-testimony of God.

Bearing these points in mind, we shall be able to see why it was necessary for Scripture to come as the form or scheme of this special revelation. The special revelation of God to man came not only by way of intellectual information. It came both as word and as deed. In theophany and in miracle, we have facts of revelation rather than words. But these facts needed to be explained by God himself. Sinful man cannot and will not explain them truly. Sinful man would be sure to misinterpret them. He would regard them as mere accidental occurrences. Men sometimes believe the resurrection of Christ as an historical fact, and then fit this fact into a pragmatic conception of history. According to a pragmatic philosophy of history anything may happen and nothing will have any particular and universal meaning. On the other hand word revelation without fact revelation would hover in the air and not reach reality. Special revelation needed actually to dip into this sinful world with redemptive power. Hence special revelation could not come to man in the form of a book dropped from heaven. Revelation had to be historically mediated. We are not certain that there is not an element of truth in the charge sometimes lodged against “fundamentalists” that they have a mechanical conception of Scripture. Instead of a mechanical view of Scripture, orthodox Christians should have an organic view of special revelation as a whole and of Scripture in particular.

If we thus connect the doctrine of Scripture with special revelation

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