What comes first? The order of revelation.

I was unable to blog last week, but I’m back on track.

My last post on John Calvin’s Institutes covered chapter 5. Before I go on to chapter 6 I would like to give a few comments on the subject and order of revelation.

Due to Calvin’s theology of man’s fall, the revelation of God in nature “burns in vain.” Here is Calvin, “It is therefore in vain that so many burning lamps shine for us in the workmanship of the universe to show forth the glory of its Author. Although they bathe us wholly in their radiance, yet they can of themselves in no way lead us into the right path. Surely, they strike some sparks, but before their fuller light shines forth these are smothered. For this reason, the apostle, in that very passage where he calls the worlds the images of things invisible, adds that through faith we understand that they have been fashioned by God’s word [Heb 11:3]” (Pg, 68).

Notice, only through faith can man see creation’s light. God, in other words, has to open our eyes. “We have not the eyes to see unless they be illumined by the inner revelation of God through faith” (P.68). Notice in the same paragraph that though nature “burns in vain;" nevertheless nature’s revelation does leave man without excuse.

Contrast Calvin here to the 18th century Enlightenment passion for reasonable religion, and you wish that guys like John Locke, H.S. Reimarus, or Joseph Butler, would have read Calvin, or if they did, realize there is more to man’s knowing than reason. Obviously, Calvin believed man cannot know God from reason alone; after all nature's "spark" are smothered by us. Obviously, he like Jean Jacques Rousseau and others like him in the counter-enlightenment movement of later time held that faith is an element of human knowledge. Faith does seek understanding.

But the question is which faith, and who’s faith? Is it faith in any divine being or power? Is that faith a work of man or a gift? Obviously, we, like Calvin are driven to the question of revelation. Which faith? It must be revealed. Who’s faith? If man can’t gain faith through nature, including reason, then it must be given by grace. No matter how you look at it, God’s revelation of himself is the cornerstone and fulcrum to man knowing God.

The leads to a further question, which revelation must come first, God’s revelation in Scripture or God’s revelation in the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. As I said in my last blog, Barth put the Incarnate Word first, and then the Scriptures. Calvin reversed the order. Barth, like Calvin said it cannot be nature because “it must be Christ that we must hear.” But both said this for somewhat different reasons. Calvin said man’s sin blinds him to natural theology. Barth it could be said maintained natural theology blinds men to Jesus. To look to nature is to look to man in his sin, and for Barth this was Nazism.

What will help in this question of the order of revelation? Here are some of my thoughts. God’s chosen means of revealing himself directly to man is not nature, but Jesus. God wants people to look at his Son and see nature (including man) through his eyes. He is the reason for the covenants, the promises, and even the Scriptures. After all only through faith in God as Creator and Redeemer are we renewed can we see nature in it’s proper light; hence Calvin’s call to faith in Jesus.

The Spirit is involved of course, and this is where the Scripture comes in. Calvin, known as the theologian of the Holy Spirit, clearly explains that the Spirit uses the Scripture to reveal Christ. Perhaps this, as well as the 16th century question of authority in the church, is why Calvin put the revelation of Scripture before the revelation of the Incarnate Word. But it is not long begfore Calvin fully focuses on God's revelation in Jesus Christ. Books 2,3, and 4 of his Institutes are actually an exercise in the proper use of Scripture, namely to give the knowledge of Jesus Christ the revelation of God. To Calvin Scripture is not God, but a finger that points to him. To Calvin Jesus is God, and the Spirit’s task through the Scriptures, as well as through preaching, church sacraments, and prayer is to bring us to God. God brings us to God. He comes to us in the Word Christ, in the Word of Scripture, which points to Christ, in the sacraments, preaching, prayer, and church where Christ is present and takes us by the shoulders, and turns us around to look at his Son. This is incidentally, why worship was so important to Calvin.

To conclude, we cannot know God in nature without his grace. We cannot know God unless he reveals himself to us. He has done this in Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. The church needs both! It’s true that the starting point is the revelation of Scripture, but its goal and glory is Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, it is equally true that the starting point is Jesus Christ. He became man and in him, we saw the revelation of the Father full of grace and truth. Scripture would be empty if the church did not start with Christ. Therefore, the staring point is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and he is the goal and glory of the Scriptures.