Critical Analysis
Warfield couches his treatment of revelation in the cosmic biblical narrative of man’s fall from holiness and God’s merciful, supernatural intervening in the world to effect the salvation of the lost. His view of revelation is not one of man reaching out to God, but of God reaching out to sinful man. Thus, revelation is not about discovery nor creation, rather, it is concerned with revealing what was previously hidden as a result of sin.
Warfield adopts a bifurcated view of revelation. Natural revelation is that which is revealed to all mankind for the purposes of (1) displaying the nature and character of God, and (2) serving as enough knowledge to call men to account for their sin and thus condemn them. This species of revelation is delivered through the natural world. Special revelation has as its audience a “special class of sinners” to whom God has chosen to reveal His salvation. It is given through direct encounters with God Himself, prophetic utterance, and inspired Scripture. Of special note is Warfield’s insistence, against other theologians, that both forms of revelation are required for each to be effective. They are not opposed to each other but complement each other perfectly. He argues that natural revelation is God’s original form of revelation that was presented to mankind in his original holy state. Upon sinning, the severance of God’s relationship with man necessitated special revelation in order for God to bring about His end goal of producing a people for Himself. General revelation still provides evidence of God’s grandeur and majesty, but special revelation is necessary to communicate God’s grace to mankind so that it can be brought back into relationship with Him.
Next, Warfield addresses the process by which revelation comes to mankind. He makes a strong case that revelation started with direct contact with individuals and proceeded progressively through families, tribes, a nation, and ending with the entire human race. This progression mirrors the progression of the revelation itself where increased revelation was given to increasingly larger groups until the time of Jesus when the fullness of revelation was given to all of mankind. Warfield ties this progression to God’s continual advancement of the Kingdom of God with each new advancement being punctuated by a greater degree of revelation.
Warfield also provides a sophisticated view of the modes of revelation that takes into account many opponents’ critiques. He argues that there are three ways in which God brings revelation to mankind. These ways occur throughout history, but certain ages seem to be dominated by one means or another. The earliest form of revelation, “external manifestation,” consists of theophanies and God’s miraculous signs and wonders (7). In this way, Warfield makes room for non-verbal forms of revelation. Second, he examines forms of “internal suggestion” (7). This mode includes prophecy, vision, and dreams. Warfield sees this type of revelation as either seen, spoken, or written and communicated passively through mankind. God dictates the words or the scenes directly to the human mind voluntarily, but without creative addition, and the human recipient communicates verbally what was seen or heard. This type of revelation is common during the reign of kings in the nation of Israel. The final and most theologically interesting mode is “concursive operation” whereby mankind is permitted to actively work with God in the crafting of the revelation message (7). Under this final view, Warfield makes room for the variety of genres, voices, tempers, moods, and grammatical styles that are found in Scripture. Under this view, God is supernaturally supervising the act of writing without suppressing the creative control of the human author. Finally, Warfield also acknowledges Jesus as the ultimate form of revelation.
Critical Evaluation
Warfield’s article does a good job at presenting an evangelical and biblical view of revelation. However, by leaving the definition of special revelation at “an act by which God makes known soteriological content,” he leaves himself open to the issue of interpretation. Though he includes the actual salvation of individuals as the result of true delivery of special revelation, he leaves open the method by which “God breaks His way… into man’s darkened heart” (4). On a related note, Warfield asserts that special revelation cannot be received by all of mankind, thus people who are not chosen by God could read a revelation document like the Bible and be completely unable to respond to it. This theory seems to be more in line with revelation being an internal experience of God rather than the revelation given in word form. Finally, though Warfield summarizes biblical terminology at the end of his essay, it would have been more helpful to the reader to mention the key terms (Word of God, Law, Torah) within the context of his earlier arguments.
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