Receiving Revelation

Reflecting on A Puritan Theology
Pages 21-26

The Holy Spirit
Sticking with Owen on Scripture in his "The Reason of Faith," the Holy Spirit is critical to helping us accept and understand the Word of God.  A supernatural giving of faith is required to understand supernatural revelation from God.  The Spirit and Word are very closely linked.  Owen argued against the Quakers of his day that Scripture is the only means of supernatural revelation now.  The Spirit does not speak to us "of the Word, but by the Word" (23).

The Word of God is self-autheticating.  It needs no proof of its authority or authenticity.  Light is like this to the human eye.  We don't ask for proof that the sun is up; we know it by seeing it.  So with the Word, which calls itself light (Ps 36:9; 119:105).

Christ
Christ is our sole mediator, not just for our salvation, but for our communication with God.  Since we were made through Christ and for Him, only He can truly reveal God to us (John 1:18; 5:39).  All the written words of God we have are from Christ and point to Him.

Covenant
The purpose of revelation is to redeem.  It is for God to relate to man (and man to God) again.  This means we are talking about covenant - a structured relationship.  All revelation comes to us in the context of covenant.

Heart
This is really a practical thought.  Every time we go to our Bibles and read, we must be careful not to read for information alone.  The living God is speaking to our heart and it will call for a heart response from us.