General vs Specific Revelation: Which Is Better?

So, which is better? General revelation needs specific revelation to make it truly comprehensible.

This is true, but so is the inverse:

Special revelation needs general revelation to make it truly comprehensible.

This is because special revelation relies on language and language relies on referents.

As an example, start with Genesis 1:1: “In the begninning.” How do we know what “beginning” means? We know it from experience, which is knowledge usually included under the ‘general’ category.

I have read some making the case for a third category: conscience, or law written in their hearts (Rom 2). Others put that under ‘general’ also. So whether we understand ‘beginning’ from experience or intuition, it’s not special revelation.

Then we come to “God.” It reads “In the beginning, God created.” How do we know who God is?

I hear some saying, “well we know from Scripture.” True, but how do we know who Scripture is talking about when it tells us things about “God”?

That one I believe is in intuitive, but still not special revelation.

Special revelation builds on general. General is completed by special. Neither is in any way inferior to the other. We use the word “revelation,” which assumes a Revealer. If there is a Revealer, and that Revealer is God, then nothing He does can be said to be ‘better’ than anything else He does. It is all perfect.

The problems come on the receiving end—and this is true of both general and special revelations. We don’t read words in a vacuum. We read the in the context of human experience, our ecclesiastical history, our intuitive knowledge, the groups we belong to.

Neither special or general are impervious to bias. And sometimes I think we overlook that.

Whether special or general, we now “know in part” and “see…. darkly” (end of 1 Cor 13).

If there is a Revealer, and that Revealer is God, then nothing He does can be said to be ‘better’ than anything else He does. It is all perfect.

The Bible does not support your view that "nothing He does can be said to be 'better' than anything else He does."

Scripture speaks explicitly of better promises, all of which were made by God Himself. It speaks of a better resurrection, which God Himself performs.

Scripture speaks of a better covenant that God Himself enacted. It also speaks of humans as better than sheep and fowls of the air even though God made humans, sheep, birds, and all other living beings.

The Bible does not support your view that “nothing He does can be said to be ‘better’ than anything else He does.”

Nothing you wrote argues against that.

Can you explain to me how God could do something imperfect?

Edit: It might be less confusing to say that everything God does is perfect for its intended purposes. Nothing is inferior to anything else in that sense. (Of course, what people do is a different topic.)

“As for God, His way is perfect” … (I don’t have the reference handy, but it’s in two places, if memory serves.)

It’s fair to say that in the unfolding of His plans, some things serve purposes that are secondary to other things. So sometimes we see the word “better” in that sense. The meaning is not that it is ultimately better.

It could be argued that general revelation has a purpose that is secondary to special revelation. Ultimately, that doesn’t make it “better.” Either way, the argument that we need SR to understand GR still doesn’t prove the point—because it remains true that we need GR to understand SR. And I think we need to give GR its due, which often doesn’t seem to happen.

Can you explain to me how God could do something imperfect?

I do not need to explain how God could do something imperfect because I never made the claim that He has.

You need to submit your human reasoning to divine revelation. When God says that something that He made is better than something else that He also made, He is right.

The Bible has numerous statements that show that God does not regard everything that He has made to be equal. I have already spoken of some of them.

The following are two more such statements:

He is the One who has made stars to differ in glory (1 Cor. 15:41).

Moreover, He makes our earthly bodies, and He is the One who will make our heavenly bodies, which will be incomparably better and superior to our earthly bodies (1 Cor. 15:42-44; Philippians. 3:21).

Yes, Scripture sometimes describes things as “better,” and yes I believe it.

It’s fair to say that in the unfolding of His plans, some things serve purposes that are secondary to other things. So sometimes we see the word “better” in that sense. The meaning is not that it is ultimately better.

I also believe this…

“As for God, His way is perfect” … (I don’t have the reference handy, but it’s in two places, if memory serves.)

It’s Psalm 18:30 and 2 Sam 22:31, by the way.

Do you also believe these verses (one is a quote of the other, so… maybe it counts as one verse)?

If so, can a “perfect” thing be improved?

Can a perfect thing contain things that are not perfect?

That’s actually a more interesting question. One could argue that a part of a thing is imperfect until the whole is assembled. But this is really an illusion, because a part of a whole is still either a perfect or imperfect part.

It has to do with suitability for its intended purpose.

God’s purposes are perfect, and His plans are perfect, and the parts of the plans are perfect.

God cannot do something that is flawed. If He can, then He is also flawed. If He is also flawed, He is not God.

This is self-evident, right?

So how does “better” work with the “perfect” of Psalm 18:30 (and what we know about God from many other passages)?

So how does “better” work with the “perfect” of Psalm 18:30 (and what we know about God from many other passages)?

I do not see any problem with the "perfect" of Psalm 18:30 (and many other passages) and the many passages that reveal that God regards some things that He has made to be better than others, more glorious than them, excelling them, etc.

As I see it, you seem to want to go beyond what Scripture says and reason your way into holding that things that are perfect because God made them must be equally good, glorious, excellent. etc. in all respects in comparison with all other things that are perfect because God also made them. If that is what you hold to be true, I can say without any doubt that such reasoning is not biblical and is not the wisdom of God.

The Bible teaches both, and we must accept both as true regardless of how much cognitive dissonance it might create in people's finite and faulty minds.

As I see it, you are wanting to go beyond what Scripture says and reason your way into holding that things that are perfect because God made them must be *equally* good, glorious, excellent. etc. /in all respects/. Such reasoning is not biblical and is not the wisdom of God.

Well, there is reasoning involved, I’ll give you that.

Here’s my reasoning: Words mean things. “Perfect” means it can’t be improved. It has no flaws.

So, you want to believe in a God who messes up and then needs to do it over and get it right?

I’m kidding. I know you don’t believe that.

But you’re not understanding what I’m saying either, and there are important implications here for our view of God.

He absolutely get’s it 100% right the first time every time. He does not do anything over to improve it. Nothing He does is ever “better” in that sense.

So if you’re agreed that Psalm 18:30 means what He does truly is perfect, then the next question is, in what sense is anything “better”?

It can only better in non-ultimate ways. For example, it’s better for us in the short term. It’s better from our point of view. It is going to have results that are better in some ways.

But I’m really not splitting hairs here. It’s worth noting that even if we’re comparing the Mosaic Covenant to the New Covenant, God got it 100% right the first time. The Old Covenant was perfect in every way for its intended purpose.

So, the following is 100% agreed, and please don’t miss this:

• God makes things that are indeed different from other things.

(1 Cor. 15:41).

Moreover, He makes our earthly bodies, and He is the One who will make our heavenly bodies, which will be incomparably better and superior to our earthly bodies (1 Cor. 15:42-44; Philippians. 3:21).

• Where you’re wrong is in thinking that there when He made our current bodies, He made something imperfect. No, they are exactly how they are supposed to be for His purposes at this point in time. What follows later will be perfect for that time.

He doesn’t mess up. He doesn’t do over.

Getting back to the topic at hand, though: The real question about general vs. special revelation, does God teach in special revelation that it is “better” than general revelation? I’m open to that possibility, but I have not seen that.

Rather, we have looked at particular things it does better and we have added our reasoning to Scripture (to borrow some of your phrasing) to conclude that it is “better.”

But we’re talking about God communicating. He cannot fail to do this flawlessly. If there seems to be something inferior, it’s because we’re not understanding His purpose in doing it the way He did it.

It’s like asking is a car better than a roller skate?

Well, it depends.

Of course if your goal is to get to Albuquerque faster, a car is usually going to be “better.” If your goal is to work some muscles and get your heart rate above a threshold for an hour, the skates are “better.”

If God made them both, they would both be perfect for their purpose.

That’s all I’m saying.

But it matters because we are implying flaws in God’s wisdom and power if we say He something He did is better than something else He did--without qualifying that by explaining better for what, and in what sense.

In the referenced article, the author does do some of that. I don’t remember the particulars now, but typically people argue that special revelation carries more content, is more precise, etc. That’s plausible. They argue it’s necessary for salvation: that’s definitely true. It is given to us for doctrine, reproof, instruction in righteousness, and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word (not all of which has been Scripture, but all of it has been special revelation).

Does that make GR inferior, though? Well, it’s cars and roller skates. They are both perfect for different purposes. I just think that when people get to comparing the two, they often get a bit carried away with “better than” thinking and don’t ponder enough what GR is for and why/how it’s perfect for the purposes God intends it to serve.