This is one of my favorite lessons in TOBC 101. Following the example of Karl Barth, I decided to highlight God in revelation early in my doctrinal teaching. As always this makes for some fun discussion. But it works to make firm the truth of the Scriptures as God's revelation to us.
Audio/Video Resources
My Thoughts
As I stated above, I think this lesson is essential for understanding God's purpose in revealing Himself. Too many Christians today approach the Scriptures with a Sophist understanding. They expect confusion and are pleasantly surprised when the Holy Spirit reveals something to them. Many are satisfied to derived some simplistic ethical or moralistic value from the Scriptures. At best this approach is going to result in fundamentalism, mysticism or liberalism. None of these is healthy for the church. Though all have basic elements of truth to them, they truly need to be combined with a healthy understanding of God's desire for us to know Him and understand what is written in His word.
I attempt to prove this by moving through the Biblical accounts of God revealing Himself to man. Working with the thesis that God does not desire confusion, we arrive at the Holy Scriptures and must ask ourselves why we suddenly expect God to behave any differently.
I got the century wrong for John Calvin and Martin Luther in the Q & A time. Eeek.
