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There are several stages by which God's truth comes to us:
1. Since God's truth begins in his own mind, its communication must begin by his making things known to his creatures in ways understandable to them. This process is called REVELATION.

2. Once God has revealed something that he wants his people to learn and study, it must be committed to writing if it is to continue to be helpful beyond the immediate moment of revelation. By overseeing this process supernaturally, God ensures that the Scriptures form an accurate and infallible written record of what he makes known. We call this process INSPIRATION.

3. Once God's truth was recorded in the books of Scripture, God has maintained the integrity of the texts through many generations as they were distributed throughout the churches. The original writings were not preserved. New Testament believers knew the Old Testament only through copies preserved by God's grace. Today we only know the Bible through copies. We call this process of maintaining the text of Scripture PRESERVATION.

4. Since today few know the original languages in which the Bible was written (Hebrew, Aramaic and Koine Greek), God's word must be translated so that it will be understood by the common people in each age, nation and culture. God did not intend for his word to come only to linguistic scholars and students of ancient history. It must be made available to act as the standard by which all believers judge what they are taught to believe and do. We call this process TRANSLATION.

5. The final step is when we attempt to understand God's truth as we read the texts of Scripture. In Scripture God has revealed rules by which the Bible must be studied and interpreted. We need to know these rules and use them consistently if we are to properly understand what God has said in his Bible. We call this process INTERPRETATION.

Each step in transmitting God's truth, from his mind to our understanding, must be directed by and grounded in methods confirmed by the Scriptures alone.

If there was no REVELATION, there would be no foundation for knowing that anything we believe about God is true. If there was no INSPIRATION by which God's revealed truth was put into written form, then God's truth would have been lost to the moments beyond when the prophets originally received and spoke God's truth. If there was no PRESERVATION, then the Bible would have been lost when events and natural processes eliminated the original documents. If there was no TRANSLATING of the Bible, its words would be limited to only a few scholars. If there were no clear rules to govern the INTERPRETATION of the Bible, then its words would remain disconnected and its teachings uncertain. God's promises would be unknowable and his comforts would be meaningless.

These five steps cross a series of gaps between man's understanding and God's truth. The only way for redeemed people to be confident that what they know is reliable is if the gaps are crossed by principles grounded in the clear statements of the Bible, God's word. When we understand that these problems are all addressed in the Bible, we will better appreciate the Scriptures as a standard we can use in testing the truth of everything we hear.

REVELATION: the first step in knowing truth.
We can know God because he has made himself known in ways understandable to us. As our Creator, he made us so that we would be physically able to receive all the means of revelation he intended to use. His revelation comes in two basic types: we call them General and Special.

General Revelation
In General Revelation, God declares his wonders and tells us something about his basic nature. He does this by means available generally to all humans, which is why we call it "general." This type of revelation comes to humans both externally and internally. Among the things made known generally are God's glory, power, nature, and goodness, and man's own spiritual dependence upon, and duty toward, his Creator.

External general revelation comes to us through the senses. It includes the works of creation and the rule of God over all things through his acts of providence. Sometimes this is called "natural revelation" because nature itself is the means by which God makes himself known. But this should not be confused with "natural theology" where truths about such things as morality, man's nature and worship are presumed to be drawn from a study of nature detached from the use of Scripture.

The Bible is clear about what we can know from God's revelation in nature. Below are a few verses that directly state this truth.

Psalm 19:1-2 "The Heavens are telling of the glory of God; and the firmament is declaring the work of his hands."

Romans 1:20 "His invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

The Bible also demonstrates that creation and God's works show that he is a spirit and a person. He is the source of all life and being (Acts 17:24-30).

Internal general revelation is the voice of inner moral testimony which we call conscience. This testifies to our spiritual nature concerning our duty as creatures.

Romans 1:18-19 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them."

Romans 2:14-16 "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus."

God does not leave us without an ample witness to the basic truths he wants us to know about himself. By General revelation God declares that he really exists, that he made us and that we owe all to him. When we observe what God has made and done we find so much for which to thank him! As Dr. Francis Schaeffer said, "God is there and he is not silent."

Special Revelation
As powerful as General Revelation is, it doesn't communicate to lost humans their need for salvation and the means provided for their restoration by grace through a promised redeemer.

Something is seriously wrong with all humans since the fall of Adam into sin. They tend to deny or redefine the things their senses tell them concerning their Creator. They tend to disobey what their consciences tell them about their moral obligations to God. Man's problem in knowing God and in being faithful to his duties, is not due to any defect in General Revelation. Fallen man is in rebellion! He suppresses God's truth. This makes him destined to frustration in his attempt to know who he is and how he fits into God's world.

The spiritual corruption that is inherent in every human born by ordinary generation since the fall of mankind makes his understanding of spiritual things impossible. No one in that condition seeks to really know God as he reveals himself.

1 Corinthians 2:14 "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."

God was not content to leave all of fallen mankind in its corrupted condition of spiritual blindness. He not only promised to send a Savior. He also added a kind of revelation beyond that which was generally available to all humans naturally. This special revelation is supernatural, and was directed to individuals chosen by God's grace alone. It tells about man's fall into sin, the covenant God established to redeem his people, and it clarifies the moral laws obscured by man's fallen conscience. In Special Revelation God makes his redemptive plans and works known through supernatural means for the benefit of those who are his people.

God has revealed himself specially in a variety of ways. He has disclosed truth about his nature and work by direct appearances, through visions, dreams, voices, and miracles, through the urim and thumim, the purim, prophecies, and in the Messiah. These means were used only in specific periods of history and if left to themselves their message would have remained limited to the time when the revelation was made. For the message to be of lasting effect, it needed to be passed on by words either verbally or in writing.

While some specially revealed truth was passed on by God's prophets and elders orally, some Special Revelation was committed to writing. God specially preserved the essential part of his message by causing it to become "inscripturated." This supernaturally written record forms our Bible. It is an objective standard against which all ideas can be compared and tested. Scripture is an infallible and error free product of special revelation.

By committing God's word to writing his truth is preserved for his church. It provides an objective record by which our attempts to organize what we believe can be tested. When written down his message is easier to study and communicate to others; both to those outside of Christ's church, and to his own people.

A written word establishes a more sure foundation and comfort for the church (2 Peter 1:19-21). It warns us and directs us as we work to preserve our Lord's church against the opposition of fallen hearts, Satan and the world. Written objective promises can be appealed to in times of temptation, discouragement, trouble, and when we sin.

God's former ways of revealing himself have ceased. The Scriptures provide a complete word of prophesy eliminating the need for continuing special revelation today. Once the apostolic foundation was laid (Ephesians 2:20), the prophetic apostolic office and the need for additional special revelation ceased.

The New Testament writers attach special meaning to the term "Scripture." They used it to refer to a limited body of truth that was growing, and approaching completion, in their time. Clearly it constituted a specific and objective body of written material that could be studied by the church and used as its final authority. Revelation 22:18 reminds us that it is morally wrong to add any human thoughts to the body of God's special revelation.

Biblically all revelation must be consistent with itself. This gives us a helpful test to guide us in recognizing ideas that have not come from God. God cannot deny himself. What he says must always agree with what he has already made known. All revelation that truly comes from him must be consistent with all other statements in Scripture, with all the principles previously revealed by God, and with his revealed character.

The Bible gives us a final, authoritative, objective standard for testing ideas and recognizing truth. The Westminster Confession affirms that the Bible, not the confession, forms such a standard. It is often those who deny the use of confessions who introduce strange and aberrant ideas. The Bible must remain our only rule in matters of faith and practice. The Confession is designed to preserve and promote the supremacy of Scripture in all matters of faith and practice.

Questions for Review and Thought
1. What are the five processes by which the truth in God's mind comes to be known to the church.
2. In what ways do General and Special Revelation differ?
3. What are the two types of General Revelation?
   a. how does the way they are received by us differ?
   b. how does the kind of information each communicates differ?
4. Why is Special Revelation necessary if we are to know God?
5. Why is the written word of God the most important form of Special Revelation today?
6. What would be the danger of using principles for interpreting the Bible that were not themselves derived from Scripture?
7. How does Ephesians 2:20 show that the process of special revelation God used in the time of the Apostles should not be expected to continue after their time of ministry was over?