Skip to main content

"Faith comes by Hearing … ”

The context in which man finds himself placed by the revelation of God is thoroughly existential. He is involved in the totality of his existence. Through the continuing activity of the ever-present and ever-active Spirit of revelation, man is called upon to respond to the God of revelation. The emergence of faith is the result of the revealing activity of God.
The relation of faith to God’s revealing activity has been described thus: 'Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God' / Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ‘ (Romans 10:17, AV / RSV).
God’s revelatory activity did not end at some fixed point in the past. He continues to reveal Himself to us as he brings us to faith. This present character of God’s revelation is seen in the emergence of faith as our response to ‘the Word of God’ in ‘the preaching of Christ’.
It would be misleading to focus much attention on the word, ‘preaching’, in its narrow sense. Close attention must, however, be paid to the terms, ‘Christ’ and ‘the Word of God’. A proper understanding of the terms, ‘Christ’ and ‘the Word of God’, provides a genuinely historical approach to the doctrine of revelation. To make the continuing activity of the ever-present and ever-active Spirit of revelation the sum-total of the concept of revelation is to have a completely a-historical concept of revelation, which operates with an inadequate understanding of both ‘Christ’ and ‘the Word of God’.
Revelation forms a whole process of which the Bible forms only a part and not the whole. Neither is the whole process exhausted by what takes place in the process of proclamation. God, in His freedom, has willed that the proclamation of the Christian message, with the attendant activity of the Spirit of revelation, be indispensable for the process of revelation to take its full course (1 Corinthians 1:21; Romans 10:14). Proclamation does not, however, constitute the whole process.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Berkouwer’s “Holy Scripture” and E J Young’s “Thy Word is Truth”

E J Young argues that one’s doctrine of Scripture is derived from either experience or Scripture, either natural man or supernatural God. Young does speak of the human character of Scripture. It does, however, seem that the supernatural-natural dichotomy underlies his doctrine of Scripture. He turns to the Bible “to discover what it has to say of itself” (p. 40). It is questionable, however, whether his view is not grounded in a notion which tends to set divine and human activity over against each other. Young rejects a mechanical theory (p. 65). It does, however, appear that his own view is really no more than a modification of this view. His interpretation of the working of the Spirit in the inspiration of Scripture is not directly identifiable with mechanical dictation (pp. 79-80). It does seem, however, that there is a tendency to move in that direction.  * Here are some statements from Young.  - “Without Him (God) there could have been no Bible. Without man th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grace found Noah!

Genesis 6:1-22 As we read the story of Noah, we learn of the place of Noah within the divine revelation of the Gospel of grace. "Noah found grace" (8) might be turned around to read, "Grace found Noah." "Amazing grace ... I once was lost but now am found." The significance of Noah, highlighted in 5:29, is expressed in the words, "Not the labour of my hands can fulfil Thy law's demands ... All for sin could not atone, Thou must save, and Thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy Cross I cling." To think of the flood exclusively in terms of judgment is to see only one side of what God was doing. As well as judging, He was also saving - "In this ship a few people - eight in all - were saved by water" ( 1 Peter 3:20 ). The ark points forward to Christ, "who came back from death to life", Christ who "saves" us ( 1 Peter 3:21 ).
Post a Comment
Read more

Doctrine And Devotion

For some Christians, 'doctrine' is a taboo word. They only need to hear the word and their hackles are up! In their view, doctrine is dry. It is head-knowledge. It is not practical. There are others whose preoccupation with doctrine gives precisely the same impression. One recalls the story of the man who was asked his opinion of a certain preacher. The question was put to him, "Was he sound?" The reply came back immediately, "Oh yes. he was sound all right, but the rest of us were sound asleep." Doctrine can be 'on fire.' Doctrine need not be dull. Doctrine does not need to be above the heads of the ordinary people. It does not belong to the private domain of the academic's 'ivory tower.' When you hear the word, 'doctrine', do not imagine an academic 'holy of holies' which is protected by the words, "Trespassers Forbidden." For both the academic theologian and the ordinary believer, the way forward in doctrin...
Post a Comment
Read more