The first word that we need to understand in this connection is "Revelation". While this is a commonly used word, it is used about the Bible in a special way. We will go into the details of it later, but suffice at this point to say that the Bible speaks of God as a person who likes to communicate with mankind and reveal His will and purpose upon them. He does not leave them clueless, nor does he leave it upon mankind to discover God and His purpose by their own fallible human devises.
Words such as Revelation, Inspiration, and Illumination are connected with the various aspects of this process, and we will look at each one in great detail when the time comes. These multiple aspects connected with the giving of the Bible demands that Christians should have a reasonable understanding of all these aspects of divine communication, lest he fall short of understanding it.
The story of the illiterate widow who labored hard and exhausted all her finances to educate her son will be a good illustration at this point. Finally the son went to a distant land and after a month or so started sending her letters very regularly. Each time she would delight greatly when the barely literate villager would read that letter to her.
She continued to live in poverty because no money ever came from her son. After about three years when he returned he was shocked to see the abject poverty of his mother. Shocked, he interrogated her, only to realize that none in the village know what a check meant. Since the checks he enclosed with each letter were very attractive, everyone thought these were some kind of pictures from the alien land.
The source of life can be rendered totally useless and powerless of the potential users do not know how to tap the source. It is the same with the Bible. We should therefore make a serious effort to study what the Bible says about itself and also about precisely how God communicates to us through His written revelation. That will be the subject of Bibliology in the coming chapters.
Dr. Johnson C. Philip is a physicist and Christian apologist based in Kochi, India. The article has been placed by him in Creative Commons. You can read his apologetics articles at www.JohnsonCPhilip.Com
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July 29th, 2009 at 5:07 am
It’s wonderful,it has a deep meaning thank you to leave us thinking on its depth
July 30th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
The message is wonderful, It is a real soul searching. To be literate in word of God.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:50 am
to be God`s servant communicators of the Scripture, We should master the Bible and be firm in our faith.
October 24th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
As Christians, We should know what is the Bible and its Contents on it, and the Power of it. It`s Love and Grace that saves souls.
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:46 am
Thanks a lot for the Word of revelation and communication with God using the Bible. it is a good message, please continue to say more about revelation.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Thank you for this introductory communication in reference to the Revelation, Illustration, and the Illumination of the word of God and how humanity greatly benefits from their unpacking of the will of God for our lives.