Revelation and nature

Von Balthasar says that grace presupposes a nature that is free from revelation: “If there is to be revelation, then it can only proceed from God to a creature – to a creature that precisely as a creature does not include revelation in its conceptual range.”

Van Til is much more biblical, if much more paradoxical: Revelation and creaturehood arise simultaneously because every creature in fact is a revelation of God. There is initially no creature to receive revelation; revelation constitutes the creature. The first revelation is not a revelation to anyone, but a revelation that takes the form of someone.

Perhaps better, the first revelation is from God to God. The creature is the product of the Father’s Breath and Speech, and through His Speech and Breath it is turned back to Him for His delight.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War

R. R. Reno

What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…

How the State Failed Noelia Castillo

Itxu Díaz

On March 26, Noelia Castillo, a twenty-five-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by her doctors at her own…

The Mind’s Profane and Sacred Loves

Algis Valiunas

The teachers you have make all the difference in your life. That they happened to come into…