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.
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