General revelation is everything in existence in our universe. Descartes’ famous “I think therefore I am” is a proof that we exist, and because nothing in this universe, including humans, created itself, it all had to come from somewhere outside this universe, a creator. Because we are aware of our existence and the existence of the universe (even if that’s just a small isolated island we are born and buried on), we know that God exists and we have obligations to him as a result of being created beings. However, general revelation is like “How Great Thou Art” sung in Korean (1). While it is powerful and stirs something within us towards God, without special revelation we do not know how to interpret it, and our attempts are like sheep gone astray, none seeking after God, only a God of our own making. Special Revelation is God speaking directly to people to explain what general revelation is saying about our need for God. This came in various forms, such as casting lots on Jonah’s ship, but mainly through the prophets in the Old Testament, and in our time the written, canonized, sufficient word of God, the Bible.
According to Romans 1:20, General revelation is authoritative to make us responsible for understanding God’s invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature. However, it takes the special revelation of God, such Jesus Christ the incarnate word, to provide us a way to respond to the grace of God. General revelation tells us that we will surely die, special revelation tells us we can have eternal life. General revelation tells us our souls are thirsty for God, but it takes John 4 for us to seek after his living water, instead of “the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (Romans 1:23). General revelation inspires us to worship, special revelation is the only avenue through which that worship can be redeemed.
“General Revelation provides evidences for the existence of God. Special revelation on the other hand, generally assumes his existence.” (2) When coming to any logical process, we necessarily have to presuppose something. General revelation is the basis for validating presuppositions and the Bible’s presuppositions are validated by general revelation in a way that no other understanding of reality can boast. However, it is only through special revelation that we gain the proper perspective for interpreting general revelation, and with that understanding reflect God’s glory to show how much better God is than idols.
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0ZVPO6SBdQ&list=PLNWxSxjYyJ0AcEqhGIZRS-y6NNq0Qzk_0&index=6&ab_channel=Gracias%EA%B7%B8%EB%9D%BC%EC%8B%9C%EC%95%84%EC%8A%A4
(2) Basic Theology, Charles Ryrie, page 28
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