The following was composed by my pastoral colleague, Dan Allen, and reflects our understanding of the book’s structure as we’ve studied it for our upcoming sermon series on Revelation.
The Structure of Revelation
Revelation
The Scholar as Worshiper (Didaktikos: Journal of Theological Education)
Attached is an article published in the November 2019 issue of Didaktikos: Journal of Theological Education (DidaktikosJournal.com).
As Calvin says, true knowledge of God is more than just information entering our minds for inquisitive contemplation. Genuine apprehension of God—to perceive him as he is—necessarily entails making us worshipers of God, leaving us transformed by the encounter. [Continue reading…]
Miller, Kirk E. “The Scholar as Worshiper.” Didaktikos: Journal of Theological Education, Vol. 3, Issue 3 (November 2019): 49.
D.A. Carson Lectures on Revelation
The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Abridged Version) by John Calvin
The following is a summary of and reflection upon an abridged version of Calvin’s Institutes produced by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne (see it here on Amazon). I should note that I did not read the final book, Book IV: Outward Means by which God Helps Us, in its entirety; and therefore, it was directly not taken into consideration in the writing of this review.
* * * * *
Summary
Calvin’s understanding of how men know God, know themselves, and the relationship between these two types of knowledge is seemingly foundational to the entirety of his theology (1:1:1). For Calvin, knowledge of self is intrinsically linked to knowledge of God while knowledge of God results in proper assessment of self (1:1:1). Genuine knowledge of self necessarily assumes knowledge of God. One cannot fully grasp the existence of the creature apart from his fundamental relationship to his Creator and Sustainer (1:1:1). Comprehension of man’s falleness assumes an ideal, one that is rooted in God’s creative-design; transgression implies the reality of Judge (1:1:1). On the other hand, without knowledge of God, no one ever truly knows himself (1:1:2). Lacking insight into the purpose for which He was created, ignorance of his original nature and its divine intent flourish. Unaware of God’s standard of righteousness, man consequently assesses his moral condition inaccurately (2:1:1).
The Revelation of Christ as Revelation on Revelation
The Old Testament (OT) anticipates Christ and is an unfinished story without Him. Christ fulfills the hopes of the OT, which is another way of saying that the OT is about Christ (Lk 24:25-27, 44-45; Jn 5:39-40). Therefore, when the realization (i.e., Christ) of what was anticipated in the OT arrives, it actually illuminates and clarifies the expectation. In other words, Christ’s person and work specify what was anticipated in previous revelation. As such, the revelation of Jesus is a revelation on previous revelation (cf. Heb 1:1-2). Only in this sense is all previous revelation understood with all its implications, in its fullest meaning. In light of progressive revelation culminating in Christ, the significance of OT passages develop, they undergo an organic expansion, and they receive a fuller, but not contradictory, meaning. And as Christians who affirm the centrality of Christ in scripture and desire to read scripture in context, including its ultimate canonical context, we must read the OT in light of its consummation in Christ.
