14. Christian Revelation: Mode and Object
34. The Object of Revelation is to Draw People to God
People can get to know God through natural reason alone by looking at God’s creation. However, God freely wanted to reveal and give himself to man. God revealed his mystery, his compassionate plan of salvation for humanity.
The object of revelation is to draw people to God. In revealing himself, God wants to make his children capable of responding to him, knowing him, and loving him beyond what their own capacities would allow.
It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known to us the mystery of his will (cf. Eph 1:9). His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature (cf. Eph 2:18; 2 Pt 1:4). By this revelation, the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tm 1:17), from the fullness of his love, addresses men as friends (cf. Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14–15), and moves among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into his own company.1
35. God Reveals Himself through Words and Deeds
God reveals himself through both words and deeds. The two are inseparable.
This economy of Revelation is realized by deeds and words, which are intrinsically bound up with each other. As a result, the works performed by God in the history of salvation show forth and bear out the doctrine and realities signified by the words; the words, for their part, proclaim the works, and bring to light the mystery they contain. The most intimate truth which this revelation gives us about God and the salvation of man shines forth in Christ, who is himself both the mediator and the sum total of Revelation.2
36. The Different Steps of Revelation
Christ is the climax of divine revelation. Still, this perfection, or fulfillment, of God’s word to humanity had a long gestation period. It was first addressed to all in a direct—though oblique—way; then, to the people of Israel in a more explicit manner; and later, through the people of Israel, to the whole of humanity.
i) Originally, he manifested himself to our first parents, giving them grace and original justice.
ii) After their fall, God’s promised them redemption.
iii) He established an alliance with Noah after the Deluge. To limit the pride of mankind, who sought unity by the tower of Babel, God decreed that they should be divided into a plurality of nations. Polytheism and idolatry were constant threats in their moral lives.
iv) To gather mankind, God chose Abraham. The descendants of this patriarch—the people of Israel—were to prepare the gathering of all the children of God in the unity of the Church.
v) God saved Israel from slavery in Egypt, and established the [Old] Covenant of Sinai through Moses. He gave them the Law.
vi) Through the prophets, God instructed his people in the hope of salvation, in the hope of a new covenant. This covenant will be everlasting and directed to all people (cf. Is 2:2–4), engraved in their hearts (cf. Jer 31:31–34; Heb 10:16). The holy ones in Israel kept this hope alive; the purest among them was Mary of Nazareth.3
God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word (cf. Jn 1:3), provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities (cf. Rom 1:19–20). And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation, he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning. After the fall, he buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption (cf. Gn 3:15); and he has never ceased to take care of the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing (cf. Rom 2:6–7). In his own time God called Abraham, and made him into a great nation (cf. Gn 12:2). After the era of the patriarchs, he taught this nation, by Moses and the prophets, to recognize him as the only living and true God, as a provident Father and just judge. He taught them, too, to look for the promised Savior. And so, throughout the ages, he prepared the way for the Gospel.4
37. Revelation Culminates in Christ
The fullness of revelation is found in Christ, in his Person, deeds, and words. What preceded Christ was preparation for this ultimate revelation.
After God had spoken many times and in various ways through the prophets, “in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son (Heb 1:1–2). For he sent his Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all men, to dwell among men and tell them about the inner life of God. Hence, Jesus Christ, sent as “a man among men,” “speaks the words of God” (Jn 3:34), and accomplishes the saving work which the Father gave him to do (cf. Jn 5:36; 17:4). As a result, he himself—to see whom is to see his Father (cf. Jn 14:9)—completed and perfected Revelation and confirmed it with divine guarantees. He did this by the total fact of his presence and self-manifestation—by words and works, signs and miracles, but above all by his death and glorious resurrection from the dead, and finally by sending the Spirit of truth. He revealed that God was with us, to deliver us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to eternal life.5
This is the definitive revelation. Thus, “the Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definite covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”6
Therefore, the theory of the limited, incomplete or imperfect character of the revelation of Jesus Christ, which would be complementary to that found in other religions, is contrary to the Church’s faith. Such a position would claim to be based on the notion that the truth about God cannot be grasped and manifested in its globality and completeness by any historical religion, neither by Christianity nor by Jesus Christ.…
Thus faith requires us to profess that the Word made flesh, in his entire mystery, who moves from incarnation to glorification, is the source, participated but real, as well as the fulfillment of every salvific revelation of God to humanity, and that the Holy Spirit, who is Christ’s Spirit, will teach this “entire truth” (Jn 16:13) to the apostles and, through them, to the whole Church.7
38. The Immutability of the Deposit of Revelation
It follows from the above that the deposit of revelation (the body of truths revealed to us) has been definitively established and placed under the custody of the Church.
In the words of the First Vatican Council, “The content of faith—revealed by God—has not been presented to men as a philosophical system to be perfected by human ingenuity; it was presented as a divine trust given to the bride of Christ to be faithfully kept and infallibly interpreted.”8
39. The Object of Revelation
The purpose of God’s revelation is to make manifest to us the mysteries of his innermost life and eternal decisions concerning the salvation of men. Thus:
By divine Revelation God wished to manifest and communicate both himself and the eternal decrees of his will concerning the salvation of mankind. He wished, in other words, “to share with us divine benefits which entirely surpass the powers of the human mind to understand.”
The sacred Synod professes that “God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world, by the natural light of human reason” (cf. Rom 1:20). It teaches that it is to his Revelation that we must attribute the fact “that those things, which in themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, can, in the present condition of the human race, be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty, and without the contamination of error.9
Therefore, revelation contains truths of a primarily supernatural character, but it also contains natural truths especially associated to these, which without revelation would have been accessible only to a selected few, without certainty, and not without admixture of error.
Footnotes:
1. DV, 2; cf. CCC, 51–52.
2. DV, 2; cf. CCC, 53.
3. Cf. CCC, 54–64.
4. DV, 3.
5. Ibid., 4; cf. CCC, 65–67.
6. DV, 4.
7. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, 6, Aug. 6, 2000.
8. DS 3020; cf. CCC, 66–67.
9. DV, 6.
People can get to know God through natural reason alone by looking at God’s creation. However, God freely wanted to reveal and give himself to man. God revealed his mystery, his compassionate plan of salvation for humanity.
The object of revelation is to draw people to God. In revealing himself, God wants to make his children capable of responding to him, knowing him, and loving him beyond what their own capacities would allow.
It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known to us the mystery of his will (cf. Eph 1:9). His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature (cf. Eph 2:18; 2 Pt 1:4). By this revelation, the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tm 1:17), from the fullness of his love, addresses men as friends (cf. Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14–15), and moves among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into his own company.1
35. God Reveals Himself through Words and Deeds
God reveals himself through both words and deeds. The two are inseparable.
This economy of Revelation is realized by deeds and words, which are intrinsically bound up with each other. As a result, the works performed by God in the history of salvation show forth and bear out the doctrine and realities signified by the words; the words, for their part, proclaim the works, and bring to light the mystery they contain. The most intimate truth which this revelation gives us about God and the salvation of man shines forth in Christ, who is himself both the mediator and the sum total of Revelation.2
36. The Different Steps of Revelation
Christ is the climax of divine revelation. Still, this perfection, or fulfillment, of God’s word to humanity had a long gestation period. It was first addressed to all in a direct—though oblique—way; then, to the people of Israel in a more explicit manner; and later, through the people of Israel, to the whole of humanity.
i) Originally, he manifested himself to our first parents, giving them grace and original justice.
ii) After their fall, God’s promised them redemption.
iii) He established an alliance with Noah after the Deluge. To limit the pride of mankind, who sought unity by the tower of Babel, God decreed that they should be divided into a plurality of nations. Polytheism and idolatry were constant threats in their moral lives.
iv) To gather mankind, God chose Abraham. The descendants of this patriarch—the people of Israel—were to prepare the gathering of all the children of God in the unity of the Church.
v) God saved Israel from slavery in Egypt, and established the [Old] Covenant of Sinai through Moses. He gave them the Law.
vi) Through the prophets, God instructed his people in the hope of salvation, in the hope of a new covenant. This covenant will be everlasting and directed to all people (cf. Is 2:2–4), engraved in their hearts (cf. Jer 31:31–34; Heb 10:16). The holy ones in Israel kept this hope alive; the purest among them was Mary of Nazareth.3
God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word (cf. Jn 1:3), provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities (cf. Rom 1:19–20). And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation, he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning. After the fall, he buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption (cf. Gn 3:15); and he has never ceased to take care of the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing (cf. Rom 2:6–7). In his own time God called Abraham, and made him into a great nation (cf. Gn 12:2). After the era of the patriarchs, he taught this nation, by Moses and the prophets, to recognize him as the only living and true God, as a provident Father and just judge. He taught them, too, to look for the promised Savior. And so, throughout the ages, he prepared the way for the Gospel.4
37. Revelation Culminates in Christ
The fullness of revelation is found in Christ, in his Person, deeds, and words. What preceded Christ was preparation for this ultimate revelation.
After God had spoken many times and in various ways through the prophets, “in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son (Heb 1:1–2). For he sent his Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all men, to dwell among men and tell them about the inner life of God. Hence, Jesus Christ, sent as “a man among men,” “speaks the words of God” (Jn 3:34), and accomplishes the saving work which the Father gave him to do (cf. Jn 5:36; 17:4). As a result, he himself—to see whom is to see his Father (cf. Jn 14:9)—completed and perfected Revelation and confirmed it with divine guarantees. He did this by the total fact of his presence and self-manifestation—by words and works, signs and miracles, but above all by his death and glorious resurrection from the dead, and finally by sending the Spirit of truth. He revealed that God was with us, to deliver us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to eternal life.5
This is the definitive revelation. Thus, “the Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definite covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”6
Therefore, the theory of the limited, incomplete or imperfect character of the revelation of Jesus Christ, which would be complementary to that found in other religions, is contrary to the Church’s faith. Such a position would claim to be based on the notion that the truth about God cannot be grasped and manifested in its globality and completeness by any historical religion, neither by Christianity nor by Jesus Christ.…
Thus faith requires us to profess that the Word made flesh, in his entire mystery, who moves from incarnation to glorification, is the source, participated but real, as well as the fulfillment of every salvific revelation of God to humanity, and that the Holy Spirit, who is Christ’s Spirit, will teach this “entire truth” (Jn 16:13) to the apostles and, through them, to the whole Church.7
38. The Immutability of the Deposit of Revelation
It follows from the above that the deposit of revelation (the body of truths revealed to us) has been definitively established and placed under the custody of the Church.
In the words of the First Vatican Council, “The content of faith—revealed by God—has not been presented to men as a philosophical system to be perfected by human ingenuity; it was presented as a divine trust given to the bride of Christ to be faithfully kept and infallibly interpreted.”8
39. The Object of Revelation
The purpose of God’s revelation is to make manifest to us the mysteries of his innermost life and eternal decisions concerning the salvation of men. Thus:
By divine Revelation God wished to manifest and communicate both himself and the eternal decrees of his will concerning the salvation of mankind. He wished, in other words, “to share with us divine benefits which entirely surpass the powers of the human mind to understand.”
The sacred Synod professes that “God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world, by the natural light of human reason” (cf. Rom 1:20). It teaches that it is to his Revelation that we must attribute the fact “that those things, which in themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, can, in the present condition of the human race, be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty, and without the contamination of error.9
Therefore, revelation contains truths of a primarily supernatural character, but it also contains natural truths especially associated to these, which without revelation would have been accessible only to a selected few, without certainty, and not without admixture of error.
Footnotes:
1. DV, 2; cf. CCC, 51–52.
2. DV, 2; cf. CCC, 53.
3. Cf. CCC, 54–64.
4. DV, 3.
5. Ibid., 4; cf. CCC, 65–67.
6. DV, 4.
7. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, 6, Aug. 6, 2000.
8. DS 3020; cf. CCC, 66–67.
9. DV, 6.