02-19-2008, 07:22 PM
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 | Puritanboard Postgraduate | | Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Chapel Hill, NC
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| Reymond on Continuing Revelation
Taken from A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, pp. 58: Quote:
The notion of the cessation of special revelation with the passing of the apostles, or more specifically of that divine activity that produced the Holy Scriptures, should not be thought strange. The revelatory process never came in unbroken continuance but rather, in nontechnical language, in "spurts."
Consider the following facts: Between Genesis 49:1-27, the last time God spoke to or through a Genesis patriarch, which prophecy was spoken by Jacob the year he died in 1858 B.C., and Exodus 3:4, when God spoke to Moses around 1446 B.C., there was a "blackout" of divine communication to Jacob's family in Egypt for over four hundred years. Moses was then raised up to lead God's people out of Egypt and to write the Pentateuch. With reference to the Law of God, Moses warned that nothing was to be added to or taken from the commandments, statutes, and judgments he gave to Israel (Deut. 4:2). No one - neither wives, brothers, children, friends, not even the prophets who would follow him - could add to or take away from his Law (see Deut. 12:32-13:8). In short, with respect to the Law per se, it was a "closed canon." The Old Testament prophets, of course, did give further revelation as the redemptive process moved toward its consummating goal in Jesus Christ. But in doing so, they did not add to or take away from the Mosaic Law insofar as legislation is concerned but rather continuously called Israel back to obedience to the Mosaic Law (Mal. 4:4). And even their revelational activity ceased after Malachi for a space of another four hundred years. So clearly the Old Testament as a whole became a "closed canon." Consequently, if one avers that the New Testament data supports the position that the New Testament itself has become a "closed canon," the conclusion should not be viewed as foreign to the biblical paradigm.
One final note: most, if not all, of the biblical scholars and theologians who insist up on the reality of continuing revelation today are apparently also willing to affirm that the Bible is a "closed canon." For this affirmation I am genuinely glad. On the other hand, they seem not to appreciate that the argument for a closed canon, which they affirm, is also the argument for the cessation of revelation, that the two stand or fall together, and that if the revelatory process has in fact continued to this day, then there is no such thing as a truly closed canon.
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Husband of Emilia
Member: First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham (RPCNA) - Durham, NC
Currently in the process of transferring membership to an as-yet-undecided church in Chapel Hill
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German Literature and Classics
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