Scott Bushey
Puritanboard Commissioner
Steve,
Thanks for your insight. I attempted to make this point in my FB post w/ Kevin by quoting Calvin:
Yes the above is not directly related to the subject at hand but it does assist us in coming to a respectable conclusion in the way that the terms are being used here.
Thanks for your insight. I attempted to make this point in my FB post w/ Kevin by quoting Calvin:
"A further distinction that must be made is the distinction between immediate and mediate general revelation. Immediate general revelation occurs without an intermediating agency. Mediate general revelation occurs through an intermediating agency. John Calvin described immediate general revelation in hisInstitutes of the Christian Religion:
There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity [divinitatis sensum]. This we take to be beyond controversy. To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of his divine majesty (I.3.1).
In other words, God has revealed himself by directly implanting knowledge about Himself in all men. In a later chapter, Calvin described the mediate general revelation that God accomplishes through His created works:
The final goal of the blessed life, moreover, rests in the knowledge of God [cf.John 17:3]. Lest anyone, then, be excluded from access to happiness, he not only sowed in men’s minds that seed of religion of which we have spoken, but revealed himself and daily discloses himself in the whole workmanship of the universe. As a consequence, men cannot open their eyes without being compelled to see him (Institutes, I.5.1)."
Yes the above is not directly related to the subject at hand but it does assist us in coming to a respectable conclusion in the way that the terms are being used here.