general revelation
Definition
General revelation is God’s self-disclosure through creation, human reason, and conscience — accessible in principle to all people, regardless of their knowledge of the Bible or special revelation. The classical text is Rom. 1:20: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”
In the apokatastasis.wiki corpus, general revelation as a topic is underrepresented: the authors focus primarily on special revelation through Scripture, Spirit, and prophecy. Nevertheless, significant positions exist. Warnock regards nature as a direct manifestation of the Word of God that historically preceded Scripture. Noordzij, through his Mimosa story, offers an empirical argument for the possibility of knowledge of God outside of Scripture. Both positions imply that God’s activity is not principally limited to the channel of special revelation.
Author Variants
George Warnock
In Evening and Morning Warnock regards creation as the primary form of revelation that preceded the written Scriptures:
“After all, we must expect this to be so, for Nature is but a manifestation of the Word of God. There was a time when men had no Word but the Word of Nature, and it was such a clear revelation of the mind and character of God that the apostle was able to say, ‘The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.’ (Rom. 1:20)” (Evening and Morning, ch. 1)
For Warnock, nature is not merely an analogy or “pointer” toward God but an actual and clear manifestation of God’s eternal order and character. At the same time he holds that Scripture remains indispensable as foundation and compass: to lay aside the Scriptures on the assumption of having gone beyond them is to destroy “the very foundation upon which solid Christian character is built” and to throw away “the compass that alone can direct them to the haven of rest.” General revelation is therefore not sufficient in itself.
Cees and Anneke Noordzij
Noordzij approaches general revelation indirectly through the so-called Mimosa story in The Word of God and Scripture. He presents this as empirical evidence that God can communicate without the Bible:
“It is about an Indian girl who, at the age of ten, once accidentally heard something about a God who is pure love. It never left her. Without any instruction, without a Bible or contact with other Christians, her faith grew steadily. She had no Bible, but she did hear the Word of God.” (The Word of God and Scripture, section “The Word of God”)
Noordzij draws a line to biblical figures: “She reminded me of Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, who also had no Bible, but did hear God ‘speak’.” His principled conclusion: “It is not only unbiblical but also illogical that God would need a book to communicate with man.” This implies a broad theology of revelation in which God’s communication with humanity is not principally bound to the channel of special revelation through Scripture.