Further Study

Review Questions

These questions are designed to help you review important material covered in the lecture.

1. What is general revelation? What does it teach us?
2. What is special revelation? What does it teach us?
3. Describe the interconnections between general and special revelation in terms of their overlap and necessity.
4. Why is it important to derive our theology from revelation?
5. How does sin hinder our understanding God’s general and special revelation?
6. How does the Holy Spirit help us understand God’s special and general revelation?
7. How should we handle apparent conflicts between general and special revelation?
8. What does it mean to say that theological conclusions are analogue rather than binary?
9. Describe the process of deferring to exegesis, community and Christian living. Why is this process helpful?
10. How can we assign proper levels of confidence to our various beliefs?

Application Questions

Application questions are appropriate for written assignments or as topics for group discussions. For written assignments, it is recommended that answers not exceed one page in length.

1. How might your understanding of God through general revelation draw your closer to Him?
2. How might understanding the similarities and differences between special and general revelation change the way a person does theology?
3. How does it make you feel knowing that sin still works within us to suppress and skew much of God’s revelation? What hope does the Holy Spirit bring? How can we guard against theological errors caused by the noetic effects of sin?
4. Why is it necessary to approach the confidence that we have in theological positions analogically? Describe a situation in which a binary approach to confidence might cause problems in the church.
5. What impact have exegesis, community and Christian living had on your own beliefs? Which of these influences has been most important to you? Why?
6. What beliefs do you hold with the most confidence? What beliefs do you hold with very little confidence? Why do you assign these levels of confidence to these particular beliefs?
7. What is the most significant insight you have learned from this study? Explain.

Discussion Video

Additional information concerning the lesson topic is provided in a video presentation of a question and answer session. If you are struggling to understand any portion of the lesson or if you would simply like to deepen your understanding of the subject, this video will be helpful.