progressive revelation

IMG_1693The OT was revealed by Yahweh to Moses and the Prophets [and editors, scribes, compilers, redactors, etc. but you get my point]. After the appearance of the Messiah the NT becomes a exposition and expansion and explanation of that SAME revelation as it is seen through the lens of Christ.
That is progressive revelation… God does not reveal different or even more of himself, but what he has revealed is further and further nuanced and the resolution made sharper. That SAME revelation is all there (symbolically? inchoate?) even in Genesis 1:1. That verse doesn’t say anything specifically about propitiation or a divine council or eschatology, but painted with broad strokes it’s all in there. In beginning, there is One God, creator of all things. If he is the one creator of all, it makes sense that only that One could satisfy any debt—propitiation. If One God creates, all other gods are inferior—divine council. If all things begin with one God’s creative action, all things must also end with that One and the same God’s actions—eschatology. So, yes, on the one hand I’m reading a lot into one verse, practicing eisegesis, maybe seeing things that aren’t really there… on the other hand every step forward through the rest of the Old Testament and then into the New continues to align with everything that has gone before. Each step aligning or dovetailing with what has been continually said and done from the beginning.
Even today, we can say, the progressive revelation of Yahweh in the Old and Christ in the New Testament does not cease with the closing of the canon, but continues to be written into the life of the Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit continues to progressively reveal—bring into clearer focus and sharper resolution—that One and SAME revelation of God that was there even in the beginning.

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