Sources of Knowledge:
Reason, Experience & Revelation

On an earthbound level, there are two fundamental sources of human knowledge: reason and experience. Both are essential to our understanding of the world about us, but they are limited. They leave unanswered the most crucial questions that can be raised – Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Is there any purpose to human existence? Where is history going?

The Bible claims to provide this third source of knowledge. It is revelation, and the belief that God has revealed Himself and His ways to man in Holy Scripture is the underlying axiom of the Christian world view. In it we have direct access to a revelation from a personal Being who created all things and who is not subject to our limitations as fragile, finite creatures.

The Bible describes two forms of revelation; these are usually called general and special revelation. According to Ps. 19:1-6 and Rom. 1:20, God has revealed truths about “His invisible attributes . . . His eternal and the Godhead” to us through His creation, and this general revelation is available to all. God has also implanted the knowledge of His existence in every human heart (Rom. 1:18). God’s special revelation involves His more direct means of communicating to some people in a variety of ways, including dreams, visions, and angels, but most clearly in the person of Christ (Heb.1:1,2) and in the pages of Scripture.

From “Talk Thru the Bible” by Bruce Wilkinson & Kenneth Boa