“Progressive Revelation” is a Necessary Doctrine

As we look at Scripture, we see that God’s revelation is revealed progressively over the course of history. Without an awareness of the “flow” of God’s story, it’s easy to cherry pick Bible verses…

“You know the Bible says that God’s chosen people is Israel, and that you essentially have to become Jewish in order to experience salvation.” These words were spoken to me at a Bible study I was attending when I was in my early twenties. The person who made this statement had recently picked up their Bible and started reading some of it and, unfortunately, thought they had it all figured out.

Of course there were a number of more seasoned and mature believers in the group that challenged that statement and pointed the person to a number of passages in the New Testament that revealed that God’s plan of salvation included bringing non-Jewish people into the community of God’s Kingdom (cf. John 10:16; Ephesians 2:11-3:6).

Our hermeneutical method, often referred to as the “hermeneutical spiral,” is a set of interpretive guidelines that help us go from reading the text in it’s original context in order to discover both its meaning and its application (see Grant Osborne’s The Hermeneutical Spiral or Craig Keener’s Spirit Hermeneutics).

But something that is often overlooked is the concept of “Progressive Revelation,” though most Christians will likely do it and apply it in their reading of the whole of Scripture. What is “progressive revelation”? Great question. Here are two academic treatments toward a definition of “progressive revelation”:

“The concept of progressive revelation is based upon the conviction that revelation and redemption move along a historical line and that this historical line has a certain character to it.” - Baker’s Dictionary of Practical Theology

And

The principle of progressive revelation means that God does not reveal everything at once, nor does he always lay down the same conditions for every period. Later revelations will have things in them that go against earlier ones. Hence the Old Testament revealed only hints of the Trinity taught in the New Testament (for example, Matt. 3:16–17; 28:18–20). The New Testament declares explicitly what was only implicit in the Old Testament… God can change anything that does not involve a contradiction or that does not go against his unchangeable nature (Mal. 3:6; 2 Tim. 2:13; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18)… Sometimes God commands change because of the changing conditions of humanity… A major reason for change is that God has an unfolding plan. This plan has stages in which some things are necessary and stages where something else is necessary… In view of the principle of progressive revelation, the later revelations are not contradictory, but complementary. They do not make mistakes, but reveal more truth. Later revelations do not negate the former; they simply replace them. Since they were not given for all, but only for a specified time, they do not conflict when they change. No two opposing commands are for the same people at the same time.” - Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics

Put simply, “progressive revelation” in relation to Scripture helps us understand that God progressively, over time, reveals to us both his character, plan, goals, purposes, and will for humanity. This helps us understand that, in relation to Israel, God chose a people group to be a light to the world and that He interacted with that people through a Covenant while also promising to give a New Covenant that would include all peoples from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

So any time we attempt to define the Bible’s position on a certain subject, we have to look at the whole of Scripture and situation our understanding of what we read in the flow of God’s history of redemption. This applies in how we define and understand many things. For example:

• How are we “saved”?

• What is the “church”?

• What about “slavery”?

• What is the role of women in the church?

Each of these topics, as I understand it, are engaged progressively over the course of biblical history. So when we wrestle with understanding what the Bible says about these topics, we need to do better than cherry pick a single verse here and there; instead, we need to start at the beginning and read through the end in order to get a full picture of what God reveals and how there’s a progressive move happening throughout Scripture.

Two helpful resources that have shaped my understanding of this principle are William Webb’s Slaves, Women, & Homosexuals and Greg Boyd’s The Crucifixion of the Warrior God. While one may disagree with the conclusions of each other, what is very clear is that “progressive revelation” is clearly an important foundation toward biblical interpretation, and in the case of Boyd’s work, we need to understand that God overlooks and “accommodates” human ignorance or bad ideas as He progressively reveals himself to the world over the course of biblical history.

All this is to say that cherry picking Bible verses is bad and unhelpful. And advocates of various ideologies, both theological conservatives and theological progressives, do it all of the time.

We need more of an awareness of the flow of biblical theology, which means we need to read Scriptures as an epic narrative that charts a course from the beginning until the end, and God’s constantly at work throughout it all!

What would you add? What questions do you have? Why do you think this matters?

About the Author

Luke Geraty is a pastor-theologian in northern California. With a few theology degrees and nearly twenty years of pastoral leadership, Luke loves the Bible, theology, fly fishing, coffee, and books. All opinions are his own and not the views of any other organizations he’s affiliated with. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe to his YouTube.