Ch 4 Sect 4 “Natural” and “Supernatural”

Bavinck, here in this section wants to make further distinctions between “natural” and “supernatural” revelation. As he said before all revelation is supernatural because it is God, who is above and beyond nature, which reveals. Bavinck wants to distinguish between what is revealed in the created physical world, and what is revealed in reality that is beyond the physical that our senses perceive. The reality beyond our senses which is revealed to us, Bavinck wants to point out, that “supernatural” revelation could be called “theistic” revelation.

Often in the history of the Church the “supernatural” was associated only to miracles, or led down a road of dualism that pitted the natural and supernatural against each other. The Reformation revolted against this idea that nature was opposed to grace, but rather grace is opposed to sin. Its not that the material things and nature itself is deficient and that we hope for a lofty pie in the sky non-corporeal supernatural existence, but rather we live in world marred by sin, but one day in the consummation, will be re-created, nature will be restored to its original or even a better state such that God will look upon it and say “It is good”.

On the other side of the coin however, is a rationalism that values revelation only to the extent that it supports reason, or even perhaps revelation is not needed at all for the intellectually gifted philosophers. The rationalist would say that there is a world beyond the senses, beyond the physical, and it is accessible by reason alone. As Bavinck points out that these shifting and conflicting views indicate an unsatisfactory explanation. “Scripture resists all naturalistic and rationalistic explanations of its origins as revelation and attributes it solely to an extraordinary operative presence of God the Holy Spirit. Scripture does not give us data to interpret; it is itself the interpretation of reality, the shaper of a distinct world view, a worldview that is theistic and naturalistic” (p84) Here again we see Bavinck’s faithful commitment to Holy Scripture. Scripture is the sole authority, and it cannot be proven or interpreted by another means, other than scripture alone. Again this may seem circular, but only a word from God can authorize the word of God, and that is exactly what we have in the Bible. And this is the decisive point; Christianity is based upon a revelation that is received in faith. Not a revelation that can be authenticated, or proven by reason.

Only this Biblical, Christ centered, theistic world view, which embraces the natural and supernatural, and holds the authority of God and his Word, is fully compatible with reality of the world we live in. This worldview is compatible with miracles, nature marred by sin, morality, a purpose for man, and a hope for the new world to come.