I. General Revelation: The Objective Self-Disclosure of God in Creation and Providence
"Properly speaking, from the standpoint of Scripture all revelation, also that in nature, is supernatural. The word itself also includes nothing concerning the manner in which something becomes manifest, but only says that something which was hidden comes to light." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"First of all, throughout the whole of Scripture a revelatio naturalis is taught to us. God’s revelation began in creation and continues in the preservation and government of all things. He reveals himself in the nature around us; displays therein his eternal power and divinity, and in blessings and judgment proves in turn his goodness and his wrath... This revelation of God is general, in itself perceptible and intelligible for every human being. Nature and history are the book of God’s omnipotence and wisdom, of his goodness and righteousness." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"But although God has sufficiently declared unto us, in his word, as much as he would have us know concerning himself, yet the demonstrations which nature furnishes respecting God are not superfluous, seeing that they reprove the wickedness of ungodly men, whilst they establish the faithful in piety and godliness, and are, therefore, commended by God himself in various places in the Scriptures, and are to be considered by us." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
"Yet we must hold, respecting these demonstrations which nature furnishes of God, that they are indeed true and in harmony with his word; but that they are, nevertheless, not sufficient to a true knowledge of God." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
II. The Subjective Capacity: Cognitio Dei Insita (Innate) vs. Cognitio Dei Acquisita (Acquired)
"For, in the proper sense, there is no knowledge innate, neither of God nor of the world. All knowledge comes from without into man’s consciousness. What is innate is only the capacity for knowledge; but this capacity comes to operation and act only through the influence of the world in and around us." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2]
"Cognitio Dei insita does not mean that the human being immediately, by God himself, is equipped with a sufficient knowledge and no longer has any need of revelation. It does not indicate that he is capable, on his own, of deriving any conscious, clear and true knowledge of God from his own spirit. But it indicates that the human being possesses both the potentia (aptitudo, vis, facultas) and the inclinatio (habitus, dispositio), in order in the normal course of development and in the midst of the environment in which God granted him life, of himself and without compulsion, without scientific reasoning and proof, ἐμφυτως kai αδidακτως, to come to some firm, certain, indubitable knowledge of God." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2]
"The cognitio insita, as soon as it is cognitio and thus not only potentia but actus, has never arisen otherwise than under the influence of the revelation of God in and outside man and is therefore in so far always acquisita." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2]
"First, in this, that the cognitio Dei innata was obtained of itself, spontaneously, without effort or coercion, whereas the cognitio Dei acquisita was acquired by reasoning and argument, by reflection and proof along the viae causalitatis, eminentiae and negationis; the former was noetica, the latter dianoetica. And second, from that there also flowed this difference, that the first consisted only in principles and was general and necessary, but the second was more elaborated and developed, yielded more concrete propositions and was therefore also subject to all manner of doubt and contestation." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2]
III. The Insufficiency of General Revelation and the Darkness of Sin
"The question whether the knowledge of God derived from his works, be sufficient to lead fallen men to salvation, is answered affirmatively by Rationalists, but negatively by every historical branch of the Christian Church. On this point the Greek, the Latin, the Lutheran, and the Reformed Churches are unanimous." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology - part 1]
"The experience of ages proves that the world by wisdom knows not God. The heathen nations, ancient and modern, civilized and savage, have without exception, failed by the light of nature to solve any of the great problems of humanity." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology - part 1]
"In vain for us, therefore, does Creation exhibit so many bright lamps lighted up to show forth the glory of its Author. Though they beam upon us from every quarter, they are altogether insufficient of themselves to lead us into the right path. Some sparks, undoubtedly, they do throw out; but these are quenched before they can give forth a brighter effulgence." [John Calvin - Institutes - part 1]
"The knowledge of God which may be attained by the light of nature is sufficient, indeed, in some measure, to restrain our corrupt passions; and it is conducive to the peace and welfare of civil society: it affords some conviction of sin, and, in some respects, leaves men without excuse... Still it is insufficient to salvation; since it is a truth of universal extent, that there is salvation in no other than Christ, and that it 'is life eternal to know' not only the true God, but 'Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent,'—and this can be known, not by the light of nature, but only by divine revelation." [Thomas Ridgley - WLC - A Body of Divinity - part 1]
"Though the light of nature shows us that there is a God, it doth not fully display his perfections and character, as they are manifested in scripture; wherein God is beheld in the face of Christ. It doth not discover any thing of the doctrine of a Trinity of persons in the divine essence, who are equally the object of faith; nor doth it give us any intimation of Christ, as the Lord our righteousness, in whom we obtain forgiveness of sins." [Thomas Ridgley - WLC - A Body of Divinity - part 1]
"On the insufficiency of general revelation there can hardly be any doubt. In the first place it appears from the fact that this revelation at most provides us with some knowledge of God’s existence and of some of his attributes, such as goodness and righteousness; but it leaves us absolutely unacquainted with the person of Christ, who alone is the way to the Father, Mt. 11:27. Joh. 14:6, 17:3. Hd. 4:12. General revelation is therefore insufficient for man as a sinner; it knows of no grace and forgiveness; many a time it is even a revelation of wrath, Rom. 1:20." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"As, therefore, those who are without the church and ignorant of the gospel, can have no knowledge or hope of deliverance; so Adam, after the fall, without a special promise and revelation, could neither know nor hope for it, by the mere exercise of his reason." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
IV. The Remedial Spectacles of Holy Scripture
"Therefore, though the effulgence which is presented to every eye, both in the heavens and on the earth, leaves the ingratitude of man without excuse, since God, in order to bring the whole human race under the same condemnation, holds forth to all, without exception, a mirror of his Deity in his works, another and better help must be given to guide us properly to God as a Creator. Not in vain, therefore, has he added the light of his Word in order that he might make himself known unto salvation... For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any books however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly." [John Calvin - Institutes - part 1]
"Since the human mind, through its weakness, was altogether unable to come to God if not aided and upheld by his sacred word, it necessarily followed that all mankind, the Jews excepted, inasmuch as they sought God without the Word, were labouring under vanity and error." [John Calvin - Institutes - part 1]
"He stands in the Christian faith, in the revelatio specialis and from there also looks into nature and history. And now he discovers there traces of that same God, whom he in Christ came to know as his Father. Precisely as a Christian, through faith, he sees the revelation of God in nature much better and more clearly than he could notice it earlier. The psychical man does not understand the speech of God in nature and history. He searches the entire universe, without finding God. But the Christian, armed with the spectacles of Holy Scripture... sees God in everything and everything in God." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
V. Special Revelation: The Redemptive Covenant of Grace
"The revelation, which Scripture makes known to us, does not consist in a few disconnected words and facts, but is one historical and organic whole, a mighty world-governing and world-renewing system of acts of God. It appears, as we saw, in three forms, theophany, prophecy, and miracle... The revelatio specialis is God’s seeking of and God’s coming to man. He must now so reveal himself and so speak and so work, that man is again renewed after his image. Therefore God comes to man in a human way. The incarnation is the central fact in the revelatio specialis, which spreads light over its whole domain. The special revelation of God enters into history, and forms a history, which runs through the centuries." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"The common doctrine of the Christian Church is, that God has at sundry times and in divers manners spoken to the children of men; that what eye hath not seen, or ear heard, what never could have entered into the heart of man, God has revealed by his Spirit to those whom He selected to be his spokesmen to their fellow-men; that these revelations were authenticated as divine, by their character, their effects, and by signs and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost..." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology - part 1]
"Revelation according to Scripture is therefore a historical process, an organic system, a continual divine action for the breaking of the power of sin, for the establishment of his kingdom, for the restoration of the cosmos, for ἀνακεφαλαιωσις των παντων ἐν Χριστῳ, Ef. 1:10. Soteriological, therefore, is the whole of revelation... a divine work, a world of thoughts and deeds, an ordo gratiae, which combats and conquers the ordo peccati on every terrain." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]