Divine Revelation
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us this definition:
“God’s communication of himself, by which he makes known the mystery of his divine plan,
a gift of self-communication which is realized by deeds and words over time, and most fully
by sending us his own divine Son, Jesus Christ" (CCC 50-53).
God reveals himself in various modes, at all times to humanity. We see this revelation
through prayer, experience, witness, and storytelling. The everyday world is imbued with the
revelation of God. However, the divine revelation recorded in scripture is special and
complete (CCC 66).
The Vatican II Document, known as Dei Verbum helped to explain this reality further:
“It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the
mystery of His will (cf. Eph. 1:9). His will was that men should have access to the Father,
through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the
divine nature (cf. Eph. 2:18; 2 Pet. 1:4). By this revelation, then, the invisible God (cf. Col
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1:15, 1 Tim 1:17 ) from the fullness of His love, addresses men as his friends (cf Exod. 33:11;
Jn 15: 14-15) and moves among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into
his own company” (DV 2).
Divine revelation, therefore is salvation; God shows us who he is by saving us from sin and
making us sharers of his nature.
Divine Revelation comes to us in various modes of transmission: in the person of Christ, in
Sacred Tradition, and in both Old and New Testaments of sacred Scripture (CCC 80).
How is Scripture divinely inspired? “The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and
presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit” (DV 11).
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