A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year:
Revelations from God, such as that given to Abraham, commanding him to sacrifice his only son, had a “divine power and efficacy” that infalliby assured Abraham that the words came from God. Nevertheless, God required from Abraham the exercise of his “faith, conscience, obedience, and reason” in order to know that God had indeed spoken to him. This means of revelation was, however, imperfect and had certain disadvantages, according to Owen. Revelation communicated to individuals could never provide continuing knowledge of God in the world. Consequently, the Scriptures provided the world with the mind and will of God expressed in a permanent form, so when the law was given, God “obliged the church unto the use of it alone.” God continued to give additional revelation to the church, at different times, in various modes, to be preserved in written form, until the “full revelation of the whole mind of God…was committed unto and perfected by Jesus Christ” (Heb. 1:1-2).
(A Puritan Theology, p. 21)
