Letting Things Speak About Themselves

"Human knowledge about Jesus results from God's revelation, not from conclusions drawn by seminars of self-appointed experts.

Speaking of Peter's confession "You are the Christ," Gillespie declared, "It is God who knows who Jesus is. And in that knowledge God identifies who Jesus is. ... Peter is one of the ways through whom this knowledge is revealed."

In contemporary society this approach makes some people very nervous. In response to these concerns he cited Thomas Torrance, who points out that this is how all knowledge is attained - letting things speak about themselves to us. In science it is called "discovery." In theology we call this mode of knowing "revelation."

Peter did not tell Jesus who he was, he acknowledged who Jesus is, through the knowledge revealed by God."

Dr. Thomas Gillespie, President, Princeton Theological Seminary
"We Believe In One Lord Jesus Christ" theological convocation
Pittsburgh, April 19-22, 1995