Has All Truth Been Revealed?

by Bryan Gibson

February 6, 2009

Some argue that the Bible is still being written today, that God is continuing to reveal Himself to certain individuals today. A couple of red flags should be raised, even before we examine the Biblical evidence. First, these supposed revelations often conflict with each other, and secondly, these supposed revelations often conflict with what is found in the Scriptures. This should be enough to create at least a little skepticism on our part, but let’s examine the Biblical evidence, because that’s what we need to stand on.

Before He returned to His Father, Jesus promised His apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them into ALL truth (John 16:13). If truth is still being revealed today, then Jesus was lying to the apostles. None of us, I’m sure, are comfortable with that conclusion. A number of later New Testament passages speak of the gospel as something that while previously hidden, had now been revealed (Romans 16:25-26; 1 Corinthians 2:7-13; Ephesians 3:3-5; Colossians 1:26-27; 2 Timothy 1:9-10). This, of course, is further evidence that the Holy Spirit did exactly what Jesus said He would do—guide the apostles into, or reveal to them, all truth.

Obviously, the apostles did not keep what was revealed to themselves. Jesus told them that they would “bear witness” of the things revealed to them (John 15:26-27), and that’s exactly what they did. They, along with New Testament prophets, not only preached the truth revealed to them, but also wrote it down in the Scriptures for all future generations to read and understand (Ephesians 3:1-5). What they “received” they “delivered”—that’s how it’s worded in both 1 Corinthians 11:23 and 15:3. All truth has been revealed in the Scriptures, and so we need not look for any further revelations. The real death blow to continuing revelation is found in Jude 1:3, where Jude exhorts us to “contend earnestly for the faith (gospel) which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Once for all—that’s the very expression used in reference to the sacrifice of Jesus (Hebrews 7:27), when the point is made that Jesus would never have to repeat this sacrifice, that this one time would be effective for all time. God has revealed His will to us in the Scriptures, and that is sufficient for all time.

According to the New Testament, Christians in the first century could believe the truth, know the truth, and walk in the truth (1 Timothy 4:3; 1 John 2:21; 3 John 1:3-4). It doesn’t sound like they were missing anything that was only made available to future generations. The truth is, they were given “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Epaphras even prayed for his brethren that they “may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12). Why pray that if all of His will had not been revealed? Admittedly, it was not until near the end of the first century that the New Testament was completely written, but they at least had the will of God in oral form. Was there any difference between what the apostles and prophets preached by inspiration and what they wrote by inspiration?

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).