Introduction
Christian theology has long wrestled with the problem of how finite human beings can know the infinite God. The Reformed tradition, particularly in Cornelius Van Til, attempted to resolve this by emphasizing the analogical nature of knowledge. Yet Van Til’s system notoriously introduced the category of “paradox,” which at times seemed to allow contradiction at the heart of revelation. Conversely, Gordon H. Clark insisted on univocal, propositional revelation but risked collapsing the qualitative distinction between God’s knowledge and man’s knowledge and worse, God's being and man's being.
This essay proposes a mediating constructive system — Revelational Idealism — which preserves the strength of both thinkers while correcting their errors. Its central claims are: (1) all knowledge of God depends upon His revelation; (2) human knowledge is true but finite, bounded by limiting concepts; (3) revealed propositions may not be set against one another but must be held in a synthetic harmony by the hemming-in principle; (4) Scripture communicates univocally at its core, while its edges remain analogical, clouded by the mystery of divine incomprehensibility.
1. Ex Nihilo Creation and the Ontological Distinction
The doctrine of creation ex nihilo provides the foundation for epistemology. God alone is necessary, self-existent being; all else exists contingently by His will and decree. This rules out two errors:
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Platonic realism: positing eternal matter or forms alongside God.
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Absolute idealism: identifying creation ontologically with God’s mind as man's being.
While it is biblical to describe creation as issuing forth from the divine Word (“God said, and it was so,” Gen. 1), revelation does not require us to reduce creation to thought itself. That is merely one theory. We cannot prove that there is a real, derivative mode of existence called into being by God’s speech, wholly dependent yet ontologically distinct. But we cannot prove there is not. Beyond this, Scripture does not disclose the metaphysical “how,” or "what" of creation and human reason must remain silent.
Thus, creation is of nothing yet not nothing; wholly contingent, wholly dependent, yet real. This affirms the Creator–creature distinction as the basic ontological truth.
2. Limiting Concepts as Boundary Markers
The language of limiting concepts (borrowed, though redefined, from Kant) is useful when properly employed. Every revealed truth is real and binding, but finite. Limiting concepts remind us that human concepts do not exhaust the divine reality they describe.
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Example: God’s omniscience. Humans truly understand the word “knowledge,” yet we do not comprehend what it means for God to know exhaustively and intuitively.
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Example: Eternity. We know it as “without beginning or end,” but our temporal imagination cannot grasp it in fullness.
Properly used, limiting concepts function as epistemic asymptotes: they show how far finite reason may travel before reaching the horizon of mystery. They must not, however, be turned into justifications for contradiction.
3. The Hemming-In Principle
A crucial methodological rule in Revelational Idealism is the hemming-in principle:
No datum of revelation may be set against another. Every revealed proposition must be preserved, with each hemming in the others from distortion.
This principle secures two things:
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No reductionism — we may not exalt one truth at the expense of another (e.g., sovereignty at the cost of responsibility).
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No paradox-absolutism — we may not canonize contradiction as a sign of faithfulness.
Instead, the task of theology is to seek a synthesis that accommodates all revealed truths within their proper boundaries. The hemming-in principle forces us to honor the fullness of revelation, neither truncating nor opposing its data.
4. A True Analogical System of Knowledge
Revelational Idealism maintains that knowledge of God is both univocal and analogical:
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Univocal core: Because Scripture is God’s own Word, human knowledge of revealed propositions is true knowledge. To deny this would collapse into skepticism.
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Analogical boundaries: Human knowledge is not exhaustive but finite. The truths we know correspond to God’s truth but at the creaturely level.
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Incomprehensible horizon: At the limits of knowledge, mystery remains — not contradiction, but the recognition that God’s infinite being cannot be circumscribed by human categories.
Thus, revelation communicates univocally in content (man knows what God reveals), analogically in mode (man knows finitely, God knows infinitely), and humbly at the horizon (man acknowledges incomprehensibility).
5. Systematic Implications
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Trinity: One essence, three hypostases. Each proposition hems in the other, preventing modalism and tritheism. Univocal truth: God is one and three. Analogical horizon: we do not comprehend how essence and person coinhere.
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Incarnation: Fully God, fully man. Both natures must be preserved, neither opposed. Univocal truth: Christ is God incarnate. Analogical horizon: we do not comprehend the metaphysical union.
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Sovereignty and freedom: God ordains all things, yet man is accountable. Each hems in the other. Univocal truth: both sovereignty and responsibility are real. Analogical horizon: we do not comprehend the precise mode of concurrence.
6. Philosophical and Theological Payoff
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Against Van Til: Rejects paradox as a positive category of truth while preserving analogical knowledge.
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Against Clark: Avoids collapsing human and divine knowledge into univocal identity while affirming propositional revelation.
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In continuity with the tradition: Augustine’s si comprehendis, non est Deus (“if you understand, it is not God”), Calvin’s principle of accommodation, and the Reformed confessions all affirm both clarity and incomprehensibility.
Conclusion
Revelational Idealism provides a framework that secures the truths of Reformed theology while avoiding the extremes of both paradox and rationalism. By affirming creation ex nihilo, limiting concepts as boundary markers, the hemming-in principle, and a true analogical system of revelation, it offers a coherent and humble epistemology.
In this system, every fact is dependent upon God, every proposition of revelation is true, and yet the ultimate nature of reality remains beyond the reach of creaturely proof. Knowledge is real, bounded, and analogical — sufficient for faith and obedience, yet never exhaustive of the divine.
Scripture speaks truly; man knows truly; God knows exhaustively. Revelation is univocal in its content, analogical in its mode, and incomprehensible at its horizon. This is the coherence of faith and the humility of theology.
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