Progressive revelation (Christianity)

{{Short description|The bible progressively reveals God}}

{{For|the Bahá'í belief|Progressive revelation (Bahá'í)}}

{{Rewrite|date=October 2021}}

Progressive revelation is the doctrine in Christianity that the sections of the Bible that were written later contain a fuller revelation of God than the earlier sections.{{cn|date=October 2021}} "Progressive revelation does not mean to say that the Old Testament is somehow less true than the New Testament. The progress was not from untruth to truth – it was from less information to more full information."Don Stewart [https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_1203.cfm What Is Progressive Revelation?]

For instance, the theologian Charles Hodge wrote:

{{quote|The progressive character of divine revelation is recognized in relation to all the great doctrines of the Bible... What at first is only obscurely intimated is gradually unfolded in subsequent parts of the sacred volume, until the truth is revealed in its fulness.{{Citation | url = https://archive.org/details/systematicth200301hodg/page/446 | last = Hodge | first = Charles | title = Systematic Theology | volume = 1 | place = Peabody | publisher = Hendrickson | year = 2003 | page = [https://archive.org/details/systematicth200301hodg/page/446 446] | ISBN = 1-56563-459-4 }} (also available as {{Citation | last = Hodge | edition = abridged | editor-first = Edward N | editor-last = Gross | title = Systematic Theology | ISBN = 0-87552-224-6}})}}