“In the context of religion, revelation refers to the vision people have of what is ultimate and sacred to them; it gives them an orientation for life and a criterion of what is true and valuable. In theistic religions, like Judaism and Christianity, revelation refers to the self-disclosure of God, there being no other way for us to know him unless he has made himself known to us. How could we know the One whose ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts unless he had given us his Word? (Isa. 55:6-11). Without revelation we would be left groping in darkness.”

(Clark H. Pinnock, The Scripture Principle, San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1984, 3; from chapter 1, Pattern of Revelation)