Theology of Dreams
As we are studying the book of Genesis the dream narrative is repeated multiple times. Often God is communicating through dreams to the individuals. As one surveys the Biblical text, one notices that through dreams God speaks His will to the people. Genesis 20:3 “But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, ‘Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.’” 1 Kings 3:5 “In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish me to give you.” Matthew 1:20 “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.’” Matthew 27:19 “And while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” Also, the term vision in Acts 16:9; 18:9 could be referring to a dream. As the text states “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision” both times.
The typical verses we use to discount communication through dreams are Galatians 1:6-9 which speaks of an Angel an another Gospel given as well as Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” The Galatians’ text is a weak proof-text because of the communication through an Angel and mostly the text is dealing with another Gospel, so as long as the dream does not change the message of the gospel, than there could be some validity to the dream. The Hebrew text carries more weight because it seems that communication through dreams ceases as the early church develops. But this could be because the Holy Spirit is providing insight into God’s will for His people. This is a topic I would like to study deeper as these are some shallow thoughts on the topic. Also, I wonder if anyone has done a deep study of these ideas in the church? Dreams are certainly a topic of interest in the culture. It would be wise to have a full understanding of this phenomenon.
Related posts:
- Review of “Eiger Dreams”
- Emergent Theology or Restoration Theology
- The Dreams of the Predators
- Dreams for Castle Rock
- The Desire of Easy Theology
About The Author
Love to hear your thoughts on this and help with this.
one aspect of modernism is that God is not active in the world today except through the written word and his people.
it’s kinda hard to back that up with scripture, though. God has consistently been active throughout all covenants and ages.
i have friends who have some interesting ideas on dream interpretation aided by the Holy Spirit, of course, they no longer worship with churches of Christ.
good thoughts, you are right, we all do need to study and think about this more
http://www.collings-bakker.com , or google.com jim bakker.
My professor mention that the Near Eastern people believed that God would speak through dreams and there were manuels for intrepreting these dreams. John Walton in his commentary on Genesis does some work on this topic too.
What could possibly be revealed by dreams that would be worth while when we have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)?
That is a good point, I was talking with your mother this week. She is always a wonderful chatter. She is a treat to visit.