In the pagan world there was much that is true and good and beautiful. The “seeds of truth” present there, however, are traceable to the Logos, who created the world, enlightens every human being coming into the world, and in Christ became flesh. Or they originate in the special revelation that from ancient times on was given by God in humankind and later to the people of Israel, and filtered through to or has been preserved to some degree also among other peoples. All that still exists in the way of true relgion, true doctrine, or pure morality among pagans, specifically in Greek philosophy, is derived from revelation and therefore actually belongs to Christianity. Christianity, accordingly does not first begin in the days of the apostles but was germinally present from the beginning in [divine] revelation. It is as old as the world and therefore receives testimony from all the true and the good that is found in the religions and philosophical systems of paganism, in fact even from every human soul. “The soul is naturally Christian.”
~Herman Bavinck~
Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 509.
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