The Spirit’s illumination

What is the role of the Holy Spirit when the Scriptures are being read or heard?

We sometimes speak of the Spirit ‘illuminating’ the word of God. What does this mean, and how does it happen? Sometimes Christians testify to a verse or a passage of Scripture ‘standing out’ and affecting them in a special way. Is this the illuminating work of the Spirit? There are other times when a student of the Scriptures sees a new aspect of meaning in a familiar passage. Is this what is meant by the Spirit's illumination?

One of the most important things for Christian people to learn is to read the Bible properly. On the one hand, to feed on the word of God is basic to Christian growth (e.g. Matt 4:4). On the other hand the wrong use of the Bible can be terribly destructive (see 2 Pet 3:16).

Therefore, Christians are rightly taught such basic skills as reading the text of Scripture in its context, understanding words and sentences according to the rules of vocabulary and grammar. We are fortunate in our day to have many valuable tools to help us to study the Bible profitably—Bible dictionaries, concordances, commentaries, and so on. Some of us have the opportunity to learn the languages in which the Bible was originally written, and such learning is a great help in the careful, responsible study of the Bible. The concern of such Bible study, of course, is always to understand the truth of God's word as accurately and thoroughly as we can.

But where, in all this, is the work of the Holy Spirit?

Are there, in fact, two ways of reading the Bible? Do some read intellectually while others read spiritually? Do intellectuals use those academic tools while the spiritual readers find meanings coming more spontaneously?

Of course, in practice the two ways of reading do not have to be exclusive. It is the normal experience of Christians over the years to realize the unfathomable depths of the Scriptures. Again and again, we can return to a book or a passage and learn more of the wonder of God's purposes there revealed. As we study God's word, we are aware that we are paddling in the shallows of a vast ocean. Is it the work of the Spirit, then, to enable us to discern deeper truths that cannot be seen just by the ‘intellectual’ processes of reading?

The proper reading and study of the Scriptures is certainly a spiritual activity. But it is wrong to set ‘spiritual’ here in opposition to ‘intellectual’. This spiritual exercise is at the same time one that requires the use of the mind. But simply because of the nature of the Scriptures, the proper study of the Scriptures is more than an intellectual exercise (although it is not less). The Scriptures are only properly heard, read and studied when the hearer, reader or student receives the word, not as the word of men, but as it actually is: the word of God (cf. 1 Thess 2:13).

The scholar who may be an expert in Greek and Hebrew and every other skill needed for the accurate study of Scripture may still fail to profit spiritually from this study. If he/she receives the words of Scripture merely as the word of men, then the Scriptures have not been properly understood, no matter how accurately and precisely their propositional content has been grasped.

For reasons that we will explore shortly, this proper reading or hearing of the Scriptures is only possible by a work of the Holy Spirit. ‘Illumination’ is one very fitting metaphor for this work, but it needs to be understood with care.

Let us begin by understanding why the Scriptures cannot be properly heard or read without this work of the Holy Spirit.

1. There is a spiritual disability from which human beings suffer that makes them incapable of hearing the word of God

This problem is referred to in Scripture by means of a number of metaphors. It is a hardness of heart (Matt 13:15; Mark 8:17; Rom 2:5), eyes that cannot see (Matt 13:13-15; Mark 8:18; John 3:3; Rom 1:21, 11:10), ears that fail to hear (Matt 13:13-15; Mark 8:18; John 5:24, 10:3; Rom 10:17), a memory that forgets (Mark 8:18), a mind that does not understand (Matt 13:13-14), eyes of the heart that are darkened (Eph 1:18).

But what exactly is this hardness/ blindness/deafness?

It is not simply an intellectual problem, although it may certainly affect a person's ability to understand. The darkened mind of which the Bible speaks is not simply an inability to understand certain propositions, or to follow the logic of an argument, or see the point of a narrative. Some of the cleverest Bible scholars, who may have brilliant insights into the meaning of various parts of the Bible, nevertheless suffer from this utter spiritual blindness.

Neither can this blindness be adequately described as a moral incapacity, although it certainly affects the soundness of a person's moral sense. The hardened heart of which the Bible speaks is not simply an inability to see the difference between right and wrong. Some people with a most sensitive conscience and a deep sense of morality have this spiritual heart problem.

On the one hand, this disability is itself an expression of sin. It is the stubborn unrepentant heart that is hard towards God (Rom 2:5). It is those who refuse to glorify God or thank him who are futile in their thinking and whose foolish hearts are darkened (Rom 1:21). On the other hand, this hardness is God's punishment for sin (Rom 1:28, 11:10; Matt 13:13-15), whereby the god of this world blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel (2 Cor 4:4). Those who harden their hearts have their hearts hardened by God, and those whose hearts are hardened by God harden their hearts.

The result is a person who does not believe God's word. The hard heart does not receive the word of God as it actually is—the word of God. There is all the difference in the world between understanding the words, phrases and sentences of the Bible, and believing them, receiving them as God's very own word. We sinners are so blind, hard, deaf and dead that we cannot of ourselves hear the voice of God. The unmistakable evidence of this deafness is precisely the failure to hear God speaking his word when the Bible is read or heard.

That is why the gospel appears foolish to those who are perishing (1 Cor 1:18).

How can this terrible disability be overcome?

2. Only God can overcome this human disability

The problem cannot be corrected by any human effort. Neither willpower nor intellectual exertion can turn the heart of stone into a heart of flesh, blindness into sight, deafness into hearing.

However, God opens deaf ears and gives sight to the blind.

This gracious work of God is spoken of in many places. Jesus spoke of the “birth from above”, which enables a person to “see” the kingdom of God (John 3:3). The Lord “opened” Lydia's heart to “attend to” his word spoken by Paul (Acts 16:14). Paul prayed “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you” (Eph 1:18). There is a circumcision of the heart by the Spirit (Rom 2:29). The veil that covers the Israelite heart is taken away when one turns to the Lord (2 Cor 3:15-16).

Once again the change brought about by this gracious work of God is not an increase in IQ (although there is no doubt that the person who understands the truth of God to be the truth of God has a better understanding than a person who does not!). Neither does God merely make consciences more sensitive (although consciences can hardly remain unaffected by this work of God). The change is the God-given capacity to believe God. The consequence is that the gospel is no longer foolishness (1 Cor 1:18). God's word is received as God's word (1 Thess 2:13).

3. This is a work of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but it is especially attributed to the Spirit

It is important to see that in the work of ‘illumination’, as in all his works, the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is not divided. It is especially important today to ensure that we understand the work of the Holy Spirit as the work of God.

The work of changing a person from one who is blind to the truth of God to one who can see is the work of God the Father. When Peter confessed that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Jesus said, “this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (Matt 16:17). The gospel is (as we have seen) veiled to those who are perishing. But God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness” has made the light of the gospel “shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

This last phrase (“in the face of Christ”) should remind us that this same work is also the work of God the Son. God does not make himself known to us other than through Jesus Christ (John 1:18, 14:6). “No-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt 11:27). Jesus himself is the light who dispels the darkness for those who believe in him (John 12:46). “The Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true” (1 John 5:20).

This work of God the Father through the Son, opening the eyes and dispelling the darkness, is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. The circumcision of the heart is by the Spirit (Rom 2:29). It is only by the Holy Spirit that anyone can say “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor 12:3). “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Gal 4:6). We only understand what God has freely given us because we have received the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:12).

The important point here is that this gracious work of the Holy Spirit is not distinct and separable from the work of the Father through the Son.

It follows that the work of ‘illumination’ is not detached from the work of salvation.

4. This work of God is integral to election and salvation

‘Illumination’ is not additional to salvation, but is an aspect of God's saving work. What our eyes are opened to see is not some kind of general religious truth, like the existence of God, but the reality of God's grace towards us in Jesus Christ. It is the word of the cross that is no longer foolishness to us (1 Cor 1:18). It is our adoption as sons and our share in Christ's suffering and glory that we now realize (Rom 8:15-17). It is Jesus' saving death that explains how one can be born of the Spirit (John 3:9-16).

Indeed, those to whom the gospel comes with the power of the Holy Spirit, bringing about full assurance, are known to be God's elect (1 Thess 1:4-5). God chose them from the beginning to be saved, and that salvation comes by the Spirit's work, which brings about belief in the truth (2 Thess 2:13). Those who hear the voice of Jesus are his sheep, and they will never perish (John 10:27-28).

The illuminating work of the Spirit, then, is the experience of all Christians. It is an aspect of the birth from above (John 3:3). This brings us to our final point.

5. The illuminating work of the Spirit is by the word of God

The work of God's Spirit that changes blind human beings into believers is accomplished by his word.

The Spirit of God is God's breath. This is a little difficult for English speakers to see. However, in both Greek (the language of the New Testament) and Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament), the word translated ‘Spirit’ (pneuma, ruach) means ‘breath’ or ‘wind’ (see John 3:8). When the word of God comes not just as words (more particularly not just as human words), but with the Holy Spirit and power, then the words come with the power of God's own breath (compare 1 Thess 1:5 and 2:13; cf. 1 Pet 1:12). The one who brought creation into being by his powerful word illumines the darkness of unbelieving hearts by speaking the word of the gospel of Christ (2 Cor 4:3-6).

The word of God is effective only as God himself addresses the hearer. Only as the Spirit wields the sword does it do its work (Eph 6:17).

To return to the questions with which we began: the Spirit's work is to bring the word of God to us in such a way that our deaf ears and our blind eyes are opened to receive God's truth. We cannot believe God's word unless God graciously and powerfully speaks it to us himself. This is not necessarily about verses ‘standing out’ on the page or new insights being gained; it is about hard hearts being made responsive to God, unbelief turned to faith, sinners made obedient. It is not the word of God that is illumined; it is our darkness that is illumined by the God-breathed word.

The Spirit is, then, not a substitute for the mind. God's word is to be understood by careful reading. We must guard against misunderstanding by thinking as we read. But the intellect alone will not make us believe God. We must pray that God himself will breathe his word to us.¹

Endnotes

¹ This essay owes a lot to Bernard Ramm's book, The Witness of the Spirit: An Essay on the Contemporary Relevance of the Internal Witness of the Holy Spirit (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1959), now unfortunately out of print.