We have now discovered what illumination means and what the Bible teaches concerning it. Illumination is fundamentally necessary for our proper understanding of Scripture. We cannot understand Scripture in its fullest sense without the Spirit’s help. Our own need to be personally illuminated is described in texts such as Psalm 119, and God’s willingness and ability to illuminate those who ask for His help is promised in Ephesians. We need God’s help, and He has promised to give it when we ask.
That said, some of the issues paralleling illumination aren’t always well understood. Here at the end of our study of illumination, I’d like to look at some of those issues in more detail.
Illumination does not function outside God’s Word
The first, and perhaps the most common, misunderstanding relating to illumination pertains to its relationship with revelation. Revelation, you may remember, describes the Spirit’s work in disclosing previously unknown truth. That is most potently and most permanently seen in His giving the Holy Scriptures. As the apostle Paul describes it in 2 Timothy, all Scripture is God-breathed. He is the author of every word. Were men involved in Scripture’s composition? Yes, but God was the revealer. Though men diligently recorded God’s truth, God Himself is the source of the truths recorded in the Bible. As Jesus foretold in John 16:13, the Spirit came to the disciples and guided them into all truth. Therein is the promise of further revelation, and the New Testament is the result of God’s fulfillment of that promise. The Holy Spirit came and taught them the truth, revealing otherwise unknown truths about God which they diligently recorded and eventually passed on to us.
While revelation is the disclosing of previously unknown truth, illumination is the enablement to understand revelation. As such, illumination is experienced only within the realm of previously revealed truth. The close of the canon of Scripture marked the end of God’s revealing work, but illumination continues. It is by the Spirit’s illumination that we understand His revelation, and so come to understand the will of God. Again, revelation is God making truth available to all mankind. Illumination is God enabling our understanding on a personal level so we can comprehend and embrace that revealed truth. Revelation is plural; illumination is personal.
You may have heard someone say that the Spirit revealed something to them during their personal devotions. By this profession he is either claiming prophetic status or, more likely, he does not understand the relationship between illumination and revelation. Your friend is likely not a heretic, but he does have some theological wires crossed. God has revealed all we need in His Word; what we lack is understanding. We are especially in need of the Spirit’s illumination so we may comprehend the truths of the Biblical text. While we shouldn’t expect new revelation from God in our devotional lives, we can and should expect His illumination.
So we should expect to experience illumination only when we are in contact with Scripture. Now, that isn’t necessarily limited to when we are reading the Word. Part of the Spirit’s teaching includes the recollection of specific Scriptures or of biblical truths even when we are not reading the Bible. Yet the source of all truth is God’s written Word, and the Spirit’s special illuminating grace is specially given to aid our understanding of that Word.
Illumination is not a one-time experience
Another distinction between illumination and revelation is the timeframe. When God revealed something, it happened at a specific point in history, to a specific individual or group, and was not repeated. By contrast, illumination is ongoing, both in the historical scope and in our personal lives. God’s Spirit is continually at work teaching the timeless truths of His word to a new generation of believers. The truth does not change and no new revelation is given, but it is perpetually re-taught, re-illumined, and re-applied.
And, in our own experience, our spiritual horizons are continually broadened by the Spirit’s illumination. While we need only an elemental understanding of the gospel in order to be saved, we are ever growing in understanding holiness, sin, and grace. I understand illumination better than I did a year ago, but I hope by God’s grace to understand it far better in five years, and better still in fifty. Illumination is not a one-time experience; it is a continual part of our Christian experience.
Illumination does not replace dedicated, personal Bible study
Since the Spirit enables all true understanding, we can be tempted to forgo the disciplined study of God’s Word. What’s the use of study if we can’t understand it by ourselves anyway? And why wouldn’t God teach us what we need to know without the bother of us studying the Word? While it would be far easier for us if the Spirit were to infuse every spiritual truth into us in a single moment, that isn’t His chosen means. The Word is the storehouse for all spiritual truths, and the Spirit patiently feeds us from that storehouse as we grow in spiritual maturity.
In our spiritual journey, we need both the Spirit’s revelation—disclosed in Scripture—and the Spirit’s illumination, applied to us. We should not expect to understand Scripture without dedicating energy studying it, nor should we expect to understand it independent of the Spirit. He teaches us by both His written Word and His personal illumination. These two work hand-in-hand to lead us forward in spiritual understanding and godliness.
In our own experience, we should not see our study and the Spirit’s illumination as two separate acts. Rather, they work simultaneously. Paul’s command to Timothy rings true for us as well: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” We apply ourselves to the diligently study of God’s Word, so we may rightly divide it. Yet we realize that we cannot realize the full spiritual implications of Scripture without being illuminated, and as we study we ask for—and expect—that God will faithfully teach us from His word.
While the saving grace we experience in the gospel is monergistic (enabled solely by God’s grace), the grace we experience in sanctification is synergistic. We are co-laborers with God in our sanctification. While we are unable to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, God does expect our active participation. Do we get any credit or glory for our spiritual growth? Absolutely not. Can we improve ourselves independent of God’s power? No. But does God expect our obedient involvement? Absolutely.
Similarly, our understanding of Scripture requires both our diligent effort in studying the Word and it requires our meek dependance on the Spirit, who alone can teach us from His Word.
Illumination does not guarantee that Christians will always agree
Continuing in that vein, we recognize that the human element of spiritual understanding sometimes causes disagreements between genuine believers. While the Spirit teaches all believers from the Word, we do not all arrive at the same conclusions. Is that caused by a faulty guide? Certainly not. We ourselves are the cause. The Teacher is impeccable, but the pupils are cracked and broken vessels. As many parts of the Christian life, we enjoy a taste of heavenly perfection, of redemption from the fall, yet we still deal with the fallout of sin. We forget, we misinterpret, we ignore inconvenient truths, and we draw faulty conclusions.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no hope of knowing the truth. As we collectively grow in our knowledge of Scripture, we will draw closer together in doctrine and practice. Many truths of Scripture are abundantly clear, and believers throughout history have agreed on those. We believe God can be truly known, and we find that knowledge in His Word as we are taught by His Spirit.
Illumination does not negate Christian community
Sometimes illumination is misunderstood to mean that a Christian does not need community, he just needs to Word and the Spirit. While it may sound eminently spiritual to limit yourself to only the Spirit and the Word, that mentality often opens the door to corrupt doctrine. It is true that the Spirit and Scripture are sufficient to lead us into truth, but their benefits to us individually are multiplied in the context of community.
Just as God has appointed His Word as the source of truth, God has appointed His church as the location where truth is propagated and protected. The Spirit does teach us from His Word privately, but He also does so publicly in the church and Christian community. When we divorce ourselves from other believers, we place ourselves in spiritual danger. We reject the input of other believers only at great harm to ourselves. The blessing of personal study exponentially multiplies as each of us shares his discoveries with the others. We can both confirm and correct each other as we together seek the truth. We study the Word, depend on the Spirit, and cooperate in community.
Conclusion
What should we take with us from our study of illumination? We ought to be humbled. We are ever-dependent on God’s Spirit to understand His Word. The Bible clearly proclaims the truth, yet we are spiritually inept if God doesn’t open our eyes to understand wondrous things from it. But we ought also to be encouraged. Though we are weak, God is strong. And He is faithful to His promises. We can be confident that He is willing and able to enlighten our minds so we can see the truth, receive it, and walk by it.