The Illumination of the Holy Spirit

R.C. Sproul — Theological notes from The Reformation Study Bible

The Bible is not a book of darkness. On the contrary, it is a source of much-needed light. The psalmist calls God’s Word “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).

Not every part of Scripture is equally clear to our understanding. Certain passages are difficult to grasp. We struggle at certain points to gain insight into the meaning of the text. The effect of sin upon us is to shroud our mind in darkness. In our fallen nature we are creatures of darkness who are in desperate need of light.

Though the Scriptures themselves are light for us, there is need for additional illumination so that we may clearly perceive the light. The same Holy Spirit who inspires the Scripture, works to illumine the Scriptures for our benefit. He sheds more light on the original light. Illumination is the work of the Holy Spirit. He helps us to hear, receive, and properly understand the message of God’s Word. As the apostle Paul writes,

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” — these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-11)

Here Paul draws an analogy from human experience. You may learn many things about an individual from observing them, or from hearsay, but you can not know what is going on inside their mind or spirit unless they choose to reveal it. Only they know what they are thinking.

Likewise, it is the Holy Spirit who knows the innermost thoughts of God. Paul says that the Spirit “searches” the deep things of God. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit must investigate and inquire into the mind of God in order to be instructed. He is not seeking for information He otherwise lacks. He “searches” as a searchlight scans the night to bring into the light what otherwise would remain hidden.

Illumination is not to be confused with revelation. It is commonplace today to hear people speak about private revelations they claim to have received from the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit in illumination is not the supplying of new information or fresh revelations beyond those found in sacred Scripture.

Reformed Christianity emphatically denies that God is giving new normative revelation today. The Spirit is still working to illumine what is revealed in Scripture. The Spirit helps us to understand the Bible, to convict us of the truth of the Bible, and to apply that truth to our lives. He works with the Word and through the Word. His task is never to teach against the Word. It is therefore always necessary to test what we hear, by the teaching of Scripture. The Scripture is the Spirit’s book.

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Proclaiming Christ Crucified

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Wisdom from the Spirit

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2