Awakened

Rom 7:9 Awakened when the commandment came 1 Cor 2:1-16, John 16:7-15

Illuminated by the Spirit God’s power comes through God’s wisdom and God’s wisdom comes through Scripture. The Bible is the Holy Spirit speaking. The Holy Spirit spoke when Scripture was written, but the Holy Spirit speaks when Scripture is read and Scripture is understood. The secrets are known only to God and revealed by God when God chooses to reveal them and precisely to whom He chooses to reveal them (Rom 16: 25). The revelation is the truth that the Spirit of God has determined to reveal (1 Cor 2:10), inspiration is the means by which it is transmitted to print and now we possess it (1 Cor 2:12). Illumination is the work of the Holy Spirit to make its meaning known (1 Cor 2:12) Unregenerate people appraise nothing. They look at the Scripture, it’s meaningless. The believer, however, is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and thus able to discern, to judge, to appraise. That means to rightly evaluate. People who show distain to the Scripture are just acting natural. This is how natural people act. They may have a certain respect for the Bible which they don’t understand, they may even try to live up to some of its sort of normal sort of well-known moral laws or principles of honesty and decency. But they don’t comprehend it. Even the best of men can’t make a true judgment of Scripture. But he who is spiritual has been given spiritual life and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and is able to make a correct appraisal of everything. You get it. You get it. See, it’s what’s so frustrating about living in the world, isn’t it? We have all the answers. We get it. They don’t. (Mac Arthur).

Came Gk – Erchomai to come into being, arise, come forth, show itself, find place or influence

J I Packer: The knowledge of divine things is more than a formal acquaintance with biblical words and Christian ideas. It is a realizing of the reality and relevance of those activities of the triune God to which Scripture testifies. Such awareness is natural to none, familiar with Christian ideas though they may be (like “the man without the Spirit” 1 Cor. 2:14 who cannot receive what Christians tell him, Matt. 15:14, or like Paul himself before Christ met him on the Damascus road Rom 7:7-11). Only the Holy Spirit, searcher of the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10), can bring about this realization in our sin-darkened minds and hearts. That is why it is called “spiritual understanding” (spiritual means “Spirit-given,” Col. 1:9; cf. Luke 24:25; 1 John 5:20). Those who, along with sound verbal instruction, “have an anointing from the Holy One... know the truth” (1 John 2:20, 27).

The work of the Spirit in imparting this knowledge is called “illumination,” or enlightening. It is not a giving of new revelation, but a work within us that enables us to grasp and to love the revelation that is there before us in the biblical text as heard and read, and as explained by teachers and writers. Sin in our mental and moral system clouds our minds and wills so that we miss and resist the force of Scripture. God seems to us remote to the point of unreality, and in the face of God’s truth we are dull and apathetic. The Spirit, however, opens and unveils our minds and attunes our hearts so that we understand (Eph. 1:17-18; 3:18-19; 2 Cor. 3:14-16; 4:6). As by inspiration he provided Scripture truth for us, so now by illumination he interprets it to us. Illumination is thus the applying of God’s revealed truth to our hearts, so that we grasp as reality for ourselves what the sacred text sets forth. Illumination, which is a lifelong ministry of the Holy Spirit to Christians, starts before conversion with a growing grasp of the truth about Jesus and a growing sense of being measured and exposed by it. Jesus said that the Spirit would “convict the world” of the sin of not believing in him, of the fact that he was in the right with God the Father (as his welcome back to heaven proved), and of the reality of judgment both here and hereafter (John 16:8-11). This threefold conviction is still God’s means of making sin repulsive and Christ adorable in the eyes of persons who previously loved sin and cared nothing for the divine Savior.

The way to benefit fully from the Spirit’s ministry of illumination is by serious Bible study, serious prayer, and serious response in obedience to whatever truths one has been shown already. This corresponds to Luther’s dictum that three things make a theologian: oratio

(prayer), meditatio (thinking in God’s presence about the text), and tentatio (trial, the struggle for biblical fidelity in the face of pressure to disregard what Scripture says).

John Owens Pneumatologia, or, A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit

The volitional aspect of illumination is involved in what may be called “salvific illumination.” This refers to the Spirit’s work in regeneration and the ensuing acceptance and conviction of the fact that Scripture is God’s authoritative, written Word. These areas are interrelated: regeneration by the Spirit has a profound effect on the mind, which enables one to accept the authority of Scripture. The depravity of human nature and the character of Scripture make it impossible to accept and understanding the truth. These two obstacles must be removed to understand the Scriptures

The Sinful Nature: Sin has a profound, negative influence on the human mind, the will, and the desires. Because of sin’s sway in these areas, individuals are held in ignorance concerning spiritual truth. Spiritual darkness hinders the mind from believing the Scriptures with a genuine faith. Spiritual blindness is a dynamic, active, evil force within the human mind, which is hostile toward God and His truth and which causes the individual to reject the Scriptures. The mind is strongly influenced by one’s evil will and by the sinful desires of the human heart. Desires such as pride, the love of praise, and a love for sin cause a person not only to misunderstand the Scriptures but also to hate and to deny them. Ignorance and errors regarding spiritual truth are attributed to a person’s sinful mind and desires.

The character of Scripture. The depth of Scripture’s truths hinders one from properly understanding it. Doctrines such as the Trinity and the Incarnation make it difficult for depraved human reason to comprehend spiritual truth. The truth of Scripture is plain or clear, there is no inherent weakness or flaw within it that would obstruct one’s understanding of biblical truth, But, this clearness of Scripture alone does not remove spiritual blindness. Because of the sinful human condition, Scripture can be understood intelligently only if a person depends on the Spirit. The Holy Spirit exposes and removes personal prejudices that obstruct the understanding of the Bible. The Spirit accomplishes this goal by implanting new spiritual life within an individual. Once regeneration occurs, the Spirit enables a person to accept the truth of God’s Word and then to understand Scripture genuinely and experientially.

The relationship of the Holy Spirit to exegesis (understanding the Bible) may be called “interpretive illumination,” in contrast to “salvific illumination.” The Spirit’s illumination is necessary if God’s Word is to be properly understood. While human reason has been impaired by sin, the human mind can still reason, which makes the use of exegetical skills possible and necessary in the hermeneutical process. These skills help give a basic knowledge of the meaning of words just as other great literature may be understood by similar linguistic principles. However, the academic disciplines are subservient to the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit because of the unique, supernatural nature of Scripture.

The Holy Spirit teaches the truth to a believer through His “anointing” (1 John 2:20, 27), through the Holy Spirit Himself who makes truth known to an individual. The Spirit gives a believer assurance of the truthfulness of God’s Word by experiencing its power, and by having a joy and love for the truth. This encounter with the truth assures a person that he has a right understanding of Scripture which enables him to stand firm against false teachings. Thus the Spirit’s anointing means that He illumines a believer’s mind, granting understanding and personal experience of God’s Word so that he commits himself wholeheartedly to the truth.

Even though the Spirit illuminates Scripture, the believer must utilize hermeneutical skills in studying the Bible. They must be concerned about the historical context and the literary structure of the passage being studied. In addition Bible students gain a definite advantage by using the original languages. The believer must also ask God in prayer to understand and to experience His Word. In prayer, negative attitudes toward Scripture are exposed and removed when attitudes such as humility and meekness are formed, and in prayer the reader becomes more teachable concerning God’s truths. Thus prayer plays a vital role in illumining the mind regarding biblical truth. One may gain a notional understanding of Scripture, but prayer provides power for these truths to transform a believer’s life. Besides personal prayer, each must submit his understanding of biblical teachings to other believers. This can be achieved through mutual instruction in Bible studies and preaching. While believers have a basic knowledge of the truth, they all have the continued need to learn from others. Individuals should not assume that interpretations are correct without formal instruction from godly authorities. There needs to be a balance between personal and corporate interpretation.

Even great familiarity with the Bible does not guarantee understanding of it, The wise and learned may get no benefit from Scripture, while those who are unschooled may display powerful mastery (Acts 4:13, 1 Cor 1:26-31). Two dangers that emerge once we begin to speak of the need for the Spirit to illumine. Trying to avoid rationalism, we may end up with irrational subjectivism. If it is the Spirit which gives understanding of God’s Word, then scholarly helps, linguistic and grammatical study, and the consultation of commentaries are unnecessary, Some will be secure in the conviction that what they believe is a Spirit-given interpretation of a passage that they are immune to any instruction. Some expect a special private revelation as they are reading the Bible. The idea that the things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned is a glorious and comforting thought, but like so much in Scripture, it is something, which the ignorant can twist to their own destruction.

Alwyn York Suggests three things regarding Illumination

The Incapacity of the Unregenerate to Understand Scripture

Unredeemed human beings are in a state of darkness, a darkness that is moral rather than intellectual. Prov 4:19, Ps 82:5, Eph 4:18, 2 Cor 3:14 Even in darkness there is much that an unredeemed person can understand about the Scriptures (James Buchanan), There can be no doubt that the Bible, like any other book, may convey much instruction to an unrenewed man. When it is affirmed that a natural man cannot know the things of God, it is not implied that the Bible is unintelligibly written, or that he cannot understand the sense and meaning of scriptural propositions, so as to be able to give a rational account of them. He may investigate the literal meaning of Scripture, and may attach a definite idea to many of its statements—may be able to see their mutual relations—to reason upon them, and even to expound them; and yet in the scriptural sense, he may be in darkness notwithstanding. The Bible is not like some Delphic oracle, completely unintelligible except to those who are supernaturally given an interpretation.

This trait of the unregenerate is a consequence of their moral condition. Rom 1:21-22, 2 Cor 4:3, Paul and Pharisees were well versed in Scripture. They did not need more information—they needed to have the hostility of their hearts to the Son of God removed (Edwin Palmer). Luke 16:27: What the rich man’s brothers needed for their conversion was not more knowledge or a proof by a man rising from the dead. No, they had Moses and the prophets. What they needed was a spiritual awakening and illumination so they could believe what was already in the Bible.” Apologetics does have value. It is worth showing that believing in the Bible is not an irrational thing to do. It is worth looking at evidences for Christianity and answering the charges made by skeptics. But we still need to remember that no one can be argued into faith in Christ. The scribes and Pharisees believed in the literal truth of the Hebrew Scriptures—but still they rejected the Lord of Glory and had Him crucified.

The New Capacity Given to the Redeemed

The inability of the natural man to receive the things of God is not an intellectual problem but a moral one. So the change that occurs at regeneration operates on the heart and the will, not on a person’s rational capacities. The Holy Spirit does not enlighten a man by giving him a secret revelation, some new knowledge. The Holy Spirit enlightens a person, not by giving an added content of knowledge, but by mysteriously operating on his heart so that he can see the revelation already given. The removing of the veil (2 Cor 3:15-16). The truth was there before them all the time, only they were prevented from seeing it. (Lk. 24:16 -32). This new comprehension is not the result of being given new information. It was being enabled to see and appreciate what was right before our eyes and we should have known all along.

The nature of the light that is given is a true sense of the divine excellency of the things revealed in the Word of God, and a conviction of the truth and reality of them thence arising. This spiritual light “reveals no new doctrine, it suggests no new propositions to the mind, it teaches no new thing of God, or Christ or another world not taught in the Bible, but only gives a due apprehension of those things that are taught in the Word of God. The Spirit’s work is to drive home to the heart and conscience what the mind understands (Jonathan Edwards).

As it is difficult to convey an idea of color to the blind, or of music to the deaf, so it is difficult to describe to a natural man the peculiar perceptions of one whose eyes have been opened by the Spirit. And the difficulty is not diminished but increased by the fact, that he has a kind of knowledge which is common to him with the true believer, and which is too apt to be mistaken for that which the Gospel requires. Perhaps the nearest approach that we can make to an explanation may be by asking you to conceive of a man who sees, but has no sense of beauty, or of a man who hears, but has no sense of harmony; just such is the case of a natural man, who sees the truth without perceiving its spiritual excellence, and on whose ear the sound of the Gospel falls without awakening music in his soul. Saving knowledge is not a knowledge of the dead letter or outward form of the Gospel, but a knowledge of the truth in “the light, and luster, and glory of it;” (James Buchanan). Thus we can see that the scriptural doctrine of illumination gives no encouragement at all to those who desire to find a secret higher meaning in Scripture. It is also no encouragement to those who look to the word of the Spirit to give them a personal private revelation. A mystical approach is encouraged which deprecates the need for the work of understanding a passage in context and applying all the other rules of sound interpretation. People today are all too quick to attribute their own personal desires and inclinations to a special work of the Holy Spirit. A sound understanding of what the Bible teaches about the Spirit’s illumination is important if Christians are to attribute to the Holy Spirit the work that is truly His, and not give their personal whims and leadings a divine status.

The Believer’s Continuing Need for Illumination

The Spirit’s illuminating work is necessary throughout the life of a believer. (Ps. 119:18, Eph. 1:18-19). We are meant to taste and see that the Lord is good. We still dwell in a world of pale shadows and dim reflections. Our eyes have been opened, but still darkness and shadows remain. Having our eyes opened should mean that we desire to see more and more. There is a richness and depth in God’s revelation that is inexhaustible. Shame upon us if we ever feel that the Bible is old hat, that in reading its pages we are simply treading down well-worn, familiar paths. What a sense of joy and gratitude it should give us to find new light on a passage that has always perplexed us, or to have a teacher make us see a passage in a different light that we have before. There was something exhilarating about seeing what was a familiar portion of Scripture in a whole new light. We do not know what further treasures the Spirit of God might show us from the Word of God if we would but dig deeper. We must continually study of the Word of God!

Edwards gives is simply an exhortation to seek this spiritual light.Four incentives.First, it is the most excellent and divine wisdom to which any created being can aspire.Second, it is the most sweet and joyful kind of knowledge; no other knowledge can give such pleasure.Third, this is a kind of knowledge that can transform us personally at the deepest level.Fourth, this knowledge bears fruit in holiness of life.It changes our hearts so that we give God willing obedience, which will be evident in the things we do.