By Bernie Gillespie 8 Feb. 18, 1991. All Rights Reserved

INTRODUCTION

The relationship between the Spirit and the Word is crucial as we approach the nature and meaning of Scripture. Even more today, when are living in a post-authoritarian age and confidence in the Bible's ability to communicate divine truth is in crisis. A very important part of the Christian faith is belief in the ability of God to reveal himself and so mediate this revelation that it communicates His will. This being so, it is necessary at all points, that God's Word and God's Spirit are viewed inseparable.

This does not mean identical. It means that Scripture can not be Sacred Scripture without the working of the Holy Spirit, and that we cannot have sufficient knowledge of the Holy Spirit without Scripture. The Scriptures and the Holy Spirit relate in several important ways. "Some of the more significant dimensions of the Spirit's work vis-a-vis Scripture include inspiration, illumination, application (conviction), and the testimonium.⁴

First, inspiration is the work of the Spirit in creating and preserving the revelation of the Word from God. Second, is the "internal testimony of the Holy Spirit," which is the work of the Spirit to confirm the truthfulness or trustworthiness of Scripture to the believer. But, just as important, is the work of the Spirit to illumine the heart and mind of the believer. This work effectively assists the reader in understanding and properly interpreting the meaning of Scripture.

The idea of the Illumination of Scripture is usually linked with the 1 Corinthians 2:7-16. We will now look at this passage to obtain a clearer view of the doctrine of Illumination as expressed in Scripture.

THE ILLUMINATION OF THE SPIRIT

Briefly, we must understand some background to Paul's writing of 1 Corinthians. Corinth was a cosmopolitan, Greek, sea-port city. It was an ancient "New York City." With respect to our passage, Corinth was highly inculcated with a general respect for Greek philosophical thought. It was also influenced by "hero worship" (esp. because of Isthmian games). Both elements play a part in understanding the reason for what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church.

The Corinthians were divided in their affections for different leaders. Paul reproves them for lifting up men rather than Christ (some possible influence of hero worship). He reminds them that he did not preach to them with "eloquent wisdom" that "the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power" (1:17, NRSV). He stated their problem was they "desired wisdom" and, therefore, saw the cross of Christ as "foolishness" (1:22,23).

Rather than assume Paul was merely fighting Gnosticism, "it seems wiser to assume that Paul is trying to combat the charge of irrationality in the Gospel by an appeal to the revealed nature of its 'wisdom,' foolish though it may appear to Gentiles trained in philosophy."⁵ Because of their hubris in trusting in "human" wisdom, he told them,

I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (2:1f NRSV)

Why? "So that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God" (2:5).

But, in verse six he does not reject all wisdom. He says that among the mature (τέλειoι)⁶ he speaks wisdom. However, it is neither a wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age. He contrasts "God's wisdom as a mystery," with the accumulated human wisdom outside God. There is a wisdom far superior to the wisdom of man. Man's own raw wisdom cannot elevate him to it (in contrast with much Greek philosophy).

He even admits that the "rulers of this age"⁷ would not have crucified Jesus if they had understood the wisdom from God (2:8). This wisdom or plan of God, was veiled in the OT (2:9 a loose reference to Is. 64:4). But now, since the NT has come through Christ, "these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit" (2:10). It is the Spirit that reveals (apolaklupto)⁸ this hidden wisdom of God to us.

Man must be aided by the Holy Spirit to understand the wisdom of God. The Spirit searches (present tense) everything - "fathoms everything"⁹ - (extent), even the "depths of God" (depth). By illustration, Paul explains that no human can understand human wisdom unless a human spirit searches it out. It must be explained to him by another human. Just so, no one can search out God's wisdom, but God. It must be explained to a human by the Spirit of God (2:11).

But the believer can understand the wisdom that comes from God because "we have received the Spirit that is from God" (2:12). This enables those convinced by the Spirit to trust in God to understand what God has done for them.

The things that Paul speaks to them - the Cross and the Gospel - are not inspired by human genius, but are "taught by the Spirit" (2:13). This is not an esoteric or mystical communication. It simply means Paul did not generate what he was preaching to them out of his own human wisdom. God's Spirit actively communicated to him the understanding of what God had done through Jesus Christ. The significance of what Jesus did could only be explained by the One to whom it meant the most, i.e. God.

The Spirit enables "spiritual things" (truths) to be "interpreted" in "spiritual words" (language).¹⁰ But, those who are "unspiritual" or "natural"¹¹ are unbelievers who have not accepted the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit that teaches them the wisdom of God. Because they refused the illumination of the Spirit, the wisdom of God, through human wisdom, appears foolish. Why? Because the wisdom of God is "spiritually discerned " - anakrinw (2:14).This has reference to the ability to make intelligent judgments or assessments.

By the illumination of the Spirit the believer is able to "judge" intelligently all things of the Spirit (2:15). Also, they are not subject or dependent upon those with human wisdom to make their intelligent judgments.

This is further brought out by Paul's quotation of Is. 40:13 from the LXX. This OT passage questions the ability of the natural man to understand the "mind" or wisdom of God. But, now, the Christian, by the Holy Spirit has "the mind of Christ."(2:16) This means that the Spirit is the mind of Christ giving us understanding of the wisdom of God. This wisdom is communicated to us by the Apostles through the words (2:13) that the Holy Spirit teaches.

APPLICATION

The important thing to realize from this passage is not how the Spirit of God illumines our hearts and minds to understand Scripture. What is important is, that, 1) only through the Holy Spirit can our minds be illumined. 2) It is effective in doing so. 3) We cannot expect to understand the revelation of God Incarnate, nor the Word in scripted by purely human wisdom. 4) God, Who breathed it out also must illumine it. 5) As believers we are given the Spirit to aid our understanding. 6) Without it we cannot "know the mind of the Lord" or "conceive what God has prepared for those who love Him." By it we can "understand the gifts bestowed upon us by God." 7) By the illumination of the Spirit we have the "mind of Christ."

ENDNOTES

1. Metzger feels that "loose use of the connective *X...is entirely in Paul's manner, where (VD ...has the appearance of being an improvement introduced by copyists. "Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, (United Bible Societies, 1971), p. 546.

2. Though shorter reading strongly possible, the weight, age, and diversity of external evidence supporting J@Ø 2,@Ø compels inclusion into the text. Ibid., p. 547.

3. "On the strength of p⁴⁶ A C D^* al the J�, but the men was a scribal addition to smooth the text." Ibid., p. 547f.

4. R.C. Sproul, "The Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit," Inerrancy, Norman L. Geisler, ed., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan pub. House, 1979), p. 337.

5. Howard Clark Kee, Franklin W. Young, & Karlfried Froehlich, Understanding the New Testament, (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965), p. 184f.

6. "The term JX8,4@4 ...can possibly be taken to mean 'adults' in comparison with the <ZB4@4 ¦< OD4FJè (nepioi en Christo, 'immature Christians') of I Cor. 3:1. But the contrasting term 3:1 is B<,L:"J46@\ (pneumatikoi, 'spiritual'), not teleioi. Rather, the meaning of teleioi as 'mature' here is more likely an expression for those with the 'mature insight' of the saved in distinction from the unsaved..." Frank E. Gaebelein, gen. ed., The Expositor's Bible Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1976, Vol. 10, p. 201.

7. Cp. Gordon D. Fee, New Testament Exegesis, a Handbook for Students and Pastors, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983), pp. 87-91, for why –DP@<J,H should be interpreted as "human" rulers.

8. "...a strong term, usually used in the NT to indicate divine revelation of certain supernatural secrets (Mt. 16:17; Lk. 10:22), Gaebelein,p. 201f.

9. Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1957), p. 306 ¦D"L<VT.

10. Gaebelein, p. 203f, for four ways this could be interpreted..

11. Cp. Gaebelein, p. 202f, "psychikos ...basically means 'that which pertains to the soul or life,' a word used in the NT and patristic literature to refer to the life of the natural world and so contrasted with the supernatural world and the Spirit. So from this comes the translation, 'man without the Spirit.'