The
Illumination of the Spirit
I remember as a teenager being warned
about a song in our hymnal with the line “Beyond the sacred page, I seek thee
Lord.” Finally, an approved hymnal came out that righted all such doctrinal
wrongs, changing the lyrics to “Within the sacred page, I seek thee Lord.”
With some modification, that warning
still has value. For it is primarily
in Scripture that God’s Spirit speaks to us. Through many writers and in a
variety of ways, God has used the Spirit-inspired Scriptures “for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone
who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim.
3:16–17, NRSV).
Scripture is one
aspect of the Spirit’s mission of creating and sustaining spiritual life. He
both authors and speaks through the Bible, which is ultimately the Spirit’s
book. By means of Scripture he bears witness to Jesus Christ, guides the lives
of believers, and exercises authority in the church.
But while the Spirit speaks first and
foremost in Scripture, the New Testament writers believed that his guidance of
believers would go “beyond the sacred page.”
When, for example, Paul prays that God
will “give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him
better,” he’s asking for much more than for copies of the New Testament (an
anachronistic thought) to be distributed (Eph. 1:7). He wanted God to open
their eyes through the Spirit’s illumination so they might grasp gifts like the
hope to which they had been called, the riches of God’s inheritance, and the
incomparable power he offers those who believe (1:18–19).
Exactly how God chooses to do this never seems to concern Paul. A still,
small voice? Guided instruction? Inner promptings? He never says. But he is
convinced that God will, through his Spirit, fill us “with the knowledge of his
will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col. 1:9).
Before Paul could address questions that
came to him from the church in Corinth, he had to challenge an anti-Christian
view of wisdom that was creeping in. It was the wisdom that puts confidence in
powerful rhetoric and human reasoning rather than in the weakness of the cross
(1 Cor. 1:18–2:5).
The apostle reminded the believers that
his ministry had been Exhibit A. His preaching of the crucified Christ hadn’t
been delivered with wise, persuasive arguments, “but with a demonstration of
the Spirit’s power,” so their faith would rest on God’s power rather than on
human wisdom (2:2–5).
The wisdom that centers on a cross can
never be figured out by human logic. So how had they come to understand? “God
has revealed it by his Spirit” (2:10).
For the Spirit
searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is
truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends
what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand
the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not
taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things
to those who are spiritual.… Those who are spiritual discern all things, and
they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. “For who has known the
mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” (1 Cor. 2:10–13, 15–16, NRSV).
In this remarkable text, Paul argues that
only the Spirit can know the mind of God. Humans, bound by the limitations of
the flesh and the attacks of sin, could never grasp his mysteries. So, the
Spirit is the only way by which our minds may be illuminated to understand. “We
have the mind of Christ” (2:16) precisely because the Spirit of Christ is
guiding us.
aAs interested as we may be in exactly
how the Spirit illuminates us, we should probably settle for believing that he
is guiding us. As we grow in our understanding of God, his redemptive actions,
and his purposes in the world, there is no room for self-congratulation.
Rather, we should thank God, who reveals himself to us in, and beyond, the
pages of Scripture. (Mike Cope, "How
does the Spirit work in the Christian?" in Theology Matters: Answers
for the Church Today, in Honor of Harold Hazelip, ed. Gary Holloway, Randall
J. Harris, and Mark C. Black [Joplin, Miss.: College Press Publishing Company,
1998], 41-43)
