For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows 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 know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.  (1 Corinthians o 2:10-13 NAS)

The Bible is getting dismissed and disregarded by many Christians and even many denomination or individual churches. Some do not dismiss it but conclude that the Bible was written a long time ago so we need to “update it” or make “amendments” for relevance in our culture. Three important things we learn from this text from these verses: the Bible is divine revelation; here we understand the nature of illumination and the essence of inspiration. Together we get a glimpse into the divine authority of God’s Word.

Revelation – For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God (v. 10)

God has revealed His “wisdom” (v. 7) which has been hidden but firmly determined by God “before the ages to our glory” (v. 7).  This is the information we recognize as our Bible. God has revealed Himself, His purpose and everything we need to know for relationship with God. What is critical about this is that even though God revealed these things to specifically chosen men the content and information we have in our Bibles does not originate with men nor is it the invention of men –

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God  (2 Peter 1:20-21 NAS).

 The Bible is not myth or fable or simply a polemic (someone making an argument against other cultures and their value systems). This Bible has been recognized as God’s divine revelation of Himself and His purpose by the active working of His Spirit to give to humanity knowledge and understanding of God.

Inspiration – “… which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (1 Cor. 2:13).

Notice: this is what we call in theological terms the “inspiration of the Scriptures”.  The Spirit taught these chosen men combining “spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” – the best way to render this I believe. This means that the Spirit of God implanted in the minds of these writers the ideas and words to communicate in normal human language the essence of this wisdom that God was revealing to them.

Illumination – Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God…”

The key idea of illumination is not that the Spirit gives us the ability to understand the Bible although that may be part of this process. We actually interpret and extract the meaning of the Bible / Scriptures the way we would interpret any historical document. There are interpretive rules that respect and recognize the historical, cultural and linguistic components of written language.  What the Spirit does though is gives us the ability to personally welcome, embrace and value that truth in a very personally way so that we will live by the truths or principles that we discover from the Scriptures. Notice the contrast of the natural man in verse 14 – But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14 NAS).

Our Bible is not the creation of culture or mankind. It is God’s divine revelation to mankind regardless of the culture.

In His grace, Pastor Brad