Having gone to great lengths to preserve this revelation in written form, the Spirit of God now leans over our shoulders as the gracious teacher of His own text.
One of the most enjoyable studies the believer can engage in is the study of how each of the persons of the Godhead is involved in all of His great works: creation, salvation, prophecy, sanctification, and so on. For example, consider the role of the Holy Spirit in one of these works: the formation and application of God’s Word, the Bible. The terms revelation, inspiration, and illumination provide us with a simple outline.
Revelation
The first stage in the Spirit’s involvement with the Bible was His approach to finite man with knowledge from an infinite God. Revelation is God’s giving to men divine truth that they would have never known had God not graciously spoken, initiated, or acted (Num. 12:6; Isa. 55:8-9). Although God’s Word did not always come in two stages, first by revelation, and then later to be written or proclaimed, that was often the method God employed (Isa. 8:1,11f; Jer. 1:7; 7:27; 13:12; 30:1f; esp. Jer. 36:1-4; Ezk. 3:10f; 24:2f; Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1; Amos 1:1; Jon. 1:1; 1 Cor. 2:10; Eph. 2:3-5; 1 Tim. 4:1). Men could not speak or write for God unless revelation occurred; thus revelation separated false prophets from true (Deut. 18:20; 2 Pet. 1:16).
Inspiration
The word “inspiration” comes into the believer’s vocabulary from 2 Timothy 3:16. There we read, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” The Greek word behind this English word is theopneustos, meaning “God-breathed.” The fundamental idea is that God breathed out the Scriptures. He didn’t breathe divine truth into writings that previously existed; they were His words from the start. Thus, it is the Scriptures that were (and are) inspired, not the writers. Notice also that all Scripture is inspired. This is why one will hear the term “plenary inspiration” used. Plenary means “full in all respects”; all of the Bible is inspired. We also speak of “verbal inspiration,” which means that the actual original word choice was superintended by God (Mt. 5:18).
It has been said: “Orthodoxy teaches that the Scriptures are the Word of God. Modernism holds that they contain the Word of God (i.e. some parts are inspired and others aren’t). Neo-orthodoxy teaches that they become the Word of God as readers spiritually encounter God in studying them.” The latter two ideas clearly contradict 2 Timothy 3:16.
The second classic text for explaining inspiration is 2 Peter 1:20-21. Peter sets forward prophetic Scripture as a light for us to fix our compass upon as we move through dark and uncertain times. A natural question arises: “How can I trust God’s prophets so thoroughly? How do we know theirs is a ‘more sure’ word?” Peter’s two-pronged answer: Old Testament prophets did not merely speak the word of God whenever they felt like it, and holy men of God spoke as the were moved [“carried along” like a ship by wind; cf. phero in Acts 27:15, 17] by the Holy Spirit.
Thus we see that the Spirit of God motivated, propelled, and directed their words such that their resultant speech or writing was breathed out by Him. In all this their own personalities and writing skills shine through in the varieties of writing styles and vocabulary found when comparing different books of Scripture.
Let us consider a specific example. Isaiah 6:9-10 is quoted more than once in the New Testament. In John 12:39-41 we are told that Isaiah spoke those words. But in Acts 28:25-27 we are told that it was the Holy Spirit who spoke them. These parallel quotations teach us that, although those words were recorded by Isaiah, it is also true that it was the Holy Spirit speaking. Over and over again the Bible highlights this relationship between the prophets and the Spirit who guided them and their words.
Other examples include: 2 Sam. 23:2-3, “the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, His word was in my tongue”; Mt. 1:22; 2:15, “spoken of the Lord by the prophet” (quoting Isa. 7:14; Hos. 11:1); Mark 12:36, “David himself said by the Holy Ghost” (quoting Ps. 110:1); John 16:13, “the Spirit…shall…speak…and will show you things to come”; Acts 1:16, “the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spoke” (quoting Ps. 41:9); Heb 3:7-11, “as the Holy Ghost saith” (quoting Ps. 95:7b-11); Heb. 10:15-17, “the Holy Ghost said” (quoting Jer. 31:33; notice that Jeremiah attributes this quote to Jehovah, but Hebrews attributes it to the Spirit); 1 Peter 1:10-11, “the Spirit of Christ…which was in them did signify…”
For your own interest and study, you can also examine Hebrews 1:8 & Psalm 45:6; Hebrews 1:10-12 & Psalm 102:25-27; Acts 4:25; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Exodus 4:10-15; Jeremiah 1:7-9; Ezekiel 2:6-8; Matthew 10:20; Luke 12:12; 21:14; and Acts 2:4.
While 2 Timothy 3:16 says that God breathed out all Scripture, 2 Peter 1:20-21 explicitly states that it was the Spirit speaking. Putting these two passages together provides an excellent proof of the Holy Spirit’s deity. It is also interesting to note that both passages have the idea of wind or breath in them. Both the Hebrew and Greek words for Spirit imply breath or wind.
Illumination
Having so graciously revealed God (the subject of the Bible) to man and having gone to great lengths to preserve this revelation in written form, the Spirit of God now leans over our shoulders as the gracious teacher of His own text. Despite the range of use the word has had among believers through the centuries, illumination generally refers to the Spirit’s enabling and helping us to see and understand truths in Scripture (1 Cor. 2:12; Eph. 1:17f). We would go on to say that the Holy Spirit takes the Bible and works upon us with it—teaching, warning, convicting, leading, comforting, and encouraging (see Ps. 119).
In connection with hearing or reading the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 2:14 contains two criteria: There must be an ability to discern truth and the willingness to submit to it. The unbeliever cannot truly discern the truth of God. But Romans 8:7 tells us that the unbeliever cannot receive spiritual truth even when understood. The believer has the capacity to do both but often does neither (1 Cor. 1:1-3; Heb. 5:12). Thus a primary work of the Spirit in connection with the Bible is to make us willing to submit to divine truth and to become experienced in discerning it. Both take time. Illumination does not make study unnecessary; it occurs through it, along with meditation and teaching.
While the Spirit of God is able to teach, and willing that we should learn, our reception of His illumination is influenced by the amount of Scripture known, the time we offer Him, and the degree to which we allow ourselves to be influenced by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our contributions, not His, account for conflicting interpretations.
Though His capacity to teach is infinite, our capacity to learn is not. The Spirit does not cause us to grow by the tap of a magic wand; He applies His inspired Word to real people through real circumstances in order to bring about real growth.
Why then did the Spirit oversee the Scriptures? For our sakes (Rom. 4:23a), to make us “wise unto salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15), to enable faith (Rom. 10:17), to show us ourselves (Jas. 1:23), to equip us unto good works (1 Tim. 3:17), for our warning (1 Cor. 10:11), to cleanse us (Ps. 119:9), for our comfort (1 Thes. 4:18), to reassure us (1 Jn. 2:12f), for our defense (Eph. 6:17), for our guidance (Ps. 119:105; 1 Pet. 1:19), for our enjoyment (Ps. 119:103), to teach us patience and bring us hope (Rom. 15:4), and, above all, to show us Christ and, through Him, God (Lk. 24:27).