God’s truth is made up of three things. Revelation, Inspiration and Illumination. These are important truths that are used in explaining the giving of Scripture by God, the recording of scripture and the understanding of it by believers. Therefore, it is Crucial that we comprehensive exactly what each if these terms mean and how they relate to each other.
We also need to understand the differences between these terms. These can be stated simply,
- Revelation: the giving of divine truth
Revelation is God revealing His truth to humanity. This truth could not be discovered through any type of human reasoning. It is entirely a work of God.
2. Divine Inspiration: the recording of divine truth.
Divine inspiration is concerned with the recording of truth. It refers to God supervising the writers of scripture to say exactly what He wanted to say. The result was Ho, y Scripture -the Bible.
3. Illumination: the understanding of divine truth by believers only.
Illumination is something we can experience through the work of the Holy Spirit. It refers to God giving understanding to His people of what His written Word means.
Before I was born again or even prayed, I tried reading the Bible and did not understand any of it. It honestly was a bunch of gibberish to me. It wasn’t until after I was born again and prayed for God to help me understand what I was reading that I began to understand.
Revelation is the disclosure of God’s truth to humanity, divine inspiration is the communication of that truth in written form. And illumination is the understanding of that truth. They can work separately, or together.
Sometimes there is divine inspiration, the recording of God’s truth, without revelation which is the supernatural giving of God’s truth. There’s an example of this in Luke 1:1-4,
“Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account most excellent Theophilus that you may know the certainly of those things in which you were instructed.”
Luke wants to inspire others, to his collected truth in the form of eyewitness accounts, facts, and evidence from the early church. We can learn from out elders (from generation to generation. Luke was present for many crucial events in the early church and was a co-worker with the Apostle Paul. In his travels, he likely met many key figures in Jesus’s earthly ministry. Biblical faith has always placed great emphasis on truth and reason. We don’t know who Theophilus is exactly. But we do know Luke seeks to strengthen his faith in the truth being taught about Jesus.
While Luke based his gospel on a variety of sources, the end result was divinely inspired scripture, but not divine revelation.
I cannot imagine not learning the things I have from my pastor. If you can I urge you to get connected with a Bible-believing church. And ask as many questions as you can to the elders. I used to feel dumb asking questions, but really there are no dumb questions when you want to learn about God and His Word.
Usually, divine inspiration and divine revelation go together. Revelation 1:1-2 says,
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him (John) to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel His servant John, who bore witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of his prophecy, and keep those things which are written I it, for the time is near.”
God divinely revealed these truths to John and then divinely guided the writings of the Book. This divine revelation, the giving of truth, worked with divine inspiration, the recording of that truth.
Divine inspiration can also occur with illumination. The writer would then understand the divine revelation they back been given. Paul wrote,
“For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing, because when you receive the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
Paul understood that he was passing along divine revelation to the people. He also understood what divine revelation meant.
There are a number of ways in which divine revelation inspiration, and illumination can work together, or separately. Each is a work of God.
Illumination is a supernatural event where the Holy Spirit helps people understand the meaning of the Bible. The best way to explain it. Is when you’re reading God’s Word and you get that Aha moment. You finally understand what God is saying to you.
From Pity to Praise 