THE ILLUMINATION OF THE SPIRIT AND BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

ABSTRACT

This essay focuses on an investigation into the doctrine of the illumination of Scripture by the Holy Spirit.
The first section offers an extensive introductory analysis to clarify the meaning of illumination, and, conversely, what it is not.
The second section considers some of the main scriptural bases to justify this neglected biblical truth, as presented in the introductory section.
Finally, the third section studies how illumination was understood by two major theologians, representing two significant theological positions in church history: the classical reformed perspective of John Calvin, and the neo-orthodox view upheld by Karl Barth.
Some brief conclusions will then be drawn.

INTRODUCTION

In recent decades, the charismatic movement’s strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s activity in the Church has influenced Christianity worldwide. This has led to a welcome renewed focus on the silent ministry of the third Person of the Trinity, but also to certain misconceptions. Within global charismatic circles, terms such as “baptism in the Holy Spirit”, “illumination of the Spirit”, and “revelation of the Spirit” are so commonplace that they have become part of the standard evangelical lexicon, to the point where their misuse often goes noticed. This widespread phenomenon necessitates a reassessment of the biblical significance of the believer’s illumination by the Holy Spirit. To achieve this, we must situate the doctrine of illumination within a broader theological systematic framework. Indeed, the doctrine of illumination is deeply connected to the doctrine of Scripture (Ephesians 6:17: the Spirit’s sword is the Word of God).

Firstly, illumination concerns the Spirit’s action within the Christian. Generally, this locus is defined as “the doctrine of the illumination of Scripture by the Spirit of God” but illumination is not of Scripture but of the believer’s mind and heart. The Holy Spirit doesn’t change or clarify the Bible because it is insufficiently clear; rather, He sanctifies the believer, bringing him to spiritual sight and maturity for greater biblical understanding and obedience. In The Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther argues against Erasmus regarding the clarity of Scripture. Luther affirmed the perspicuity of Scripture: the Word of God is clear, intelligible, and understandable. This does not mean that the Bible is always easy to understand; some passages are difficult (2 Peter 3:15-16). However, it is objectively accessible (external perspicuity). God speaks through the Bible because He desires to be understood and obeyed. Therefore, He communicates to us by accommodation, using human language, which is not a weakness in communication but a strength. The central, intelligible message of Scripture is Jesus Christ. For those who cannot understand, or worse, are able to understand but are unwilling to obey, the problem lies not in the obscurity of the Bible, but in their sinful and darkened hearts. This is not merely a rational problem, but a volitional one. Therefore, the intervention of regeneration by God’s Spirit – to which illumination belongs – is required (internal perspicuity). Therefore, it is both possible and necessary to interpret Scripture by Scripture itself (analogia fidei): challenging passages should be clarified by more accessible passages on the same theme, not by using external devices, but by using the same Word of God. As stated in the Chicago Declaration: “Article XVIII. We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture. We deny the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claims to authorship”. Therefore, the problem is not the clarity of Scripture, but in the sinner’s ignorant mind and darkened heart. Spiritual death must be overcome in order to bring the elect to new life through the Spirit’s illumination. Without the Spirit’s illumination, no one can recognise the Bible as God’s Word, understand it, and submit to it with reverence and love. Edwards defines these as the right “religious affections”. Wellum highlights: “in hermeneutics, there is a crucial spiritual component tied to ‘understanding’. If we do not understand Scripture, the fault is not in Scripture; it is clear. Instead, the fault lies in us, which only the Spirit of God can remedy”. Vanhoozer reminds us that Christian hermeneutics is not a Pelagian endeavour based solely on works and intellectual efforts. Rather, it is a spiritual battle against demonic forces that seek to distort the correct interpretation of the Bible (Ephesians 6:12), and also against our own sin. Only through the Spirit, who brings the reader to a proper understanding of the biblical text through conviction (internal witness), illumination and sanctification, can the disciple be freed from sinful prejudice that hinder the apprehension of God’s authorial intent. The disciple must align his thoughts and interests with those of God’s Word, avoiding the imposition of his own will upon the text (eisegeses), and instead distilling the original meaning from the text (exegesis). Finally, he must allow the Spirit to accomplish the original purpose for which that specific portion of Scripture was inspired, surpassing a natural and sinful reading of the text (the letter) and embracing the spiritual, life-giving dimension of the illuminated Bible. This distinction marks the main divergence between general and biblical hermeneutics. Reeves writes: “Since our problem is with our hearts, the Spirit gives us new birth into a new life precisely by giving us new hearts. The tool he uses is Scripture, but through Scripture he opens our blinded eyes to see who the Lord truly and beautifully is and so he wins our hearts back to him. And that is life—to know him”. Vanhoozer suggests that effective clarity of Scripture is composed not only of classic perspicuity, but also of luminosity. Following the theological concept of Christ’s transfiguration, which prompted “real glorious change but without the overturning of the true properties”, he advocates a spiritual interpretation that allows readers to discern the divine voice within the human text.
This clarifies the relationship between illumination (pneumatology) and the doctrine of revelation.

Secondly, illumination is integral to the Spirit’s process of sanctification, starting at conversion, and is not merely a spiritual phenomenon experienced at subsequent, punctiliar moments. Illumination coincides with the noetic aspects of regeneration. Intellectual and spiritual illumination are facets of the Spirit’s regeneration, presenting the radical renewal in the life of the sinner. Prior to the supernatural illumination of the Spirit, the sinner is unable to perceive the kingdom of God (John 3); however, through the new birth, the converted believer can know God and become a member of His realm. Therefore, the Spirit’s illumination is not a second blessing reserved for certain privileged believers, but rather the Spirit’s anointing that every new covenant believer already possesses (1 John 2:27). They were once blind, but now they can see Christ’s majesty. This does not imply that they possess the entirety of possible knowledge of God as revealed through the Bible, but simply that they are now able to pursue genuine, biblical, spiritual knowledge through the study of Scripture under the guidance and blessing of the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom.
We have clarified the relationship between illumination (pneumatology) and soteriology.

Thirdly, illumination does not preclude ordinary intellectual study and spiritual exercise, but works through them as ordinary means of growth and maturation, as exegetes of the Word. This is why illumination is termed “organic illumination”. Paul was keen to have back his scrolls, in order to continue to study. He urged the young student Timothy to continue to apply himself to the Word of God so that all could see his progress in its proper interpretation. Many charismatics present a false dichotomy between the Spirit’s action and ordinary study in educational institutions, as if rational progress were opposed to the spiritual action of God. This is not the case. John Reuther affirms: “He [the Holy Spirit] works in us as we work to study the Scripture. Illumination is not a passive reception of Light, rather the spiritual fruit of seeking and searching…The ministry of illumination is a vital ministry for hermeneutics, which explains the correct way to study the Bible”. Diligent study of the Bible is good and necessary, as much as prayer, fellowship and the sacraments. The illumination of the Spirit is harmonious with, and not contrary to, to the ordinary means of grace.
As Smeaton recalled:
With regard to the UNDERSTANDING, all spiritual light is derived from the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus enlightening the eyes of their understanding (Eph. I:17). When the question is raised, does the illumination belong solely to prevenient grace? it is necessary to distinguish. In the first act of illumination, the Spirit acts much in the same way as when he commanded it to shine out of darkness (2 Cor. 4:6). But WHEN THE MAN HAS RECEIVED the power of vision, HE USES IT for the further increase of his knowledge in the way of co-operating grace.

This implies the importance of Christian hermeneutical tradition: exegetes must pay attention to the interpretations that the Holy Spirit has already imparted to the church over the centuries through illumination, thereby honouring the Spirit in His teaching ministry. The church, the hermeneutical ekklesia of exegetes – locally, but also universally – is God’s arena, the Holy Spirit’s temple, where He establishes sound interpretation derived from sanctified hearts and minds, willing to hear and submit to the Lordship of Christ together.
This clarifies the relationship between illumination (pneumatology), ecclesiology and Christian life.

Fourth, illumination is distinct from inspiration. Biblical inspiration refers to the unique and definitive process whereby the Holy Spirit guided biblical authors, enabling them to write the very Word of God. That collection of writings constitute the closed canon of faith and practise, supreme authority for the church and all other authorities. Since the canon is closed, the prophetic and apostolic ministry is exhausted. There are no more Apostles today, in the same sense as the Twelve and Paul. Rather, illumination is related to ordinary discipleship and daily biblical instruction. Illumination doesn’t bring a new revelation that should be considered at the same authoritative level as the Bible, but instead produces ongoing transformative enabling and instruction in the life of every true, new born disciple of Christ, according to the eschatological new covenant blessing (Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hebrews 8:11). Warfield agrees with Calvin when recalls the indissoluble bond between the distinct canonical inspiration and contemporary illumination: “the revelation of God is ineffective without the testimony of the Spirit… the testimony of the Spirit is inconceivable without the revelation of God embodied in the Word [canon]… the Spirit is no more the agent by which the Word is impressed on the heart than the Word is the means by which the illumination of the Spirit takes effect”. Therefore, illumination does not provide new inspired scriptures on a par with the Bible, nor does it provide new interpretative meanings or innovative insights apart from what the original authorial intent already expressed in the original biblical texts in their own context. The subjective light of the Spirit in Christians allows them to see the objective light of the Bible, which displays the glorious light of Christ, as happened along the road to Emmaus (Luke 24); this is what Vanhoozer means by “to read transfigurally”, what Calvin defined as the “glorified literal sense”.
Wellum affirms:
Sufficiency acknowledges the need for the Spirit’s illuminating work to understand, believe, and obey the saving message of Scripture. Just as there is an inseparable relation between God and his word, there is also an inseparable relation between Scripture and the appropriated work of the Spirit, both in his work of inspiration (2 Tim 3:16) and illumination (1 Cor 2:9-12). We cannot truly understand and believe God’s word without the regenerating and illuminating work of the Spirit. Yet the Spirit’s speaking through Scripture, contrary to many of the iterations of a neo-orthodox view, is not “independent” of the human authors of Scripture…In illumination, then, the Spirit does not change or go beyond the meaning of the text; instead, he enables us to understand what is already there, which is rightly identified with the “literal sense” (sensus literalis).

Stein helpfully clarifies the link between inerrant biblical inspiration and subsequent illumination, between the original authorial intent and the subsequent, potentially fallible, hermeneutical interpretation: “the Spirit helps the reader understand the principle that the author willed and convinces the reader as to the truth and personal relevance of that teaching”. While related and never wholly disjointed, inspiration must be distinguished from illumination, because the former is infallible, whereas the latter is not. The composition of the canon is the work of the Holy Spirit, as is the illumination that brings about the correct interpretation of Scripture. Both the production (inspiration) and the understanding of the canon (illumination) constitutes the “triune communicative action”. Nevertheless, we cannot expect new inspired revelation and prophecies today, given the cessation of the apostolic and prophetic ministry.

In summary, the following list outlines Zuck’s perspective on the role of the Holy Spirit concerning Scripture:
1. The Holy Spirit does not give new revelation on a par with Scripture.
2. He does not guarantee that our interpretations are infallible.
3. He does not give one person new insights that no one else has.
4. Many non-Christians can apply sound hermeneutics to understand the meaning of Scripture; without the Spirit, however, they refuse to apply it adequately to their lives.
5. Understanding is not the exclusive domain of biblical scholars.
6. Spiritual devotion on the part of the interpreter is crucial.
7. Lack of spiritual preparation can hinder correct interpretation.
8. There is no substitute for diligent study.
9. The Spirit does not rule out study helps.
10. He does not override common sense and logic.
11. He does not normally give sudden intuitive flashes.
12. The Spirit’s role in hermeneutics is part of the process of illumination.
13. He does not make all of the Bible equally clear.
14. He does not ensure comprehensive understanding.

BIBLICAL BASIS

The term “illumination” is not explicitly present in the biblical canon. Nevertheless, sound theology is built not by biblicism, but by biblical arguments. Like “Trinity”, the concept of “illumination” can be derived through careful systematisation of a substantial body of biblical data.

(1 John 1:5)

The starting point of theology must be the Triune God. In relation to the doctrine of illumination, we may ask, what is the nature of God? God is light. Within the Bible, light is often associated with revelation, knowledge, and wisdom. God is a speaking God, the only true source of knowledge (Proverbs 9:10). The Holy Spirit is able to apply God’s light to the lives of Christians because He is God the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God who is light.

(Psalms 119:18, 25, 27, 105)

God’s written Word shares the divine attribute of light with God Himself. God’s Word is a lamp and a light, providing spiritual sight and understanding in place of sinful blindness, and life instead of death. This psalmic light presupposes a cultic dimension, referring to the Tabernacle’s lampstamp, and, therefore, to the adoration of God: light for worship.

(1 Corinthians 2:11-16)

In contrasting human wisdom with divine wisdom, the Apostle Paul asserts that human reason alone is insufficient to comprehend divine revelation (opposing rationalism and natural theology). The Spirit of God is essential. The two eschatological classes of people, the natural ψυχικός (those not born again) and the spiritual πνευματικός (those indwelt by the Spirit), are distinguished by their capacity to receive God’s knowledge through the Spirit’s illumination, which leads them to believe, appreciate, and obey God’s Word. This is because the Spirit influences their intellect to believe that Scripture is truth, their affections to love it, and their conscience to shape their will towards joyful obedience.

(2 Corinthians 4:4-6)

John Reuther comments:
The ministry of illumination is operative in conversion initially. We cannot receive Christ in saving faith without the Spirit’s illumination… But the ministry of illumination is also the first and most important ministry of the Spirit throughout the Christian life because we cannot appropriate His many ministries without properly understanding them and we cannot glorify God apart from the ministry of His Word in our lives or in our churches. The Spirit continues this ministry as “the Spirit of truth” by illuminating the people of God… The Holy Spirit is the light on the truth of God as we seek to understand, interpret, and apply it to our lives every day, and as pastors study and proclaim it. In these activities we depend on the Spirit’s ministry of illumination.

(1 Thessalonians 1:5, 2:13)

The “Holy Spirit and full conviction” refers both to the manner in which the Apostle Paul preached, and to the effect of God’s Word on his audience. Paul expresses profound gratitude to God, not to men, because the success of his preaching was due solely to the supernatural action of God in the hearts of his hearers. The Thessalonians inwardly recognised and desired to obey God’s Word as a result of Paul’s proclamation, empowered by the necessary illumination of God’s Spirit.

(Ephesians 1:17-18)

Baugh notes that Paul employs the Greek verb ἐπίγνωσις rather than simply γνωσις, emphasising the genuine perception of “something transcendent”; the content of such spiritual knowledge is God the Father Himself. “To receive the spirit of wisdom means to see with the eyes of the heart”. Notably, the perfect aspect of the Greek participle πεφωτισμένους communicates the past action of being illuminated by God (new birth), which endures in the present (sanctification).

(2 Peter 1:19-21)

Schreiner suggests that the Apostle Peter relates the living light of Christ’s glorious transfiguration to the written light of Scripture, which Christians require to remain faithful until the second coming of the Lord. Interestingly, objective Scripture is not opposed to the event of transfiguration; rather, both offer synergistic testimony to the certainty of Christ’s return (in contrast to Barth’s conception of the sole subjectivity – event – of Scripture). Divine Scriptures are confirmed, not produced, by the event of Christ’s transfiguration. Objective Scripture provides light in the believers’ heart until the Day of Christ, when the Lord will replace the illuminating Bible with His all-encompassing light. Peter’s central point is that both the origin (inspiration) and correct interpretation (illumination) of Scripture originate from the Spirit of God.

Therefore, even if the precise word “illumination” does not appear in Scripture, a possible biblical definition could be: the work of the Spirit of God, initiated at the new birth and continuing during the process of sanctification in the believer’s life, Who enables him to recognise, accept, treasure, love, correctly interpret and obey God’s inspired Word as such. Klein states: “Illumination refers to a dynamic comprehension of the significance of Scripture and its application to life that is uniquely available to those indwelt by the Holy Spirit”.

HISTORICAL ARGUMENTATIONS

The classic reformed position: John Calvin (1509-1564) – Institutes of the Christian Religion

Calvin cherished the doctrine of illumination because of his conception of divine truth and the goal of theology in general: the knowledge of God, which has the power to transform people’s hearts. Especially Book 1 focuses on people’s need for spiritual illumination in order to distinguish between the true God and idols. In fact, the illumination of the Spirit is the work of self-attestation of Scripture itself. Neither an institutional church nor human reason authenticates Scripture, but the Bible itself by the light of the Spirit alone (autopistic), starting from the recognition of the canon itself. Because the Bible was written by God’s Spirit as primary author – albeit through secondary human authors – it proves itself to be the very authoritative, majestic Word of God through the convincing testimonium Spiritus Sancti which removes the veil of enmity from the elect’s heart. The internal testimony (illumination) is the foundation of Christian epistemology. The Bible sufficiently proves itself to be the Word of God by revealing God’s person and character. But why do not all people believe and submit to it? Because the illumination of the Spirit is necessary (and sufficient) to reach that spiritual state. Illumination does not give ad extra proof about the Bible, but the Spirit uses the Bible itself to open the sinner’s eyes and enable him to behold God’s glory, in Christ. The objective and external self-testimony of Scripture is made alive in the believer’s life by the subjective and internal illumination of the Spirit. As the Chicago Declaration affirms: “Article XVII. We affirm that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God’s written Word. We deny that this witness of the Holy Spirit operates in isolation from or against Scripture”. In his commentary on 2 Corinthians 4, Calvin elucidates that the Gospel is perspicuous, irrespective of any human acceptance: “the blindness of unbelievers detracts nothing from the clearness of his gospel; for the sun is not less resplendent, that the blind do not perceive his light”. Nevertheless, the Spirit’s enlightening new creation is absolutely necessary to receive the Gospel:
For as God, the Creator of the world, pours forth upon us the brightness of the sun, and gives us eyes to receive it, so, as the Redeemer, in the person of his Son, He shines forth, indeed, upon us by His gospel, but, as we are blind, that would be in vain, if He did not at the same time enlighten our understandings by His Spirit. His meaning, therefore, is that God has, by His Spirit, opened the eyes of our understandings, so as to make them capable of receiving the light of the gospel.

Concerning the authority of Scripture, Calvin contended against the Roman Catholic Church and various heretical movements, including the fanatics at one extreme (mystical spiritualisation), and the Socianians at the opposite extreme (an early form of rationalism).
In Book I.9, Calvin addressed the Enthusiasts, a sect that advocated for the direct revelation of the Holy Spirit, disputing the reliability of the Bible, which they deemed a useless and dead letter. For Calvin, the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, independent from Scripture, was an unacceptable sacrilege, since God’s Spirit and God’s Word are inseparable: the Spirit confirms the authority of Scripture and speaks through it, neither denying or substituting it. The Spirit constitutes the internal ministry, “preaching” Scripture to people’s hearts.
Conversely, in Book I.13-14, Calvin confronted the rationalistic movement of the Socinians, who interpreted the Bible according to purely logical exegetical criteria. They were optimistic about using rational mind to interpret Scripture, rejecting anything that seemed “unreasonable”, such as foundational doctrines like the Trinity, Christ’s incarnation and hypostatic union. Consequently, they practically denied the necessity of illumination. In contrast, Calvin argued that only the illumination of the Spirit can provide spiritual life and, therefore, the only knowledge of God that humans can attain. He posited that there is no natural knowledge that needs to be elevated and perfected by divine revelation (as Thomas Aquinas asserted) but there is only one consistent, true knowledge of God that people can attain, and that is through the Spirit’s illumination via Scripture.

In conclusion, a helpful exercise is to analyze Calvin’s approach using Barth’s categories, thereby preparing the subsequent section. For Calvin, the threefold forms of God’s Word – Christ, the Bible, and preaching – are essentially at the same authoritative level. The proclaimed Word (preaching) becomes the very Word of God when the illumination of the Spirit is manifested through Gospel preachers who exegete and proclaim faithfully the written Word (Scripture), which is the constant very Word of God. This authority is exercised when Christ (the Logos) is displayed as the telos of such exposition. Preaching is effective when the Spirit works in both the listener and the preacher. Nevertheless, Calvin distinguished between biblical inspiration, which is not a dynamic ongoing spiritual event, and illumination, which is. Milne concludes: “Calvin intends to differentiate the once-for-all inspiration of the biblical writers and the ongoing illumination of believers as they use the Scriptures; whereas Barth conflates the two”.

The neo-orthodox position: Karl Barth (1886-1968) – Church Dogmatics

Karl Barth is a prolific and renowned modern theologian who rejected his liberal origins to embrace classical Reformed theology, albeit in a modernised form. He generally held a high view of Scripture, affirming its divine authority, truthfulness, and reliability. Nevertheless, consideration of Barth’s theology of illumination suggests that he does not belong to the Reformed theological mainstream, such as Calvin. Even if Barth considered himself a “free” disciple of Calvin, the significant divergence between the two arises from the theological shift from reliance on the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit mediated through the texts of the Bible (Calvin’s position) to a comprehension of illumination as an act of revelation occurring in an event, an encounter between God and humanity (Barth’s standpoint). Barth conflated inspiration with illumination, whereas Calvin distinguished them: Scripture is and remains the very Word of God, independently of human reception. It is an absolute and independent divine reality. This was not so for Barth: he was reluctant to affirm Scripture’s Spirit-inspired character apart from its reception by the hearer-reader, because Scripture becomes God’s Word only when the Spirit, through illumination, produces an encounter between God and humanity. Without the testimony of the Spirit and human acceptance, Scripture is no more authoritative than any other common books of men. For Barth, the Bible is not the very Word of God, but becomes the Word of God by God’s grace. Scripture is a dynamic, dependent, subjective, reader-related means that channels God’s Word if and when God’s grace enables it. It is not an absolute status, but a possible event. Revelation is invariably an event, because God is pure act.

Barth affirmed a Christ-centered shaping of church and doctrine. Therefore, he draws a parallel between Christ and Scripture in his incarnation analogy: Jesus, the revealed divine Word, becoming human had a sinful nature with the potential to err, to sin; similarly, Scripture comprises human words conveying God’s Word, with the capacity to err. Because Barth rejected Christ’s impeccability, he also, in effect, rejects biblical inerrancy. In Barth’s theology, the distinction between infallible and inerrant inspiration of the written Word, and the fallible and potentially erroneous illumination of its readers, is not clearly defined. Rather than adopting the traditional view of inspiration and distinct illumination, Barth reframed the concept by suggesting that the out-breathing Spirit’s action is operative in the same way both in Scripture and in the believer.

According to Barth, God, in His triune nature, speaks in a threefold manner: through Christ, the Bible, and the church’s preaching. Christ is the source, the Bible serves as the witness to Christ, and preaching presents a contemporary proclamation of the Bible. This constitutes a subordinate chain of revelation. These distinct “forms” of God’s Word are inseparable, in a perichoretic relationship; however, only Christ is the perfect Word of God, the absolute (not relative) primary revelation in its fullest sense, because Christ is God speaking personally and directly. Scripture and preaching are derived revelations, and therefore indirect, subordinate, relative forms. Scripture is not the fixed and static self-revelation of God, but rather a human witness to it, a record of experiences collected by human authors, which can become God’s Word when the Spirit speaks through it. Finally, preaching becomes God’s Word when the Spirit renders it effective and when Scripture is faithfully proclaimed. Therefore, Christ alone embodies the fullness of the divine Word. The other two potentially attain this status through the dynamic event of illumination by the Spirit. Barth shifts the authoritative inspiration of the Bible from an objective standing to a fluid, lower and subjective status, on a par with illumination. Barth’s theology is complex. On the one hand, Reeves affirms: “Barth never meant by this that Scripture is not itself the word of God. He scrupulously affirmed that. His point was that the Bible is not an alternative way of knowing God next to Christ; it proclaims him…we never have the word of God at our disposal; we always depend on him in his grace to encounter us”. Furthermore, Thomson affirms Barth’s high view of Scripture. Milne concurred with Reeves, stating that for Barth, following the incarnational analogy, the divine Jesus, the Bible (human words), and preaching (human speech) are all the Word of God, but only under certain relative conditions realised by the Spirit’s illumination – namely, when the preaching is faithful to Scripture, and when Scripture genuinely witnesses to the divine revealed Word. On the other hand, Gibson conversely argues:
Doesn’t Barth say that the Bible isn’t the Word of God, but becomes the Word of God when it is received by faith? In fact, he can affirm both; the question is, What does he mean? The “becoming” language is for Barth tied up with his insistence that the initial revelation of the Word and its revelation to the individual believer are tied up together in one gracious whole. The same is true with Barth’s treatment of inspiration. He refuses to speak of the Bible as itself inspired, but links together what is traditionally called the inspiration of Scripture and the illumination of the believer into one whole.

This is why the Chicago Declaration on biblical inerrancy states:
Article III. We affirm that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God. We deny that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity…
By authenticating each other’s authority, Christ and Scripture coalesce into a single fount of authority. The Biblically-interpreted Christ and the Christ-centered, Christ-proclaiming Bible are from this standpoint one. As from the fact of inspiration we infer that what Scripture says, God says, so from the revealed relation between Jesus Christ and Scripture we may equally declare that what Scripture says, Christ says.

Conversely, Barth contended that because God can be epistemologically known only by Himself, knowledge of God is attainable solely through Christ, who is God. Barth asserts: “Among the three forms of the Word of God this can be said unconditionally and with strictest propriety only of revelation [Christ]. It can be said of Holy Scripture and Church proclamation as well, but not so unconditionally and directly”. This position reflects an inherited residue of liberal Kantian epistemology, which posits the impossibility of knowing the transcendent God through objects belonging to the material world. For Barth, according to Bromiley, God’s sovereign self-revelation – the root of doctrine – cannot be fully known through nature, history, or humanity, and therefore not even from direct biblical texts as human witness to the revealed Word, but from Christ alone, the incarnate Word. Pietro Bolognesi boldly affirms that Barth’s doctrine of the Word of God cannot be theologically considered fully “evangelical”. He argues that it is not legitimate to separate Christ and Scripture, in terms of authority. Barth states: “when we have to do with the Bible, we have to do primarily with this means, with these words, with the witness which as such is not itself revelation, but only—and this is the limitation—the witness to it”. Scripture is a secondary revelation by derivation, possessing an indirect identity. A permanent, ontological identity between human words and divine words is impossible. Barth mistakenly downgraded the Bible, conflating inspiration with illumination. Bromiley, reporting on Barths’ theology, notes that while the Bible is indeed the written Word of God, both in content and form, it ambiguously remains a collection of fallible human words. Scripture is always dependent on the Holy Spirit to become the true Word of God through the Spirit’s supernatural miracle. Therefore, Scripture’s inspiration is not a static attribute that places it under human control; conversely, it’s a dynamic spiritual phenomenon that cannot be taken for granted due to God’s free sovereignty in His revelation to humankind. Inspiration is confused with illumination, rendering a static hermeneutic inappropriate. The Bible necessitates a free, experiential hermeneutic. “The Bible is God’s Word to the extent that God causes it to be His Word” because God is always the subject of revelation, never the object of human hermeneutics, and therefore the Bible is subjected to the free sovereignty of the Holy Spirit’s illumination. Differently from Calvin, for Barth the “sun” of the Word of God cannot shine if it is not perceived from the eyes of the receptors. However, according to Runia, this approach is a misguided way to honour God’s sovereignty. Runia affirms that God is also sovereign also in His gifts: He gave the Bible as His authoritative and infallible Word, and it remains so, even when humans manage it unfairly. Inspiration and illumination must be considered related but distinctly separate. Milne analyses Barth’s comment on 2 Timothy 3:16: “Barth effectively subordinates the Scriptures to the Spirit’s use of the Scriptures, and shifts the locus of spiritual authority from the God-breathed texts themselves to the believer’s appropriation of them through the Spirit’s witness within. Illumination by the Holy Spirit has become the focal point of inspiration and its true meaning”.

CONCLUSION

The doctrine of the illumination is deeply interconnected with the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. However, a clear distinction between the two is essential to adequately account for God’s attributes, their relationship with God’s Word in self-revelation, and the consequent implications for pneumatology, soteriology, and Christian life. Calvin proved to be a reliable and faithful guide by his systematic approach. Conversely, Barth’s treatment did not achieve the same level of precision as Calvin’s.

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Tematiche: Teologia sistematica