In my last blog, we noted the importance of theological landmarks in the Bible. In the Old Testament, ignoring these landmarks of God’s revelation was one reason God took His Word from both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. I suggested that abiding principles in the Bible are like landmarks when traverse surveying hidden roads through the forest. We call this the doctrine of illumination.

Microsoft Copilot differentiates revelation from illumination as:

  • Revelation — God discloses truth that humans could not otherwise know.
  • Illumination — God enables humans to perceive, grasp, and apply the truth He has already revealed.

While the term illumination is not found in the Scriptures, there are many references to what illumination is and how it is achieved. The first text that might come to mind is:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16–17)

Two opposing views exist about what “inspired” means. One view is that inspired refers to what happens to the reader, i.e., he/she is inspired. However,  “in current vernacular, inspired describes a human emotional or creative reaction” (Microsoft Copilot). This does not reflect the meaning of the original language. Inspired translates theopneustos, from theos (God) and pneo (to breathe), indicating Scripture’s origin.

What are the authoritative Scriptures, i.e., the canon? The Jewish Canon has 24 books. The Protestant Canon has 66, the Roman Catholic Canon 73, the Eastern Orthodox 76-81, and the Ethiopian Orthodox 81 (Microsoft Copilot). How these canons came to be is too broad a subject for this blog. This matters because people constantly reference them on social media, which can cause confusion. My website is based on the Protestant Canon. “All Scripture” refers to these 66 books.

As students of the Bible, we focus on these 66. To experience illumination as defined above, we begin with some basic presuppositions regarding inspired Scripture:

  • Inspired Scripture is verbal, i.e., the words are God-breathed.
  • Inspired Scripture is plenary, i.e., from Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21 is God-breathed.
  • Inspired Scripture is inerrant as written.

With these principles in mind, a term is a word without a context. Terms are words with meaning when kept in their contexts. Context includes word order, the verse, chapter, book, and finally the canon. This also includes geographical and historical/cullturual contexts. The languages of both the Old and New Testament are to be interpreted literally. This means there is one meaning, the author-intended meaning, and it is not to be interpreted allegorically. In both Hebrew and Greek, there is both plain language and figurative language. The context determines which, plain or figurative language, is used.

Illumination is the process of finding landmarks, abiding truths, in the Scriptures. Paul states that these landmarks are:

“profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

As servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to become good stewards in finding God’s landmarks.