JEFF TURNER

There is a distinction worth looking at carefully. It’s something that shapes how we understand the very nature of Scripture and the work of God’s Spirit in our lives today. I’m speaking of the difference between revelation and illumination. I believe this is something that has led many some believers into theological error.

Revelation, in its purest and most complete sense, refers to what God has already disclosed to humanity through his Word. The Bible is the final and ultimate expression of that disclosure. There is no supplementing it. No prophet followed to bring about another revelation, though many false prophets have claimed to do so. The Bible complete, and eternal in its authority.

Illumination, however, is something altogether different, and it is the daily gift of every sincere student of Scripture. When a believer opens the Word of God and the Holy Spirit draws back the curtain of understanding, allowing the deep truths of the text to become vivid and personal and alive, that is illumination at work.

This is why so many people can read the same passage on different occasions and find themselves arrested by something they had previously overlooked. The text has not changed. But the Spirit, responding to the receptive heart, has opened a window that was formerly shut.

When someone says, “God gave me a great revelation this morning,” they may well be describing something genuine, provided what they mean is that the Spirit illumined a passage and allowed them to see its meaning with fresh clarity. But I’m leery of those who treat personal impressions or spiritual experiences as new revelations on equal footing with Scripture.

All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17