I’ve been reflecting lately on how vital the Holy Spirit is to our understanding of the Scriptures. You know that every communication event involves an author, a text, and a reader. It turns out, God’s Holy Spirit is involved in all three. This makes the Scriptures unlike any other kind of communication, because of the Spirit’s work of inspiration, inscripturation, and illumination.
In terms of inspiration, the Scriptures are the product of duel authorship, as the human authors were carried along by the Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). What we have in the Bible is both the result of human authorship as well as of divine intention. The Scriptures are the Word of God and the words of men at the same time.
In terms of inscripturation, the doctrine of verbal plenary inspiration means that the text itself is superintended by the Spirit and is therefore our sufficient and unerring guide for faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:16). This is the Word of God and all His words are true. The Spirit’s role in establishing the text as well as in bearing ongoing testimony to its veracity and power makes the Scriptures unlike other texts.
In terms of illumination, the Spirit is the one who enlightens our understanding of the Bible in a way that brings spiritual understanding of the truth (John 16:13). The indwelling Spirit illuminates God’s Word for God’s people. Without the Spirit’s work, we could not understand or receive the manifold wisdom of God that leads to life-transformation.
The Holy Spirit is therefore an ever-presiding Author superintending the communication act from beginning to end. His involvement does not guarantee perfect scribal transmission, finality in translations, or faultlessness in interpretation, but it does provide us with deep confidence that we are not on our own when it comes to reading the Scriptures. The Spirit is ministering the Word of God to us from beginning to end. The Spirit guides us into the truth of Jesus for the glory of the Father.
I often close my public reading of Scripture with “Thanks be to the Lord for the reading of His Word.” We might add, “Thanks be to the Spirit for opening our eyes,” and “thanks be to the Father for giving us His wisdom.” God’s Word is yet another proof that we are loved, more than we know!
