In a day and age when evangelical Christians are outright neglecting biblical revelation, or seeking sources of extra-biblical revelation, or mixing God's revealed truth in the Scriptures with their own personal "truths," this J.I. Packer quote is invaluable. It captures the only true path to a sound faith (Ps 119:105; Rom 10:17; 1 Thes 2:13).
"The work of the Spirit in imparting this knowledge is called 'illumination,' or enlightening. It is not a giving of new revelation, but a work within us that enables us to grasp and to love the revelation that is there before us in the biblical text as heard and read, and as explained by teachers and writers.
Sin in our mental and moral system clouds our minds and wills so that we miss and resist the force of Scripture. God seems to us remote to the point of unreality, and in the face of God’s truth we are dull and apathetic. The Spirit, however, opens and unveils our minds and attunes our hearts so that we understand.
As by inspiration he provided Scripture truth for us, so now by illumination he interprets it to us. Illumination is thus the applying of God’s revealed truth to our hearts, so that we grasp as reality for ourselves what the sacred text sets forth."
(Source: J.I. Packer, Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs, pg 155.)
