In 1 Corinthians 2:3 Paul described what he felt when he first went to Corinth: “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.” Feeling that way he made sure he stuck to the basics, “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” He relied on the demonstration of the Spirit’s power. He wanted any who heard him preach to put their trust in the power of God.
Then he shared what went into producing God’s Word, the Bible. There are three basic steps involved in producing God’s Word. First, there is revelation, verse 10, God revealed by His Spirit what otherwise couldn’t be known.
Then there is inspiration, verse 13, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truth in spiritual words.” When Paul communicated what God revealed to him he used his own learned vocabulary. Inspiration is the process whereby the Holy Spirit guided chosen men to use the right words within their vocabulary to express accurately what was revealed. It was not dictation, except where you have, “Thus says the Lord!” Men were guided by the Holy Spirit not to say more than what was revealed, nor less. Right words within their vocabulary were selected so that exactly what God wanted said would be said.
Illumination is when the Holy Spirit helps the one who has trusted in Jesus Christ for Salvation to understand the Bible. Man can’t understand God’s Word apart from the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, verse 14. In fact, he will likely consider it foolishness.
