It’s glossy and features the pics of people like Bono, Angelina Jolie, the Dalai Lama, and Che Guevara. If you glanced at the cover you might mistake it for a fashion magazine. What is it? A New Testament called The Bible Illuminated. The publishers, however, admit that they don’t “support a specific faith.” Many of the images of celebrities and well-known people are positioned next to specific verses to make political or social statements. The photos don’t “illuminate” the text. Instead, they mislead and confuse the reader.
I’m grateful for the illumination that the Holy Spirit brings, so that we can truly understand God’s Word (1 Corinthians 2:10). He “shows us God’s deep secrets” as we read and study it. Like a lens that allows us to see what once was blurry and undefined, God’s Spirit helps us grasp the truths in Scripture that nonbelievers can’t possibly understand. To them it’s foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18).
As the Holy Spirit illumines God’s Word for us, we move from false and distorted views to the clarity of what the Bible’s authors are actually communicating (2 Peter 1:21). Then, after the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to what the Word is saying, we can pray that He will also help us take it to heart and obey it.
Now, when a particular passage of the Bible is highly confusing or hard to understand, it’s good to do two things: (1) Seek out helpful insights from godly commentators and theologians who have studied the Scriptures and experienced the Spirit’s illuminating ways; (2) pray for the Spirit to shed His light on the verses in question. For “we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
Now that’s illumination!
More:
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul reveals that the Scriptures came about by God’s inspiration. How does this differ from the illumination of God’s Word?
Next:
How have you viewed Scripture through the wrong lens? How does the Holy Spirit open your eyes to the truths found in the Bible?
kadoshkudus on January 17, 2011 at 1:21 am
If we have the right knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:17), we will also know the hope of his calling (Ephesians 1:18) and the riches of the glory He will give us.
tom felten on January 17, 2011 at 9:43 am
Great verses, thanks for bringing them to the discussion!
R R Kelkar on January 17, 2011 at 4:59 am
Dear Tom,
You have rightly pointed out the dangers of reading such Bibles. In the past, Bibles were brought out by Bible Societies the world over and they were trustworthy. Nowadays, more and more Bibles are being produced by commercial publishing houses with profit as their main motive. Book stores have new, modern, contemporary, amplified, simplified, illustrated, or illuminated Bibles for sale. Under the garb of such titles, publishers are taking liberties with the word of God. Seekers of truth have to be very careful of what they are reading. R R Kelkar, India
tom felten on January 17, 2011 at 9:45 am
Agreed, R R. There are many, many solid translations of the Bible, but some should be avoided!
Tyla808 on January 17, 2011 at 5:20 am
I often pray for divine inspiration and illumination when I read God’s word.
It’s very true though, that we live in a time of many, many varieties of “translations” and so much meaning and godly content can be lost when people take the liberty of translating the Word of God.
Everything from the beautiful contemporary design, the book layout, the added value “extras” like a short story from a famous celebrity at the beginning of each book or chapter, all the promotion and marketing to launch the bible, etc. are all efforts to sell the book or make the bible more appealing to a wider audience, a bigger market segment…perhaps preferably to the unsaved or the newly saved who doesn’t know any better…
Sometimes, these translations could be marketed to mature believers based on the look of the bible or the endorsements or whatever…in any event we must always ask the Holy Spirit to help us rightly divide the truth.
tom felten on January 17, 2011 at 9:50 am
Tyla808, I’m reminded of the Bereans who “searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth” (Acts 17:11). What a great approach to testing what we’re being taught!
jstabel on January 17, 2011 at 10:32 am
Tyla808 rightly pointed to the fact of asking the Holy Spirit for interpretation and understanding because the most important ‘instrument’ needed to fully understand the ‘mind’ of God still and will be the Holy Spirit.
eppistle on January 17, 2011 at 11:39 am
Why are non-Christians so reluctant to believe the Bible? Why are we as Christians so reluctant to submit to what the Bible tells us to do? It’s because our minds have been darkened by sin and we prefer darkness over light (John 3:19).
That’s why we need the Holy Spirit so much. Not just to help us understand the Bible, but believe that the Bible is true both objectively and existentially (I Cor 2:6—16; John 16:7—14). Without the Holy Spirit, we might be able to understand what the Bible says, but we won’t think that it’s true for our lives.
Maybe we need to spend more time praying for the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds and our loved one’s minds than trying to figure how to package the Bible to make it more attractive to minds which have been darkened.
tom felten on January 17, 2011 at 1:18 pm
jstabel and eppistle, good thoughts on the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. I’m grateful that God has provided both to equip us for serving Him. The true prompting of the Holy Spirit’s will always jibe with the teaching of Scripture.
Akinolawale on January 17, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Who are the personalties behind the ‘illuminated bible’ and how Spirit of the Living God dwells in them?
What informs the idea of using the wordly to illumintes the spiritual?
tom felten on January 17, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Good questions, Akinolawale. The book was published by a group that acknowledge they “don’t supports a specific faith.” Their goal was simply to make money by mixing the Word of God with celebrities and their comments. Very sad.
Princess Sarah on January 17, 2011 at 11:52 pm
Reading this I remember how my heart aches when someone call himself Christian and don’t really understand the word. I’m a missionary here in Cambodia and it’s becoming a trend that once you are not Buddhist then you are a Christian. Sad to say it’s damaging the image of Christianity. Same thing, many books are out bearing the name of Jesus but with another insinuated message. For us Christians, we are extremely blessed for being able to discern which is which through the Holy Spirit. and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (that includes freedom from the “illuminated stuff”).