God gives people wisdom and understanding into spiritual things; they do not have within themselves. As the Paul writes in Ephesians 1:17, “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, grant to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation.” All wisdom and revelation of divine things is a gift from God. What is the result? The eyes of our heart are enlightened (Eph. 1:18). Obviously, if these “eyes” need to be opened, then they must be blind in their regular condition. Paul goes on to explain that God opens our eyes so that we “might know what is the hope of his calling” (Eph. 1:18). In other words, people do not have the natural capacity to know their calling. 

Don’t be deceived by the Pelagians who think we might have the ability in ourselves to discover the right path because God gives us the Bible. No, the very fact that God has to direct us to the right path shows us our utterly inability to find it without his help. For example, even though David had God’s very word before him, he was also prayed to the Lord, “Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things in your law” (Ps. 119:18). Just like the sunrise illuminates the earth, so people only derive benefit from reading the Scriptures when God himself illuminates their minds. His illuminating work illustrates why God is called the “Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17). Whatever is not illuminated by the Holy Spirit is completely dark. 

Take the apostles as another example of the need for illumination. The apostles had the best of teachers, Jesus himself! Still, they needed the Spirit of truth to complete their understanding of the very doctrine they had previously heard, and they were ordered to wait for him (John 14:26). All people must acknowledge that they cannot understand the mysteries of God unless God illuminates those things by his grace. The very fact that we have to ask God to give us understanding—and God is very willing and eager to do so—demonstrates our lack of understanding. If anyone thinks they are able to achieve a deeper understanding into God’s mysteries by themselves, they are even blinder than others because they do not acknowledge their own blindness! 

“Blogging the Institutes” is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin’s work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List.