ILLUMINATED PREACHING
The Holy Spirit’s vital role in unveiling his Word, the Bible
By Jeffrey Crotts. Day One. 133 pages, £7.00
ISBN 978-1-84625-166-5
When this short book fell through the letter box, a glance at my book shelves made me ask, ‘Do I really need another book on preaching?’
After a biblical theology of illumination and a historical overview focusing on Calvin’s teaching of ‘the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit, illumination is summed up as: 1) condemnation without illumination (the desperate state of the spiritually dead); 2) communication for illumination (proclamation of God’s Word being the means the Spirit uses to remove spiritual darkness); 3) conversion by illumination (‘when the lights come on’); and 4) convictions gained from illumination (growing certainty regarding biblical truth).
Crotts’ critique of some in the emergent church suggests a widespread lost confidence in God’s Word as ‘God’s change-agent’. He urges us not to lose that confidence. Chapter 4 contains an important reminder: ‘The preacher must always have the goal of personal transformation in his mind as he studies the text. When God’s Word and his Spirit transform the preacher’s heart and actions through study, prayer and meditation, then, and only then, can the preacher authentically model the transforming work of illumination to his hearers’.
This is where the book hits home; a reminder to preachers to not only work hard at the text, etc., but to give equal time to prayer and meditation so that they are gripped by its implications as they are illumined by God’s Spirit; and a reminder for every hearer of God’s Word to pray for those who preach, that they would teach and preach from illumined hearts. The author does not aim to say all that could be said about preaching, but for the reminders of how dependent both preachers and hearers are on the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, I am grateful I was asked to review his book!
Jonathan Prime,
Enfield Evangelical Free Church
