In | Preparation, Inspiration and Illumination

We might be inclined to think of Paul’s letter writing as a simple process—an inspired writer puts thoughts on paper and mails the letter. Our understanding of the ancient letter writing adds a layer of complexity to what it means for a letter to be “inspired.”

The writing process in Paul’s day was a complicated affair. For example, secretaries were often highly involved in the process. Dr. E. Randolph Richards explains that letter writing probably looked something like the graphic below. He uses 1 Corinthians in his example.

This graphic is an attempt to consider the different layers of the process and those people who would have been involved in its production, carrying, hearing, reading and later copying. Ancient letters are a complicated and communal undertaking that involves a wide cast of characters to realize their purpose or bring them to fruition.

Richards raises the question of where inspiration takes place in this graphic. You might be tempted to think it is isolated exclusively in the top left corner with Paul. But consider God’s role in the other steps and actors in the process. In the next image, Richards explains some possible locations for divine inspiration.

The Bible itself tells us that both authors and texts are inspired (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21). That suggests that the process between Paul and the letter of 1 Corinthians involved the Holy Spirit in some direct way.

Although Richards sees inspiration as a process that covers all involved—even the Corinthians and their context—it makes more sense to engage another concept he introduces, “divine preparation.” Everyone in the process was divinely prepared for an inspired message from an inspired author(s) to the Corinthian context.

The question of what to call the role of the Holy Spirit after a text is written is a good one. Theologians often refer to the “illumination” of the Spirit when the divinely prepared recipients understand the meaning of the inspired text for themselves. To put all of these terms together, preparation leads to inspiration of writer and text and the illumination of its readers.

Quotations and graphics from: E. Randolph Richards, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing, 2004, pp. 226-229.