# How Do We Receive the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation?

> Is there a balanced spiritual life that a believer can live without having the spirit of wisdom?! In truth the answer is always no, because unless we receive the spirit of wisdom and it is the head of our works, even in love, we may lose a great deal.

*2016-12-03T13:38:34Z*

![Quote card with an icon of St. Cyril the Great: "For everything that is in Christ has become ours. For He did not receive this sanctification for His own sake, since He is the maker of sanctification, but He received it in order to convey it to our nature through Himself." - St. Cyril the Great, Thesaurus on the Trinity 20](/uploads/sites/1274e232-e31c-46f4-a48b-27b854406479/media/spirit-of-wisdom-and-revelation.png?w=815&h=815)

Is there a balanced spiritual life that a believer can live without having the spirit of wisdom?! In truth the answer is always no, because unless we receive the spirit of wisdom, and it is the head of our works even in love, we may lose a great deal, and so the word of God taught us:

Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. (Prov 4:7)

And training in steadfastness in the spirit of wisdom gives us the spirit of discernment and distinction, which makes clear before us the spiritual way, shows us and opens our eyes to the stage of illumination, so that we discern between light and darkness, between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life!

And as the word of God also teaches us: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov 1:7)

So before entering into wisdom the heart must be filled with the fear of God, which is the only inheritance we inherited from the Old Testament. For everyone who reads the Old Testament, led by the Holy Spirit, this fiery Spirit uncovers to his eye a great mystery and a heavenly inheritance that existed in the Old Testament, namely the fear of God. There is no foundation for worship, no foundation for wisdom, and not even for repentance, higher than the fear of God. We have written on the subject of the fear of God before, and you can read it in the article: [The Fear of God as the Foundation of the Liturgy of the Old Testament](/en/blog/fear-of-god-old-testament-liturgy). You will also find in our blog a special section that speaks of the fear of God, in which we publish all the articles on the fear of God.\
If you read the article you will realize an important matter, which is that the fear of God is not according to the Arab Islamic thought, for the word branched out into other meanings in that thought, but the fear of God is the honoring of God that befits Him as God through worship ("service") [^1], and through this fear we acquire the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

### 1- The Lord Jesus, the Fountain and Source of Wisdom:

St. Cyril the Great says: David sings, saying in one place, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever," and then says, "Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness" (Ps 45:7). The Word was reigning with the Father before this anointing, so how then is He anointed to become king, and how is He sanctified, when He is the One who reigns and is holy at all times? For just as, while being so (reigning and holy), it is said of Him that He receives the kingdom in the last times, so also, while being the Most High, it is said of Him that He is exalted (Phil 2:9), and anointed (Ps 45:7), and sanctified (John 17:19), for our sake, so that through Him grace may also flow to all, since it was in fact given to our nature (in Him), and therefore stored up for our whole race. In this sense the Savior said in the Gospel of John: "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified" (John 17:19), for everything that is in Christ has become ours. For He did not receive this sanctification for His own sake, since He is the maker of sanctification, but He received it in order to convey it to our nature through Himself. And so He became a way and a beginning of the good things that come to us, and in this sense He said "I am the way" (John 14:6), that is, the One through whom divine grace comes down toward us, in order to lift up, sanctify, glorify and deify our nature first in Christ![^2]

The words of St. Cyril the Great always amaze me, for he bears witness that everything Christ did, He did in order to transfer to us what is His, and it is known to everyone who has studied the Holy Bible that one of the titles of the Lord Jesus in the Holy Bible is Wisdom!

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion. (Prov 8:22)

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30)

So if we want the spirit of wisdom we must ask for it from Christ Himself, because He is the fountain that gives, since the Father has delivered authority to Him (Luke 10:22), and He delivered this to Him in order that He might give it to us, and we cannot take anything from Christ except through the Holy Spirit, who conveys to us everything that belongs to Christ. Therefore our petition now is for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that He convey to us and work in us the wisdom of God that surpasses knowledge, and this is exactly what St. James the Apostle said in his epistle when he said: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

**2- The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation:**\
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph 1:17)

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty comments: He asks for them "the spirit of wisdom," and he asks for them "revelation in the knowledge of Him." He did not say "in the knowledge of His mysteries," but "in the knowledge of Him," for he longs that they would grasp Him personally and come to know Him as a Being with whom they are united. We need God to give us the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, for although He gave us the mind from Himself, if we walk by the mind alone without turning to God we deviate from true wisdom and knowledge. [^3]

The spirit of wisdom and revelation is the Spirit of Christ in us, it is the spirit of Christ's teaching, for wisdom is the structure, or the infrastructure, of any sound spiritual life. Any spiritual life built on wisdom becomes like rock, because it is built on the Lord Jesus Himself, as we explained that He Himself is Wisdom, and we cannot acquire wisdom unless we have fellowship with the word of God. Reading continually in the word of God kindles wisdom in us, and together with the fear of God, wisdom will make us think about the commandment a hundred times before we do anything, so that haste flees from us, the tongue and the thought are disciplined, and we enter into the depth of our thoughts, our words and our deeds, and we sift them well, and we judge everything by wisdom, so that our life becomes a sound, balanced life, a true image of the life of Christ in us.

So the spirit of wisdom conveys to us what belongs to Wisdom Himself, that is, the Lord Jesus. If we do not know what the Lord Jesus said, how will the Spirit remind us of it?! Therefore every believer must have a personal relationship with the word of God, and study it in a spirit of prayer, not reading it merely to skim through it, but reading it with the spirit of wisdom and revelation, awaiting the transfiguration of Christ in the midst of the Word so that the Lord may open before him a true knowledge of His person, and from this moment the relationship with God becomes a personal relationship between the soul and God, without mediation; then the soul and God become in harmony, and Scripture even says: But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Cor 6:17) Wisdom leads the soul on the way and teaches it and guides it always, and it always calls out and waits for someone to hear its voice, so the word of God teaches us that: The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. (Ps 119:130).

**3- Illumination:**\
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (Eph 1:18 - 19)

St. Augustine says: The heart contains the eyes that see God.. They are now enlightened by faith, which suits their weakness, but afterward they will be enlightened by the sight of God when they are strong. "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight." (1 Cor 5:6, 7) [^4]

St. Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzen) says: Illumination, which is baptism.. is the help of the weak.. a sharing of light.. a shaking off of darkness. Illumination is a vessel sailing toward God, a journeying with Christ, the foundation of religion, the perfection of the mind! Illumination is the key of the Kingdom and the restoration of life.. We call it a gift, and a grace, and baptism, and illumination, and the garment of immortality and incorruption, and the bath of the second birth, and a seal, and everything that is precious [^5]

Illumination is baptism, where in baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and confirm it through the Holy Chrism, and illumination is a fundamental work that the Spirit of God does in us, and as we mentioned earlier the Spirit of God conveys what belongs to Christ, and reminds us of everything He told us. If we do not know what Christ said, how can the Spirit remind us of it?! Therefore the word of God teaches us: Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. (Ps 119:105), that is, the act of illumination is an explicit act that begins from baptism and is completed throughout the whole of life, but the support of illumination and its nourishment is the word of God, through which the soul ascends from glory to glory, as from the Lord the Spirit.

And when the soul is illumined and enters the divine presence and is satisfied with the Word, the transfiguration in its life changes from merely the transfiguration of words by faith, as St. Augustine says, to another level of transfiguration, which is transfiguration by sight, that is, the divine vision, in which the soul meets its Bridegroom, in an unutterable mystery, in which God reveals Himself, as on Mount Tabor to His disciples, and the soul reaches a state of joy and spiritual gladness, and is content with its Bridegroom and leaves all the pleasures of the corrupt world, and says with Augustine the famous saying: I sat on the summit of the world when I felt within myself that I fear nothing and desire nothing.

For the desire of the soul will turn to the Lord Jesus, and from here the Lord Jesus begins to make the soul acquainted with the mysteries of the Kingdom, and opens the mind to understand Scripture as it never understood before, and the soul swims in the vision, and the Lord Jesus adorns the heart with divine love, and the fruits of love appear quickly, so He gives the soul a gift according to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

**4- A Liturgical Prayer on the Spirit of Wisdom, Revelation and Illumination:**\
The Psali Watos for Friday\
This psali is said in the Midnight Praise of Thursday, and it speaks of the power that the Lord Jesus gave to believers, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and leaving worldly concerns and clinging to the Lord.

Its words:

Truly we have come to a great head, which is the name of salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has given a sign to His servants who fear Him to flee from the face of the bow.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has given a sign to His servants who fear Him to shut the mouths of lions.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has given a sign to His servants who fear Him to quench the power of fire.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has given a sign to His servants who fear Him to cast out demons.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has given a sign to His servants who fear Him to rule over their enemies.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has given a sign to His servants who fear Him to heal every sickness.

For this reason we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ with His good Father and the Holy Spirit

And this is the name of salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ and His life-giving Cross on which He was crucified.

Blessed is the man who leaves this age and its concerns, full of toil, deadly to the soul.

And takes up his cross day by day and joins his mind to the name of salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our heart rejoices and our tongue exults when we recite the name of salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And when we chant, let us say with delight: O our Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on our souls

[^1]: See the article: [The Orthodox Concept of Worship According to the Thought of the Fathers of the Church](/en/blog/orthodox-worship-church-fathers)
[^2]: Thesaurus on the Trinity [al-Kunūz fī al-Thālūth] 20 - by St. Cyril the Great
[^3]: Tafsīr Risālat Afisus [Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians] - Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
[^4]: Ser. on N.T. 3: 6
[^5]: al-Ḥubb al-Ilāhī [Divine Love] - Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Alexandria, 1967, pp. 855 – 856.

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Source: https://abba.fadymondy.com/en/blog/spirit-of-wisdom-and-revelation