Dictionaries :: Enlighten

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Enlighten:

en-lit'-'-n:

(1) ‘or, "illumination" in every sense, used in the ordinary sense of giving natural light (Ps 97:4 the King James Version; see also Ezr 9:8) or as a sign of health and vigor (1Sa 14:27,29). "His eyes were enlightened," literally, "became bright." He had become weary and faint with the day's exertions and anxieties, and now recovers (see Job 33:30 and compare Ps 13:3). Thus in sickness and grief, the eyes are dull and heavy; dying eyes are glazed; but health and joy render them bright and sparkling, as with a light from within.

(2) In Ps 18:28 the King James Version, The word naghah, figuratively describes the believer's deliverance from the gloom of adversity and the restoration of joy in the knowledge of God.

(3) Most frequently the terms so translated mean the giving of spiritual light to the soul (Ps 19:8; Eph 1:18, photizo; Heb 6:4; 10:32). This spiritual enlightening the Spirit of God brings about through the Divine word (Ps 119:130; 2Ti 3:15; 2Pe 1:19). Sin mars the intellectual discernment; "but he that is spiritual discerneth all things" (1Co 2:15 King James Version, margin).

Written by M. O. Evans

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Enlighten:

from phos, "light,"

(a), used intransitively, signifies "to give light, shine," Rev 22:5;

(b), used transitively, "to enlighten, illumine," is rendered "enlighten" in Eph 1:18, metaphorically of spiritual "enlightenment;" so Jhn 1:9, i.e., "lighting every man" (by reason of His coming); Eph 3:9, "to make (all men) see" (RV marg., "to bring to light"); Hbr 6:4, "were enlightened;" Hbr 10:32, RV, "enlightened," AV, "illuminated."
See ILLUMINATED, LIGHT. Cp. photismos, "light," and photeinos, "full of light."