Drawing from the author’s personal encounters with misconceptions of the doctrine of illumination among recent creationists, this paper seeks to caution against overextending biblical teaching on the subject. This paper surveys numerous contemporary perspectives on the doctrine, and then discusses exegetical details within relevant biblical texts that impinge on a theological formulation of the doctrine. In going on to offer a synthetic theological view of illumination, this paper concludes that the Holy Spirit’s work of illumination enables the believer to recognize Scripture for what it really is (the word of God), to grasp its principle spiritual teachings, and to appropriate the truth of the text; but that illumination does not ensure the correct interpretation of any scriptural passage apart from careful exegetical work involving the application of consistent hermeneutical principles. The illumination of the Holy Spirit does have a relationship to gaining a proper understanding of spiritual truth (which is contained in Scripture), but that understanding resides much more in the dimension of discernment and application of truth, and decidedly less in the dimension of acquiring a cognitive comprehension of that truth. Finally, the paper offers a number of correctives for recent creationists in the interpretation of Scripture.