Flint, steel, and tinder

Meaning

The flint analogy distinguishes hidden light in the stone, steel that awakens rather than inserts it, and prepared tinder that receives and sustains it. The spiritual application then gives an ordered account: the light is first bestowed by God through true faith; it is assisted through the Word read, heard, and preached; then the Holy Spirit kindles it in the dark yet believing heart, compared to tinder. God subsequently works in that heart. The Word, Spirit, heart, and material tinder are therefore not interchangeable instruments, nor is the heart the independent giver of light. The inward origin of illumination does not dispense with the outward Word or divine agency.