"...knowledge puffs up, but love edifies" (1 Cor. 8:1b).
Does this mean that knowledge is inappropriate? Why do we pursue knowledge anyway? Do we just have a desire to be smarter than everyone or to have all the answers? Knowledge is indeed a byproduct of knowing the Lord and being obedient in the faith by discipleship and application. We should never pursue it for its own sake because it is merely a means to an end, and not the end itself--we must always ask ourselves why we are learning something and what our inner or ulterior motives are. We can't all be scholars (and some don't even know the Lord to their shame, like the Pharisees), but there is a need for them in the body and they have their function. We can't all be theologians who organize Bible teaching (doctrine just means teaching pertinent to a subject), but there is a need for them to defend the Bible (polemics) just like we need apologists to defend the faith. We are all basically theologians, it just varies how good of a one we are--they are not just Christians good at theology, i.e., we all have a viewpoint or interpretation of Scripture that biases us, and no one is impartial completely, except God, who alone is objective in toto.
When teaching others, we want to aim to disciple them, not educate them, and that means to lead them on to a personal relationship with and knowledge of the Lord through Bible application--and no sermon or teaching is complete without making application, or it is just theory without practice or just something to talk about and not do something about. We should be stirred to do something new by way of application that we wouldn't normally do. The tendency for some students of the Word is to become intoxicated with the deeper truths of the Bible that they forget or neglect the basics of the Word or feel they have outgrown the milk of the Word, just because they can digest the solid food. We must restrain our natural curiosity and not just study for curiosity sake, but for a yearning for the things of God and a genuine thirst for the Word itself.
We need to pass the baton to the next generation what we have learned so they won't make the same mistakes! A good teacher doesn't balk at teaching the whole counsel of God to the best of his ability and training and doesn't just have a personal agenda and motive to convert them to his way of thinking or interpretation. There is a big danger in getting a big head and having too high an opinion of yourself when you have increased in knowledge without application. The goal of the teacher should be to make the student independent of his teaching so he can in turn disciple others and the cycle continues.
The Pharisees knew a lot about the Scriptures and didn't know the Author and so they couldn't interpret it; they just had religiosity and customs to pass on. They had in effect externalized religion and thought that going through the motions was all that mattered. This is called "memorizing the dance of the pious." It is formalism without any heart involved or what Jesus called being lukewarm in Revelation 3:19. We don't want to be like the debaters who made it their way of life to just talk about the latest ideas or theories, but be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers (even if we gladly hear it). Everyone doesn't have the same mental capacity and to whom much is given much is required, so we are not to hold everyone to the same standard, but let God be the judge.c
We also don't want to be hypocrites like the Pharisees who didn't practice what they preached either (Jesus said to listen to them, but don't imitate them). The more eager we are to learn and the more we apply it and pass on to others, the more God will reveal to us--but it is always a byproduct and we are not to compare ourselves with ourselves. Remember that the Hebrews went into captivity because of their ignorance to their shame ("My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..," says Hosea 4:6a).
We don't want to know "about the Bible" but to know the Author of the Bible and use our knowledge constructively and to edify others. Knowledge is a spiritual gift and some believers are simply gifted with more of it, and we are not to hold everyone to the same standard. They can become serious students of the Word to detect error and heresy and to pass on sound doctrine.
Note also that knowledge can be dangerous, especially when one gets an exclusive mindset thinking he is right and everyone else wrong and gets highly sectarian and dogmatic on nonessential doctrine. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and a half-educated person can do more damage than an uneducated one. Always bear in mind Augustine's dictum: "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."
In conclusion, don't fall under the delusion that ignorance is bliss, because knowledge is power according to Blaise Pascal and Proverbs 24:5 (ESV): "...and a man of knowledge enhances his might"; however, anyone who thinks he knows it all or knows some secret others don't (like the Gnostics who thought they were in "the know" and clued in above others and they had the secret to salvation), doesn't yet know as he ought to know, because no one has a monopoly on wisdom, or inside track, revelation, or knowledge. Soli Deo Gloria!
Does this mean that knowledge is inappropriate? Why do we pursue knowledge anyway? Do we just have a desire to be smarter than everyone or to have all the answers? Knowledge is indeed a byproduct of knowing the Lord and being obedient in the faith by discipleship and application. We should never pursue it for its own sake because it is merely a means to an end, and not the end itself--we must always ask ourselves why we are learning something and what our inner or ulterior motives are. We can't all be scholars (and some don't even know the Lord to their shame, like the Pharisees), but there is a need for them in the body and they have their function. We can't all be theologians who organize Bible teaching (doctrine just means teaching pertinent to a subject), but there is a need for them to defend the Bible (polemics) just like we need apologists to defend the faith. We are all basically theologians, it just varies how good of a one we are--they are not just Christians good at theology, i.e., we all have a viewpoint or interpretation of Scripture that biases us, and no one is impartial completely, except God, who alone is objective in toto.
When teaching others, we want to aim to disciple them, not educate them, and that means to lead them on to a personal relationship with and knowledge of the Lord through Bible application--and no sermon or teaching is complete without making application, or it is just theory without practice or just something to talk about and not do something about. We should be stirred to do something new by way of application that we wouldn't normally do. The tendency for some students of the Word is to become intoxicated with the deeper truths of the Bible that they forget or neglect the basics of the Word or feel they have outgrown the milk of the Word, just because they can digest the solid food. We must restrain our natural curiosity and not just study for curiosity sake, but for a yearning for the things of God and a genuine thirst for the Word itself.
We need to pass the baton to the next generation what we have learned so they won't make the same mistakes! A good teacher doesn't balk at teaching the whole counsel of God to the best of his ability and training and doesn't just have a personal agenda and motive to convert them to his way of thinking or interpretation. There is a big danger in getting a big head and having too high an opinion of yourself when you have increased in knowledge without application. The goal of the teacher should be to make the student independent of his teaching so he can in turn disciple others and the cycle continues.
The Pharisees knew a lot about the Scriptures and didn't know the Author and so they couldn't interpret it; they just had religiosity and customs to pass on. They had in effect externalized religion and thought that going through the motions was all that mattered. This is called "memorizing the dance of the pious." It is formalism without any heart involved or what Jesus called being lukewarm in Revelation 3:19. We don't want to be like the debaters who made it their way of life to just talk about the latest ideas or theories, but be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers (even if we gladly hear it). Everyone doesn't have the same mental capacity and to whom much is given much is required, so we are not to hold everyone to the same standard, but let God be the judge.c
We also don't want to be hypocrites like the Pharisees who didn't practice what they preached either (Jesus said to listen to them, but don't imitate them). The more eager we are to learn and the more we apply it and pass on to others, the more God will reveal to us--but it is always a byproduct and we are not to compare ourselves with ourselves. Remember that the Hebrews went into captivity because of their ignorance to their shame ("My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..," says Hosea 4:6a).
We don't want to know "about the Bible" but to know the Author of the Bible and use our knowledge constructively and to edify others. Knowledge is a spiritual gift and some believers are simply gifted with more of it, and we are not to hold everyone to the same standard. They can become serious students of the Word to detect error and heresy and to pass on sound doctrine.
Note also that knowledge can be dangerous, especially when one gets an exclusive mindset thinking he is right and everyone else wrong and gets highly sectarian and dogmatic on nonessential doctrine. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and a half-educated person can do more damage than an uneducated one. Always bear in mind Augustine's dictum: "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."
In conclusion, don't fall under the delusion that ignorance is bliss, because knowledge is power according to Blaise Pascal and Proverbs 24:5 (ESV): "...and a man of knowledge enhances his might"; however, anyone who thinks he knows it all or knows some secret others don't (like the Gnostics who thought they were in "the know" and clued in above others and they had the secret to salvation), doesn't yet know as he ought to know, because no one has a monopoly on wisdom, or inside track, revelation, or knowledge. Soli Deo Gloria!
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