Articles
“Knowledge”
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”
Hosea 4:6
The book of Proverbs invites those who fear the LORD to gain wisdom and instruction (Prov. 1:7) because it is always better to be smart than dumb (Ecc. 2:13). The ignorant suffer while the wise “will dwell secure and be at ease” (Prov. 1:29-33). But those who pursue knowledge and have not the wisdom to wield it also suffer. Notice three simple things about knowledge from the Scriptures.
A lack of knowledge is destructive
There is a clear correlation between ignorance and ungodliness. The unbelieving Gentiles “walk… in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding… because of the ignorance that is in them.” This is not due to an intellectual deficiency on their part but rather “due to their hardness of heart.” Ignorance leads to poor moral choices and destructive behavior (Eph. 4:17-19).
Despite having the Law, Israel also suffered from ignorance. They were destroyed for their “lack of knowledge” and “discernment” (Isa. 1:3; 5:13; 27:11). There was “no knowledge of God in the land” (Hos. 4:1) because God's word wasn’t being taught. The priests were responsible for teaching the Law (Lev. 10:11; Deut. 17:10-11) so God addressed them: “because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me” (Hos. 4:6). The Law was not to be presented as a list of factoids about God or merely a checklist on our behavior. The goal of instruction was for Israel to “know the LORD” (Hos. 2:8, 20; 5:3-4; 11:3-4; 6:1-3, 6) and what it meant to practically follow him. Jesus echoed this in his prayer: “this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn. 17:3; cf. 1:18). True knowledge which results in eternal life is knowing God both intelligently and relationally.
A lack of love is also destructive
As crucial as knowledge is, knowledge by itself is no good. There were some in Ephesus who were “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Knowledge can make us arrogant people (1 Cor. 8:1) if not wielded with love (1 Cor. 13:2). The Corinthians were tearing each other down with their “knowledge” because it was not expressed with any concern for their brethren (1 Cor. 8:1-13; Rom. 14:15). If we lack love we use knowledge as a destructive weapon instead of a healing instrument.
Love shaped in knowledge is the way
John commonly associated light with both truth and love. "Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 Jn. 2:10-11)
Therefore, the parallel increase of love with knowledge is the way of Christ. Paul prayed “that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment…” (Phil. 1:9-11). The Scriptures always hold love and truth together in balance because we tend to emphasize one over the other. Pursuing love at the expense of truth or truth at expense of love results in a failure to express either one sincerely (Eph. 4:15; 3 Jn. 1). Therefore, love must be strengthened with knowledge of the truth and knowledge must be tempered with love for one another.
Only when our “hearts” are “knit together in love” will we “reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:2-3) We must “put off the old self with its practices and… put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Col. 3:10)
