Knowledge: March 2019
Table of Contents
Knowledge
God does not write the Word to save people trouble, nor is it written, as men preach, in texts, by which the Scriptures are divorced and their strength in connection destroyed. Not so; God has written all His Word to be prized, as made a matter for waiting on the Lord, that we may enter in and fully enjoy it, though it may not be understood all at once. How wisely it is so! Let us thank God that His Word is so written that there never was a soul since the world began who could take it up and fathom it—even the apostles and prophets themselves. Let us thank God that His Word does call us to take the place of learners. The more God gives us to know, the more He would have us feel how much there is yet to learn, and so we are kept, as He desires us to be, in the attitude of waiting. No doubt this does not suit the world. It suits much better to talk as if all were understood, while, on the contrary, it will be found how little is actually known of Scripture when reduced to a science.
W. Kelly
True Knowledge
There is an old set of proverbs, probably of Arabic or Chinese origin, that goes like this:
“He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; shun him.
“He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a student; teach him.
“He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; wake him.
“He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise; follow him.”
While in the natural sense there is, as we say, a grain of truth in all this, it is important to realize that these maxims cannot be completely applied to divine wisdom, as portrayed in the Word of God. To be sure, it is important to have a level of confidence when we undertake to do something. In doing surgery, the surgeon must have a degree of confidence in his ability to perform the operation well; in building a home, the contractor must have some conviction that he has the necessary “know-how” to complete the job properly. At the other end of the spectrum, we have all seen those who, with a self-assurance born of ignorance, approach a task with a confidence which does not realize the limitations of their ability. In the same way, we have seen those who, realizing their lack of learning, are willing to seek instruction. All this we understand well in the natural realm.
The Spiritual Realm
However, when we come to spiritual things, we must approach knowledge in a different way. Unlike natural learning, spiritual understanding comes through the heart and the conscience, rather than through the intellect. This is not to say that the intellect is not involved, but since the fall of man, his sinful tendencies tend to take him away from God, not toward Him. For this reason the Word of God tells us, “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). Paul could remind the Corinthians that “in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God” (1 Cor. 1:21), and for this reason, his preaching to them was “not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4). Even Job, hundreds of years before, could raise the question, “Canst thou by searching find out God?” (Job 11:7). Man in his search for knowledge can never rise above himself, and thus he cannot find out eternal realities. He must have a divine revelation.
The Knowledge of God
When it comes to real knowledge — the knowledge of God and of eternal matters—man must be subject to a revelation from God — the very God whom his natural mind does not want to know. But God in His love reaches out to man (who is not only a sinner, but a lost sinner and a rebellious sinner) and draws him back to Himself. He first imparts new life to him by the power of His Spirit, using His Word, and then gives him a new desire — a desire to know more of God and to have a relationship with Him. It is then that man begins to find true knowledge, for instead of looking at everything with his natural eyes and intellect, he begins to see everything through the lens of the Word of God.
This is not to say that new life in Christ will make one proficient in things like mathematics or literature, but rather it shows Him as the God above it all and brings him into a relationship with the God who not only is a Creator, but also a Redeemer. Then, as the spiritual man’s understanding of all this deepens, he is humbled, rather than becoming exalted or proud. When a man knows much in the natural realm, it tends to pride, to which the natural man is all too prone. He does not realize that even what he knows in the natural way, he knows only as a discoverer, never a creator. Sad to say, even a believer can become proud of what he knows, and this was the condition of some in the assembly in Corinth. It is to them that Paul makes the clear statement, “If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Cor. 8:2). Likewise, he could say to the Galatians, “If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Gal. 6:3). When man is brought into the presence of God, even when it has to do with natural things, the result is humility. Not only does he know so very little, even in the things of this world, but how much greater is his lack of real knowledge, when he is brought into God’s presence!
“How Ye Hear”
Related to man’s spiritual knowledge is an important remark made by our Lord while He was on earth — a truth so necessary that the verse is repeated (with minor variations) five times in the Gospels. We read in Luke 8:18, “Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.” To have scriptural knowledge in the right way, I must walk in it; only then do I really have it, and in that condition, more will be given to me. But God will not allow me to have the theory of the truth in my head without the corresponding practice of it in my life. I will find that not only will I not receive more, but God will take away what I already have. To have it and yet not to walk in it is only to seem to have it. True knowledge before God must be part of my moral being, not simply an intellectual body of facts.
True Knowledge
True knowledge is to know God, not merely as my Creator, but as the One who devised a plan in a past eternity to send His beloved Son into this world, as man, to die for me. It begins with the knowledge of the Father as revealed in the Son, and thus John could say, “I have written unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father” (1 John 2:13). But then he writes differently to the fathers — those who have matured in the faith; to them he says, “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning” (1 John 2:13). Here it is Christ Himself—the One who is from the beginning — whom they have come to know, and there can be nothing beyond this. It is He who has revealed the Father, and it is in Him that all God’s purposes and counsels are centered. To increase in the knowledge of Him encompasses all else.
This is why, in Scripture, such an emphasis is placed on the Person of Christ, rather than simply an intellectual knowledge of the Word of God, blessed although that is. Peter tells us that “His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). Paul could say, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). He Himself is the truth, and thus our Lord Jesus could say to Pilate, “Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice” (John 18:37). As the embodiment of the truth, He will “be with us forever” (2 John 2).
Throughout all eternity, we shall never exhaust the glories of Christ, for they are infinite. It is our privilege to enjoy them now!
W. J. Prost
Four Points of Knowledge
In Deuteronomy 8:1-9, we have four valuable points of knowledge connected with our walk through the wilderness. We have the knowledge of ourselves, the knowledge of God, the knowledge of our relationship and the knowledge of our hope.
The Knowledge of Self
Concerning the knowledge of self, we read, “Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart.” Who can penetrate the depths of a human heart? The details of a wilderness life tend to bring out a vast amount of the evil that is in us. At the beginning of our Christian career, we are apt to be so occupied with the present joy of deliverance that we know but very little of the real character of nature. As we get on in our desert course, we become acquainted with self.
The Knowledge of God
But we are not to suppose that, as we grow in self-knowledge, our joy must decline. This would be to make our joy depend upon ignorance of self, whereas it really depends upon the knowledge of God. In fact, as the believer advances in the knowledge of himself, his joy becomes deeper, as he is led more thoroughly out of himself, to find his sole object in Christ. He learns in his own experience the deep reality of nature’s total ruin. He also learns that divine grace is a reality and that the advocacy of Christ is a reality. In a word, he learns the depth of God’s gracious resources. “He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger,” not that we might be driven to despair, but that He might “feed thee with manna, which thou knewest not.”
Touching and beautiful appeal: They had forty years of uninterrupted evidence of what was in the heart of God toward His redeemed people! How is it possible that, with the history of Israel’s desert wanderings lying open before us, we could ever harbor a single doubt or fear? Oh! that our hearts may be more completely emptied of self, for this is true humility, and more completely filled with Christ, for this is true happiness and true holiness. “The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand; He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing” (Deut. 2:7).
Our Relationship
All that we have been dwelling upon flows out of another thing, that is, the relationship in which we stand. “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee” (Deut. 8:5). This accounts for all. The hunger and the food, the thirst and the water, the trackless desert and the guiding pillar, the toil and the refreshment, the sickness and the healing — all tell of the same thing — a Father’s hand, a Father’s heart. It is well to remember this, “lest ye be weary and faint in your minds” (Heb. 12:3). An earthly father will have to take down the rod of discipline, as well as to imprint the kiss of affection. Thus it is with God our Father; all His dealings flow out of that marvelous relationship in which He stands towards us. To walk with, lean on, and imitate Him “as dear children” must secure everything in the way of genuine happiness, real strength and true holiness. When we walk with Him, we are happy; when we lean on Him, we are strong; and when we imitate Him, we are practically holy and gracious.
Our Hope
Finally, in the midst of all the exercises, the trials, the conflicts, and even the mercies and privileges of the wilderness, we must keep the eye steadily fixed on that which lies before us. The joys of the kingdom are to fill our hearts as we pass across the desert. The green fields and vine-clad hills of the heavenly Canaan, the pearly gates and golden streets of the New Jerusalem, are to fill our souls. When the sand of the desert tries us, let the thought of Canaan cheer us. Let us dwell upon the “inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven” for us (1 Peter 1:4). Bright and blessed prospect! May we dwell upon it and upon Him who will be the eternal source of all its brightness and blessedness!
C. H. Mackintosh (adapted)
Self-Knowledge
We hear a great deal about self-knowledge in the world today. The importance of knowing ourselves is often impressed upon us. Many books have been written on the subject, and various tests are publicized to help us achieve this, such as personality typing, IQ tests, quizzes which determine our aptitude for different careers, and others which assess our strengths and weaknesses. In a world that has largely embraced secular humanism, we are told that “developing self-knowledge is probably the most essential thing we can do for happiness.”
Such thinking is not new, for it was Socrates who coined the phrase, “Know thyself,” but he went further and also said, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” Yet even the natural man recognizes the limitations and ultimate futility of all this, for another has remarked, “Who studies himself arrests his own development.” Another writer speaks about “the never-complete manuscript that is the knowledge of self.” As believers, we may wonder how all this fits into the Word of God. Is it right to know ourselves? If so, how far can we go in knowing ourselves? Is it helpful in our Christian lives to spend our time on such things?
The Negative and the Positive
On the one hand, it is helpful for us as believers to know something about ourselves, both negatively and positively. On the negative side, many of us, especially those who have grown up in Christian homes, do not realize the depths of sin of which our old sinful flesh is capable. It is possible to realize this by divine revelation, for the Word of God tells us, through the Apostle Paul, that “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). But for most of us, we would have to admit that God puts us through experiences that make us realize what is in our own hearts. Peter was self-confident that he would never deny the Lord, and he had to go through a bitter experience to learn his weakness. When we are aware of our “besetting sins,” we rely more on the Lord’s strength and not on our own.
On the positive side, it is good to know something of the gifts and capabilities that God has given us, whether in natural things or spiritual things. Someone who is very poor in mathematics, for example, would not be wise to seek a career as an engineer. In the church, harm has been done when some have had an exaggerated view of their gift and have gone beyond it. In other cases, it has been a loss to the church when those who had gift did not exercise it and develop it, and thus Paul had to say to Timothy, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee” (1 Tim. 4:14). If we have a desire to serve the Lord, He will show us what we can do for Him, and it will generally be in keeping with the ability He has given us.
Christianity Is Objective
However, to be occupied with self never makes us happy, and the Word of God never encourages this. The idea that knowing oneself is the road to wisdom and happiness is human wisdom, and it is the opposite of God’s wisdom. Christianity is objective, not subjective. God does not occupy us with ourselves except to judge sin, and then to be occupied with Christ. When our hearts are taken up with Him, we will find that we do not need to be taken up with self at all, except to deal with what is not according to God’s mind. Ultimately, it is impossible to know ourselves completely, and as we well know, we can and do change. Those who seek happiness in a marriage partner by describing themselves and then listing their “profile” on a website sometimes find that the individual with whom they end up has qualities and character traits that were not evident at first. Also, many people describe themselves as they wish they were, not as they actually are. Truly the human heart is “deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9). Sad to say, we can often deceive even ourselves about ourselves. Truly, the knowledge of self does not bring wisdom; rather, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10), and for the believer, Christ is the wisdom of God for the Christian’s pathway. Jeremiah reminds us that “the way of a man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23).
The Knowledge of Himself
When we are brought to God, we have to do not only with One who knows us, but who brings us into the knowledge of Himself. As another has said, “I can know God’s heart a great deal better than I know my own.” We might ask how this can be, when we read, “How unsearchable are His [God’s] judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33). It is because God is all goodness and also always acts in keeping with His holy nature that we can know His heart and His character. He has sent His Son down into this world to reveal Himself to us, so that the Lord Jesus could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). His heart of love has been fully revealed; there is no change, no deceit, no guile there. With my own heart there is.
An Object Outside Ourselves
Thus we now have an object outside of ourselves—an Object in God’s beloved Son and who delights to fill our heart. If there is a need to know something of ourselves, whether in a negative or a positive way, He will show us. Our main object is to be taken up with Him and all that He is. But some may say, Is it not good to know as much as possible about others — those whom I may wish to consider as my friends, and especially someone whom I might wish to marry? Yet how many marriages fail in spite of all the attempts made to know that potential spouse before the knot is tied!
It is far better to seek the Lord’s mind, for He knows us through and through — far better than knowing ourselves. He not only made us, but also knows our character, natural strengths and weaknesses, and our besetting sins. He has promised to lead and guide us. How far superior this is to matching personality types with possible job offers and life partners!
W. J. Prost
The Knowledge of Christ
It is one thing for a perishing man to be saved by another, but it is something further for him to know the one who saved him. So also it is one thing for a perishing sinner to be saved by Christ, and another thing to go on to know Christ when saved.
Before he was saved, Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, had distinguished himself among his fellows by his persistent hatred of the name of Jesus and his determined persecution of those who followed Him. He refers to this period of his life a number of times in his ministry: in Acts 26:9-11, when defending himself in the presence of Porcius Festus and King Agrippa; in Galatians 1:13-14, when he is about to show that a believer does not live by the law; in 1 Timothy 1:13, when he rehearses his earlier life to his “son in the faith”; and also in Acts 22:19-20, where he repeats what he had already confessed to the Lord. He was a man of good position and careful in his outward observance of the law of God, but instead of these things producing true subjection and love to God, he had become Satan’s stoutest champion in seeking to overthrow the truth.
But in course of time, on the road to Damascus, he saw a light “above the brightness of the sun” shining suddenly round about him, and he falls to the earth. But richly as he deserved judgment, it was as his Savior that the Lord stopped him that day, and from that time forth Saul of Tarsus (whose name is changed to Paul), forgiven and saved, leads in heralding the gospel of the grace of God.
What Was Gain and Loss
And now in Philippians 3:4-7, we may learn from his own pen the wonderful effect produced upon his soul by this mighty change: “If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more ... but what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” How mighty indeed the power of divine grace! He was a man so strict in his observance of the law of God that he walked without blame in the midst of his fellows. Note well these words: “loss for Christ.” Many slur over it as though it read “gave up for Christ,” but that was not how Paul reckoned. He counted himself a gainer, not a loser; he would have been a loser to go on with these things when he had Christ.
And now, how is it with us? Is Christ my Savior? If so, how are we looking upon the things that are a gain to us after the flesh? Do we begrudge giving them up and retain them with a bad conscience? Surely if we know a Savior in glory and rightly value Him, it ought not to be so. There was no effort on Paul’s part. Blinded at his conversion for three days, his eyes were again opened to be fixed upon a new object — a Savior in glory who had saved him. Oh that we, like him, may be able to say in the sight of God, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”
The Excellency of Knowledge
But there is something more. In the next verse (vs. 8) we read: “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” What we have been dwelling upon was the effect produced upon Paul at his conversion, but he is here writing to the saints at Philippi some 30 years or so afterward. In verse 7 he speaks of having counted loss for Christ things which were a gain to him. This was when he first knew Christ as his Savior, but now he adds, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss.” For some 30 years he had pursued his undeviating course toward the goal that he had before him. Was he weary and full of regret on account of his self-sacrifice? No; he was occupied with Christ, and superior to those things his heart naturally would have sought after and turned back to.
The Knowledge of Christ Jesus
Now he counts all things loss, but for what? For Christ as a Savior? Yes, but more than that. Christ was his Savior still, but he is not satisfied with that, for he says, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” His heart is ravished with the Person who had saved him, and this is true devotedness. Men around him might boast of the knowledge of natural things. The arts and sciences, literature, astronomy, or geology (things right enough in their place) might attract many, but Paul has an object before him infinitely superior to them all. He is enraptured with the Person of the Christ; he would learn Him, become more intimately acquainted with Him, know more of His excellent moral glories, enjoy still deeper and sweeter communion with Jesus, the Son of God’s love.
Christ Jesus My Lord
How many thousands know Christ as their Savior, but stop there, satisfied apparently with His finished work, and perhaps rejoicing, too, to speak about salvation to others, and yet have no relish in their souls to progress in the knowledge of the One who saved them! They are thankful to know Him as a Savior, but shrink from saying, “Christ Jesus my Lord.” The will is more or less active, and the world is more or less attractive. To own the Lordship of Christ means a broken will, henceforth subject to Him, and the world as a worthless thing beneath our feet. Are we prepared for this?
That I May Win Christ
And note also now in closing what the Apostle adds: “For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Phil. 3:9). Christ was no mere doctrine to him, but a living Person in glory, that engrossed his soul and more than satisfied his heart. For the knowledge of Him he had suffered the loss of everything that the flesh values, and he was enabled, after 30 years’ experience in the path of faith without it, to count it as so much filth, that he might win Christ. In this he is an example to every believer in Jesus. Such knowledge of Christ, instead of leading to carelessness and license, becomes a true preservative against evil. And the more we know of Him, the more earnest will be the desire that our whole manner of life should be conformed in every detail to Him. And the more truly too we shall be enabled to say with the Apostle, “To me to live is Christ.”
E. H. Chater (adapted)
The Knowledge of the Father
“I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father” (1 John 2:13).
What is this knowledge of the Father to which the youngest child in Christ has his inalienable title? And if the youngest child in Christ has this title, is it yours and mine to enjoy it in all its inestimable privilege? It is clearly something more than knowing that we are children of God, though our hearts may well be deeply touched as we behold the manner of the love bestowed upon us, that we should be able to take up the children’s place before the Father, as born of Him and possessing the Spirit of His Son (1 John 3:1).
Relationship and Knowledge
The relationship is one thing; the knowledge of the Father whose child I am is another. If we consider a natural relationship, the difference is obvious. The relationship remains the same whatever the character of the parent, but for the children how much depends on it! The father may be loving and considerate or very distant and cold, and the difference to the child is incalculable. Is it enough, then, for us to know that we are the children of God? Ought we not also to desire to become familiar with the thoughts and feelings of His heart, the love of His nature, and His character (if I may use the word in the deepest reverence), when He makes this knowledge of Himself the privilege of His youngest child? But we may ask, How am I to know Him? It can only be as He reveals Himself. Let us see the way Scripture presents this blessed revelation to us.
Revealed Unto Babes
Matthew 11 gives us the first intimation of such revelation in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. It was a time of deep trial for Him. Hard-hearted unbelief met Him in the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done—works that attested to who He was. But it only brought out in the perfection of the blessed Lord what the knowledge of the Father was to Him. He knew whence to receive all that pressed so heavily upon Him, for we read, “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Matt. 11:25).
In His rejection by these cities He acknowledged nothing but His Father’s ways of perfect wisdom and love. If in divine wisdom these things were hid from the wise and prudent, there were babes to whom they were revealed by infinite grace. He knew the love of the Father, and in this He found His perfect resting place, submitting Himself absolutely to His will. This is clearly expressed in the words, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” These two things come before us, then, in the experience of the blessed Lord: the source of His rest in the knowledge of the Father and His perfect submission to the Father’s will. Into both He would introduce us, for this is the connection of the words that follow, too often missed. In verse 27 all the deeper glories of His Person, of the place given to Him and His work, in the deepest character of it, come before Him. Not only the Messianic kingdom, but “all things” in universal supremacy are delivered unto Him by the Father. The unfathomable glory of His Person is made known in the words, “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father,” and then as the most precious reason for the incarnation, “Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.” He had come to reveal the Father; this goes far beyond the glory in which He had been presented to Israel up to this point in this Gospel. But it is when the divine and inscrutable glory of His Person as the Son is brought out that He intimates His purpose to reveal the Father.
Perhaps it now becomes an anxious question, To whom will He reveal the Father, whom only the Son has seen and known? The answer comes at once in the precious words, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). How many have been through the world with all its toil and weariness, and have found nothing to satisfy! The Lord Jesus has been through it too, but He had a secret source of perfect rest. He calls us to Him that He might reveal it to us. This source of rest is the Father, and His heart of infinite love. The Son would give us rest by revealing Him, and then we have only to learn of Him, the meek and lowly One. We have to submit ourselves absolutely to His will to find this perfect rest realized practically under all circumstances. Both the Father and the Son have been seen in practical operation in the blessed place the Lord took, as expressed in “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” When one in faith recognizes that all their burdens are allowed by their Father and submits to them as “good in His sight,” then the yoke of submission is easy and the burden is light.
Needed to Give Rest
How blessed, then, the confirmation that to know the Father is not some advanced experience that belongs only to those who have been long in the Christian way. We find that it is the first thing before the Lord which was needed to give rest and to establish the heart that trusted Him in view of the consequences of His rejection. But for the full development of all that flows from the divine glory of His Person, we must turn to the Gospel of John, where from the outset it shines out everywhere, though veiled in the lowly form of manhood.
The Word—the Lord Jesus, who was in nature God—became flesh and dwelt among us, so that the opened eye of faith beholds His glory, the glory as of an only-begotten with a Father — the one cherished object of the Father’s delight (John 1:14). It is this that gives His blessed competency to make the Father known, even as we read in verse 18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” He alone, as the Son who dwells in His bosom, was so fitted to make the Father known, for His nearness and intimacy of relationship with the Father ever characterized Him while speaking and acting as Man among men.
The Words and Works
It is in His words and works, as grouped together by the Spirit in the Gospel of John, that we see how the revelation of the Father comes to us through the Son. Here alone, in all Scripture, the Father is fully revealed. All His works were thus the Father’s works, the expression of the Father’s nature and will as flowing from this divine communion. In His works the Father was revealed. Hence His solemn words in John 10:37-38: “If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
It was the same with His words, as John 12:49-50 wonderfully shows: “I have not spoken [from] Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. ... Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak.” With what new and precious interest His whole path is invested, when we learn that in words and works alike He is expressing the Father, that we might be brought to know Him as thus perfectly revealed. From this, too, flows the revelation of the Father’s house, never before spoken of in Scripture.
J. A. Trench (adapted)
On Obtaining Scriptural Knowledge
Scriptural truth is known by the Christian in two ways—intelligently and experimentally. The same person may and should possess this double character of knowledge, but it is possible that he may have the intelligence without the experience or the experience without the intelligence.
Experience Without Intelligence
If the experience of a truth is had without intelligence, the loss to the soul will be in the way of wisdom. As an example, a believer is sure of his own personal salvation. He has received some word of God by the Spirit’s work within him, which has assured him that he is saved, and he has no more doubts or fears on the subject. Yet perhaps he cannot explain, nor indeed see clearly, the truths as unfolded in the Scriptures relative to salvation. Hence he is in enjoyment of that which he does not fully comprehend, save as far as pertains to himself, for he knows in his soul salvation is his own.
So long as he walks with God, this lack of intelligent understanding will not cause him to slip, but in the hour of conflict he will be at a great disadvantage, for he will not be able to wield aright “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” There will be confusion as to what this text means and what that text means, the mind will get entangled, and possibly, at least for a time, there may be defeat and the soul may be cast into doubt.
We see dear and faithful believers, for lack of intelligence in the plain meaning of the Word of God, not unfrequently cast down by the enemy and often under severe spiritual pressure. We cannot, therefore, be too eager to know the meaning of what God says, for “Thus saith the Lord” is of paramount importance to the believer.
Intelligence Without Experience
However, in these remarks we are not so concerned with those who have the experience of a truth without the clear intelligence of its meaning, as with some who have the intelligent understanding of a truth without due experience of its reality. We say due experience, for we do not wish to push the delicate consideration of Christian experience beyond just limits. It is comparatively easy to speak of intelligent knowledge of a truth, for words can express that knowledge, but experience is what belongs to the heart and is, for the individual Christian, the vital energy of the words he utters. The head may test knowledge; the heart must test experience. A Christian who has passed through experimental knowledge of a truth discerns the spirit of the speaker who describes what he has not felt.
A man may be as clear as crystal, yet as cold as ice; he may have ability to detail the varied parts of a divine truth, but still move no heart towards God. On the other hand, blundering words and ill-formed thoughts may go right home to the soul and draw the affections Godward, even at the very time the hearer is fully aware of the lack of intelligence in the words he hears uttered.
Spiritual Pride
As we have already mentioned, if a believer is lacking in scriptural knowledge of a truth of God, he is by this lack exposed to the enemy, should he get, in spirit, away from God. What shall we say, then, of the dangers besetting him who, being intelligently acquainted with a doctrine, having his mental powers furnished with its mysteries, is not experimentally versed in the truth he knows? He is in danger of the very condemnation of Satan himself — that is, of being puffed up with pride. Yes, he is in danger of the spiritual pride of boasting himself in his acquaintance with divine truths, even in such sublime subjects as the glory of God, the death and resurrection of His Son, and God’s way of blessing man by and in Christ! Such is the subtlety of the human heart that the believer may — yes, frequently does — take hold of a truth of God and use it for his own elevation. “Knowledge puffeth up,” and the believer, having knowledge without the experience of the truth known, becomes puffed up with pride to his eventual shame and dishonor.
Moral Absence From God
Without seeking to detail the sorrows of such a state of soul, we may mention one or two causes of it, as this may help towards avoiding the condition. The main evil root, then, is moral absence of spirit from God. The Bible is read, or probably books explaining its truths are read, and doctrines are mastered by mere human strength — by brain power, or memory or the like means. In a word, the Spirit of God, who dwells within us, is ignored, and the mind is allowed the place of mastering divine truth instead of the believer submitting himself, humbly and reverently, to the moral effect of the truth of God upon his spirit. We cannot learn divine truth effectually save as we gain our knowledge in God’s presence. A process in our souls accompanies the right acquisition of knowledge.
It is far less dangerous to be stupid and not to be able to comprehend a truth doctrinally, yet to live in its power and to move in its strength, than to know its details and yet to be practically outside its force. In the one case, the very sense of ignorance may help to keep the believer humble; in the other, the sense of knowledge will puff him up. In the first, God will be sought and His protection looked for; in the second, the truth, or human ability to wield the truth, and not God, will be trusted in. Many are marvelously intelligent in the Scriptures, who for years have lived in the pride of their knowledge! Their brain acquaintance with the letter of the truth has been used simply to enable them to look down on their fellow Christians, as a scientific man might use his knowledge to despise ordinary men because of their ignorance.
The Remedy
The remedy for all this lies in the moral attitude before God the individual believer takes. It is entirely a private matter between God and the Christian. But the private demeanor of the soul before God is a very great consideration indeed. When we were converted, we had to deal with God alone; when we received peace, we dealt with God alone; in all the great spiritual crises of our lives, we have dealt with God alone, and if we die, we shall have to go out of this world alone with God; in a word, everything that is stable and enduring in the soul results from personal dealing with God. Now, if we take up any truth intellectually —merely intelligently — we have left God out in our personal obtaining of scriptural knowledge. More accurately, we have neglected the knowledge of God, for the doctrines of Scripture give us the knowledge of God. Let us be on guard, since for mortal man to take up the knowledge of God as he would a matter of science is a deadly evil to the soul’s prosperity.
The Knowledge of God
God has graciously revealed Himself to His people in and by His Word, and every sense of that revelation which we may respectively possess will certainly produce in our souls a fresh experience of God Himself. When this personal knowledge of God, by His Spirit, is gained, the life and thoughts of the believer will be formed and colored by such knowledge. The believer will live out what has passed through him and become part of him. His practical life will be the language of his inner being. He will live out that which lives in him.
And this living out, by our manner of life and our speech, commends itself to the souls of those who hear; it is a witness, a testimony to God. On the other hand, the merely intellectually acquired knowledge of the highest of divine mysteries only falls upon men’s souls as might the words of instruction in science.
Faithful Words for Young and Old (adapted)
Renewed in Knowledge
In Colossians 3:10 JND, we read that we are in the position of “having put on the new [man], renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that created him.” In Ephesians 4:24, we are seen as “having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness” (JND). It is instructive to notice the difference between these similar expressions in the two books.
Our English language does not admit of all the fine distinctions employed by the Spirit of God in Scripture. In Ephesians 4 the expression “new man” (kainos) is expressed by a totally different word from that used in Colossians 3:10, for Greek has two words for “new,” while in English we have only one word. One word in Greek implies something that has never appeared before, such as when we might say in English, “That is quite a new fashion.” The other Greek word means that something is new of the sort, but that it has often been seen before, as we might say in the spring, “The new leaves are coming out.”
Ephesians speaks of the former; a “new man,” which is not Adam in innocence, nor Adam righteous by the law, but a totally new sort of man, which had not been before at all. The new man here is “created in righteousness and true holiness” (or “holiness of truth”). This same word is used for the “new bottles” (Matt. 9, Luke 5), into which the new wine must be put. It is also used in Matthew 26:29, where the Lord will drink the wine cup “new” in His Father’s kingdom. So “a new commandment I give unto you” (John 13), and “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).
Renewed
The “new” (neos) of Colossians 3:10 is different, for there it is not the new man as to his genus, but the putting on practically the new man (because we have absolutely put him on, by the death and resurrection of Jesus), that is, the practical life in which we live here below. Yet even while this is true, the word “renewed” (anakainoō) is made up of the first new, so that while the practice of the new man is the great thought, care is taken to show that it is a totally new sort of man which we have put on.
In short, the two words are characteristic of the Epistles in which they are found. In Ephesians 4 it is a “new man” in contrast to the old and all that went before. In Colossians 3 it is the practical new life in which we live, though care is taken to show by the word “renewed” that it is an entirely new thing; first formed of God, and then constantly renewed into His likeness by the practical judgment of evil within. God’s nature takes its place in us more fully by this putting off the old man and his deeds, and our deepening in the knowledge of Him as light and love.
Full Personal Knowledge
The word “knowledge” too is very striking here. It is not the same as that used for “knowledge” in other parts of Scripture. It means full personal knowledge — that by which I recognize a person, as I say “I know that man.” It is knowledge meditated upon and known subjectively in the soul. See Colossians 1:9, where the same word is used for the knowledge of His will, and in verse 10, where you find it used for growing by the true knowledge of God” as the passage should read.
There is a good example of the use of these two words in 2 Peter 1:5 and 8. He desires (vs. 5) that we may add “to virtue knowledge,” and in verse 9, that thus we shall not be barren in the knowledge, or full knowledge, of our Lord Jesus Christ. The former was the knowledge received, as objectively presented to the soul; the latter was the same knowledge meditated upon and known subjectively. This is one of the beautiful touches of God’s hand in Scripture through the pen and heart of an uneducated fisherman of Galilee!
I do not pretend to give a critical exposition in noting these words, but to present what has interested me as so characteristic as to their use in Scripture.
F. G. Patterson (adapted)
Ignorance of God
In the Garden of Eden man fell, and to this hour, although by industry and research he acquires a certain knowledge of everything in creation, yet he cannot find out God. His greatest advancement only convinces him the more of his ignorance. Like the Athenians in Paul’s time, he must, if honest, confess his ignorance on the greatest point which could occupy any intelligent creature — the knowledge of his Creator. In comparison to this, what is any other knowledge? And what is the good of the knowledge of everything relating to man, if I am ignorant of God?
G. V. Wigram
Mere Interpretation
We may be assured of this, that basing everything on mere interpretation indicates that the power of conscience to effect nearness to God and obedience to the will of the Father is in a weak state. The love of Christ is superior to knowledge, but a course of mere interpretation (a course so little according to the Lord's mind) gives the superior place to knowledge. Since mere knowledge does not result in advancement in grace, we have lost the cross, and thus it can serve but an earthly end, as it is often of an earthly character, intellectual and high-minded.
Girdle of Truth
How Shall We Know?
How shall we know the Christ of God of all who make the claim?
How can we tell who has the right to bear the saving name?
Oh, there’s a test, a perfect test, infallible to guide:
’Tis Christ, we know, if He can show the wounded hands and side.
How can we tell the one true light from all the lights that shine?
So many gleam and glow and stream and boast a source divine;
Oh, there’s a test, a perfect test, infallible to guide:
The one true light can always show the wounded hands and side.
How can we prove what Word is true of all the words we hear?
So many voices through the world are sounding loud and clear;
Oh, there’s a test, a perfect test, infallible to guide:
The one true Word can always show the wounded hands and side.
How can we know which way to take of all the ways there are?
So many wide and pleasant roads are winding near and far;
Oh, there’s a test, a perfect test, infallible to guide:
The one true way can always show the wounded hands and side.
A. J. Flint