Articles
Accumulating Knowledge
For most all of my life, I have sought to learn. I have always been curious to know how things work, how things are put together, and why things work or happen as they do. I used to read through encyclopedias just to learn something I didn't know; I used to [okay…still do] skim through dictionaries to learn new words or discover word origins; I, with a little encouragement from my youngest son, can now watch YouTube videos on how things are made or what certain objects are made of or from where they come.
As a student of the Bible, I also have a desire for learning and gaining knowledge; I imagine many of you reading this do, too. I love to study the Bible to learn more about the people, places, and events recorded therein, and encourage others to continually dig deeper into the text to find something they have not seen or understood before. I still experience the joy of discovery in my studies and am always anxious to share that discovery with others. Sometimes, I learn something and wonder how I missed it in all the other times I read the text. Maybe you have experienced that same feeling. The depth of knowledge and wisdom contained within God's written word is constantly amazing — a lifetime of work to discover.
But what are we doing with that knowledge, once we have obtained it? To what end do we study God's word? I would never discourage anyone from the study of God's word, but we must ask and we must know: For what purpose do we study and seek and obtain knowledge? Learning for the sake of learning must not be our goal, and to know the correct purpose, let us first consider some erroneous goals of learning.
Learning to Just Learn ‘Some New Thing.’ When Paul came to Athens, he was provoked in his spirit “when he saw that the city was given over to idols” (Acts 17:16), and because of this, began reasoning with those who were in the synagogue and with those who happened to be in the marketplace (Acts 17:17). When some heard Paul, they were curious to know about “this new doctrine” he was preaching [Christ, Acts 17:18-20]. While we might be pleased to see some interested in Paul's message, that joy is tempered by the fact many in Athens — the center of human wisdom and philosophy — merely “spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21). They were learning just to learn something new.
Those men were not unique, unfortunately. Today, men still seek to learn merely for the sake of learning, and do nothing with what they have learned. Sadly this is also true of many who might study their Bibles! They may know the Bible "from cover to cover" and may correctly recite Bible verses and explain certain passages, but have not done anything with what they know. Like those in Athens, when they have learned this "new thing," they then move on, looking for the next "new thing," and on and on.
With this as our goal, there is no benefit to learning except filling our heads up with knowledge that is never used or useful. Even God's word becomes nothing more than some scrap of knowledge residing in our memory banks. The sad part of this is, with the constant search for more and more knowledge, even the important things get lost in memory or forgotten altogether after time passes, and what could have been useful and beneficial simply passes from memory as our capacity to remember what we have learned continually diminishes.
Always Learning, But Never Knowing the Truth. Paul warned Timothy of those who would “creep into households” and lead others astray by their godless words and ways to the point they were “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:1-7). We might excuse this by noting Paul was speaking about “gullible women” who were led astray by these deceivers, but even the religious leaders of the first century were guilty of this!
More than once, Jesus chastised the religious leaders by noting their ignorance of the Scriptures, saying, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures” (Matt. 22:29), or, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39, 40). In each case, these men had rejected the truth because it did not fit with what they wanted to believe! The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, so did not see the truth of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all existing in death, and the religious leaders rejected Jesus because He was not the 'Messiah' they were expecting or wanting.
Unfortunately, there are many today who likewise study and study and study God's word, but never come to a knowledge of the truth because they find things they don't want to believe, or don't find things they want to believe! I can't tell you the number of times I have heard individuals 'explain away' Peter's command to be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) or its place in our salvation (1 Pet. 3:21) simply because it was not what they believed, or wanted to believe. I can't tell you the number of times I have heard individuals twist mightily the words of Jesus in Matthew 19:9 because they were looking for justification of a divorce God would not approve. The plain reality is, no matter how hard we may try, or how many times we try, if we are unwilling to see the truth, we will not see it.
The Right Purpose of Learning. We could go on for another month, covering the various wrong reasons for learning, but we must know the right reasons right now. And one of the most important reasons we learn from God's word is that we might be saved. James admonishes us to “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jas. 1:21), and then adds, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (Jas. 1:22). The important point that must be noted here is that we learn not just for the sake of saying we know, but that we must then be doers of the word! One who merely learns of Jesus, but does not do what He says, is foolish (cf. Matt. 7:24-27), and will not be rewarded, in the end (Matt. 7:21-23). Learning without doing will not save us!
Another one of the right reasons for learning God's word is found in the words of Paul, as he told Timothy, “the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). In short, we learn God's will so we may teach others! This is also seen in the chastising words of the writer of Hebrews when he said, “by this time you ought to be teachers” (Heb. 5:12). They needed to be teachers! Friends and brethren, we don't learn God's word and learn how to teach, and then not teach! We must use the knowledge of God's word we have obtained!
Do you study God's word? Great! Now, what are you doing with what you have learned? I appreciate that some come to Bible class and are eager to share with others what they have learned, but we need to also be sharing that with those outside the Bible class setting; we need to share it with those who are still lost in their sins. We also need to make sure we are doing what those words teach us.
Finally make sure you use that knowledge for good, for “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Cor. 8:1). —— Steven Harper
