Knowledge is the foundation

Jesus told us that those who worship God must worship him “in Spirit and in Truth.” (John 4:24) Notice that we cannot worship him, we cannot hope to please him, we cannot serve him according to his will, if we do not have the truth. That’s where knowledge comes in — knowledge is the facts we need to learn the truth about him and our service to him. Without truth we have no Christianity. And the Spirit is the only one who can reveal the truth to us in a way that we can understand it and get the spiritual point that it makes.

The Kingdom of God rests on truth, so much so that the Apostle Paul says that the entire Church is “built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” (Ephesians 2:20) In other words, we depend on what we have from them — their witness to the works and reality of God, which is the Bible. This is the truth about God and his world. This is the knowledge that we need, not what other men and religions claim is knowledge. The Bible is spiritual knowledge, revealed to our hearts by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10) and is appreciated only by those who are spiritually minded.

The Bible is knowledge that leads to wisdom.

Knowledge is the necessary first step to wisdom. There are three different words used in the Bible to describe the process of wisdom: first, you must find out the facts — the data, or the truth. This is what is known as knowledge. It ought to be obvious that without the facts, you can’t proceed to accomplish your goals. For example, if you don’t get the facts about the true state of your heart, you aren’t going to see that you need to fix your heart — you won’t know how, nor will you know why you need to!

The second step is understanding. This is being able to use the facts in some way. For example, if you know that the Spirit of God reveals the way of salvation in the Word, you will study the Word and find out what you must do to be saved. Not many people know how to use the Bible for this purpose! They can read it, but they don’t know how to apply its truth to their own particular spiritual condition. But a person of understanding will know what to focus on, and how to grow in holiness by following the Spirit of God.

The third and final step is wisdom. Wisdom is knowing the overall picture, and how to achieve the long range goals that you have in mind. In the case of a Christian, wisdom is being fully aware of God and his glory. In order to live in his presence, you must undergo a radical transformation of character — from a sinner to a saint, from a rebel to a servant, from an orphan to the privileged position of a child of God. If we want to live in God’s Kingdom, we must learn what the requirements are for living there. Wisdom knows what the goals are, and how to achieve those goals. We must eventually look like Christ:

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life — in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. (Philippians 2:14-16)

We could summarize the three like this: knowledge is knowing what to do, understanding is knowing how to do it, and wisdom knows why and when it must be done.

If we could categorize people by their spiritual progress, we would have to say that only a few people know the facts, fewer still have any spiritual understanding, and it’s a rare person who has true wisdom. It’s just too easy to stop somewhere along the way. The proof is in the current state of affairs of Christ’s Church. “For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 2:21) But however we assess the situation among current Christians, it still remains that knowledge is the necessary first step in this process of becoming wise. And since so few people are concerned with studying the Bible and learning the facts, it’s no wonder that so few attain wisdom in the end.