May 2007
No. 257
Coming to the Knowledge of the
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COMING
COMING TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH
(THROUGH
EDUCATION)
Last
issue we began to study the thought in 2 Timothy 3:7 that it is
possible to be “ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth.” We considered four steps in the process of developing
real spiritual knowledge – education, meditation, participation, and
evaluation. Each of the four steps was discussed in general terms.
This month let’s look more in detail at the first of the steps –
education.
First,
consider why education should be on the bottom of the list of steps.
Why should it be considered basic enough that the other steps build
upon it? Because coming to the knowledge of the truth is all about
acting like we know how we should act to please God. There’s
no more to it than that. And we simply cannot act any better than we know
how to act. If we do, it is merely by accident, and no one will
accidentally make it to heaven! So all our meditations and actions
must have a basis of truth, and that basis comes through education.
Let’s
look at a few general observations about education:
Our
God is a God of knowledge.
In 1 Samuel 2:3, two opposing views of presenting knowledge are
described. One presents knowledge, or rather presumed knowledge, in a
proud and arrogant way. The other way, God’s way, is to use
knowledge to weigh the actions of men. In other words, some people
merely talk a good game, but God judges how we play the
game based on his knowledge of how we should be playing it.
We
will learn best if in a spirit of fear.
In Proverbs 1:7 we see that “the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Most of us have
had the experience of cramming before a big test, burning the midnight
oil in the fear of doing poorly. Imagine how hard we might study if we
knew the Lord’s final exit exam would be tomorrow for us!
All
education is not beneficial.
Education has been highly prized in my family, and I still have a
thirst to learn, but I know that much knowledge is vain (Job 15:2).
How can that be? If it is knowledge that does not get us toward our
goal of heaven, it is vain. There are countless things to learn about
the world, but only a relatively small handful will get us safely into
the world to come.
Now
let’s move on to three powerful questions for each of us to answer
individually.
Do
you know as much as you need/want to know about the Bible? If you answer yes, is it because
you know everything or just enough to have a feeling of false
security? If you answer no then what are you doing about it? Are you
relentlessly searching the Bible for treasures? Paul told Timothy (2
Timothy 2:15) to study to show himself approved unto God. But Paul
didn’t say how much study was enough. How much is enough for you?
Can
you forget the tree of knowledge?
OK, here’s a test – true or false. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and
Eve were to avoid the tree of good and evil. What’s your answer? In
Gen 2:9,17 we are told twice that it was not the tree of good and
evil, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A person
that spends a lot of time in sin is going to have a lot of sinful
knowledge to deal with. What’s the best way to cancel sinful memory?
Replace it with Godly knowledge. That’s education!
What
do you do when a sin of ignorance becomes a sin? Paul gave us the example (Romans 7:7) that
he didn’t know lust until the law said to him, “You
shall not covet.” So when we realize we’ve been sinning in
ignorance, it’s not an ignorant sin any longer. In Old Testament
times, a person would offer a special offering (Leviticus 4:23). Now
in New Testament times, we gladly obey the second law of pardon (Acts
8:22, 23). What does this have to do with education? You decide –
had you rather be learning about sin and examining your own life,
making corrections and atonement according to Acts 8:22, 23, or just
living in sin, doing the best you can instead of the best you know,
and pleading ignorance on the judgment day?
Let’s
move on to a real life demonstration of the use and value of
education. What can education do for us in a time of temptation? Look
closely at what our Savior did:
“It is written”…about bread. (Matthew 4:1-4)
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. After
praying and fasting for forty days the tempter came to him with a real
simple request – turn stones to bread. But Jesus knew this was not
the time and place to do something he would otherwise do to help
others, so he refused (there’s a great lesson here for us). But it
is how he refused that teaches the greater principle. Jesus
recalled a truth recorded way back in Deuteronomy 8:3 and replied, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Wow! He just said,
“It is written…” and refused to be swayed from that
truth. How many times would people deny their temptation if they only
had the knowledge of a specific truth and command in their memory?
That’s the value of education!
“It is written”…about power. (Matthew 4:5-7)
The devil was not done with Jesus yet. He tempted Jesus to make a
public display of Jesus’ power to be protected by angels. Again
Jesus knew this was not the reason to do what he knew he could do, so
he refused again. But the lesson to us is that Jesus once again went
to the old scriptures (Deuteronomy 6:16) and said, “It
is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Do you
see a pattern?
“It is written”…about the world. (Matthew 4:8-11)
OK, so the devil couldn’t get to Jesus through his hunger or a
desire for worldly glory, but what about just giving Jesus all the
possessions in the world? That’s the last temptation in this round.
The devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would
only worship the devil. Once again Jesus refused and used only one old
great truth (Deuteronomy 6:13) and replied, “…it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him
only shall you serve.” Again, Jesus used only one truth, yet he
stood firmly on that one truth and never swayed. And what happened
next? The devil left Jesus and angels came and ministered unto him.
This is the best example of education that I know. Jesus’ memory of
great truths slammed the door on the devil and allowed Jesus the
comfort of angels.
Jesus
expects us to use the knowledge recorded in the Bible in our own
lives, too. Here are five brief descriptions of examples for you to
study:
 | Mercy being better than
sacrifice.
In Matthew 12:3 Jesus said, “…Have
you not read what David did…?”
|
| Marriage being for life.
In Matthew 19:3-6 Jesus said, “…Have
you not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them
male and female…?”
|
| Praise coming from children.
In Matthew 21:14-16 Jesus said, “…Have
you never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you have
perfected praise?”
|
| Our state in heaven.
In Matthew 22:23-32 Jesus ends a long questionable situation with
“…Have you not read that which was spoken unto you by
God…God is not the God of the dead, but of the living?”
|
| Christ’s rejection and
triumph.
In Mark 12:10, 11 Jesus said, “…Have
you not read this scripture, The stone which the builders rejected
is become the head of the corner…?”
|
In
each of the five previous cases, Jesus referred to a previously
recorded incident or fact for the truth he needed for each tempting
question. But more than that, each time he sort of chastised his
tempters for not using the same knowledge that was available to them.
Does it scare you to think what Jesus might say to us, if he gave out
life progress reports? It does me!
Let
me leave you with one more benefit of studying hard to gain as much
knowledge about the Bible as you can. Consider this question – can
you think of two thoughts (good and evil) at the same moment? Not a
split second apart, but the exact same moment? I don’t think so,
because even if you could the evil thought would make the good thought
evil. Jesus says (Matthew 6:22, 23) that a little darkness of the eye
makes the whole body dark, and Paul says (1 Corinthians 5:6) that a
little leaven leavens the whole lump. So another great value of study
is that it focuses the; mind’s eye on good things while we are doing
it, plus it keeps God’s temptation-beating truths fresh in the
memory where they can do us the most good.
Happy studying, and remember –
YOU CANNOT DO BETTER THAN YOU KNOW TO DO!!
Bill Prince Jr.
Oxford,
AL
APOLOGIA
QUESTION:
Does
I Corinthians 7:28-29 teach that divorced people have the right to
remarry?
ANSWER:
Questions surrounding divorce and remarriage are becoming more and
more prevalent in the church today. Our culture has reached a point
where marriage is no longer held in high regard or viewed as sacred.
This has led many to live together as husband and wife without the
covenant of marriage. It has led many to think that marriage is not
only between men and women. Consequently we see a trend to push for
legislation to redefine marriage to include those of the same sex. It
has led many to seek quick and easy divorces.
All of the above views are beginning to make their way into the
church. We are warned to not conform to this world but to be
transformed. But not conforming takes tremendous fortitude. The only
way to be transformed is to constantly renew our minds in the
scripture.
Because of that mentioned above,
we should not be surprised that when we read the scriptures we do so
with certain presuppositions. We also have a tendency to conform to
the practice and views of the world and thus fail in allowing this
scripture to say what it says! With this introduction we will seek the
proper interpretation of the passage mentioned above.
“Are
you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a
wife? Do not seek a wife. But if even if you marry, you have not
sinned.” (I
Corinthians 7:27-28)
For many this passage is taken as
a warning against divorce but if one does divorce they will not sin if
they marry. The assumption made is that when Paul asks, “Are
you loosed from a wife” that he is saying “Are
you divorced?” Consequently he would be saying in verse 28 that
it is not sin when divorced people remarry.
There are several reasons why
this interpretation is not correct.
The first is that verse 25 begins
Paul’s discourse on a new issue concerning marriage. He writes,
“Now
concerning virgins (ton parthenon): I have no commandment of the Lord;
yet I give my judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made
trustworthy.”
With these words he begins a
passage that deals with those who have not yet married. It should be
noted that he has already dealt with divorced people in verses 10-16.
There he instructs that husbands and wives are not to depart from one
another. He continues by saying that if they do they are to remain
unmarried or be reconciled. Paul would not at this point be teaching
something contradictory to that which he had previously instructed. A
flat statement that it is not sin for divorced people to be remarried
in verse 28 would contradict verse 11 where he teaches us that those
separated should remain unmarried!
Another point to be made is that
of dealing with the words bound and loosed. The translators choose the
word wife hence the suggestion is that the man is already married.
However, in the Greek the word for wife is simply woman and may refer
to a man’s betrothed as well as his spouse. The context suggests
that the reference is to a man’s betrothed virgin and not a spouse.
Therefore the words bound and loosed have reference to whether one is
betrothed or not. We should also note that the word loosed (luo) means
free and is not a word that is used for divorced.
It is our understanding that
verses 27-28 does not teach the right of a divorced person to remarry.
It teaches that the betrothed virgins should consider remaining single
but if they choose to marry they will not sin in doing so.
