“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:3-7).

We started this series on Godliness three weeks ago. In the past two weeks, we discussed that just as faith is belief in action, goodness is virtue and holiness in action. In the passage above, we are to “make every effort to add to our faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge.”

Right off the bat, this tells me that knowledge is not a requirement for faith or goodness. That means that we do not need to wait until we think we know enough in order to receive salvation, or to do or to be good. But knowledge is necessary at some point to continue to grow in godliness. In fact, three separate times, Paul tells his churches: “Do not be uninformed” (1 Corinthians 12:1, 2 Corinthian 1:8, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13).

God would not have given us his Word if He did not want us to learn it, to absorb it. Early on, baby Christians are exhorted to deepen our knowledge in order to grow in discernment: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).

There are many Scriptures about knowledge:

• The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but foolsdespise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7)
• The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10).
• “Wisdom brings strength; and knowledge gives power” (Proverbs 24;5-14).
• Knowledge is a spiritual gift: “…for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit…” (1 Corinthians 12:8).
• “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Paul gives us a full picture of why God is calling us to grow in knowledge in his letter to the Colossians (what a beautiful blessing this is):

“I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Col. 2:1-7).

There were two special trees in the Garden of Eden. God forbid the eating of the fruit only the one: the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. On its face, this seems strange, doesn’t it? It is clear that the tree itself was not bad. There is no indication that the fruit was bad–Adam and Eve did not immediately get sick or die after they tasted the fruit. So why did God put this tree there and then tell them they could not eat the fruit? What was the necessity of this tree? God is a God of love. It comprises his entire being. And if he wanted to give humans free will, something a loving God would do, he had to allow for the possibility for them to choose something over him, and therefore, sin. (From Crosswalk.com)

It is true that Paul, while extolling knowledge, warns the Corinthians “…knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). But that highlights the importance of keeping our priorities straight and in balance. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is meaningless, vanity. Knowledge for the sake of growing in wisdom in order to build up the church is right knowledge. God has given us brains to use for His glory. In our day and time, God has given us access to worlds of knowledge. Friends, there is so much information out there. As the saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out (GIGO).” Use your free will to choose wisely what you put into your brain as you are growing in faith, goodness, and knowledge.

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

In Christ,

Judy