I am amazed at the power that the Bible gives to knowledge.
Consider the verse from this week. Literally, all the power available from God to live and be godly comes through knowledge. Amazing! What a premium we should put on doctrine and instruction in the Scriptures when we consider that life and godliness are at stake.
Knowing does not guarantee godliness, but it seems that ignorance guarantees ungodliness. Because, as Peter says, the divine power that leads to godliness is given through the knowledge of God.
Here are three implications, a warning, and a promise.
- Read! Read! But beware of wasting your time on theological foam and suds. Read rich doctrinal books about “the one who called you to his glory and excellence.”
- Ponder! Ponder! Slow down. Take time to think about the Bible. Ask questions. Keep a journal. Let yourself be humbly troubled by puzzling things. The deepest insights come from trying to see the unifying root of two apparently antagonistic branches.
- Discuss. Discuss. Be a part of a small group that cares passionately about the truth. Not a group that just likes to talk and raise problems. But a group that believes there are biblical answers to biblical problems.
Warning: “My people perish for lack of knowledge!” (Hosea 4:6). “They have a zeal for God, but it does not accord with knowledge” (Romans 10:2).
Promise: “They shall not teach everyone his fellow or everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:11–12).
- As you begin this course, list three ways you plan to use you time wisely in gaining knowledge from this course and the Bible.
- Why is a knowledge of the Old Testament so vital?
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