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Knowledge - False and True: A Warning Against Dead Orthodoxy
by Martin Lloyd-Jones
A Study of 1 Corinthians 8:1-3
The dangers confronting Christian people are not uniform and always the same.
There are different types of personality and different emphases in the life of
the Christian church and in the gospel. We who gather here are very well aware
of the particular dangers that confront the activist—that type of person who is
so common amongst us in evangelical circles—the man who lives on his energy and
on what he does, who is always busy, organizing meetings and attending them etc.
and who says that you must always be doing something. We have realized very
clearly the terrible danger that is inherent in that kind of activism, and we
are never tired of protesting against it and of showing the danger of an almost
exclusive emphasis on life, living and activity at the expense of doctrine,
understanding and growth in knowledge. But while we see that so clearly, there
is a real possibility of our being unaware of the entirely different type of
danger that confronts us, and which is something that applies to a different
kind of individual. The first thing we always have to do is to know ourselves,
to note the particular group to which we belong, and to realize that there are
dangers inherent in every type and in every group. To come immediately to the
point, there can be no question at all, it seems to me, that the peculiar danger
that threatens those of us who meet anually in this Conference, is the danger of
pride of intellect and pride of knowledge...
I propose, therefore, to consider this whole subject with you, and I do so in
terms of what we find in 1 Corinthians 8:1-3:
‘Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he kn wet anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God the same is known of him.’
I want to
consider this with you, in order that we may apply it to ourselves. We need take
no time in dealing with the particular context and the state of affairs in the
church at
Corinth.
The Apostle is dealing here with the question of the meats offered to idols
because it was a cause of division in the church. There were the more
enlightened, the stronger brethren, and there were the weak brethren. They did
not see alike on this matter. The strong brother said that there was no such
thing as another God, that there was but one God. Everybody should know that,
any man who knows anything at all knows that; therefore the idea that you should
not eat meat offered to idol s was just nonsense, and was virtually going back
to idolatry. A Christian was free to eat any meat he liked. Some them went so
far as to say that, if asked, they could even go to the heathen festivals. ‘Why
not,’ they asked, ‘as “these gods” are really non–existent?’ So they went. And
thus they were becoming a stumbling–block to the weaker brethren, whom they
despised, of their weakness of intellect and grasp and understanding. There was
grievous trouble in the
church
of Corinth because of this conflict between the enlightened men of knowledge,
and those who were weaker and lacking in knowledge.
The exact context is most interesting. But we are concerned with the way, the
most interesting way, in which the apostle deals with it. As is his custom he
does not deal with the thing just in and of itself and directly; he lifts it up;
he finds a great principle. And the principle he finds is this whole question of
knowledge. The real trouble in Corinth, in a sense, was not at all the question
of meats offered to idols, but simply men’s view of their own knowledge. So he
discusses the matter primarily in terms of their attitude towards knowledge. Our
theme therefore, and the principle which we extract from our text, is the danger
of a false view of knowledge.
To be accurate in our exegesis let me indicate that the ‘knowledge’ Paul speaks
of here is not the same as that referred to in 1 Timothy 6:20, where he talks
about some who have gone astray and made shipwreck of the faith because of—as it
is translated there—‘science falsely so-called’. ‘Science’ there means
knowledge, ‘Knowledge falsely so-called’. But that is not the same ‘knowledge’
as we have here in 1 Corinthians 8. There, the problem has reference to a kind
of mystical knowledge, and to people claiming that they were receiving some
direct knowledge by inspiration; it was the danger of a false mysticism. But
here, it is ‘knowledge’ in the sense in which we normally use the term and in
which, certainly, it applies to us who are members of this Conference.
There is no need, of course to emphasize the fact that knowledge is all
important. We can never know too much. Knowledge is essential, doctrine is
vital. The Bible is full of doctrine, and the New Testament particularly so. The
epistles are mighty, glorious expositions of doctrine and of truth. The Apostles
not only preached the truth but they emphasized the all–importance of a
knowledge of the truth. Ultimately most of the troubles in the church, according
to the teaching of the epistles, stem somewhere or another from a lack of
knowledge and of understanding. Knowledge, therefore, is in and of itself
absolutely essential; indeed we must give it priority and see to it that it
always comes first. We were reminded of that in the paper which gave an
exposition of Dr. John Owens's teaching on the question of apostasy. Truth came
first, you remember, then godliness, and then worship. We are all agreed about
that. It is no problem to us. But and this is where our theme comes in—it is
possible for us to develop a false notion of knowledge. It is possible for this
gift of knowledge and understanding, which is in many ways God’s most precious
gift to us next to the gift of his Son and our salvation, to become a snare to
us and a very real danger in our spiritual life. Such was the position in
Corinth. It is good for us therefore at the end of this Conference, in which we
have been spending so many hours in the pursuit of knowledge and
understanding—it is good for us that we should face this possible danger which
may be confronting us. I suggest the following treatment of the subject.
The Causes of a False View of Knowledge
First, we must consider the causes of this false view of knowledge. We cannot go
into these in detail, but we may divide them into general and particular.
Obviously at the back of everything is the adversary. The devil having failed to
keep us out of the faith and in a state of ignorance and darkness of the mind,
and having seen that we have discovered the danger of a busy activism that may
be nothing but a man revolving round himself, suddenly completely changes his
tactics. Transforming himself into an angel of light, he drives us to such an
extreme in this matter of knowledge as eventually to ensnare us quite as
successfully as he ensnares the activist. In other words we are back to a
phenomenon with which we are all so familiar—the danger of going violently from
one extreme to the other, the danger of over–correction. It seems to be the
besetting sin of mankind and one of the most terrible results of the Fall, that
there is no thing so difficult as to maintain a balance. In correcting one thing
we go to such an extreme as to find ourselves in an equally dangerous position.
We are always confronted by the devil, who is ever ready to take the best things
and turn them into his own instruments of unrighteousness and to produce the
shipwreck of our souls.
A second general cause is, as a well–known proverb reminds us, ‘a little
learning’. ‘A little learning is a dangerous thing’. That does not mean, of
course, that there is no danger in much knowledge. There is. But I am not sure
that in this respect there is not a greater danger in a little, because it
always means that the element of the tyro or novice who imagines that his litt1e
knowledge is all knowledge comes in. Is it not notorious that first–year
students always know much more than final–year students? I leave it at that—the
danger that arises from a little learning. But we must give more attention to
the third cause which may be a little more controversial. To me, there is a very
special danger at this point and in this matter which we are discussing, in
reading as against preaching. Perhaps in the age in which we live this is one of
the greatest dangers of all. I am asserting that reading is much more dangerous
than listening to preaching, and I suggest that a very real danger arises in
this connection if a man just spends his time reading and does not come under
the power of preaching. What do I mean? I mean something like this. While a man
is reading a book there is a sense in which he is in entire control. It depends
partly on the book, I know, and if it is beginning to make him feel
uncomfortable he can shut it up and go for a walk and—he can do many things. But
you cannot do all that when listening to preaching. Of course, you may be rude
enough to get up and go out, and some people do so, but on the whole that is not
the custom.
Preaching in a sense, therefore, safeguards us from these peculiar dangers that
arise from reading only, provided of course that it is true preaching. For when
a man is listening to true preaching he comes under the ‘power’ of the truth in
a way that he does not when he is only reading. You may or may not like Phillips
Brooks’ definition of preaching as ‘truth mediated through personality’, but
there is a great deal to be said for it; and the Scriptures give us many
illustrations of that. God does use the human personality. Not only that, a
preacher not only expounds but also applies the Scriptures, and thereby makes
sure that application takes place. When a man reads a book, however, he may
never come to application. He can decide to shut the book and stop whenever he
likes; there is no insistence on the application. I fear that in this present
age, when people are tending to listen less and less to preaching, and preaching
becomes shorter and shorter, and our reliance upon reading becomes
correspondingly greater, we are therefore more exposed to the danger than our
forefathers were. I am not of course denouncing reading, and saying that there
should be a ban on all publications! Of course not! I am simply trying to show
the dangerous tendency that arises, and asserting the priority and primacy, and
the superiority of preaching. We need to be brought under the power of the
truth. We do not like that, but it is the business of the preacher to do that,
and if he fails to do so, he is a very poor preacher. We always try to evade
these conclusions and applications, but the preacher brings them home. He holds
us, and makes us face them, and therefore he safeguards us against certain
dangers. An age which attaches greater importance to reading than to the
preaching of the Word is already in a dangerous position.
But let us pass to particular causes. One is, to take a purely theoretical and
academic interest in truth and knowledge, to make knowledge an end in and of
itself—the purely theoretical and academic approach. This is an obvious and
well–known danger. I therefore take the general principle for granted, and
mention only certain particular illustrations of it here.
I have always felt that it is wrong to hold examinations on Scriptural
knowledge, for the reason that it tends to develop this theoretical interest in
it. It makes a subject of it, something which you have to learn in order to pass
your examination or to get a certain number of marks. It may not happen, I
grant, but I am suggesting that the moment you have an examination you have
already started this tendency to regard biblical knowledge as a subject in and
of itself, like any other subject. I remember lecturing at a certain conference
in
America
in 1932. The conference had been started by a saintly bishop in 1874 for
religious people, but it had degenerated, not so much in numbers but in its
theology and approach to truth. I found there that the great claim for this
conference (and this is how it was advertised) was that it taught any subject in
which anybody could be conceivably interested. I also found that item number
sixteen on the list of advertised subjects was ‘Religion’. There is an example
of this purely academic and theoretical interest in truth you take it up as a
subject: chemistry, history, art, religion, theology—knowledge about these
matters. And if you have an examination in addition, the whole thing is greatly
aggravated.
It is also, and I say this with very real regret, one of the dangers inherent in
a study of religious history. I have known three men who have been expert
historians on the history of Christianity, the history of the church, and the
history of its great men and movements. They have given their whole lives to
this, and all three were particularly interested in the 18th century. But what
has always amazed me is that though they spent their lives in reading about
those glorious revivals of religion and those mighty men of God, it had not
touched them at all. To them it was just a subject, a matter of academic and
historical interest. They knew all the details, but as for the spirit of the
thing, it was as if they had never read about it at all. That, I suggest, is a
danger that is always inherent in the historical approach, and is an
illustration of this purely theoretical approach.
The same thing can apply also even in the process of studying theology. It can
become just a subject set for an examination, or a subject essential to
obtaining a certain degree or diploma. And the very fact that this is the system
may result in a man viewing the knowledge of God entirely in this way. But even
without examinations this is still a possibility. A man can take a purely
academic and theoretical interest in theology. I have known many such men. They
happen to have had that as their hobby, whereas others turned to crossword
puzzles. It was essentially the same approach—there was no question about that
at all. It was purely theoretical, and thus it had become this false type of
‘knowledge’. Are we entirely free from this danger?
The second particular cause is that we approach truth purely in terms of
intellect—intellect only. There is nothing so dangerous as to isolate the
intellect. We are all agreed about the priority of intellect. But there is all
the difference in the world between our asserting its priority and talking only
about intellect and regarding man as if he were nothing but an intellect. There
is nothing that is so calculated to lead a man directly to this ‘false
knowledge’, about which the Apostle is speaking, as a purely intellectual
interest in truth, in which the heart is never engaged at all and the power of
the truth is not felt, indeed in which feeling does not enter at all. The man is
merely concerned to absorb knowledge with his mind. And it is precisely the same
when the will is not engaged. If the interest does not lead to any action, or
move the ill, it is equally bad. We need not stay with this. The text for all
this is, of course, Romans 6:17: ‘But God be thanked’, says the Apostle, ‘that
ye have obeyed’—will!—‘from the heart’—heart!—‘the form of (sound) doctrine
delivered to you’— to the mind. There you have them together. If you isolate the
intellect and leave out the heart and the will, it is certain that you will end
in this position of having a false view of knowledge, and indeed as I want to
show, with false ‘knowledge’ also. To vary the expression, this danger is one of
knowing ‘about’ a subject rather than knowing it! What a vital distinction this
is. What a difference there is between preaching about the gospel and preaching
the gospel! It is possible to preach round the gospel and say things about it
without ever presenting it. That is quite useless—indeed it can be very
dangerous. It may be true of us that we know ‘about’ these things, but do not
really know them. And this, of course, becomes all–important when we realize
that the whole end and object of theology is to know God! A Person! Not a
collection of abstract truths, nor a number of philosophical propositions, but
God! A Person! To know Him!—‘the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent!’ There we have what I would regard as the main causes of this trouble...
The Signs and Indications of the Condition of False Knowledge
We come now to the second general heading, the signs and indications of this
condition. There are certain general signs of this possession of a false
knowledge and a false view of knowledge. For instance in such cases, there is
always a lack of balance. it is the bit of knowledge that the man happens to
have that he is always interested in, and he knows nothing else. So there is
lack of balance at once. He has been suddenly attracted by a type or aspect of
knowledge, and goes after it. He acquaints himself with this; but he knows
nothing else and is lop–sided and lacking in balance. That in turn expresses
itself in the use of slogans, clichés, tabloid expressions and phrases which
always characterizes this condition. These phrases keep tripping off the tongue;
the same catch phrases and slogans always. That is unfailingly indicative of a
little knowledge, a lack of true knowledge, and above all of this lack of
balance of knowledge.
The Apostle uses the term ‘puffed up’—’Knowledge puffeth up’. What an
expression! What does he mean? he is describing a proud man, is he not? Here is
a man who thinks he really ‘knows it all’; he is not like those other people, he
knows; he is a man of knowledge and understanding. He knows it all! He is not
like those others who never read; he is a great reader. And, of course, as a
result of this he has arrived, and he is proud of it. ‘Puffed up!’ How do we
know that he is proud of his knowledge? Well, he is always parading it. The
heavy, important, Puritan gate! The way of speaking and so on! That is a part of
the parading that is inevitably one of the manifestations of being ‘puffed up’.
How difficult it is to stand erect with all this great weight of knowledge!
It manifests itself also in an impatience of any restraint and any correction;
and still more in an impatience with any opposing view. It is intolerant of
anything else. It ‘knows’, and nothing else must even be suggested. No opposing
view has a right to exist, and must not even be considered. In other words it is
a part of this being ‘puffed up’. It means ‘arrogance’. The Apostle James knew
certain people of th is type, and so he says says, ‘Be not many masters, my
brethren’ (James 3: 1). What a terrible thing it must be to have a church with
nothing but masters in it. All are authorities, all know everything and ‘all
about it’. ‘Be not many masters, my brethren’. But there is always this tendency
to feel that you do know, and understand, and, of course, to let it be known. So
men arrogate unto themselves positions—and thereby betray themselves.
But still more serious is the way in which this-manifests itself in its attitude
to others. That was the trouble in the church at Corinth where these men who
were enlightened said, ‘We have knowledge, we know’. The Apostle’s reply was,
‘We know that we all have knowledge’. Now he was there, according to some of the
commentators, repeating their own phrase, ‘We have knowledge’. The result was
that their attitude to others was one of superiority. They tended to despise
others, they were like the Pharisees. They did not boast so much of the good
works they did as of their knowledge and their understanding. These others who
did not understand, who were not clear about idols—why, they were almost beneath
contempt. So they looked down upon them, were inconsiderate towards them and
said they were hardly worthy to be considered at all. It may show itself like
that. Or it may show itself by just ignoring these others altogether. You ignore
them to such an extent that you do not even feel contemptuous toward them,
because in a sense they are not there at all! You are so much up in the air and
in the clouds yourself that you do not even see them. It is as if they were not
there. Then another way in which it manifests itself is in feeling that these
other people who are so slow to learn are a hindrance to us. Why should the
preacher still be dealing with such simple matters? These men who know so much
would like to go on to the great things, but the preacher is always staying
there with some preliminaries. There he is, preaching evangelistic sermons every
Sunday night, and on Sunday mornings he seems to be thinking that he has many
people in his congregation to whom everything has to be explained in great
detail. Because of that they are being held back and cannot go on to the great
heights. They have long scaled the Alps, why does the preacher not take them to
Mount Everest?
These other people are just a nuisance and a hindrance with their slowness. Now
that was the case in
Corinth,
and it is the case in many churches today. These men of knowledge want to go on,
but they are being held back by these others whom they therefore despise. There
it is, displayed in the attitude towards others.
The last sign that I am going to mention, in order that I may pass on to
something else, is that in some cases this wrong view of knowledge, and this
possession of what is not true knowledge, manifests itself by it’s victim just
doing nothing at all; he simply enjoys his ‘knowledge’. He does not seem to be
aware of the fact that there is a lost soul anywhere in the world. He spends the
whole of his time in reading and if he meets people, in letting them know what
he has been reading and in having discussions about Truth. There are sections of
the church today, with the world as it is, which never have any contact with the
world at all. You never hear of them having a single convert, they do not seem
to be aware of the existence of the problems of mankind and the ravages of sin.
Why not? Because they spend the whole of their time within that circle of theirs,
dotting their i’s and crossing the t’s, arguing about their great knowledge, and
displaying it to one another. They are thus completely useless and entirely cut
off from any kind of activity. We may not know this in it’s extreme form; but I
would ask everyone present to examine himself or herself. Have you not found
that it is a very easy thing indeed to spend the whole of your time in just
reading and adding to your knowledge and building up your understanding, and
forgetting all about the sinful world in which you live? It is the peculiar
temptation that comes to people of intellect and ability who have realized the
importance of knowledge. You can spend the whole of your life in merely adding
to your own knowledge or in comparing notes with others who are like yourself.
The Uselessness of False Knowledge
But let us come to the third section which is the uselessness of such supposed
knowledge. Look at the way in which the Apostle puts it in the second verse: ‘if
any man think that he knoweth anything.’ Well, he says, there is only one thing
to say about him—’he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know’; which means
pattly, that this man, who is proud of the knowledge that he thinks is his, has
not really got any knowledge at all. Is this not obvious? The argument is that
if this man has a true knowledge of God he simply could not be like that. So the
apostle says, this man who thinks he knows, in fact ‘knows nothing yet as he
ought to know’, because if he did know as he ought to know he could not possibly
be behaving as he is. This does not need any demonstration; it is a sheer
impossibility; he has no true knowledge. He thinks that he has a knowledge of
God, but all he has is some kind of knowledge ‘about’ God; it is not a knowledge
of God, otherwise he could not possibly be what he is.
Let me put it in the words of the great George Whitefield. He is talking about
the Bible:
‘This is my rock, this is my foundation. It is now about thirty–five years since I have begun to read the Bible upon my pillow. I love to read this Book, but the Book is nothing but an account of the promises which it contains, and almost every word from the beginning to the end of it speaks of a spiritual dispensation, and the Holy Ghost that unites our souls to God and helps a believer to say, “My Lord and my God.” If you content you content yourselves with that—[now he means by that, the Bible itself, remember]—if you content yourselves with that, the devil will let you talk of doctrines enough. You shall turn from Arminianism to Calvinism; you shall be orthodox enough, if you will be content to live without Christ living in you (Sermon on Isaiah 60:19, ‘God a Believer’s Glory’).
Note what
Whitefield says. If you just go in for that sort of theoretical intellectual
knowledge, the devil will let you talk of doctrine enough; you will turn from
Arminianism to Calvinism, you shall be orthodox enough, if you will be content
to live without Christ living in you. Th e devil does not care at all whether
you change from being an Arminian to being a Calvinist if you do not know Christ
and if you do not know God. One is as bad as the other. A theoretical Calvinism
is of no more value than a theoretical Arminianism—not the slightest. That is
what Whitefield is saying. He therefore warns against this because he is
concerned about our having the Spirit. And he goes on to say, ‘Now when yo u
have got the Spirit, then you may say “God is mine”.’ His point is that any
knowledge which falls short of that does not interest the devil at all, because
it is not really true knowledge which is going to make a difference to y ou.
That is how Whitefield puts it, who was himself a Calvinist and one of the
greatest evangelists the world has ever known.
But let me adduce another reason. Why is this such a ridiculous position to be
in—this feeling that we really do know and that we have knowledge, this pride in
ourselves and this despising of those activities, those busy people who do not
know any theology or doctrine, those people of whom we speak in a derogatory
manner and whom we more or less dismiss? Why is this so utterly ridiculous? And
why is it not areal knowledge at all? The answer is—because of the vastness of
the knowledge! What do I mean? The knowledge about which we are speaking is a
knowledge of God! All these doctrines are about God! The moment you realize
that, you see how impossible it is that a man should be proud of his knowledge.
The moment he realizes the endlessness, the vastness of the knowledge, he is
bound to realize that he is but a pigmy, a mere beginner, a little child
paddling at the edge of the ocean. He thought he was out in the great depths.
Great depths! He knows nothing about them, he has been thinking in purely
theoretical terms. But when you realize that all this knowledge, everything in
the Bible, is meant to bring us to know God, the Everlasting and the Eternal in
the Glory and the Majesty of His Being—how can a man be proud of his knowledge
when he realizes that that is knowledge about which we are speaking? 0r take the
way the Apostle puts it in writing to the Ephesians. He is praying for these
Ephesians and he ‘bows his knees unto God the Father.’ What for? Well this, he
says: ‘That they, together with all other saints, may come to know the breadth,
and the length, and the depth, and the height; and to know the love of God,
which passeth knowledge’ (Eph,
3: 18,
19). Think of a little man strutting about because he khows so much, because he
has read the Puritans and has read theology and is not like these other people
who are ignorant. ‘Puffed up!’ Poor fool, who is not aware of his
ignorance—‘heknoweth nothing yet as he ought to know’. If he really had a true
knowledge of God he could not be like that. The thing is a sheer impossibility.
The endlessness, the vastness of it all!...
In order to emphasize this great truth I felt I could do nothing better than
remind you of the experiences of certain men who knew just a little about this
knowledge of which I am speaking...Charles Haddon Spurgeon...puts it like this:
All ye that think that you know and have a knowledge of the truth, may the Holy Spirit grant that we may not say a word which is not strictly verified by our experience. But I hope we can say we have had converse with the Divine Father. We have not seen Him at any time, nor have we beheld His shape. It has not been given to us, like Moses, to be put in the cleft of the rock, and to see the back parts, or the train of the invisible Jehovah. But yet we have spoken to Him, we have said to Him, “Abba, Father”. We have saluted Him in that title which came from our very heart, “Our Father, which art in Heaven”. We have had access to Him in such a way that we cannot have been deceived. We have found Him, and through the precious blood of Christ we have come even to His feet. We have ordered our cause before Him, and we have filled our mouth with arguments. Nor has the speaking been all on our side, for He has been pleased to shed abroad by His Spirit His love in our hearts. While we have felt the Spirit of adoption He, on the other hand, has showed us the lovingkindness of a tender Father. We have felt though no sound was ever heard; we have known, though no angelic messenger gave us witness, that His Spirit did bear witness with our spirit that we were born of God. We were embraced of Him—no more at a distance. We were brought nigh by the blood of Christ.” That is real true knowledge of God!....That is what we should understand by knowledge (Sermon on 1 John 1:13, September 15, 1861).
The Tests
of True Knowledge
My argument is this, that when we realize that that is the knowledge to which
the Bible is meant to bring us and that that is the whole end of theology and
the whole purpose of all teaching concerning these matters—when we realize that
that is ‘knowledge’, can we possibly feel that we have knowledge and be ‘puffed
up’ and boast of ‘our knowledge’ and ‘our learning’ in these matters? The thing
is a sheer impossibility.
But let us consider the tests which show whether we have this true knowledge.
First and foremost, obviously, is love of God. As the Apostle puts it in verse 3
(1 Cor. 8:3): ‘If any man love God’. That, he says in effect, ‘is knowledge’. In
other words, here is the argument. To know God, of necessity, is to love Him.
You cannot know God wiithout loving Him’. It is impossible. Why? Because God is
love, because of the glory of His Being, because God is who and what He is. If
any man really knows God he will be ‘lost in wonder, love and praise’; he will
love God. True knowledge always leads to a love of God. If therefore we cannot
say that we love God, have we any right to claim any knowledge of God? We can
have a great deal of knowledge about Him and concerning Him, we can even
apprehend with our minds the full scheme of salvation, but we still may be
ignorant of ‘knowledge of God’. ‘This is life eternal, that they might know
Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.’...
Secondly, another way to test knowledge is by the character it produces.
‘Knowledge puffeth up’ says the Apostle,’but charity edifieth’,—builds up? What
kind of character does it build up? It is described perfectly in 1 Corinthians
13: ‘Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not, charity vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things. Love never faileth: but whether there be
prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether
there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy
in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part
shall be done away.’ That is the character! What are its characteristics? First
and foremost, humility. Look at those men in the Bible who have had a glimpse of
God. They fall down as ‘dead’. They say with Isaiah, ‘Woe is me, for I am
undone!’ Proud of their knowledge and their learning and their superiority?
No!—they feel they are unclean and not fit to be there at all, that they are not
in a position to criticize anybody because they are so aware of their utter
unworthiness. True knowledge invariably leads to humility, and also to holiness
and godliness.
What about the attitude to the neighbour? It has been stated perfectly there in
1 Corinthians 13—we will love our neighbour. Our Lord Himself said that it is
the second great commandment: ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself.’ And, of course,
especially so if he is weak and ignorant. What if he is an Arminian? What if he
does not understand doctrines of grace? How are we to treat him? Are we to
despise him, are we to dismiss him as a fool, or as a nonentity or as a man who
knows nothing—is that to be the attitude? Let me again quote Whfitefield to you:
‘Believers consider Christ’s property in them. He says “My sheep”. Oh, blessed
be God for that little, dear, great word ”My!” We are His by eternal election,
“the sheep which Thou hast given Me” says Christ. They were given by God
theFather, to Christ Jesus in the covenant made between the Father and the Son
from all eternity.’ What a noble, wonderful statement of the great doctrine of
election, one of the doctrines of grace! But Whitefield goes on: ‘They that are
not led to see this, I wish them better heads, though. I believe numbers that
are against it have got better hearts. The Lord help us to bear with one another
where there is an honest heart!’ There is nothing to be added to that. It is the
righ t way to look at it...Oh yes, when a man has this true knowledge he must
love his neighbour as himself.’
In other words, to sum it up, what is the result of true knowledge? First: it is
that we rejoice in the Lord. My friends, we do not only believe in the Lord
“when we know Him, we rejoice in Him. ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I
say, rejoice.’ The happiest people in the church ought to be those who know the
doctrines of grace. They should not be ‘puffed up’ with their little knowledge,
they should be men filled with joy because they know God and something about His
love.
Likewise they should have a holy zeal for God’s Name, and resulting from that
they should be filled with compassion for the lost. The greatest evangelists the
world has ever known have been men who have held the doctrines of grace. Why?
Because they have had the greatest knowledge of God. Did you know that this was
a fact, that every single person who was involved in the beginning of the great
missionary enterprise in the 1790s was what is called a Calvinist? I dislike the
use of these labels and extra–biblical terms, but that is a simple fact of
history. There is a notion abroad today that a man who holds these doctrines of
grace is a man who does nothing, and that he does not believe in evangelism. Why
is that notion abroad? Why have people got that notion? Is there something in
it? If there is, it means this, that the knowledge we think we have is no
knowledge at all. We have got this theoretical, useless knowledge, and it is not
a knowledge of God. If a man knows God he will above all others have a zeal for
the glory of God and the Name of God. He will want the whole world to come to
God, he will be the most active preacher and evangelist of all. He must because
his knowledge of God is greater and his compassion for the lost is greater. And,
as we know, there was no man in the eighteenth century who was so active, none
who laboured so indefatigably as that great George Whitefield from whom I have
been quoting.
The man who has true knowledge will be full of compassion for the lost and of
zeal for the glory of God. There is no need to prove this, the thing
demonstrates itself. lf only we knew Him! That is why the Son came from heaven,
to let the world know something about the glory of the Father. He even came into
the world and died to do this. And we should know Them—God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And as we do so we shall in our little measure
produce our Lord’s life and shall be patient as He was patient: ‘A bruised reed
shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench.’ God have mercy
upon us for the intolerance that often results from our false knowledge, and for
the arrogance which is so often displayed. ‘Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus.’ The 1owly Jesus! Let us show that we know God by not only
loving God but by loving our neighbour, and especially the lost and those who
are weak and feeble and who have fallen by the way, the children in the faith,
the beginners, and those who are slow to learn. Let us be patient with them,
even as He has been patient with us.
My last word—how are we to get this knowledge? I give you but the bare headings.
Bible study! Obviously you start there. But in addition, self–examination. How
vital that is! Reading the Bible is not enough. Self examination! How do you
examine yourself? If you read your Bible correctly, you will soon discover. Ask
yourself questions, apply what you are reading to yourself. Say: ‘This was
spoken to a Pharisee, is it true of me?’ and so on. But if you want further help
as regards self–examination, read the diaries of men who have truly known God.
Jonathan Edwards drew up a list of questions for people to ask themselves. John
Fletcher of Madeley did exactly the same thing. You can use them if you like.
But however you do it, be sure that you do it. Examine yourself!
Then another thing—and I want to emphasize this—balanced reading! I am concerned
about this. I know of nothing that has such a tenndency to produce false
knowledge and to make men victims of this false knowledge, as reading which
lacks balance. If a man reads nothing but theology, he is exposing himself to
this danger. I would therefore advise that we should always balance our reading
as we balance our material diet. You should not eat only one kind of food. if
you eat nothing but proteins you will soon be ill. You should always have a
balanced diet. That principle is equally essential here. ‘What do you mean?’
asks someone. Well, if I may say so with humility, the thing that has been of
the greatest help to me has been to balance theological reading with the reading
of biographies. That is the best advice I can give. I have always done this: I
have always done it on holiday and I have tried to do it day by day. But on
holiday in particular I used always to give my mornings to reading some
theological work, but I was also careful to read some biography at night. It
worked like this. Having read for three or four hours in the morning I felt
before lunch that I was quite a considerable man, and that I had a great deal of
knowledge which I would be able to display to others. There I was! But I
remember very well when I first ‘stumbled’—and I am speaking the truth
literally—when I first stumbled across Jonathan Edwards in 1918. 1 had never
heard of him before but I began to read him and I soon discovered that you
cannot read a page of Jonathan Edwards without feeling very small indeed. It
completely corrected what had been happening in the morning. The best antidote
to the poison of false knowledge is to read a biography like that of Jonathan
Edwards or Whitefield or Fletcher of Madeley...How monstrous, how ridiculous how
foolish it is to think that we know these things, that we have a knowledge of
God simply because we have garnered a certain amount of intellectual and
theoretical and academic information! ‘Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the
Lord.’ Can we say with Spurgeon that we know what it is to be ‘embraced’ by Him?
Have we ever really been there in His presence in a ‘sensible’ way—using the
term ‘sensible’ as the Puritans used it? To ‘know and feel’ that God is near!
What is the value of all the knowledge we may have if we are ignorant of that!
‘Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all
knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and
have not charity, I am nothing.’ (I Cor. 13: 2). May God preserve us from this
‘false knowledge’ which is not knowledge but a counterfeit, and which is finally
useless!
This article is an excerpt from an article appearing in the book The
Puritans: Their Origins and Successors published by Banner of Truth. This volume
brings together the addresses given by Dr. Lloyd–Jones at the Puritan Studies
and
Westminster
Conferences held in London, England between 1959 and 1978.
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