March 23, 2023

I Corinthians 8: 1 Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. (NIV)

Impressive gifts, extensive knowledge, and great faith mean nothing without love.*

Paul might say that knowledge is like a balloon: full of air. A balloon can be very big and if you don’t recognize that it is nothing but a container of air, you might even be intimidated by it. But if you try to stand on it, you will realize how insubstantial it is. Knowledge puffs up, says Paul, but love builds up. Love provides a firm foundation to build upon. Very reliable.

So is Paul suggesting that we should choose just one of the two – knowledge or love? Do you really think he is advocating that we be ignorant but loving Christians?

In the women’s Bible study group that I facilitate there are three of us who graduated from Bible college. We have also been Christians for a very long time. It would be surprising (and wrong) if we didn’t know a lot about the Bible. But our knowledge is nothing to be proud of if we haven’t learned more than a little bit about love. In that same group, there are also some women who occasionally express feelings of inadequacy because they don’t know more about God’s word. One friend recently attempted to justify her lack of knowledge by trying to trade it for service. “I don’t have to know more,” she seemed to be saying, “because I serve the Lord.”

My friend may be a better servant than I am; you may be more loving than I am; and I may know more than both of you; but excelling in one area doesn’t excuse you (or me) from trying to be better in all of them. Not that we are saved by how much we do, how much we love, or how much we know. But the more we know God, the more we want to know. The more we know, the more like him we want to be. And we aren’t much like him if we don’t want to know, love, and serve more. It’s all part of the package.

I think of Bible knowledge as a natural resource from which the Holy Spirit works to help all of us become more like Christ.*