From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part sixteen of a series. Read part fifteen.

Believers and unbelievers test the knowledge of God by two very different standards, with two completely opposite results.

Should Our Task Discourage Us?

In our last article we discussed Paul's expressed desire for the Colossian believers to "grow into" the knowledge of God. The knowledge of the infinite God, given to us in His Word, is so vast that we finite beings could not begin to absorb it all - much less fully understand it all - in a hundred or a thousand lifetimes.

Should this discourage us? Should this deter us from the life-long task of growing into the knowledge of God? Just the opposite! It should encourage us to read and study His Word every day:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5)

Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

The Christian's Knowledge is Unique

The Christian's knowledge entirely different from the world's knowledge. It has an entirely different basis. I made this point as we looked at Colossians 1:9 previously, but I want to emphasize it once again because the Apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit emphasizes it once again in verse ten, in the phrase "growing into the knowledge of God."

The Christian's knowledge is not the speculative knowledge of human philosophers or the mystical knowledge of false religions - even the false knowledge that is taught by counterfeit versions of Christianity.

The word for knowledge once again here in Colossians 1:10, as in the preceding verse, is not gnosis, mere general knowledge, but epignosis - precise and correct knowledge; real knowledge; true knowledge; confirmed knowledge; tested knowledge; knowledge that conveys understanding, not merely the accumulation of facts without a true understanding of the significance of those facts.

The World's Flawed Knowledge Test

Romans 1:28 says that, in contrast to this, unbelievers do not even like to retain God in their knowledge. The sense of the original Greek is that the unbelieving mind has tested God against the false standard of human wisdom, and the human mind has declared that it rejects God; it says, "God doesn't meet my intellectual standards." Man seeks to place himself in authority over God.

And so, in that same verse in Romans, Paul says that God has given unbelievers over to a reprobate mind. In the original language, the sense is that God has given them over to the control of a mind that would not even meet the test of measuring up to the purpose for which a mind was meant. The mind of the unbeliever is a wasted mind, as far as anything that counts with God is concerned.

The Christian's Trustworthy Knowledge Test

For the believer, there is an entirely different kind of test of the knowledge of God. It involves an entirely different standard, and yields an entirely different result.

God calls believers to turn from conformity to this world, to the "renewing" - literally, the renovation - of their minds (Romans 12:2). And what is the purpose? "That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest explains the word "prove" -

"Prove" is dokimazo, "to put to the test for the purpose of approving, and finding that the thing tested meets the specifications laid down, to put one's approval upon it." As a result of the Spirit's control of the mental processes of the saint, the latter is enabled to put his life to the test for the purpose of approving it, the specifications being that it conform to the Word of God, and thus, experiencing what obedience is to the Word, and finding out what it is like to have the Word saturate and control the life, he sees that it really is the Word of God and puts his approval upon it. Our Lord Jesus was speaking of the same thing when He said, "If any man will to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:17).[1]

This is not a matter of human beings standing in authority over the Word of God. Quite the contrary, the believer is assenting to the witness of the Word and the Spirit as to the genuineness of the truth.

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Someone once said that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and that is exactly what the unbeliever does by rejecting the knowledge of God. The sinful mind rejects God, and goes after anything and everything else that calls itself wisdom, rather than seeking after the true wisdom that is found in the knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ. The mind of the unbeliever, rather than growing into the only genuine knowledge, is in fact degenerating and decaying. The unbeliever's "test" of the knowledge of God is a test of willful arrogance.

In contrast, the believer's test of the knowledge of God - and of the will of God - is a test based upon submission to Scripture. Our minds, our thinking, were meant to glorify God by continually "growing into" the knowledge of our Lord as we test all things by the authority of His Word alone.

Next: What is Satan's Biggest Deception About the Knowledge of God?

References:

1. Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies From the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1950), entry for Romans 12:2.

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