From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part fifteen of a series. Read part fourteen.

The knowledge of God is like a garment we put on that is way too big for us. We need to continually to grow into it.

Paul's Framework: Christ Above All

As we continue our study on the general question, "How can I know God's will?", let me remind you that the Apostle Paul has done something in Colossians chapter one that he did so often in his letters to various churches. Almost everything that Paul writes follows this kind of pattern. There is an order, and a structure, and a logic in all of Paul's epistles. Everything that he says is preparing the way for the next thing.

That is exactly what Paul has done in the first chapter of Colossians. He has put a framework in place for the Colossian believers of the first century, and for us two thousand years later. The framework that he is erecting moves us toward one of the most powerful expositions on the person and work of Jesus Christ that we find anywhere in the Bible.

Paul has reminded the Colossians in verse one that he writes to them as an apostle, with the authority of Jesus Christ. Beginning in verse two, he reminds them that the Gospel of Christ has changed everything for them - they have been lifted up out of paganism and brought into new life in Christ. The Gospel is bearing fruit among them - love for all the saints. They know and are experiencing the grace of God in truth. And they have a hope laid up in Heaven for them - the settled certainty of eternal life with Jesus Christ.

And then as he moves on into verses nine through twelve, the passage on which we are especially focusing, Paul encourages them by letting them know that he is praying for them, that they might walk worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep in mind that the Colossian believers were surrounded by paganism and humanism, just as we are today. In those days, the pagans considered it to be an important thing to render worship that was worthy of the deities to whom they were devoted. In fact, archaeologists have found inscriptions on pagan temples that spoke of this, and exhorted people to do it. And of course, much of the pagan worship was corrupt and immoral.

But Paul is saying, now that you Colossian believers have been delivered from all of that, you need to walk worthy - not of these false pagan deities to which you were once devoted - but worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true and living God. You need to live a life that is worthy of being identified with Him. Your life needs to be completely different from the life that you lived before. You need to render true obedience to Him. That is God's will for you.

In verse nine, Paul says that the key to this is to "be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." In verse ten, Paul emphasizes this once again. Christians are to "walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." The focus is, and always must be, on the preeminent Christ.

Growing Into the Knowledge of God

In this part of our study, we are going to focus on the last phrase of Colossians chapter one and verse ten. In the original Greek of the New Testament, that phrase is actually better translated, "growing into the knowledge of God."

The picture Paul is giving is like the clothing of a child while he is growing up. When you have a new baby, you never buy clothes that are just the size of the infant right now. You know that your baby is going to grow. And so you buy that sleeper or playsuit a little bigger, because you say, "Oh, he is going to grow into it." And he does - quickly!

And when children get to be school age, you buy pants and shirts and shoes and dresses that are a little on the large side. The pants may be a little long at the start. The shoes may be a little bit big. But you say, once again, "Oh, they'll grow into them." And so they do - often more quickly than parents wish they would! Sometimes those pants that hung down over the boy's shoes in September are way above his ankles by March or April! As the infant becomes a child, as the child becomes a teenager, and as the teenager becomes an adult, there is that continual process of growing.

For the adult, there is growing as well. The growth of the adult is not primarily physical growth - although that does happen, and often in ways we don't desire! The growth of the adult is primarily in the areas of experience, knowledge, and maturity. But it is growth nonetheless.

And so it is for us as believers. The knowledge of God is like a garment we put on that is way too big for us. We need to continue to grow into it. But the interesting thing is that for a Christian, the growing process never stops. The knowledge of God is a garment that you could never possibly grow all the way into. The knowledge of God is so vast, and deep, and wide, and high that you could spend a hundred lifetimes growing in your knowledge of God, and you would still have an incredible amount of growing yet to do.

The Apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans chapter 11:33-34: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?' 'Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?' For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen."

Next: The Christian's "Internal test" of the Knowledge of God

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