Our pursuit of knowledge: is it proper? Are we doing the right thing in attending study societies, in attending catechism classes, or in sending our children to catechism classes? What about all our personal Bible study: is it proper?

Undoubtedly most will answer in the affirmative – and will perhaps even be surprised with the question. Does not scripture make abundantly clear that we should be a people of knowledge? Take, for instance, Proverbs 3:13-14: “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gets understanding, for the gain from it is better than the gain from silver and its profit better than gold.” We need knowledge of God’s Word in order to deal with problems and trials in life.

Before closing the issue, however, listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:1b, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Paul contrasts knowledge to love, extolling love and depreciating knowledge. Does Paul indeed support the sentiment, “Don’t worry about knowledge, but only love?”

Before drawing such conclusions, we should realize that our text is not the only place in 1 Corinthians. where Paul speaks about knowledge. Paul opens his letter by thanking God “that in every way (the Corinthians) were enriched in Him with ... all knowledge” (1:5). Elsewhere he calls the utterance of knowledge a gift of the Spirit (12:8). Evidently Paul does not resist the pursuit of knowledge per se.

What Paul does resist, however, is the pursuit of knowledge in the way the Corinthians were going about it. Paul speaks of knowledge “puffing up” (cf. 4:6). One who is “puffed up” has an inflated ego. He takes pride in his own knowledge, and sees himself as a few notches higher than others. In verse 2 Paul continues in a rebuking tone of voice, “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” He speaks of someone who thinks he “has arrived” when it comes to knowledge of God’s Word. About such a person Paul says, “He does not yet know as he ought to know.”

In contrast to such knowledge, Paul presents true knowledge. Over against the man who “imagines that he knows something,” Paul presents the man who “loves God...” One who loves God is one who gives himself to God completely (cf. Ephesians 5:2). Such a person “is known by God.” In other words, he is in a living and intimate relationship with God. True knowledge, then, is a knowledge intimately connected to love; it is a knowledge that functions in a relationship of love. It is the kind of knowledge that a loving husband, for instance, has about his wife.

Instead of saying in verse 3, “But if one loves God, that one truly has knowledge,” Paul says, “But if one loves God, (that) one is known by Him.” By speaking in this way, Paul teaches us that true knowledge has its source in God: before we can know God, God must first know us. Before we can truly have knowledge, God must first know us. Especially considering that true knowledge is inseparably united to love, the famous text of 1 John 4:10 comes to mind: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins.”

That’s what the man of true knowledge realizes: before He knew God or loved God, God first knew or loved him. The man of true knowledge never forgets that His knowledge has its source in God alone: it’s all a matter of God’s grace. Hence he does not get “puffed up,” even though he may be very brilliant and may possess a great wealth of facts and depth of understanding about the teachings of scripture. Neither does he use his knowledge to cause problems in the communion of saints. Rather, as Paul says in verse 1, “love builds up” – and true knowledge is always associated with such love. Instead of using knowledge to inflate his ego, and hence inevitably to cause problems in the communion of saints, he uses his knowledge to promote relationships. He uses his knowledge in self-sacrificing love for God and the neighbour.

Clearly, then, Paul does not at all despise knowledge. Although the pursuit of knowledge has gone off track in Corinth, Paul does not throw out the baby with the bath-water. Paul agrees that as Christians we need knowledge in order to face the problems of life. That is exactly why he deals with the topic of knowledge before delving into the ethical problems surrounding the matter of food offered to idols (vv. 1, 4).

However, this knowledge must be proper knowledge. It must be a knowledge about God’s Word that is shaped by the glory of the gospel – the gospel of God’s love! It must be a knowledge that functions within relationships – a knowledge that promotes our walk with God, and that promotes fellowship with those whom God has given us as brothers and sisters.

Once again: is our pursuit of knowledge proper? It’s an important question, for just as the Corinthians had ego inflating tendencies, so do all of us. So easily our study of scripture can be motivated by a desire to inflate our ego – to look good before others – to be the top shot at society meetings, for instance.

Let us indeed pursue knowledge, the knowledge of scripture. But let that knowledge be a knowledge of love – a knowledge that knows the grace of God – a knowledge that promotes those covenant relationships, with God, and with our brothers and sisters.