“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
Luke 11:52
O how crucial, how beautiful, how life-giving, how satisfying is the right kind of knowledge. How dangerous, how hardening, how brother-ruining, how pride-puffing is the wrong kind of knowledge.
The right kind of knowledge is like this…
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” 2 Corinthians 2:14
and like this…
“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6
and like this…
“but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18
The wrong kind of knowledge is like this…
“Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.” 1 Corinthians 8:1
and like this…
“For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.” 1 Corinthians 8:11
and like this…
“O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’” 1 Timothy 6:20
We ought always to grow in the right kind of knowledge. We should persist, pursue, abound, and delight in the right kind of knowledge. For in it is hidden the wisdom, glory, and revelation of God. We ought always to resist, root out, and destroy the wrong kind of knowledge for it is Godless, speculative, demonic, and hardens the soul toward sin and against God.
And so Jesus, in his rebuke to the Pharisees and Lawyers, scolds them harshly for taking away from the people the “key of knowledge.” O how badly we need this key. There is much in the world called knowledge. There are many teachers – brilliant, persuasive authors, all spreading what they believe to be knowledge. But without the key, any knowledge locks up, rather than sets free. Knowledge, without the key, hardens the heart and blinds the eye. The mind gets puffed up with lofty thoughts as the soul shrinks and sin reigns. Many of the most brilliant professors have so much knowledge that they all but deny the very existence of the soul – demonstrating for us that the deeper the knowledge, without the key, the darker and harder the soul becomes to the light of God.
O how badly we need the key of knowledge. For with the key our eyes are opened to the glory of God in the face of Christ. With the key we gain wisdom that is sweeter to the taste than honey. With the key we see light that softens the heart, produces love, strives against sin, the gives us strength and endurance.
The key is not a hermeneutic – a method for interpretation. No method, no process can open the heart to the glory of God. No, the key is Christ Himself. Christ our key that unlocks the Word, and allows its light to enter our eyes and fill our souls. Without Christ the Bible itself may impart the wrong kind of deadly knowledge. The Pharisees and Lawyers certainly had the Bible. Even the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, though they had knowledge of the Bible, did not have the right knowledge of it. It wasn’t until Jesus explained the Scriptures to them, showing them that from Moses through the Prophets, the Bible spoke about the Christ, he showed them that He had to suffer before entering His glory and then their eyes were opened – unlocked by using the key. While the Old Testament had a mystery in it, the key to solving it was Christ. And the New Testament, the message of the gospel of Christ, is itself a mystery, concealed to the wise and knowledgeable of this world, and revealed only in Christ. But with Christ as our key we gain understanding into the very person of God, and not just understanding but involvement. By growing in the right knowledge of God we get closer to God. And by this means we grow up and we draw closer to Him.
“…that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3Amen Lord. Guard and protect, deepen and enrich the true knowledge of the gospel in my soul. By your grace and mercy grant me the light of the knowledge of the glory God in the face of Christ.
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