Image credit: D.B. Gaston, modified and reused under CC license
In the beginning, it was easy. One command – do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Then sin crept in, and suddenly things became more complicated. We started to have a law written on our hearts, and yet transgressing it.
Cain’s sin is exactly that – he knows that he shouldn’t have killed his brother, and therefore tries to hide it; and that’s what gets him exiled. That he knew he had done wrong.
Then the Law came. But without knowledge of the Law, it is nothing. Let us remember that we all have the knowledge of the law that’s written in our hearts, and not try and twist the written Law.
Yet, a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing. Recognising the Devil’s temptation (Matthew 4) as Biblical truth would have made devout people yield to temptation. The difference was – Jesus’s knowledge was perfect. He could know right from wrong – easily, too, and instantaneously.
We can’t know the fullness of the Law and have it in our mind constantly. That’s the difference.
But after the Law, Jesus came. And there is a difference between knowing an object, and knowing someone. We can know Jesus, and through knowing him and following him, we can follow the Law too.
Biblical knowledge is important, but it must not supplant personal relationship.
Otherwise, the scholar’s pride comes knocking at the door.
How do you get this across in your Bible studies?
