Growing - Knowledge

2 Peter 1:5-8, “…in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge… for if these qualities are… increasing, then they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In continuation of this mini-series of posts on spiritual growth it can be seen that the next spiritual quality to be address is knowledge. Quite a logical step if you think about it. At this point the foundation of faith has led the Christian to moral excellence through the acceptance and submission to Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Moral excellence being not just the place of right standing with God in salvation but also a course of morally virtuous thought. To be simple, moral excellence within a re-born spirit illuminates the virtuous course, but sin in the body constantly pulls us from it time and time again. And so what can be done to escape this constant conviction as we learn to work out our salvation? Perhaps we can learn how to right? And thus this need to learn how to actually produce what the Spirit of God desires in us produces a need and God given desire for knowledge.

At this point it is important to pay attention to what the knowledge is needed for. One might thing the knowledge is needed to make moral excellence better. But reality is moral excellence enhances knowledge not vice versa. Knowledge is needed according to Peter so that we gain “the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Wait a minute… did I read that correctly? Knowledge leads to knowledge… how can that be?

Once again a trip into the Greek explains this apparent paradox. The knowledge that moral excellence supplies and supports comes from the Greek word gnosis. Gnosis is objective knowledge. It is what we learn from afar. Whereas the knowledge of Christ comes from the Greek word epignosis or subjective knowledge.

For a real word example of the difference between gnosis and epignosis, I know the President, but I know my daughters. I gnosis the President because all I know about him is what I have read and seen on TV but we have never met. Whereas I epignosis my daughters (and sons) intimately because we have a daily relationship with one another.

And so we progress in these spiritual qualities. When we arrive at increasing knowledge for the first time it will invariably meet with crisis. What we know and what we think we know has to be tested and found false. The crisis proves our limited knowledge incomplete, and we have to go back  to the foundation of faith in Christ. Once again from the bottom we make the proverbial climb from faith to moral excellence to knowledge.

Without reading the scripture again can you guess what comes next? If not check back as I continue this discussion on growing in Christ.