ii. In the NT it will be convenient to take the different sections apart. (a) In the Gospels Christ appears first in the character of a teacher, moved with compassion for a people left without the knowledge of God, excluded from His kingdom because the key of knowledge—i.e. knowledge itself, the key which should open the door of the kingdom—has been taken away by its guardians (Lk 11°), He represents it as the chief privilege of His disciples that to them it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 13!°"”) —mysteries which kings and prophets had longed to see, but could not. He represents it .as His own unique distinction that He alone has, and can communicate, the knowledge of God as the Father, in which true religion henceforth consists (Mt 11°27), But here, as in the OT, it is no abstract conception that Jesus wishes to impart; to know God as Father is in reality to know that we are the children of God, and in knowing it to become His children. The new knowledge has to give a new character to our life, and if there is no trace of such a new character it is vain for us to say that we know the Father: we are in darkness in spite of all God has done to make Himself known. The ethical conditions of this knowledge are plainly stated in Mt 5%, Jn 77; and in Jn 17° it is identified with eternal life, the perfect blessing that the Son of God has come to impart. The proper relation to God is always conceived by St. John to be involved in the true knowledge of God; to know Him that is true and to be in Him that is true are all one. It is exactly this sense that the knowledge of God has in Hos 4. 6, or in Jer 31: there is no schism between the intellectual and the practical for the apostle or the prophet ; the two are united in the integrity of the heart, which in Scripture is the organ ot knowledge. When we read in Jn 8 ‘ Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free,’ the freedom spoken of is probably not so definite in its application as in many places in St. Paul. The idea rather is that to he right with
God puts one right, sets one free, in all other |
relations.
(6) In St. Paul’s writings knowledge appears in | (a) In contrast with the wisdom of |
many aspects. this world the gospel as a whole is conceived as a wisdom of God, a
and interpreted by His Spirit. There is, indeed, or there might have been, a natural knowledge of
lich God has revealed in His Son |
God (Ro 1", Ac 1417), but a knowledge of God in any sense bringing salvation is possible only through the reception of God’s Spirit (1 Co 2). Such knowledge every Christian possesses ; Christ is made to him wisdom (1 Co 139), and he is chosen in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth (2Th2"). ButSt. Paul speaks of knowledge in another sense. There are degrees of insight into the one great truth of God; there are truths which are not imparted to babes, but only spoken ‘among the perfect’ (1 Co 2°); there is a χάρισμα, a special spiritual gift, called ‘the word of know- ledge’ (1 Co 128), in which the Corinthians were rich ; and though a χάρισμα was given to one for the good of all, we see that knowledge might be the possession of a few, or of a circle, not of the whole Church. To judge from 1 Co 2 one of the subjects with which this higher knowledge was concerned was eschatology—‘ all that God has pre- pared for them that love him.’ But it had also more directly practical applications. An enlight- ened conscience in regard to the use of things in- different was one mode of it. ‘As touching things otfered to idols, we know that we all have know- ledge’ (1 Co 8'). Christian intelligence generally was sufliciently developed to know that an idol is nothing in the world. But in some it was not sufficiently developed to know that this mere perception of a principle is no adequate guide to Christian conduct. It is not by principle merely, but by consideration of persons, circumstances, and consequences, that a Christian must act ; in other words, not by knowledge but by love. Knowledge in this abstract sense is not without moral peril ; it inflates the individual, whereas love builds up the body of Christ. All through the First Ep. to the Corinthians, knowledge as a gift distinguishing one Christian from another is subordinated in this way to love (chs. 8. 12. 13. 14).
(8) When we pass to the Epp. of the Captivity, knowledge has quite another position and emphasis. The gospel is confronted ἘΠῚ a φιλοσοφία, which is at the same time a ‘vain deceit,’ something deter- mined by human tradition and agreeing with ‘ the elements of the world,’ Jewish or pagan (Col 2°); and in opposition to this philosophy, or as it would now be called theosophy, the Christian revelation is defined and aeaaibd as the true wisdom of God. As a formal indication of the extent to which the gospel is here put under the point of view of ‘ knowledge,’ Holtzmann (NT Theologie, ii. 237) quotes the tol- lowing list of words from the Ep. to the Ephesians : ἀκούειν, ἀλήθεια, ἀληθεύειν, ἀποκάλυψις, ἀποκαλύπτειν, ἀποκρύπτειν, ἄφρων, γινώσκειν, γνῶσις, διδασκαλία, διδάσκειν, εἰδέναι, ἐπιγινώσκειν, ἐπίγνωσις, μανθάνειν, μυστήριον, νοεῖν, νοῦς, πλάνη, σκοτίζεσθαι, σκότος, σοφία, σοφύς, σύνεσις, συνιέναι, φανεροῦσθαι, φῶς, φωτίζειν, This knowledge centres in Christ. He is the mystery of God, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden away (Col 2°). All the questions which man has to ask in the sphere of religion—questions as to the origination of the world, its natural unity, the place in it of the human race; questions as to the relation of humanity to God, its sin, reconciliation, and glory —must find their answer in Him. The doctrine of Christ in these Epistles is expanded into a Christian interpretation of the world, and this is the object of Christian knowledge. It not to be the property ofa class. St. Paul warns every man and teaches every man in every wisdom, that he muy present every man i. rfect in Christ (Col 1*). As in the earlier Epistles, there is a certain eschato logical reference in the knowledge or wisdom which is so emphasized here: Christ is conceived among the Gentiles as ‘the hope of glory’ (Col 1*), and St. Paul prays that. the Ephesians may have the eyes