The expression "to know good and evil" has nothing to do with education, understanding, or knowledge of data. The word "know" here signifies the same thing it does in Spanish. It means to "know" experimentally like Adam "knew" his wife (Gen 4:1). Man now would know good and evil by experience. Before he sinned, he was innocent. To the pure, all things are pure.

Here is a verse that is quoted out of context constantly. "Knowledge puffs up." What kind of knowledge? Knowledge concerning things offered to idols. In other words, if you know that it is O.K. to eat meat offered to idols, but you do it in spite of the conscience of the ignorant who think it is sin, that kind of knowledge puffs up. Those who quote that verse with the aim of putting down teaching, understanding, and knowledge of facts, are simply looking for an excuse for being lazy minded. Maybe they think it is more spiritual to be ignorant. Actually, when one is ignorant, there is a greater likelihood of his being puffed up by thinking he knows it all. The truly educated person has learned how much he really does not know. That tends to produce humility.

When the Bible speaks against knowledge, we have to have enough education and humility to go then and there to see what kind of knowledge God is against. He is against the kind of knowledge that is incomplete! The fear of the Lord is lacking. Actually, it is ignorance that puffs up even more than incomplete knowledge. Incomplete knowledge is ignorance. Ignorance thinks it knows it all. Child-like hunger for truth is humble. It wants to understand and be taught better by any man. It also has the simple courage to believe that God can give understanding if we ask. It believes the book is "unsealed" and open.

In what way will knowledge, prophecies, and tongues cease? Well, in heaven we will understand perfectly. That is how. Until then, we are to seek these gifts coupled with love. It is not a matter of choosing love and rejecting knowledge. We do not have that option. We are to seek both. The following passages prove it.

Those who say that education and knowledge are unimportant to God, perhaps are just too lazy to obey what God says in Proverbs. Or maybe they are looking for an excuse to not listen to someone who has more information. "After all," they think, "they are not as spiritual as we who are more ignorant, but more spiritual. We are more successful in practical matters. We are winning the masses. We have to be ignorant like them in order to reach them." Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. (Phil. 2:3) Proverbs 4:5 says, "Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth."

To get understanding, we must not be so conceited that we think we do not need the fathers of the faith. We must know history, or we are doomed to repeat the failures of the past. Why is it so important to get understanding? Because all of history does not center on our generation. Because evolution is false. We are not better than our fathers. If we do not have sufficient data, we cannot make proper decisions for the future. But as a toothless hillbilly once said to me, "It won't be long now." I said, "Until what?" He said, "Til Jeeeeeeeeeeesus comes." In that case there is no need to prepare for the morrow. "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise." (Prov. 6:6) If we are like the ten foolish virgins, we will not plan for the future. Yes, the motive for being uneducated, as in the case of the sluggard, could be laziness. The ant provides her supplies for the winter. A lack of patience and poor planning are not virtues.

The church today is not as educated as our Puritan fathers were. Could that be the reason we are losing so many battles in the public arena?

God promises in the following passage to give us wisdom if we ask in faith believing that He will give it. How can one expect to get wisdom if he does not ask for it? Ignorance thinks it knows enough. It is not willing to be child-like enough to open the mind. It is afraid that it will be found wrong. That is pride. Are we willing to change our minds?

Who are the "wise and prudent" to whom Jesus is referring? They are the scribes and Pharisees who had incomplete knowledge. Some say, "All I need is the Bible. I do not need to know literature or consult with commentaries." Isn't that a little arrogant? Are you the only one God speaks to? Peter said Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. (1 PET. 1:20 ) Even Daniel had skill in "all literature."

One man told me that he did not need a teacher. In one sense this is true. We should think for ourselves, and not just take what someone says without checking it and testing it. On the other hand, God has placed teachers in the church for our edification.

If I am going to be child-like, teachable, and humble, then I must read what God has shown to others. The universe does not center around me. The earth is not flat. Matter of fact, the sky is not even falling! When God wanted to do something momentous, he chose an educated man like Moses or Stephen. Paul was the most educated of all the apostles. He was the one to pick up where Stephen left off and to lead the church into uncharted waters.

We should never take one man's word for anything. In the mouth of two or more witnesses let every word be established. Let us check all the men of God throughout history. Or would we rather "reinvent orthodoxy on the anvil of anti-historical provincialism?" (Sandlin)

DAN 5:12 "Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel.

PRO 1:22 "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.

PRO 10:14 Wise people store up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

PRO 11:9 ... through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

PRO 12:1 Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

PRO 15:14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.

PRO 18:15 The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

PRO 19:2 Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge, and he sins who hastens with his feet.

QUESTION

How many vices and/or virtues can you find mentioned in this article? Please list them.