"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priest to Me. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your sons, even I."We must know and understand God's will. Many have been and will be destroyed because of a lack of knowledge.
However, with knowledge comes a peculiar temptation -- pride. There is a natural temptation for those that have gained some level of knowledge of the scriptures to be critical of those that have not. Those that have their "senses trained to discern both good and evil" can become frustrated with the worldliness of others less attuned to the principles of God's word. Righteous indignation directed toward sinful practices can easily turn to contempt for those still struggling to free themselves from such practices. 1 Corinthians 8:1 states it very concisely,
"Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies"Knowledge and understanding has a way of "puffing up" -- of exalting the spirit and creating a prideful attitude. Knowledge must be tempered with love.
I think we can easily mistake knowledge for spiritual maturity. We can think we are "spiritually mature" if we have a thorough understanding of scripture and we abstain from a particular set of worldly practices. Spiritual maturity is much more than that. It also includes embracing the principle of love and forbearance. When we fail to understand this we are in danger of becoming like the Pharisees who "trusted in themselves and despised others".
In the context of 1 Corinthians 8 Paul was addressing the problem of eating meat that had been part of an idolatrous sacrifice. In principle there was no problem with buying and eating such meat. However, some of the "weaker" brethren didn't understand that. Eating such meat would violate their consciences and seeing other Christians do it was a stumbling block to them. Even worse, some might be emboldened to participate in idol worship after seeing the example of their "stronger" brethren.
Paul's teaching here is clear. The strong often need to yield to the weak. They need to forbear and sacrifice lest they cause others to stumble. We all need to have patience with one another. Not everyone has the same knowledge, the same understanding, the same level of maturity. We have to allow for these differences as we all grow up in Christ.
--PG
