Utterance of Knowledge

(1 Cor 12:8 NRSV)  To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

As I step out on this subject this week I hope to challenge your thinking and get some feed back. I will begin by giving some back ground to the times in which Paul was writing to the Corinthian church.  At the time of this letter the church at Corinth was about four years old.  This was about 21 years after Christ had been removed from the earth and the birth of his church.  There was written New Testament and probability of Gentiles having a complete copy of the Hebrew Torah was very slim.  So, we probably could state that all the church had was the letters written to them and the spoken teachings of their leaders. Now, let’s throw in the mix the manifestations of the holy spirit.

I grew up with the teaching and understanding that the manifestations were this supernatural ability beyond man and his ability to conceive or understand God.  As I grew in the Lord, read, studied and allowed God’s spirit lead and guide me, my beliefs and understandings began to change.  I can say the same for my understanding of the manifestations of the spirit. Like we talked about last week about wisdom that is from above, knowledge is pretty much the same way.

All my years growing up I was taught that these manifestations worked in a great mystery.  That the manifestations of wisdom and knowledge were like a gift of seeing into other peoples lives.  Like a psychic today, which we know that there are forces that are not from God at work behind them.  I have not found anywhere in the scripture that supports that these manifestations work like that in the church.  The closest thing you will ever find is how God worked in His prophets.  In the Old Testament they were called seers as well as voices for God.  Upon reading some of these stories in scriptures you will see where prophets could see into the secrets and thoughts of some people.  Jesus did the same with the Samaritan woman.  So could it be a prophet that sees into the hidden and reveals secrets? Most likely!  So what is the manifestation of wisdom and knowledge? 

The manifestation of knowledge is much the same as wisdom.  It comes from God’s spirit and is beyond human learning or education.  What I am saying, one could spend years studying in seminary and still be blind to the knowledge of God.  The confusion of age old traditions and doctrines that can not be truly proven in scripture is proof to this.  Like I said last week the same key word for us is the word utterance.

The manifestation of knowledge is a speaking manifestation, or could we say a preaching one.  The simplest way to put it is the God given ability to speak knowledge about God to those who do not have it.   It could also be revealing something about God and His purpose for His church that is not known by everyone.  Now let’s bring in what I opened with.

In the beginning of the Church of Jesus, the things we know now were not fully known then.  You see, we have the privilege of looking back on history and seeing a bigger picture.  They had nothing, it was all new and there was not even a book for them to draw from to help them understand what was so new and wonderful to their world.  The gospel of Jesus was not in any written form yet.  There were those who were first hand witness, but new leaders were arising everyday that had not personally been taught by Jesus, and Paul was one of them.  So, where did He get this vast knowledge of the secret called the church?  How did he come to understand so much about the work of salvation, faith, and the grace of God? I have come to believe it was the manifestation of knowledge at work, let’s look at what was written on this subject.

(Eph 3:1-7 NKJV)  For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles; {2} if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, {3} how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, {4} by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), {5} which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: {6} that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, {7} of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

Paul is telling the Ephesians that what he came to know about Christ and the church was given by the spirit.  We will look at other scriptures about this knowledge, but for now we will focus on Paul as our example of the manifestation of spoken knowledge.  We can find through out the book of Acts and Paul’s writings that everything he spoke or taught came from the Lord.  Yes he may have drawn on some Hebrew scriptures at times, but he considered all he knew about Jesus and the church as coming from the Lord.  He even said that all his own experiences and earthly knowledge was not even fit for the dung heap in comparison. Let’s look at what He told the Colossians.

   (Col 1:26-29 NKJV)  the mystery(secret) which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. {27} To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery(secret) among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. {28} Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. {29} To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily. (emphasis mine)

   

You can see here it is the spirit of God that has in the beginning of the church and I believe still today reveals the message of hope.  I have come to see when someone reads the bible what God is saying is not always revealed to them.  This is the work of God’s spirit in the church to reveal God and the message of hope. (1 Cor. 2) Notice, Paul mentions his teaching and preaching.  This is not just any teaching or preaching, but an imparting of knowledge that God has given Paul.  The manifestation of the utterance of knowledge is being used here.  So, let’s see what the Bible does say about this knowledge that God gives. 

(Rom 11:33-36 NKJV)  Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! {34} "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?" {35} "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?" {36} For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

By just reading the above scripture, one could say we can never truly know God.  Too many people have stopped here and never understood that this knowledge about Him and the message of hope is available through His spirit as you will see.

(Rom 15:14 NRSV)  I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

(Eph 1:8-9 NRSV)  that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight {9} he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,

(2 Cor 4:6 NRSV)  For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

(1 Cor 2:9-13 NRSV)  But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- {10} these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. {11} For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. {12} Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. {13} And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

Let’s look at a few other places in the Bible where this knowledge is mentioned.

(2 Pet 1:1-5 NRSV)  Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: {2} May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. {3} His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. {4} Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. {5} For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,

I think Peter is making it pretty clear how important that Christians have the right knowledge of God, and Jesus.  Where do we get this knowledge?  I don’t think you can just get it from reading the Bible but by the holy spirit.  You see in the beginning of the church they totally had to rely on this impartation of knowledge to get the message out and build the church of Jesus.  There were no Bible schools, teaching conferences, or wide spread media to keep the Christian informed.  There was no printed Bible in every household, as a matter of fact there was no Bible and they probably did not even conceive the ideal of a Bible.

Do we still need to have the manifestation of knowledge today? I would say absolutely.  If God and His work of grace could be proven or conceived by intelligent presentations or by just studying the Bible, we should be seeing the church in an explosive upswing instead of a moral decline.  Especially since the Bible is still the most printed book today, but in my opinion the least understood. God has never needed man to prove who He is; He can do that all by himself.  He however chooses to work through us and revel himself in us manifesting a knowledge of Him that can only come from Him.

There are also some warnings to us about how we use this God given knowledge.

(1 Cor 8:1 NRSV)  Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

(1 Cor 8:11-12 NRSV)  So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. {12} But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

I could say a lot here about the above scriptures, but maybe some other time.  The simple truth is all that God gives to the church must work by love.  Be careful not to let pride creep in when God reveals himself to you.  I have seen over the years people God has worked in them in special ways and showed them many things, but pride arose in them and no one cared what they had from God. You see this gospel message is so great and God gives us the tools to help spread the message and strengthen His Church.  We just have to keep the love of God in the forefront of all we do.

(1 Cor 13:2 NRSV)  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

To sum up with this topic, let me recap. Today, I believe that the utterance of wisdom and knowledge are twins.  They go hand in hand in helping the church to effectively preach or teach the gospel message and reveal who God is and His son Jesus.  How does that benefit the church?  When those with whom the holy spirit moves upon to manifest in them these two manifestations, it gives them a positive assurance and confidence to convey God’s message.  When this happens it often puts them in a positive way with the hearers.  Like Peter and John when they spoke to the religious leaders of their time. It was noted that they could tell that they had something and had been with Jesus, for they were uneducated.  Then Peter and John went back to the church group and rejoiced.  You should notice their prayer after that.  They asked God to give them more boldness to speak in Jesus’ name and to work in the manifestations.  (Acts 4)