1 Corinthians 8:1-3 NASB
Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. [2] If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; [3] but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.
As Western Christians, we live in a culture where information has been exalted as the highest attainment. For many, Bible study has become the most important Christian adventure. As a Bible teacher, I am all for Bible study, and I’ve spent 44 years of my life learning everything from Scripture that I can, but intimacy with God must be our great desire, not just information. Too often, our Bible colleges and our seminaries fill students with vast amounts of information without prioritizing intimacy, and the result is a lack of revelation. Almost every Christian institution of higher learning has one or two professors that are the most popular among the students. The reason for their popularity is that when the students are around them they experience a radiance that comes from someone who has experienced God because of the lifestyle of intimacy with the presence of God. Knowledge is not bad, but without intimacy, it only puffs up. In verses 2 and 3 of 1 Corinthians 8 is telling us that impact is the result of love and not knowledge, and the love that Paul is talking about in verse 1 is the love of God that emanates from us because of a life of intimacy where knowing and being known in the presence happens. We become echoes of the heart of Jesus. Bible study is a wonderful thing, but what we learn must be taken into the secret place behind the veil, and there in the throne room, what we learn gets engrafted because the information becomes revelation under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth. Thus Bible study results in our becoming an understudy in union with the very life of Christ Himself.