Obedience and Knowledge

The Cry of Jeremiah the Prophet

   There always seems to be a tension between obedience and knowledge in the life of the church. Some believers stress morality and practical, godly living while steering clear of deeper theological reflection. Other believers focus on the more “intellectual” side of the faith and come up short on applying that knowledge in daily service. The tension between the two types of people has led to many disagreements within the church body, particularly with the direction of the church’s ministries.

   Are these two ideas mutually exclusive? Are people made for one and incapable of the other? In this blog post, I will demonstrate that obedience and knowledge are interwoven with one another. Throughout scripture, we find a consistent testimony of obedience leading to knowledge and knowledge leading to obedience. First, we will look at several passages of scripture before applying this principle to the Ten Commandments.

Knowledge Brings Forth Obedience

    “Oh that my head were waters,

        and my eyes a fountain of tears,

    that I might weep day and night

        for the slain of the daughter of my people!

     Oh that I had in the desert

        a travelers’ lodging place,

    that I might leave my people

        and go away from them!

    For they are all adulterers,

        a company of treacherous men.

    They bend their tongue like a bow;

        falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land;

    for they proceed from evil to evil,

        and they do not know me, declares the LORD.”  Jeremiah 9:1-3 ESV

   In this passage, the Lord is grieved over the sins of his people to the point that he desires a desert lodging place just to get away from them. His people are adulterous. They are not only unfaithful to their spouses but are also unfaithful to their covenant LORD. These people are treacherous and full of falsehoods. They aren’t just “bad”. They “proceed from evil to evil”.

   In many people’s minds, these sinners just need to do better. They need to recognize their “moral duty” and live a better life. However, this is not the LORD’s diagnosis. In the last line of this passage, He says, “And they do not know me.” The LORD pairs the ideas of sinful disobedience with a lack of knowledge. Now before the intellectuals hoop and holler, the knowledge of which they are deficient is a knowledge of the LORD. As we continue to look at various passages, keep this framework in mind. Ignorance of the LORD produces disobedience; whereas, knowledge of the LORD produces obedience.

And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. Judges 2:7 ESV

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.  Judges 2:10-11  ESV

   The book of Judges serves as a large snapshot of Israel’s unfaithfulness and God’s willingness to redeem them if they would repent. Throughout the book, we find cycles of disobedience, judgment, repentance, and deliverance. These cycles usually involved new generations. We can see the beginnings of these cycles quite clearly in the second chapter of the book.

   The generation of Israel who conquered the land under Joshua remained faithful to the LORD and served him all their life. This generation is said to have “seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel.” Their knowledge of the LORD and his work lead to their trusting obedience. Imagine going into a land to fight against giants. These people accomplished great things because they knew the LORD. They knew His power and His faithfulness to His promises; therefore, they obediently trusted Him and inherited the promised land.

   That faithful generation did not live forever. When they passed away, the next generation who took their place “did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.” What was the result of this generation’s ignorance of the LORD and His work? The people did what was evil and began to worship false gods.

   Now some people in the church would read this and say, “Well those parents should have taught their kids good morals.” This completely misses the point of the passage. The parents should have taught their kids obedience, but the main reason for their disobedience was their ignorance of the LORD and His work. This is why Deuteronomy 6 stresses that parents teach their children about who the LORD IS and what He has DONE. People will love the LORD with all of their heart, mind, and strength only if they know Him and what He has done. Once again, we see that obedience flows out of a right knowledge of the LORD.

    “Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,

        for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.

    There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,

        and no knowledge of God in the land;

    there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;

        they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.”  Hosea 4:1-2 ESV

    “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

        because you have rejected knowledge,

        I reject you from being a priest to me.

    And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

        I also will forget your children.”  Hosea 4:6 ESV

   These verses from Hosea 4 appear to be more of the same ignorance and disobedience. There was no knowledge of God in the land (which God blames on the priests); therefore, there is an overabundance of commandment breaking. These people break all bounds. Bounds which were set up by God himself. When God is forgotten, the culture necessarily becomes violent, “bloodshed follows bloodshed”.

   The interesting idea from this passage is the concept found in verse six. God declared that the people were being destroyed for lack of knowledge. Often we think of prophets and their condemnation of behavior as the root of judgment. In this passage, we see that bad behavior is merely a symptom and not the root of the issue. The bad fruit comes from a bad root. The bad root is ignorance of the LORD. These people didn’t have a personal, intimate relationship with the LORD. Sure, they probably heard many things about the God of their fathers; but they didn’t have hearts transformed by grace which latch onto the things heard by faith. This is the type of knowledge which was lacking.

Obedience Brings Forth Knowledge

    “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

        fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7 ESV

   Here we find that the fear of the LORD is the starting point for knowledge; the root out of which knowledge grows. The fear of the LORD is the humble disposition of a person who is enamored by the majesty of the LORD. This disposition leads to trust and a willingness to obey. It squashes all pride before the transcendent God of creation. Solomon is clear that one must obediently fear the LORD if they wish to grow in knowledge.

    “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?

    How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing

        and fools hate knowledge?

    If you turn at my reproof,

    behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;

        I will make my words known to you.”  Proverbs 1:22-23 ESV

   This is the cry of wisdom personified. She cries out to the simple ones, to the foolish scoffers. These are the people who mock the LORD and walk disobediently in their hatred of knowledge. Wisdom pleads for them to turn in obedience at her reproof. This turn in obedience would result in the spirit of wisdom being poured out to them. Wisdom promises to make her words known to them. In this sense, true knowledge can only be had by those with obedient hearts. Hearts which have turned from foolishness to seek the LORD.

    “I have taught you the way of wisdom;

        I have led you in the paths of uprightness.” Proverbs 4:11 ESV

    “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,

        which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

    The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

        they do not know over what they stumble.” Proverbs 4:18-19 ESV

   In Proverbs 4, the way of wisdom is equated with the paths of uprightness. This teaching is found throughout Proverbs. Wisdom and knowledge are not stand-alone features in a person’s soul. Wisdom and knowledge are found on the path of uprightness. When we walk obediently before the LORD, we begin to understand more of who He is and what He truly desires for us. This requires grace, tremendous grace. What we have seen so far is that obedience helps produce a correct knowledge of the Lord, but a knowledge of the Lord is necessary for obedience. How does one enter into this virtuous cycle? God’s sovereign grace is absolutely necessary. We need God to take us out of the kingdom of darkness and into His marvelous light.

   The latter verses from Proverbs 4 demonstrate this point. The righteous walk on a path that is well-lit. The light doesn’t come from the righteous, but from the God who made them righteous. As they walk in righteousness, God sheds His light on the world around them by enlightening their minds with truth. This process of bringing to light things formally in darkness is a progressive act that builds in the life of the righteous. However, the wicked do not enjoy this well-lit path. Their way is a deep darkness. The darkness comes from a calloused and hardened heart. A hard heart places a veil over their eyes. The well-lit path is available, but they continue in stubborn disobedience because of their hardness of heart. Therefore, their path is dark and they do not even know what they stumble upon. Disobedience results in darkness and ignorance.

The Ten Commandments

    Scripture seems to be clear that knowledge produces obedience and obedience produces knowledge all by God’s grace. How can this be practically understood? In order to demonstrate this idea, we will consider knowledge and obedience in each of the Ten Commandments.

1. When you obediently seek to remove idols from your life, then you come to know how God far outstrips them all. This makes you want to cast idols away all the more.

2. When you refuse to use images in your worship of God, you come to know God in a way that isn’t limited by physical representatives. This makes images even less appealing.

3. When you refuse to take God’s name in vain or represent Him falsely, you come to know the seriousness of being in covenant with God. This encourages you to avoid taking His name in vain.

4. When you obediently observe the Sabbath by gathering with the body of Christ, then you learn the goodness of the rest found only in Christ. This drives you never to miss a Sabbath gathering.

5. When you obediently follow the guidance of parents, you learn the wisdom that God has given elders. This will humble you to seek wisdom from those God has placed over you.

6. When you refuse to murder or hate your fellow man, you learn the preciousness of life which leads you to fight for life.

7. When you refuse to commit adultery or lust after another, then you learn the meaning of faithfulness and the idea of adultery becomes abhorrent.

8. When you refuse to steal, you learn the value of hard work and the gift of property. This leads you to respect what God has given to others.

9. When you commit yourself never to utter a falsehood, you learn the value and beauty of the truth which brings life. This leads you to hate falsehoods.

10. When you refuse to covet what belongs to your neighbor, you learn to be grateful for what God has given you. This will keep your eyes from coveting.

   These should serve as examples of how God uses knowledge and obedience to mutually reinforce one another. Someone walking on the path of darkness cannot begin this cycle of knowledge and obedience. This person is in need of a radical transformation by the Holy Spirit in order to produce knowledge and obedience in accordance with God’s word. Once this happens, believers should continue to grow in knowledge and obedience by the power of the Spirit under the direction of the Word.

Conclusion

“But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:24 ESV

   We began in Jeremiah 9, so it is only fitting that we end here as well. God despises men who boast in their own wisdom or riches. There is an acceptable boast and that is the boast of the one who understands and knows the Lord. What is considered a right knowledge of the Lord? The knowledge that the LORD practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness and that He delights in those things. Therefore, if one truly knows the LORD, then he will walk in righteousness because he knows that is the LORD’s delight.

   This is why Jesus could tell the disciples to abide in His love by keeping His commandments. If we truly know Christ and claim to love Him, then we will be obedient to His commands. When we walk in obedience to His commands, we will love Him and know Him all the more because His commands are just, pure, and good, just like Him. This is why a church should be both knowledge-focused as well as obedience-focused. Both are necessary for a healthy Christian and a healthy body of believers.