The Beginning of Knowledge

Colossians 2:1-4 - "For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument."

As far as truth goes, there are several different voices that are calling out for our attention, and many of them are in opposition to one another. The apostle Paul begins this section of his letter to the Colossians by talking about his great struggle for his fellow believers, even those whom he has never met. The word that is translated, "struggle" in Colossians 2:1 is a Greek word that carries with it the idea of competition. It is often used to refer to arenas and stadiums, places where crowds would gather to watch the games. The picture is of a group of athletes, for instance, in the Olympic games, struggling against one another for the prize. So Paul tells the Colossian believers that he wants them to know about his great struggle on their behalf. In what sense is Paul struggling for the believers? In what sense was he engaging in competition on their behalf? Based on what he says in the surrounding context, the struggle seems to be in the arena of truth. He talks about a wealth of understanding and a true knowledge of Christ, and he says that in Him, that is in Christ, are hidden ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The issue of truth is one that the apostle references throughout this letter. In chapter 1 verse 5 he talks about the "Word of truth." In verse 6 he says that they "understood the grace of God in truth." In verses 9 and 10, in talking about his desire and prayer for the believers, he uses words like, knowledge, wisdom and understanding. In verses 12 and 13 he contrasts the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, light being that which reveals truth and darkness being that which obscures it. In verse 23 he expresses his concern that they might "continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard..." which is found, according to verse 25, in "the preaching of the Word of God."

All this knowledge, wisdom and understanding that the apostle writes about is bound up in the person of Christ and the written Word of God. In fact, chapter 2 verses 2 and 3 make that abundantly clear. Here he writes about "all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." All true knowledge and wisdom are bound up in Christ. We need this reminder, lest we abandon the foundation of truth.

There is an unwritten rule in the intellectual world that says, "If you want to talk about truth, you can't use the Bible and you can't use Christ." And sometimes they'll even tell you this. We can have a discussion, for instance, on the origin of the world, and the evolutionist will say to you, "You can't use the Bible, because I don't believe the Bible. We have to meet on neutral ground." But we can't give up the Bible just because they don't believe it. If we step off of the Word of God and try to present the truth from some other starting point we no longer have any foundation on which to stand and we lose the argument before it begins. If they say, "You can't use air to make your case because I don't believe in air." We wouldn't hold our breath for the remainder of the time. Just because they don't believe it doesn't mean I have to give it up. There really is no neutral ground; according to the Bible you're either with God or you're against Him. If we as Christians want to engage in conversation with the intellectual elite of our day, they tell us that we have to do it on their grounds, and the Bible warns us here in Colossians 2, don't fall into that trap. Don't let anyone delude you with persuasive arguments, because all wisdom and knowledge are bound up in Christ. If you abandon Him as your starting point then you have no basis for presenting the truth. In verse 8 of the same chapter we're given another strong warning - "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." There are people who are going to try to get you to abandon the foundation of truth and argue from their foundation, which is no foundation at all. And Paul says, don't fall prey to that. J.B. Philips paraphrases verse 8 like this - "Be careful that nobody spoils your faith through intellectualism or high-sounding nonsense. Such stuff is at best founded on men’s ideas of the nature of the world and disregards Christ!" Any so called, "wisdom" that doesn't have Christ as its starting point is really foolishness.

In Proverbs 1:7 the Bible says - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." And in Proverbs 9:10 we read - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." All knowledge, wisdom and understanding originate with God; He is the starting point. This just reinforces what we've already seen in Colossians 2, that all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge are bound up in Christ. Do these verses really mean what they say? To say that ALL wisdom and and knowledge begin with the fear of the Lord is a pretty big claim, and it doesn't really seem to match up with what we see around us. After all, we all know some pretty smart people who reject the very existence of God. Colleges and universities, laboratories, research centers and successful businesses are full of brilliant people who deny the existence of God. And you can't say that these people are stupid, you can't get the kind of position that these people hold if you're an idiot. So how can the Bible assert that ALL wisdom and ALL knowledge are bound up in Christ? Though many brilliant people may not realize it, in order for them to know anything they have to borrow from the biblical worldview.
The Bible is actually saying here that apart from God it is impossible to know anything. If "ALL" the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, If the fear of the Lord is the "BEGINNING" of wisdom and knowledge, then that means there is NO wisdom or knowledge apart from Him. That's the Bible's claim. "Well that's silly," someone might say, "I don't even believe in God and I know lots of stuff." Note very carefully, the Bible does not claim that you have to believe in God in order to know anything, but simply that the biblical God must exist in order for you to know anything. Imagine two people debating the existence of air. The first person says, "Air must exist in order for you to breathe." The critic of air responds, "That's silly. I don't even believe in air and I can breathe just fine." I'm not saying that you have to profess a belief in God in order to know anything, but the God of the Bible must exist in order for us to know anything. He is the beginning of knowledge. Every pursuit of truth is founded on a worldview. Whenever we set out to discover truth, to grow in knowledge and understanding, we bring with us some preconceived ideas, and this is true of everyone. Everyone has presuppositions that are based on their worldview. But there are certain ways of thinking that everyone holds to, regardless of their worldview, that cannot be accounted for in any worldview apart from the biblical worldview. God has hardwired everyone with a certain knowledge of Him, and people will act on those presuppositions even while they suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. What do I mean by that? There are certain laws in the universe that govern the way we think. These laws are not material, they're not observable, and yet everyone seems to have these laws ingrained within them.

Take for instance the laws of logic. Laws of logic govern the way we reason. Have you ever stopped to consider why you reason the way that you do? If I were to say to you, "Yesterday I drove my truck." And then I said, "Yesterday I did not drive my truck." Immediately in your mind you spot a problem; "He's contradicting himself." And it really doesn't matter what your social standing is, how intellectual you are or what part of the world you live in, everyone, with perhaps a few exceptions, is going to have a problem with these statements. Even a little child would know that I either drove my truck yesterday or I didn't, but both of these statements certainly cannot be true. Why? Because they contradict. So my question is: Why is this a problem? We immediately have a problem with contradictions, but why? As a Bible believing Christian I can answer that laws of logic are a part of God's nature. 2 Timothy 2:13 says of God - "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." God cannot contradict Himself, it's against His nature. He cannot be other than He is. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Christ does not change, He's not going to be different tomorrow than He is today and according to Titus 1:2 God cannot lie. And we, according to Genesis chapter 1, have been made in the image of God. This does not mean that we perfectly reflect God's character, but when it comes to things like contradictions, we know that they cannot exist. Why? Because God has set up the human mind to be governed by His way of thinking. We know that we should be logical; we know that we should be reasonable; we know that contradictions cannot be true, and we know these things because they're consistent with the nature of God, and He has put within us the ability to reason and to think logically. The Bible gives us a foundation for the laws of logic; in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now consider the atheist; an atheist can reason too because, just like you and I, the atheist is made in the image of God. But the atheist cannot account for his ability to reason in his own worldview. The atheist will recognize that laws of logic exist, but if you ask him, "Where did they come from? Who made the laws of logic?" He has no answer. Logically, if we have laws then we must have a lawgiver.

I recently read an article in National Geographic and, more than once, the author made a statement like this, "Modern biology makes no sense without the concept of evolution." I don't accept his conclusion that evolution is true, but I find it interesting how he comes to his conclusion. He appeals to logic, he assumes that something has to make sense in order to be true. From a Christian point of view I would assume that modern biology would have to make sense because God is a reasonable God. But I would ask this evolutionist, "If evolution were true, why would modern biology need to make sense?" He can't explain the existence of laws of logic from his worldview, but he has to appeal to them in order to support his worldview. In order to make his argument this man has to borrow from the biblical worldview. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

As another example consider the laws of morality. How do we know right from wrong? In the case of morality, we all know that there are things that we ought to do, certain ways that we should act. But where does that sense of oughtness come from? Suppose you and your atheist friend are sitting down watching television and some news story flashes across the screen about a little girl who was brutally murdered. The Christian and the atheist both have the same reaction, you're both outraged at the senseless violence, my question is, why? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're both upset, you should be, but the unbeliever has no explanation for being upset. You both say that that man should not have murdered that little girl, but I'm going to ask, "Why not?" You, as a Christian, can respond, "People should not kill each other because man is made in the image of God. Furthermore, God explicitly tells us that it is wrong to murder." What can the atheist say? In his worldview how can he say that it's wrong for one person to murder another? Is it wrong for one chemical to react with another? Is it wrong for a lion to kill an antelope? In order for something to be right or wrong there has to be a standard by which our actions are gauged. In the non-christian worldview, where does that standard come from and why should it be obeyed? "Well everyone knows it's wrong to murder." Yes, but why? Apart from the biblical worldview right and wrong are nothing more than a matter of preference and opinion, so you couldn't say that murder was wrong, you could only say that it was wrong for you. And if someone else decides that it's right for them then you just need to accept that. But, of course, we don't accept that. Even the unbeliever is made in the image of God, and God has put this sense of right and wrong in each of us.

My contention is not that unbelievers don't believe in these things and they should, my contention is that they DO believe these things and they shouldn't. Why shouldn't they? Because it's inconsistent with their worldview. The standards of morality, the laws of logic, these are just a couple of the things that God has put into us to govern our thinking. If there is no God then these things shouldn't exist, they shouldn't be constant and they definitely shouldn't be universal. Colossians 2:4 - "I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument." There are going to be well educated people who come along with arguments that sound very convincing. But even though they don't realize it, the ground on which they are building their arguments is God Himself. In order to affirm what they do, in order to discover truth, whether it's in the area of math or science or psychology, or whatever else, they have to borrow from God's ultimate standard of truth."In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."