Revelation Knowledge Versus Reasoned Knowledge and the Implications for Bible Colleges

God designed man to be a daily recipient of revelation knowledge. In the Garden of Eden, man walked and talked with God. Adam and Eve were receiving revelation knowledge daily from Almighty God. Jesus also demonstrated this life-style of doing nothing out of His own initiative, but only what He heard and saw the Father doing (Jn. 5:19,20,30).

Satan entered God’s perfect plan with a temptation: Man could become like God, and man could know right from wrong. Man would no longer need to receive revelation from God, but he could turn to his own mind and he himself could know – separate and apart from God (Gen. 3:5).

In suggesting to man that he could become like God and he could know, satan was suggesting to man two things: self consciousness, and reliance upon reason or rationalism as a way of establishing truth.

Mankind accepted this lie and fell from revelation to reasoned knowledge. As a result, he was cursed. Part of that curse was that God cut man off from the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22), where Jesus was the vine and man was a branch and there was a flow of revelation through man on a daily ongoing basis (Jn. 15).

Moreover, man soon learned that by living out of reason or knowledge he is not able to fulfill God’s purposes for his life, because man’s thoughts are not God’s thoughts, nor are man’s ways God’s ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s thoughts higher than man’s thoughts (Isa. 55:9). Man was told not to depend upon his own thoughts (Prov. 3:5)

Try as hard as man would to cooperate with the visions that God would give to him, it only brought a curse rather than a blessing.

Abram and Sarai thought and reasoned together as to how they could bring forth the completion of the vision that God had given to them of blessing the earth through their seed. However, the result of their thoughts was Ishmael. Ishmael was rejected by God, and brought a curse for thousands of years to come (Gen. 16, 17).

Moses knew in his heart that God had called him to be a deliverer of his people from Egyptian bondage. Using his own thoughts and efforts, he killed the first Egyptian he saw hurting an Israelite. God rejected this offering of reason and self-effort from Moses, and took him to the backside of the wilderness for 40 years, where He taught him to see vision and to hear His voice. Then God brought Moses back out of the wilderness as a Spirit-anointed leader who moved by revelation knowledge and not through reason.

Paul was a man who had the best-reasoned religious education of his day. It was built squarely around sound theology – about who God is and what God wanted of His people. However, this training missed the element of revelation knowledge. Then God entered into Paul’s life with revelation knowledge on the Damascus road, and Paul followed up this initial experience with an additional three years of private tutoring by the Holy Spirit, alone in the Arabian Wilderness – most likely at Mount Sinai (Gal. 1:17,18).

Paul then compared the two kinds of knowledge he had received – first with reasoned, theological biblical understanding, and then with knowledge that came from revelation and intimacy and from the Spirit of God. He said that he counted his first rational education as dung (Phil. 3:1-10) when compared with the value of knowing (ginosko) God (having intimacy and revelation knowledge from God).

Peter used reasoned knowledge and self-effort to defend Jesus by force when the soldiers came to take Jesus from Gethsemane. Jesus rebuked Peter, telling him to put the sword away and undoing the results of his efforts. Peter subsequently learned how to receive revelation knowledge and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Satan tempted Eve to doubt God’s words and love toward her and to become like god herself, knowing good and evil. She could live out of her own mind, rather than out of communion with God. She chooses reason over revelation, and began to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thus being cut off from the Tree of Life (i.e. the divine flow of God within her). See Genesis 3.

The only command in the Bible to reason is found in Isaiah 1:18. You will note two things about this command. Reason is only encouraged if done together with God, and when done together with God, it involves the use of imagery, which is a right brain function, and not normally considered as part of the reasoning process in the western culture.

"`Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’" (Isa. 1:18 NKJV)

The Greek in II Timothy 2:15 does not say, "Study to show yourself approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed…." This is a mistranslation.

In the Greek, and in the NASB it says,

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (II Tim. 2:15 NASU)

Thus there is no verse in the Bible recommending study. Instead, the Bible recommends, some 20 times, meditation. Joshua 1:8 is an example of this. Biblical meditation is very different from study, as the following pages on "Study Versus Meditation" illustrate.

Rational knowledge comes from the mind through reason and study. True knowledge comes from the heart, through meditation and revelation by the Holy Spirit. Webster defines religion as "reliance upon reason for the establishing of religious truth." Thus religion and Christianity are totally different, as nowhere in the Bible does it recommend the reliance upon reason to establish your Christian beliefs. Any exhaustive study of the word "reason" in the Bible will convince one of this.

James differentiates between two sources of knowledge: It is either from above or from below. It’s interesting that he only lists two. Many of us would want to list three - above, below and self.

"This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." (James 3:15-17 NASU)

Knowledge (man’s reasoned knowledge) makes arrogant (1 Cor 8:1 NASU).

"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

² For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

³ I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,

⁴ and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

⁵ so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

⁶ Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

⁷ but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

⁸ the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

⁹ but just as it is written,

"THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."

¹⁰ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

¹¹ For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,

¹³ which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

¹⁴ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

¹⁵ But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

¹⁶ For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ."

NASU

See this article comparing Greek and Hebrew learning.

Paul was trained in one of the best Bible schools of his day, using the Bible, reason and theology. Then he had to be totally retrained by God, using revelation knowledge, which came to him initially on the Damascus road, and then through three years in the Arabian wilderness (Gal. 1:16.18). Paul describes his first Bible school training as being from dogs and from evil workers. He equates it with manure.

Philippians 3:1-11 KJV

" Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.

² Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the circumcision.

³ For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

⁴ Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

⁵ Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

⁶ Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

⁷ But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

⁸ Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

⁹ And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

¹⁰ That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

¹¹ If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."

Aren’t things like algebra, physics, history and learning a skill just natural, and not necessarily godly or demonic? What does the Bible teach? Can knowledge come from self, and be transmitted from yourself to another person? Yes, it can. The question is, "Is this knowledge God’s, satan’s or self’s?

To answer this question, we will recall what the Bible teaches self is, and what the Bible teaches about the function of man when God first created him, and then when He redeemed him.

The four pictures of man in the New Testament are a vessel, a temple, a branch grafted into a vine and a body of which Jesus is the head. In all four of these pictures, you will note that man has not been designed to operate alone, but out of another, out of an indwelling Spirit.

That is consistent with God’s intent at creation. Man was designed to live in and out of communion with Almighty God. He drew from the Tree of Life. Man communed daily with God, even as Jesus did. "I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear I judge" (Jan. 5:19,20,30). Jesus chose not to live out of His own reasoning, but out of divine flow of words, pictures, and anointing. Jesus did not choose natural knowledge, but divinely imparted revelation knowledge.

At the new birth, the Christian reconnects with the indwelling Spirit of God, (1 Cor. 6:17), and learns to live out of this inner union (Gal. 5:25 - walk and live by the Spirit).

We live now as a branch grafted into a vine, drawing from the river of God within our spirits. We have discovered the river, we tune to the river, we experience the river and we live out of the river (Ezek.47:1 ff)

All knowledge has a spiritual base (Isa. 11:2). That base will either be God, satan or self. Self is quickly ground for satan, for there are no spiritual vacuums in the universe. What God does not fill, satan quickly usurps.

Paul was completely trained two distinctly different ways: first using reason, rationalism and theology (Phil. 3:10), and second through revelation knowledge (Acts 9:22, Gal. 1:17). During his first Bible school learning experience, his situation represented the following: