Hollow Knowledge, Living Faith

In January I wrote about the sin of those who are “always being instructed and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7) I noted that although the effort to understand the Christian faith can be a good and enjoyable activity of the mind, it becomes a sin when it's used as an excuse for distrust and disobedience.

Rather than living the life of faith, one who falls into this trap turns Christianity into nothing more than learning about the faith. Thus, a “Christian” is one who hears about God’s will but never does anything about it. The problem with that? “It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” (Romans 2:13)

I’m bringing this up again for two reasons. First, this is an ongoing temptation for Christians, especially among those who are even moderately intelligent. A hollow knowledge that doesn’t touch our will is far safer than a living relationship with a jealous God. (Exodus 20:5)

The second reason I bring this up is that I recently read something that’s helped to sharpen my thinking on the matter. Francis de Sales’ Treatise on the Love of God makes it a point to distinguish living faith from hollow knowledge. Although the two are easily confused, there is a clear distinguishing mark between them: love.

Both knowledge and faith can seem to elevate a man above his natural self (what de Sales calls an “ecstatic experience”), but only true faith issues forth in love. The heart that rests in God’s love – that is, the heart that receives the gift of Christ – is itself moved to love. To put it another way, the heart that truly believes in God’s promise will become a patient heart, and it will practice kindness. (1 Corinthians 13:4)

Because the allure of hollow knowledge is ongoing, I think it’s a good practice to recall continually that love is always present when there is true faith. De Sales’ words about such faith – faith in the God who speaks to us by his Word, rather than faith in knowledge about him – are salutary:

“Sacred ecstasy never so much takes and affects the understanding as it does the will, which it moves, warms and fills with a powerful affection towards God. So that, if the ecstasy be more beautiful than good, more bright than warm, more speculative than affective, it is very doubtful, and deserving of suspicion…He who in his rapture has more light in the understanding to admire God, than heat in the will to love him, is to stand upon his guard; for it is to be feared that this ecstasy may be false, and may rather puff up the spirit than edify it.”