NOTES for Co1 8:2-3

²And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

³But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

On the basis of the Greek text, Paul’s words can be understood in two ways: either a person confident in his knowledge does not really know anything, or all the knowledge of such an expert, whatever and however much he may know, is worth nothing compared with the true knowledge of which he has no idea. In essence, here the apostle returns again to the theme of poverty that he has already touched on more than once in his letter to the Christians of Corinth. He also returns to the theme of “foolishness for Christ’s sake,” or, more precisely, to what this world considers foolishness when it looks at Christians and their life. For the poverty of which Paul speaks after Jesus Himself, and of which one of Israel’s great prophets, Isaiah of Jerusalem, had spoken centuries before Christ came, presupposes a corresponding attitude not only toward property or social status, but also toward knowledge, religiosity, piety, and even one’s own ascetic “achievements.”

For God’s poor person, none of these things has independent value, including knowledge: not only theoretical and speculative knowledge, but even mystical experience, which at first glance reveals far more than any speculation. God’s poor person understands perfectly well that all these things in themselves, including knowledge and even mystical experience, do not bring him closer to God. To be in God’s presence is the one thing in spiritual life that has meaning and significance, and it does not depend on the human being. A person can only ask for such nearness and strive toward it, but he cannot attain it or earn it by his own powers in such a way that it would belong to him by right or by merit.

And if that is so, then any human knowledge as such is worth nothing; and the person who thinks that he knows something, first, does not understand what is chief and real in spiritual life, and second, is mistaken by taking for real what is not real. The second, as a rule, follows from the first. This is the spiritual delusion of which the apostle reminds us, considering it quite dangerous: for it creates the illusion of spiritual life and a spiritual path where in fact there is neither the one nor the other.

Other notes

For Co1 8:1-6

¹Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

²And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

³But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

⁴As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

⁵For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)

⁶But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

A person spends a large part of his life trying to acquire certain knowledge - formally beginning at age 7... Read more

A person spends a large part of his life trying to acquire certain knowledge - formally beginning at age 7, though in fact much earlier, and at least until age 23, and often longer, he studies, studies, studies. For what? Ask any first grader why he goes to school, and he will answer, "To get knowledge." Knowledge, information, is the second most important capital in our civilization after money. And it should be noted that from this point of view the 21st century is no different from the 1st. The apostle Paul himself, as we know, was a very learned man. And suddenly, quite unexpectedly, we hear from him: "If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he does not yet know as he ought to know." What is this? How can it be? Does this mean that we spend most of our life acquiring knowledge, and it turns out that we know nothing?! And how ought one to know?

In fact, Paul's thought is very simple. Our dry, intellectual knowledge, memorized and learned by rote, on which we spend so much effort, is a treasure we acquire on earth, not in heaven. Before the face of God it is nothing; it will not bring us even one iota closer to the central mystery of Christianity, the mystery of the Lord's Cross and His Resurrection. From the point of view of rational logic, both are meaningless, paradoxical, and inexplicable. And no matter how many theological constructions we create, nothing will change in our life, because the essence of the Good News will remain an abstraction for us. The apostle points out only one path by which we can comprehend it: Love. There is indeed no logic in God's infinite and patient love for the world, love unto the Cross. It is only by His love that we are all alive, because our life is His gift, not according to our merits, but according to His Love for each of us. Simply because only by Christ, that is, only thanks to Him, do we all exist.

This means there is only one way to reach eternity, to make sure that our life has not been lived in vain: to carry into the world His love, which is the one treasure that can be gathered in heaven and not on earth. Does this mean that there is no need to study? Not at all. We simply must always remember what we live for and keep asking ourselves why we need this knowledge. We must remember that intellectual baggage is not the goal, but one possible means of becoming what God intended us to be. And we must also remember that we can receive true knowledge only in communion with God.

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