Compassion For The Ignorant?

Yes, But Not For The Stubborn

"Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity." (Heb. 5:2 kjv)

As teachers of the truth of God it is necessary to correct sinners in their errors, both in thinking and in conduct. The scriptures were given for "correction" (II Tim. 3:16) and those who teach them are in the business of correcting. Correction often involves "un-teaching," or removing false ideas, before truthful ideas are imparted.

I have often felt pity for many spiritually ignorant ones through the years. I think of how I too was once ignorant in many things, how I was once deceived in areas of Bible doctrine, and I feel compassion for those in the same condition.

But, like the bible men of God, I feel little compassion and have little tolerance for the stubborn, for those who simply rebel and refuse to see the truth. I think Paul expressed this feeling when he said to the stubborn ones in Corinth - "But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant." (I Cor. 14:38)

Peter likewise spoke of some who he said are "willingly ignorant" (II Peter 3:5) about biblical truth. With these we can have little patience. The word of God is to be received with "humility of mind" (Acts 20:19). We should all work hard at having a "teachable spirit."

Said the great Spurgeon:

"First, then, let us think of DAVID AS A PUPIL. God was his Teacher. "O God, thou hast taught me from my youth."

This shows that David had a teachable spirit; and if you had asked him where it came from, he would have said that God gave him a teachable spirit. God is not only the Teacher of our spirit, but he gives us a teachable spirit. Have we all received that precious gift? The "genius of the age" is against a teachable spirit. You would suppose now, to hear some men preach, that Christ said, "Go ye into all the world, and make critics of every creature, and they shall be saved thereby;" but that is not the gospel. I do not so much blame the age for its errors, as for the fundamental error of not being willing to be taught. Men have cast off authority; and wherein authority in religious things is not of God, it is well cast off; but I fear that, in casting off the evil, many have gone far towards casting off even divine authority. No, you are not to think what you like you are not to believe as you please. No man may control you, but God has never given liberty to your thought or to your understanding to be free from his government. What he reveals, you are to accept; to take it as infallibly true, to bow the knee of your intellect before it, to believe that "He teacheth to profit," and to expect the fulfillment of the promise, "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord."

A teachable spirit, although it is despised by many, is a happy spirit; it is a growing spirit; it is a restful spirit; it is a heavenly spirit; and whoever has it, must ascribe the possession of it to the Spirit of God, who leads us into all truth, and makes us willing to be led therein. Oh, that we may have such a spirit, that we shall count it an honor to say, "O God, thou hast taught me"!" (God's Pupil, God's Preacher: An Autobiography - here)

God give us all a teachable spirit and a willing humble mind, one that is willing to repent of errors, and willing for others to examine us in our faith!

“But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)