"Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge"
(Luke 11: 52)
What did the Lord mean by "the key of knowledge"? To answer that we must discern the kind of genitive it is. What kind of genitive is "key of knowledge"? Does it mean "the key that comes from knowledge"? (Genitive of source) Or, "the key that leads to knowledge"? (objective genitive) Or, "the key which is knowledge"? (genitive of apposition) I believe the latter. The same thing might be said in reverse, in other words, "knowledge is the key." Or we might say "the knowledge is the key and the key is the knowledge." In this way they are viewed as synonymous. Jesus is not alluding to a key that unlocks knowledge. Rather, the key which is knowledge is what unlocks the kingdom of heaven and grants entrance unto salvation.
So, the indictment would be that the lawyers (or experts in law, social control, judicial proceedings, and government), rather than informing and properly educating the citizens in knowledge of truth and justice, yea, of God's law and word, actually sought to keep the people in ignorance, even "taking away" from them access to a right interpretation and a true knowledge of things. The words "have taken away" are from the Greek word "airo" and denotes "to bear away what has been raised, carry off to move from its place to take off or away what is attached to anything to remove" (Strong). What these lawyers sought to remove from the people was the revelation of the truth of God, the knowledge of God. This reminds us of the words of Hosea (which we cited in an earlier chapter):
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." (Hosea 4: 6)
One of the reasons for this lack of knowledge, this absence of the key of knowledge, is that those who especially knew the law, such as lawyers, scribes, and priests, failed to regularly and properly teach it to the people. Recall these words from the prophet Malachi:
"For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." (Mal. 2: 7)
The lawyers that Jesus condemns for taking away knowledge's key from the people are leaders like the priests, and therefore "should keep knowledge"; But, they rather destroyed it by their traditions and by their misinterpreting and distorting the law and word of God. The lawyers, like the disputers, scribes, and philosophers of the world, should have pointed people to the true knowledge of God, and to the kingdom of God, and encouraged them to enter it, but sadly they did not.
Ironically, these lawyers and intellectuals did not even themselves know essentially anything about it; And by their false knowledge they kept many from finding the true key of knowledge, or the truth, which is the key that unlocks the kingdom of God. I say the kingdom of God even though it is not mentioned in the text in Luke cited above. Jesus said to the lawyers - "for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered." Entered into what or where? The companion verse in Matthew's account of this sermon reads as follows:
"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." (Matt. 23: 13)
So, it is the kingdom of heaven that must be entered. To enter the kingdom of heaven (or God), one must open what is "shut." To open and to enter one must have a passage key (or 'pass key'). That key is knowledge, but not knowledge in general, but particularly "the knowledge of God," the knowledge of Scripture, "the knowledge of Christ" (or the Gospel).
People are destroyed for "lack of knowledge" but they are saved by acquiring and possessing what we call "saving knowledge," being that knowledge of God which is necessary for salvation from sin and death. So we may say that "knowledge is the key" to salvation, much in the same way educators say "knowledge is the key to success," or "knowledge is the key to everything." Others speak of how knowledge is "the key to the good life," to happiness, to self esteem, to power, etc.
Hosea said:
"Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land." (Hosea 4: 1; NKJV)
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." (6: 6)
The "key of knowledge" is "the knowledge of God." To know God, including his word and works, his being, attributes, and perfections, is the key to everything. This "key of knowledge" is what is needed to enter the doors or gates of the kingdom of God and heaven.
Ironically the lawyers (who twisted and distorted the law) did not have the key that they should have possessed and exhibited. What they had was a fake key, or a false knowledge. Paul spoke of this, telling Timothy to avoid “oppositions of science (knowledge) falsely so called.” (I Tim. 6: 20)
In order for people to be saved they must come to "know God" in a personal relationship, and to know his word and teaching, which leads us now to consider what the theologians call "saving knowledge."
Saving Knowledge
The first chapter of the 1689 London Baptist Confession says:
"The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible a
rule of all saving
knowledge, faith, and obedience, although the light b
of nature, and the works of creation
and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave
men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will
which is necessary unto salvation."
Saving knowledge is that knowledge which is a necessary condition for salvation. Saving knowledge is "the key" which gives entrance to salvation. Christ is the door, and the key of knowledge is in the door.
Solomon said:
"An hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered." (Prov. 11: 9)
This is true with knowledge of the world, of the physical sciences, yea, perhaps even of the social sciences. For instance, physicians by their medical knowledge deliver many people from sickness and death. Police, Fire and Rescue, and EMS professionals deliver or save people regularly as a result of their knowledge and training. But, knowledge of these things is not spiritual, nor "the knowledge of God." Only spiritual knowledge, the higher knowledge, theological knowledge, can deliver. This is Paul's emphasized message to the Corinthians.
Of every unbeliever, especially among the world's secular elite, the Lord announces this judgment upon their uninspired ideas, upon all their learning: "Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee" (Isa. 47: 10). This is also one of Paul's sub theses in the opening chapters of first Corinthians. Elsewhere Paul spoke of the consequence of not "knowing God," saying that the Lord Jesus Christ would return "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thess. 1: 8). Knowledge of God is salvation. Ignorance of God is damnation.
Having a true knowledge of God and Christ is "part and parcel" of salvation. (John 17: 3) Simply put, a saved man is a man who knows God and who has been taught by him. An unsaved man is a man who has not been taught by God. (John 6: 44) Paul also said: "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (I Tim. 2: 4) Salvation is inseparably linked with "the knowledge of the truth," and by this he means, of course, knowledge of the truth about God, creation, and the gospel of Christ.
Christian Know It Alls?
In finishing this chapter we will look at how the believer is "enriched" in "all knowledge."
Elsewhere Paul wrote:
"And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another." (Rom. 15: 14)
This verse is similar to I Cor. 1: 6, and to others like it, in its seeming affirmation of believer omniscience. Paul says that the believer, in knowing the word of God, becomes "filled with all knowledge." John wrote similarly in his first epistle, saying to believers - "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things." (I John 2: 20)
Neither Paul nor John intend to say that the believer becomes omniscient when converted. The believer certainly does not instantly come into vast knowledge of the various sciences, such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, etc. (although he probably will come fully into such knowledge when glorified in the resurrection). The texts are talking about knowledge about God, or theology. It includes knowledge of the inspired writings, of "the oracles of God" (his communications to the human race). It includes higher knowledge involving the realm of spirit, about humanity's origin, purpose, and destiny, as well as the genesis of the universe, about the Deity's involvement in the cosmos, earth, and humanity, etc., i.e. "providence."
On this verse we have this commentary which I think comes close to the correct interpretation (emphasis mine):
"and ye know all things] There is very high authority for reading and ye all know (this), or, omitting the conjunction and placing a colon after ‘Holy One’, ye all know (this). If the reading followed in A.V. and R.V. be right, the meaning is, ‘It is you (and not these antichristian Gnostics who claim it) that are, in virtue of the anointing of the Spirit of truth, in the possession of the true knowledge’. Christians are in possession of the truth in a far higher sense than any unchristian philosopher. All the unbeliever’s knowledge is out of balance and proportion. The assertion here is strictly in harmony with the promise of Christ; ‘When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He shall guide you into all the truth’ (John 16:13)." (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
That is very well stated and is the message Paul is sending to the believers in Corinth. If knowledge be a necessary ingredient for elite or elect status on earth, then the believer is far more qualified for it; And, though he is not yet fully made into an elite character, being not yet finished being transformed into the image of Christ, "the perfect man," his ruling with Christ over the world is therefore not for "the world that now is," or for "this present evil world (age)," but for "the world (age) to come."
The elites of this present evil age are the worldly rich and powerful, the ones commonly styled "best minds," or "best scientists" and "scholars," or "the best educated" or "experts," etc. The elites of "the world to come" are they who are presently the "poor of this world" (James) and yet who are rich in faith, those chosen by God from among the basest of people.
I think too that the statement "you know all things" may well mean "you see the big picture"; And, "you see the reason for all things"; And, "you see the end and purpose of all things," etc.
When a man is converted, becoming a believer, he experiences a radical transformation in his thinking, in his knowledge and understanding. So Paul wrote:
"And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Col. 3: 10)
Following this initial renewing in knowledge, the believer's life is characterized as "increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1: 10). As we have previously observed, the believer now "knows in part" and sees truth imperfectly, as through tinted or darkened glass. However, after the resurrection and glorification of the believer he will then know fully and see perfectly.
Christians have superior knowledge, yet it is not so apparent now. Of Christians who are no longer babes in Christ (I Cor. 3: 1-2; see also Heb. 5: 12) this is especially true. Further, in the glorification of believers, either at death or in the resurrection, the intellectual prowess of them will be vastly increased.
In the next posting we will discuss how the apostle dealt with the "Gnostics," the ones claiming to be the ones and only ones who truly know, who have superior insights. We will also consider the difference between wisdom and knowledge.
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