Different Things God is teaching Me

Grace & Knowledge

"You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." ~2 Peter 3:17-18

Why does God through Peter (2 Peter 1:19-21) call His followers to grow in both GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE? Why are these together, and not just "one and not the other"? Just a couple books (and several years before Peter) Paul makes it look like as if pursuing knowledge is bad for he says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies." (1 Corinthians 8:1)

The Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35) nor is it divided for it is all inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17). What two passages we at first think contradict each other, we must rather conform and submit our thoughts to our Maker's word (as He gave it in perfect guidance and declaration to and through godly men) and rather seek understanding and agreement between the two. So what is God through Paul & Peter saying? How can God say that "knowledge puffs up" yet at the same time call us to "grow in the grace AND KNOWLEDGE of our Lord Jesus Christ?" Why are these two virtues together?

I think it is for that very fact that we can have knowledge of the truth yet our imperfect/depraved human hearts can let truth puff up our ego...our self-deception of self-sustaining strength and righteousness (like the Pharisees of Jesus' time) that God calls us to grow in grace along with that knowledge. "It is not good for the soul to be without knowledge" God declares through the writer Solomon. (Proverbs 19:2) Why do we need grace as we grow in the knowledge of God? So that we show grace to ourselves and more importantly, to others as well; just as God shows abundant grace toward us. God does not reveal everything about us to us, at once. If He did, we would be bowed down. We could not keep up and we would despair. "If You should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand" the Psalmist says. (Psalm 130:3-4) God is patient, bearing and suffering long with us so that we might grow in His mercy for we cannot meet the demands the justice of His holiness requires of us.
Isaiah received complete revelation, knowledge, of himself and his people when he saw a vision of heaven and the glory of the Lord. (Isaiah 6). Isaiah's only response to this was self-abasement and despair, for he says, "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:1-5) Yet God did not leave Isaiah there, nor consume him in His holy justice but sent a heavenly creature, a seraphim, to cleanse Isaiah's lips. "Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." " (Isaiah 6:6-7) Here, we see both the "grace" and "knowledge" of God intertwined here. They cannot be separated or we will also be left undone.
That is also why the Psalmist pleads in his prayer for the Lord to "lead him in the way everlasting". (Psalm 139:23-24) If the Psalmist ended his prayer at "and see if there is any wicked way in me" he would only receive despair at the revelation of how weak and unclean he is before his Holy Maker, yet the Psalmist ends his prayer by asking for saving grace: "And lead me in the way everlasting."

It is clear from other places in God's Word that it is not good for man to be without knowledge. God through Hosea, says "My people die for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6) for as He also says through Solomon "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7). Where there is no knowledge, there is no fear of the Lord and thus covetousness, anger, lust, greed, foolishness, murder, and other sins arise.
The Pharisees thought they could keep the law perfectly and thus please God. Yet in their pursuit of keeping the law, they did not have grace towards sinners struggling to seek God. In fact, Jesus declares that they hindered them from seeking God! (Matthew 23:13) God, beforehand, called His people in the past and He still calls us today to grow in both "grace" and "knowledge" of Him. "For I desire MERCY and not sacrifice, and the KNOWLEDGE of God more than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6) Here we see again grace given with knowledge. They should not be set separately. Without knowledge, we cannot understand grace and without grace, we abuse the knowledge we receive. Like the Pharisees, knowledge (without the balance of grace) sets wrong to our sinful hearts and we either become despairing or prideful by our self-righteous and ungracious, merciless (less-mercy) ways and attitude towards others. This is not just towards our fellow sinners who do not follow God, this is also applicable to how we relate to fellow followers of God who also struggle with sin. Just because we are saved does not mean we are invincible to the attacks of our Enemy and the World or impervious to the struggles of our own Flesh. We have been saved from the bondage of sin's sickness yet it does not mean we can never stumble or catch it again. (Galatians 6:1-2) The only thing that has changed between us and our fellow man (who does not follow God) is that we believe and set our eyes on the Cure, on the One who can save us. We need "grace" and "knowledge" as we relate to fellow members of Christ's body, fellow followers of God. Why? Because God through Paul says, "For you have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" (Galatians 5:13-15)
How often have we seen (and I too have seen in myself toward others) people of God being prideful and prejudice towards other people of God. Denomination against fellow denomination or denomination against a totally differing denomination. Baptists against Church of Christ, Reformers against Arminians, Presbyterians against Pentecostals and all vice versa. As each of us is convicted by the "knowledge" of God we all, also, need to grow in the "grace" of God as well. We need to "speak the TRUTH in LOVE." (Ephesians 4:15) lest we "bite and devour one another...consuming one another." Knowledge without the grace of God is vanity, lifting us up to pride or bringing us down to despair. God made Paul recognize this in 1 Corinthians when he saw that even with spiritual gifts, complete faith, all understanding, and all knowledge, and complete dutiful service and sacrifice, if it is without love, if it is without the grace of God; all we are and what we do is vain. O God help me! Help us all.

We can thank our Maker that not only does He possess all-knowledge but also possesses abundant grace and mercy for He is the fountain of it. He calls us to grow in "mercy" and "knowledge", "grace" and "knowledge". We need both and we cannot be "perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48, Luke 6:36)  nor "love our neighbor as ourselves" (Galatians 5:14, Leviticus 19:18) unless we grow in BOTH "the GRACE and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Now John's father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: '...And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins. Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:67 & 76-79)

This is God's calling for us towards our fellow man (whether believer or unbeliever): To be vessels of His knowledge and of His grace.