There is no virtue in being ignorant of the truth of Scripture. In fact, knowledge of God’s revelation in the Bible is never frowned upon in Scripture. As Machen explained,
There is no rebuke whatever for an intelligent faith that is founded upon the facts. The childlike simplicity of faith is marred sometimes by ignorance, but never by knowledge; it will never be marred—and never has been marred in the lives of the great theologians—by the blessed knowledge of God and of the Saviour Jesus Christ which is contained in the Word of God. Without that knowledge we might be tempted to trust partly in ourselves; but with it we trust wholly to God. The more we know of God, the more unreservedly we trust Him; the greater be our progress in theology, the simpler and more childlike will be our faith.
A hunger of the knowledge of God and the things of Scripture and those who do not ultimately lies, not in the mind but in the heart. William Still once put it so well when he said, “the heart is the key to the mind.” An unwilling mind is driven by an unwilling heart.
A heart that wishes to know more about Christ will spend time pouring over the Scriptures in order to glean those precious doctrines that move us on to spiritual maturity. A willing mind is fueled by an eager heart. Accordingly, we must cry out to God for a spiritually enlarged heart, knowing that with it he will also give us a mind committed to seeing “just how much of Christian truth we can obtain.”
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
