The Dangers of Knowledge

Luke 12:

41. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?

42. And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?

43. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

44. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.

45. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

46. The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

47. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

48. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Yes, there is justice! Even though not all are called, there is justice. Read carefully the quote above: those who have more knowledge of the will of God will be held more accountable than those with little knowledge. More is expected from those who are called.

Note also the bits about being beaten with many stripes vs. few stripes. We have an indication of levels of punishment! This is at odds with the binary idea that one either floats heaven or burns in hell. (Actually, the whole heaven and hell model is at odds with what the Bible says, but we’ll get to that later…)

St. Paul directly addresses the issue of those who are ignorant in the context of Jews vs. Gentiles.

Romans 2:

1. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

2. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

3. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

4. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

5. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

6. Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

7. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8. But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9. Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

10. But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

11. For there is no respect of persons with God.

12. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

13. (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Lots of things to note in the above quote: First, note the dangers of judging others in Verse 1. This ties in with the idea in the Lord’s Prayer that we can obtain forgiveness as we forgive others. This is not the same as freely given grace, since forgiveness can be costly. This is a form of earned forgiveness.

Now note how the Gentiles are “a law unto themselves” in Verse 14. Moral philosophy is a tricky subject, but most people have at least some grasp of right and wrong, albeit imperfect. Paul indicates that the Gentiles will be judged on that more limited view of the law, to a lower standard.

Now look at Verses 9 and 10. There is both punishment for doing bad and reward for doing good, but either comes first to the Jew. (Today, I think this would apply to the knowledgeable Christian as well.) God is quicker to punish, and quicker to reward, those who are close to Him. This pattern can be seen in the Old Testament as well. Priests had to live to a higher standard, as did prophets. The fact that Paul uses the word “first” vs. some indication of degree is interesting, especially when we get into the first and second resurrections.

Matthew 10:

5. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

6. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

9. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,

10. Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

11. And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.

12. And when ye come into an house, salute it.

13. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

14. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

15. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.

(See also Luke 10:1-16)

Sodom and Gomorrah are to be punished less! The question is: will there be a smaller fraction of the population condemned, or are there degrees of punishment for individuals? Given the dearth of righteous people in these cities, I think the latter is indicated.

And the reason for this punishment is the amount of knowledge. The gospels record many critiques of the Pharisees, but the sins of the Pharisees pale compared to those of Sodom and Gomorrah. The difference is that the Pharisees should have known better. Also, they were given chances to repent accompanied by miracles:

Matthew 11:

20. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

23. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

24. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

But the Pharisees of Jesus’ day overlooked the miracles that they witnessed, it would seem:

Matthew 12:

38. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

39. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

40. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

42. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

(See also Luke 11:29-32)

The additional curse is not just for knowledge, but also for those who claim it:

Matthew 21:

28. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.

29. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.

30. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.

31. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

Mark 12:

38. And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,

39. And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:

40. Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.

All too often I witness Christians shocked at open displays of paganism, especially in the form of Wicca. Such people also get worked up over prayer in government schools and keeping “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.* If I am reading the quotes above correctly, such people should be more shocked when avowed Christians fail to walk the walk.

And here are a few more quotes on the subject:

John 9:

39. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

40. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

41. Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

James 4:

12. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13. Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

We seem to have answered to fairness question too well. Now, we have the question: why bother being a Christian in the first place? One possibility is that I have overstated my case in this chapter. Another possibility is greater rewards in the next life. To see what these might be, we must first take a closer look at what the Bible actually says on the subject. Many popular beliefs on the subject are quite at odds with what is written in the Bible…

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* See rexcurry.net for a fascinating history of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge is a product of the national socialism of the time!

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