Always Learning and Never Able to Arrive at a Knowledge of the Truth

by Mike Ratliff

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (1 Timothy 2:3-6 ESV)

always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7 ESV)

Carefully read both passages above (1 Timothy 2:3-6 and 2 Timothy 3:7). Notice that the Apostle Paul used the exact same phrase “knowledge of the truth” in both. This a translation of the Greek words ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας in both passages. Notice also that in 1 Timothy 2:4 that Paul clearly is referring to believers coming to an understanding of God’s saving truth in Jesus Christ, however, in 2 Timothy 3:7 he is describing people are are unable to do so. What has truth to do with salvation anyway? I read some articles and emails today from some of these Emergent types and they are of the opinion that there is no such thing. However, here we must do two things. We must stand firm and tell it like it is. 

Here is 2 Timothy 3:7 in Greek:

πάντοτε μανθάνοντα καὶ μηδέποτε εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν δυνάμενα. (2 Timothy 3:7 GNT)

Here is my word for word translation:

always learning and but not yet into knowledge of the truth to come being able.

The word “truth” here is ἀληθείας. It is used in John 1:14, for instance, where it refers to the incarnate Christ: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In John 16:13 we read, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” In God’s economy, in the Biblical sense, in the way God has designed things for His people, the concept of the truth is that which is not concealed. It is what really is true. The genuine Christian understanding of truth is that it is that which is absolute, that which is incontrovertible, irrefutable, incontestable, unarguable, and unchanging. If something is true, it is always true and can never be untrue, no matter what the circumstances. Also, and this makes some post modernists very angry with me for saying it, what is true is true regardless of whether you believe it to be true or not.

With that said, what, then, is true? What is factual? What is absolutely reliable, totally secure and unchanging and still there are those who are always learning, but never able to find it? The answer is God and His Word. No matter what man discovers, no matter what he learns, no matter what advances he makes, if he misses this, he has not found the truth.

I have two examples to contrast with this for you. My friend Ken Silva was making comments on a blog today that was all about Contemplative Spirituality. One of those who objected to Ken’s comments there replied with this:

As I have sat on the sidelines so far all I have seen you do is reassert your opinion without really showing any evidence that you really understand the contemplative tradition at all. It looks to me like you read something somewhere and for whatever reason it bothered you.

What I have not seen either is any recognition on your part that perhaps either your Christian background or your culture colors your interpretation of scripture (it does with all of us).

I have been an evangelical for over 30 years and I am beginning to see more and more that we have been shaped by living in America (as someone is by being in Africa), and that maybe we threw a whole lot of stuff out at the reformation that was true.

Don’t quit digging for truth, but recognize that it does not always sound like something you are familiar with. You can be wrong as well.

Yes, the tone of that you detected there was a patronizing and condescending attitude of, “Well you know, since you have a problem with Contemplative Spirituality then you are obviously not educated enough or you are just hung up with your ‘traditions,’ etc.” This person’s idea of the truth is what? It certainly isn’t the Biblical model we discussed above is it? No, it is a man centered focus. You see, the truth is clear, the right focus is for us to be God Centered in our faith and our religion, in all we do. That means we believe Him and obey Him. We do not seek to find answers from within as this fellow is doing.

The other example is found here. The title of the article is Beer Me, Jesus. I found it very offensive on many levels. It is about one of the founders of Catalyst, which he describes as “a place for “recovering evangelicals.” However, I would like to share with you one of this guy’s quotes that I found to be the very reason he does what he does. He has no knowledge of God because of this. Here is the quote:

“I’m an agnostic every other day,” he proclaims. “As for the Bible, I don’t hold to inerrancy in the text. It’s not meant to be taken literally; I don’t think that the authors even meant it to be taken literally. That’s why I have a problem with Christians who say. ‘This is how atonement works…”

Now, this fellow is arrogant enough to say that all of us are wrong about our faith, but he refuses to accept the concept of God’s truth being absolute. Well there you go…

always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7 ESV)

As I stated above, we have to do two things, stand firm and tell it like it is. I think there is a another thing that is missing as well. It is is time for leadership in the Church to do what it is supposed to do and call out these people. When preachers and pastors and conference speakers, et cetera prove they have no knowledge of the truth of God by what they say and do then they should be rebuked and revealed to be false. However, the visible church is infected with the deadly disease of post modernism which causes it to think that what I just said is the worst sin imaginable. To cause offense is now considered the worst deadly sin. Well, I no longer care.

Soli Deo Gloria!