How can knowledge be harmful?

Isaiah 47:10-11“You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’ So disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared.”

Knowledge is harmful when it leads us to think we no longer need God. If we rely on our own intelligence to make it through this life, we will be deeply disappointed in the end.

1 Corinthians 8:11Because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed.

We can easily complicate the simplicity of the message of the Bible with what we know. Learned students of the Bible must be careful not to let their knowledge of Bible facts and teachings obscure its core message. If newer Christians get the impression that their knowledge is more important than how they live, they may stumble in their faith.

1 Corinthians 8:1-3Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.

1 Corinthians 13:1-2, 8If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. . . . Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

James 2:19You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.

Knowledge can never make us right with God. It does not give us a heart like his. Demons know a lot about God, but they hate and oppose him in every way! Knowledge without love often leads to arrogance and pride. This is why we must develop our hearts as much as our heads. Just as knowledge and truth guard our hearts against lies and temptations, love guards our minds against selfishness, pride, cruelty, and other sins. All the knowledge we build on earth will be old news someday, but love gives us something to live for and rejoice in eternally.