It is not polite in today’s culture to call anyone ignorant, but the fact of the matter is that we all are ignorant about many matters. I am ignorant of far many more things than I am of things of which I have some knowledge. My body of knowledge is infinitesimally small compared to the large body of things of which I am totally ignorant. I suspect that if most of us were honest, we would all have to say the same thing. An auto mechanic does not have the knowledge of a medical doctor, but we would not want a doctor to work on our car anymore than we would want a mechanic to treat us for an illness. A nuclear physicist may have an extremely high IQ and be able to understand things that most people could never grasp, and yet that nuclear physicist may know next to nothing about God and His divine revelation to mankind as set forth in the Bible. My point is that in reality we all are ignorant, just of different things.
God, through His messengers in scripture, was not hesitant to label people as ignorant. Sometimes God’s people sinned unintentionally or in ignorance, but they were still guilty, held accountable for their actions, and had to make atonement for their sins of ignorance. “If a person sins…though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity (footnote: punishment)…So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him. It is a trespass offering; he has certainly trespassed against the Lord” (Leviticus 5:17-19). Please note that ignorance did not excuse the sin. The one who sinned in ignorance was still held accountable, and atonement for his sin still had to be made. The Levitical priests of the Old Testament were to be men who “can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself (the priest, hf) is also beset by weakness” (Hebrews 5:2).
At various times in Old Testament history God’s people experienced His wrath and discipline because of their ignorance of Him and His law. Through the prophet Hosea God said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children” (Hosea 4:6). A failure to know God and His will for us today will likewise destroy us. The tragic reality is that many Christians and many congregations have departed from the Lord because of a lack of knowledge, and in many instances they are not even aware that they are no longer among His approved people. Knowledge is one of the graces that all Christians are to add to their faith (II Peter 1:5). We are to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18). Paul commended the church at Corinth because the members abounded in knowledge (among a number of other admirable traits) (II Corinthians 8:7).
When the Son of God came into the world the world was ignorant of who He really was. “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10). Paul wrote that “the world by [its] wisdom did not know God” (I Corinthians 1:21). He indicted the entire heathen world (the Gentiles) by saying that “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,” as a result of which “God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Romans 1:28). Paul told the idolatrous citizens of ancient Athens, “And these times of ignorance God [once] overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). How all people everywhere today need to realize that Ignorance of God and His will for mankind has fatal and eternal consequences!
Peter indicted the Jews of rejecting and crucifying Jesus by saying, “And now, brethren, I know that you did it through ignorance, as did also your rulers” (Acts 3:17). Their ignorance did not lessen the severity of their sin nor did it mitigate their guilt. Of himself Paul said, “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an indolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (I Timothy 4:13). How Paul obtained this mercy is related in Acts 9, 22, and 26. Paul later wrote of the Jews: “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God”—the righteousness which comes only “through faith in Christ” (Romans 10:2-3; Philippians 3:9).
Ignorance of God and His word is no less heinous and condemning today than it was in both Old and New Testament times. God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4). Christ commissioned His apostles to “go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), and went on to affirm, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). We all have a Bible (or should have one). We all can read it and come to a knowledge of what God would have us do to be saved and to stay saved! There are those informed in the Scriptures who stand ready to assist those who do not understand what they read (see Acts 8:26-40). Paul urged, “Therefore do not be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). Ignorance is not a virtue, and it will not be accepted on the day of judgment if we stand there condemned!
Paul prayed for Christians to “be filled with the knowledge of His (God’s) will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9). We must not be ignorant of Satan’s devices (II Corinthians 2:11). Tragically, the world is filled with people who apparently are totally ignorant of the devil and his tactics! We are not to be ignorant of what happens to us at death and of the life beyond. Paul wrote: “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep (died, hf), that you not sorrow as others who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13).
Peter urged Christians to be “obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance” (I Peter 1:14). He said, “For so is the will of God that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (I Peter 2:15). We live in a world full of foolish people whose chief mark is astounding ignorance of God and His will for mankind! As Christians, we need to live in such a way as to put such ignorance to silence, not contribute to it!
It may not be polite in today’s politically correct world to call someone ignorant, but God is quite plain in His word about the danger of such. It is a sin to remain ignorant of God and His will for our lives, for such ignorance can and will result in the loss of our soul. To know our biblical ABCs (of which we have written for the past two weeks) is good, but let us not be content with just knowing our ABCs. Until our dying day, let us continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18), and to manifest that grace and knowledge in the way that we live.
“Look therefore carefully how ye walk (live, hf), not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16, ASV).
Hugh Fulford
