Do you ever wonder if you’re really learning anything when you read the Bible? Are there many verses you can’t seem to understand? Are there other verses you understand all too well, but struggle to put them into practice? I want to help you gain some much needed confidence about learning from the Bible when you read it.
Levels of Learning
Biblical writers divided learning into three levels, each building on the one before it, somewhat like a staircase. Here’s a few verses to reveal these levels of learning:
For Yahweh keeps giving the gift of wisdom. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6).
The fear of Yahweh is the opening that begins your journey to wisdom, and the experiential knowledge of those who are dedicated to God leads to understanding (Proverbs 9:10).
When a scoffer looks for wisdom there is none for him to find. But knowledge comes easily and quickly to the one who makes effort to understand things (Proverbs 14:6).
While these verses don’t put the three levels of learning into a specific order, there is an order that emerges when you know what each word means.
Knowledge (Hebrew = daath, from yada, “to know or experience”) – means to gain information from your experience or from another person teaching you. Knowledge is information. I refer to many Hebrew and Greek words so you’ll know that my information isn’t a bunch of ideas I made up. I’m here to give you God’s word, not my opinions.
Understanding (Hebrew = tabun, from biyn, “to separate or make a distinction”) – comes about when you think through your various pieces of knowledge until you can explain what they mean and how they can be used. As a teacher of God’s word I do a lot of explaining to shorten your learning curve.
Wisdom (Hebrew = chokmah, from chakam, “to be skillful”) is when you take what you know and understand and put them into action in your daily life and get the results. These results become new knowledge for you to work with, and understand, and apply. It is critical that you do this in your relationships with others, so you become relationally skillful. That’s wisdom!
The levels of learning continue to feed one another. Knowledge supports Understanding, which can be turned into Wisdom through practice, which in turn gives your more Knowledge. And thus you grow.
The goal of course is to be wise, that is, skillful in your daily living and in your relationships: “If anyone from among you lacks wisdom, let him keep asking from God who keeps generously giving to all people, and He does not cast blame or insult anyone. Wisdom will indeed be given to you” (James 1:5). That’s God’s promise to you.
Now, to be fair, to get that gift of wisdom, you will need to read His word, for “from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6). And you will need to put in the “effort to understand” (Proverbs 14:6) what you learn from His word. And you will only begin that journey if you have decided to “fear Yahweh” (Proverbs 9:10), which means to dedicate yourself to Him.
If you’re at the beginning, and just gaining knowledge from Him, know that He is very pleased with you. He doesn’t blame you or insult you for what you don’t know. He’s pleased that you’re at Level 1 – Knowledge.
Once you’ve got some verses in your mind, think them over, and talk about them with other Christians so you can understand what you know. Don’t worry if you’re not there yet. Keep reading and thinking and talking. The understanding will come through your efforts. And God the Father is very happy to see you at Level 2 – Understanding.
Finally, as your understanding grows, step out in faith and put something you’ve learned into practice. You know, “try it on for size,” to give yourself a chance to develop your skill in relating well to others. God promises to give you Level 3 – Wisdom.
My articles and eCourses guide you through these three levels of learning. I first give you trustworthy information from the Bible. Then I explain it so you can more quickly and easily understand things. And finally, I suggest ways you might apply what you learn to your life. That’s my process of teaching based on these biblical levels of learning, and it works so Your Rich Experience of God’s Will Starts Here, Now!