Wisdom and Knowledge
Various attempts have been made to distinguish between wisdom and knowledge. I suppose that one of the more common efforts is to suggest that knowledge is the acquiring of information while wisdom is understanding how to use that knowledge. This may be the reason for one of my favorite illustrations between the two:
Knowledge is understanding that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting a tomato in a fruit salad.
While what I write here will by no means settle all of the questions that may come to mind about the difference(s) between wisdom and knowledge, I think that one passage of scripture may provide a good starting place for our thinking about this subject.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him (James 1:5).
Later in that same epistle, James discusses a clear difference between “…the wisdom that comes down from above…” and that which is “…earthly, unspiritual, demonic” (James 3:15).
It should be clear from these two citations from James that the source of true wisdom is God. It should also be clear that what may pass for wisdom may not, in fact, be wisdom.
As I typed those words, my mind went to the death of our first president. As you may have learned in a high school history class, George Washington lost his life due, at least in part, to a loss of blood. When Mr. Washington awoke with a severe sore throat and, as he continued to get worse, he requested a procedure that was well known.
According to the best knowledge of the medical community of his day, illnesses were caused by “humors” in a person’s blood becoming unbalanced in some way. Accordingly, the “wise” thing to do was for doctors to start a procedure known as “bloodletting” in an attempt to get those humors back in a proper balance.
Thankfully, we now have more knowledge about the causes of, and treatment for, various diseases. Most of us would probably not go to a doctor who thought that it would be “wise” to start draining blood out of our bodies if we were suffering from a sore throat.
Without going any further with a discussion that has already gone on for centuries about how to distinguish between wisdom and knowledge, I’d like to offer one more thing to consider. What I’m offering will not explain everything, but it may help somewhat in our understanding.
Knowledge changes.
Wisdom is eternal.
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
