Josh Thomas

April 2025
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A well-meaning friend recently told me that Christians ought to be careful not to learn and study the Bible too much because, in his experience, it gives them big heads. His view was that we ought to be restrained in our pursuit of knowledge and lean more into the other more practical and helpful Christian pursuits, like love. I begged to differ.

Truth and love ought not be thought of as if they are opposites — as if the pursuit of one will automatically detract from the pursuit of the other. Even in specific situations, we shouldn’t think that we need to decide between standing for the truth and loving. We can always do both!

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What could be more loving and helpful than speaking the truth about Jesus Christ to someone?

What could bring more honor to the truth about Jesus Christ than to live a life of love for others, as that truth demands?

We can always be both faithful to the truth and also faithful to love. As the church, the pillar and ground of the truth, we are commanded to do both simultaneously, so it must be possible!²

Yes, God warns us in His Word that “knowledge puffs up while love builds up,”³ but we also read that Paul prayed “that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.”⁴ Knowledge alone can lead to pride and a spirit of aloofness, but it is also true that knowledge can lead to love abounding more and more! The pursuit of truth to gain a leg up on others is wrong and unhealthy. But that doesn’t mean the pursuit of truth is inherently problematic! (Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.) In this case, the problem is my Pharisaical heart! What matters is the “why”.  Why am I pursuing knowledge? Why am I concerned about the truth?  Any danger in getting a big head is warded off by checking my motives.

The fallacy my friend fell into is so important to recognize because, ironically, it is only through a pursuit of God’s truth that our broken and fallen hearts can truly be transformed and equipped to pursue love. Consider what God had Paul write to Timothy for his instruction and our learning:

1 Timothy 1:3–5 (New International Version 2011)As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer

or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work–which is by faith.

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

When Timothy went to carry out this instruction, we can be sure he was met with resistance and it wouldn’t surprise me if part of the accusation back to Timothy was, “Why are you being so mean and unloving, Timothy? Don’t be so judgmental towards what people like to say and believe. Can’t we all just get along! Don’t be so intolerant!” Again, it’s an ironic bit of reasoning because in fact it is unloving, in the extreme, to let lies prosper. Be assured, the one godly goal of fighting for the truth in a church or in the life of an individual is love. And note that the goal of right doctrine living in a church isn’t just any kind of love, but the good kind, the best kind, the only true kind: love from a pure heart and a real faith. As long as I am checking my motives for pursuing true knowledge, it is that very pursuit that uniquely provides for me (and others) to love genuinely.

Even if his solution was faulty, my friend had picked up on a legitimate trend that is not good: indeed, knowledge alone does puff up with pride. The pursuit (and delivery) of truth often is self-serving and dishonorable. I am ashamed to say I can remember specific times in my life where this was exactly the case. However, the way to avoid becoming a big-headed, loveless Christian is not to temper my time in God’s Word. The solution is to continually remind myself of what the Bible is and what it was given for. It’s God’s Word to me, given so I can believe it, bringing glory to God, my Creator, my Savior, my Father.

Understanding why the people in Hebrews 11 were honored can help me check my motives.  The bulk of the chapter is a list of believers of whom God says “the world was not worthy.” They were not honored for their Biblical knowledge nor for their “right-dividing” of God’s Word, but for one thing and one thing only — their faith. It was faith in the truth of God and His promises. Getting to know what God says truly, so I can truly believe and thereby honor God, should always be the end in mind. As I keep my heart in the right place, the pursuit of learning God’s Word has only upsides.

For example, for a Christian whose heart is in the right place, familiarity with and even memorization of God’s words is undoubtedly a good thing. Having the Word of Life embedded in our minds through memorization allows us to quickly transfer it to our lips, and into the ears of others. When the weary needs a word in season,⁵ a barrage of human sentiment is just as useless as the judgment of a Pharisee. Again, the potential danger of getting a big head from the truth is far, far outweighed by the unique preparedness that Biblical truth affords. It is the Christian who’s been a diligent, faithful worker of the Word of Truth, and has chosen to shun other words, that is declared useful for every good work of our master.⁶

As an aside: be assured that becoming thoroughly prepared for every good work⁷ through the reading of the Scriptures doesn’t require original language studies⁸ — just pick a good English translation⁹ and go!

In light of all this, I encourage you to start (or continue) reading God’s Word regularly. Start (or continue) memorizing portions of it. Don’t be tempted to back off on this pursuit by any purportedly good advice or out of fear of becoming (or being labeled) a “Bible idolater.” You can know your own heart and why you are doing what you are doing.

If you are one who is prone to doubt your ability to remember things or to read for comprehension, still I would encourage you to make it a priority to become more familiar with God’s Word through simple reading. You will get better and better at it and be amazed with how much of God’s Word you will learn and begin remembering.

Don’t let the convenience of having a digital and searchable Bible in your pocket or purse rob you of the preparedness of becoming intimately familiar with God’s Word through reading and memorization. Don’t let the convenience become a crutch: “Well, I can always just search for the verse I am looking for.” Don’t settle for that thought. Instead, let the convenience of having the Bible digitally with you at all times be the means to redeem every opportunity to be reading it, so you can remember it more and more and become more and more familiar with it.

Think of an infantryman with an unloaded gun in his hand at that crucial moment when the enemy launches a surprise attack or his commanding officer yells, “Charge!” After the battle, the commanding officer asks, “What happened corporal?! We could have used your help!” It’d be a bit pathetic for him to hear the reply, “Um, well… erm… I did have the ammo in my pocket at least.” Every moment until our Lord returns is and will be a spiritual battle and our enemy isn’t particularly keen on letting us take time out to check, “What does God’s Word say about this?” So often, after the smoke clears, it’s the Christians who had God’s words laid up in their minds and hearts who stood strong, having made a difference.¹⁰

Have you ever been that Christian who hesitated to say something because you weren’t quite sure if what you had to say was the truth? Then, a day later with more time to consider and pray, you felt like kicking yourself for not speaking up the day before? Make it a priority to change that. We can grow to become ready in the moment when the truth is needed.

Or maybe you have made the reading of God’s Word a priority and therefore do often remember the truth in the fray of life. However, you tend to hesitate to speak up out of fear that your loving boldness might be mistaken for pride or arrogance. To be frank, it probably will be! It happened to young David.¹¹ But I doubt he ever regretted speaking up, especially as he stood over the dead Goliath. And however individuals of Israel may have perceived David in the moment, many changed their view of him as they enjoyed deliverance from years of Philistine oppression!

Yes, knowledge of the truth can lead to big heads, but when pursued rightly it’s also the pathway to big hearts. And, big hearts, filled with the truth of God’s Word, are what the world and the body of Christ need today.