I owe the origin of this thought to Philip Shields who recently wrote “Learning is for Transformation – not just Information.”  It’s an important idea in Christianity, and sometimes we need to remember this basic concept.  The thought grew in my mind after recently visiting a Christian website where dozens of well-researched and well-meaning articles pondered scores of technical points and minutiae of the Scriptures.  I came away impressed and better educated, yet feeling that in no way had I grown. If anything, had I been sidetracked?  So Philip’s recent article “WHY Do We Study the Word of God?” resonated with me, and we reproduce a slightly condensed version of it on our site this week as the second article in our series on Bible study.

As Philip writes, the apostle Peter stressed that we should grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18), and the two go hand in hand – or should do.  Focusing on growing in grace alone can be problematic in many ways. We can end up limiting ourselves and even hurting others through misunderstandings and lack of real knowledge.  On the other hand, developing only the cerebral aspects of our religion and filling only our “encyclopedia” cells can be  even more limiting and ultimately damaging to Christian growth.   

We do need to grow in both knowledge and grace, information and transformation.  Just knowing is never enough – facts should lead to change or they are little more than Bible trivia. Paul shows this goal  clearly:  “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is …” (Romans 12:2).  Notice that the goal is to be transformed by the renewing  (not just the filling) of our minds. The changes accomplished  are more important than the memorized facts.

Simply put,  we need information and we need transformation; but if we err to one side of the road, it’s better if our wheels are more solidly on the transformation side of the highway.