Known Before You Have an Answer
1 Corinthians 8:2–3 - If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Someone asks you a Bible question, and you feel the pressure to have an answer. You’ve been a Christian for years. Maybe you lead a group or teach your children. Saying “I don’t know” feels uncomfortable when people expect you to know. Then there’s another kind of uncomfortable moment: someone challenges an answer you’re certain about. Before they finish speaking, you’re preparing your defense. You may even be right. But why does the possibility of having something to learn feel so threatening? Sometimes we’ve built more of our identity around being knowledgeable than we realize. Being the person with answers gives us a place in the room. And correction seems to put that place at risk.
Paul’s words interrupt that way of measuring ourselves: “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” Some Corinthians understood that an idol was nothing and that food couldn’t bring them closer to God. Yet their treatment of fellow believers revealed how much they still needed to learn. They could explain their freedom while overlooking the person their example might lead into sin. Knowing as we ought reaches into how we listen, how we speak, and whether we care about what happens to someone after the conversation ends.
Then Paul directs their attention to something wonderfully reassuring: “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” God already knows everything about every person. Here, being “known by God” carries the warmth of belonging to Him. Think of the difference between knowing facts about a family and being welcomed home as one of its children. Paul is directing believers toward the security of a relationship God Himself has established. And we didn’t earn that relationship by loving Him enough. Our love is a response to His grace. Through faith in Him, we belong. Before we could offer an impressive explanation of the gospel, we needed the Savior that gospel announces.
That changes what’s at stake when someone corrects us. Imagine sitting in a Bible study when someone says, “I’m not sure that’s what this passage means.” You feel your face grow warm. You’ve taught that interpretation before. Others are listening. Your first instinct is to explain why you couldn’t possibly have missed something. But your place in God’s family hasn’t become uncertain. You’re still known and loved. You can take a breath, look at the passage again, and say, “Show me what you’re seeing.” You might discover that your understanding needs correcting or you might find that your original explanation was sound. Either way, you can give the person a fair hearing without making the conversation a defense of your worth.
As a pastor, I want us to know Scripture well. I also want us to be able to open our Bibles together without anyone feeling they must conceal a question or pretend to understand. Those who teach need that freedom too. We all have something left to learn, and we need one another’s help. Jesus already knows the limits we’re trying to conceal. He knows the passages that confuse us, the answers we’ve repeated without examining, and the questions we hope nobody asks. He hasn’t confused us with someone who understands everything. His love was given to the real us! So, you can open your Bible today as a beloved child with something to learn. When another believer speaks, you can listen closely enough to be surprised. The Lord who knows you completely is still patiently teaching you.
Head: Being known and loved by God gives me security to remain teachable.
Heart: What happens inside me when someone questions my understanding of the Bible?
Hands: In your next conversation about Scripture, ask Jesus to help you listen with a willingness to learn.
Prayer: “Father, thank You for knowing me fully and welcoming me through Your Son. Forgive me for making knowledge a measure of my worth. Settle me in Your love so I can acknowledge what I don’t understand and listen when someone has something to teach me. Let the life of Jesus shape my conversations today, making me patient and eager to grow. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
-PK