We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…Colossians 1:9
If there is a higher knowledge that can be attained, it will not come from the exercise of our own will or the manifestation of our intellect, but from the spirit of God. It was Paul’s prayer that the Colossian believers be filled to the brim with “the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” He prayed similarly for the Philippians, that their “love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.”
In his message to the Colossians, Paul was building off the solid foundation laid by its founder Epaphras, which is described in 1:4 as “faith in Christ Jesus” and “love for all the saints.” With the introduction of Gnosticism into their midst, the insistent urging to expand their minds, toe the line, or divest of temporal things ran contrary to the real goal, to understand the one true God more, which was indeed possible with real knowledge and true understanding. This they had the second they were reborn. It just needed to be fully understood and activated, or in the common vernacular, “downloaded for free.”
What is it that may have infiltrated our minds that is not biblical or has its origin in worldly thinking? Paul may have been viewed as extreme by some in his commitment to the Lord and sound doctrine, but he actually serves as a model of what it’s like to fully know and serve God. What we are to attain is sought fervently and prayerfully in the limitless layers of wisdom in God’s word.
10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Colossians 1:10–12
This wisdom has a very practical result, a worthy, pleasing, fruitful, informed, powerful, steadfast, enlightened, joyous, thankful walk in the Lord.
Who could want more? The Gnostics were pursuing some elusive higher pathway to knowledge. They were looking for it in all the wrong places.
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