Zeal should not be a substitute for knowledge

When a person first comes to faith in Christ, their zeal for Jesus is one of the first things that others notice.  They are so excited to have received the forgiveness, grace, redemption, adoption, and salvation of God.  They are filled with the Holy Spirit which now dwells within them and shines through them in very obvious ways.  God uses their own abilities and spiritual gifts to proclaim to the lost and to believers the teachings of the Word of God.  But it’s key to know that a person’s faith in Jesus must be nurtured and cultivated with knowledge, so they can move from immaturity to maturity.

In Acts 18:24-28 we see this principle played out: “Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.  He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.  He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately.  And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.”

It was only after Apollos had received additional teaching from Priscilla and Aquila concerning Jesus, that he became of greater help to the Church in Achaia.  His fervency, eloquence, and boldness in the Scriptures was now cultivated with more understanding and knowledge.  As a result, he was able to more effectively help and encourage believers and able to refute those who opposed the message of Christ.

Also we read in Hebrews 5:11-13: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

With some new/young believers; study, learning, and knowledge can feed a spirit of pride through knowledge (which is sin).  But lack of knowledge facilitates spiritual immaturity.  Scripture clearly teaches that a zeal for Jesus should be nurtured with more teaching.  It is through knowledge that a believer can develop an increasing love and understanding for Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  We must continue to create and be involved in environments where we can learn more doctrine and more teachings of the Word of God.  We have a biblical mandate to pass those teachings on to young zealous believers.