A Different Perspective on The Word of Knowledge Spiritual Gift

 

Now concerning spiritual gifts: brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware.
-1 Corinthians 12:1

These are some notes and my thoughts, from Winn Griffin's Gracelets book, published in 2015, about 'the word of knowledge' gift.  The spiritual gift called 'the word of knowledge' has been misunderstood, and what we, who believe in the gifts for today, have called the word of knowledge gift, is actually or should be called 'prophetic insight', and the actual word of knowledge is something else.  

Winn also challenges the view that spiritual gifts are talents or natural endowments, and the popular notion that we are born with one gift, and we need to discover it.  Spiritual gifts are actually given by the Spirit to us, like a birthday gift, unmeritoriously.

As a background or foundation for the workings of the Holy Spirt, Winn teaches on John chapter 3 and picks up on Jesus using the metaphor of the wind as to how the Holy Spirt works.  Winn says that Christians ought not chase the wind, but face it.  "You must be born again, the wind blows where is pleases" (John 3:7-8), is something Winn draws our attention to.  Born again means born from above, and the wind is the work of the Spirit.  The wind blowing where it pleases gives us an idea of how the Spirit operates, says Winn.  His thesis is that spiritual gifts are momentary drops of God's grace, given through one individual to another and not something possessed.  Our job is to face the wind and be conduits or grace (gracelets) to others.

to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit,
-1 Corinthians 12:8

Winn notes that epistles were written to solve problems and that is the case here with 1 Corinthians.  In chapter 8, Paul is working on solving the Corinthian's problem or their attitude about having superior knowledge:

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.

About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”

However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat. But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols? So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge.
-1 Corinthians 8:1-4, 10-11

Winn mentions that Gordon Fee wrote that Paul is trying to free this gift of the Spirit from the Corinthian's own fascination with knowledge.

The popular understanding of 'the word of knowledge' gift in Christian groups that believe in and practice spiritual gifts, is that it is a gift where you are given information, that you could not know, except by this gift of the Spirit.  Proponents of this view see the gift operating when Bible characters  call out or see things they would not know by their own senses or thought.  

Proponents of the popular view might cite the story of Peter knowing the sins of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, or Jesus knowing the details of the Samaritan woman's life in John 4.  These better illustrate prophetic gifting.  The secret knowledge suddenly known are prophetic insights.  The Samaritan woman at the well in fact discerns and says to Jesus, "you are a prophet!"  When prophetically gifted people in the Bible or today have these insights, we should not erroneously call them words of knowledge.  The word or message of knowledge is a wonderful gift, a miraculous grace given by God of, "inspired teaching or instruction given by the Spirit, which brings a new level of maturity in Christ to the listener" (Griffin, p. 113).

Paul lays a foundation about spiritual knowledge, that gives us the basis for the gift of knowledge, in chapter 2:

But as it is written,

What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no human heart has conceived—

God has prepared these things for those who love him.

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, 
explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

-1 Corinthians 2:9-13

Winn's notes on this passage:

1. There is a reception of the Spirit.

2. We receive the Spirit so that we might understand what God has freely given us.

3. What has been freely given to us is spoken to us in the words the Spirit gives.

Winn quotes James Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit, page 219; saying that (the word of knowledge denotes), "some charismatic insight into the things given us by God".

The knowledge of 'the word of knowledge' is knowledge given by God, inspired by the Spirit.

Let's look some more at how Paul uses this word knowledge in 1 Corinthians:

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.
-1 Corinthians 1:5

There is no clue here that the knowledge from God is secrets about people's illnesses or a revelation of someone's name or address, or where their lost car keys are.

The spiritual gift of the message of knowledge is a God given insight or revelation.  Look at the words knew and known used in Chapter 2, verse 8:

None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 

Paul says that the people who crucified Jesus did not know, they were not given the knowing from God.

1 Corinthians 2 describes knowledge from God:

None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,

What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no human heart has conceived—

God has prepared these things for those who love him.

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.
-1 Corinthians 2:8-12

If we seek to find out about 'the message (word) of knowledge' spiritual gift with an open mind, based on Paul's use of the word in his letter that contains the gift, and set aside our preconceived notions, a whole new dimension of ministry will open to us.  The message of knowledge gift is passing on knowledge from God: divine revelation.  A knowing that affects how you live or make sense of life.  

Prophetic insights are real, but must be tested and only spoken with discernment and through love.  By calling this gift what it is not, we have been missing out on the real gift which is instruction from God, the Holy Spirit, that brings  people into a greater level of spiritual maturity.  In ministry, prophetic insights or knowing something that only God knows, and very carefully speaking it out, to spark faith or help a person know God is real, may very well be a valid thing and very helpful.  Prophecy is the gift that we should all receive and minister to one another with (1 Corinthians 14:1).

The Corinthians had a problem with knowledge and Paul was teaching them to receive knowledge from God and live with that knowledge through love.  In the nine spiritual gifts listed, the message of wisdom and message of knowledge are the teaching gifts.  We are taught and learn from God when the Holy Spirit gives revelation through these gifts.  What if in the ministry time and even in our lives of discipleship, the gift of knowledge is something God wants to give us through one another, to deepen and mature us in our knowledge of Christ?

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Bibliography / works cited

James Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus and the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament. 1997

Gordon Fee, 1 Corinthians, Revised Edition. NICNT Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2014

Winn Griffin, Gacelets: Being Conduits of the Extravagant Acts of God's Grace, 2015