The Gift of Knowledge

If you have been a member of the LDS church for more than a few years you have probably attended a lesson at church in which the gifts of the Spirit were discussed. 1 Corinthians 12 and Doctrine and Covenants 46 are two places in the scriptures that list gifts of the Spirit.

The gifts of knowledge and wisdom are two spiritual gifts listed in these chapters, and in church classes the discussion of these gifts tends to focus on the difference between them. Interestingly, in my experience, the majority of the time the conclusion seems to be that knowledge is inferior to wisdom, or even the unrighteous version of wisdom. Often in these discussions I feel that the underlying feeling about seeking knowledge is, "Well, it's okay if you like to learn things, but just keep in mind that it's dangerous to get too smart because knowledge makes you prideful, so be careful." There was even a time when I visited my parents' ward, and when the teacher asked for some modern parallels of a wicked group of people from the scriptures, a man raised his hand and said, "Scientists!"

After one class about gifts of the Spirit a few years ago, I came home feeling troubled because this conclusion didn't feel right to me. Why would knowledge be a gift of the Spirit if it's not worth having? Since then I have pondered this a great deal, and recently I had the opportunity to look at the subject in even greater depth because I was asked to teach a class about it at Stake Women's Day.

I think part of the confusion comes because of semantics. Sometimes in the scriptures knowledge and wisdom are desirable, and other times they are described as worldly or as the causes of wickedness.

In his talk, Converting Knowledge into Wisdom, Marion G. Romney gives some definitions:

The dictionary distinguishes wisdom from knowledge--which, it says, denotes "acquaintance with, or clear perception of, facts," and from science, which "is exact, organized, and classified knowledge, especially in relation to the physical world," and from information, which is defined as "knowledge communicated or acquired, especially by reading or observation." Wisdom as distinguished from these, it says, "is the capacity of judging soundly and dealing broadly with facts, especially in their practical relations to life and conduct." 

. . . Since knowledge is an "acquaintance with, or clear perception of, facts;" and wisdom is "the capacity of judging soundly and dealing broadly with facts; especially in their practical" application "to life and conduct," it follows that wisdom is a product of, and is dependent upon knowledge.

That last phrase is important. Yes, we should strive to learn wisdom. But how can we have wisdom if we aren't clearly acquainted with the facts? We need knowledge; God wants us to seek for knowledge because without it we cannot be wise. In fact, after studying the scriptures and the words of the prophets I have come to realize that learning is preparation for eternity.

Boyd K. Packer said:

As we learn about ourselves and learn about the great plan of redemption, we know that in the premortal existence intelligence existed forever. It was not created. It will exist forever. In due course, we were given a spirit body. We became then the sons and daughters of God . . . While in that existence, we were valiant and chose good . . . Then, in the course of our having chosen good . . . we had a body prepared by mortal parents, and we were born into mortality. (Boyd K. Packer, The Instrument of Your Mind and the Foundation of Your Character)

I think it’s interesting that before we were given spirit bodies we were called intelligences. So even then we had some knowledge. Then as God has given us spirit bodies and physical bodies our capacity for understanding has increased.

We learned the gospel in the spirit world, but without a body we were limited in our ability to grow and apply the gospel. We also couldn’t be like God because he had a body. So we were born into mortality and now we have bodies. Boyd K. Packer also said, “Our spirit and our body are combined in such a way that our body becomes an instrument of our mind and the foundation of our character.” (The Instrument of Your Mind and the Foundation of Your Character)

Put this way, we can see that our bodies are a gift from our Heavenly Father to help us learn. Learning was one of the central purposes for sending us to earth, and when we are resurrected we will have an even greater capacity for learning.

We shouldn't squander our mortal life. Because our bodies are instruments of our minds we need to use this gift to learn as much as we can. Joseph Smith taught: "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." (Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19) Now, it's not a race; God recognizes that we all learn (both spiritually and intellectually) at different paces. But I think it's clear that as resurrected beings we will be grateful that we sought knowledge during our mortal probations.

>>Using God to Fill In the Gaps