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Learned, and still learning

Scripture never despises learning. Apollos, Nicodemus and Paul were all highly trained, and each of them still had something to learn.

Many who teach God's Word have studied hard for it: years of seminary, the original languages, theology, sometimes a doctorate. That is a gift. Scripture never despises learning; even in prison Paul asked for his books and parchments 2 Timothy 4:13.

The danger isn't learning. The danger is when learning stops being humble. Pride is a risk for every one of us, with or without a degree (see Pride, agendas and the courage to say "we were wrong"). Scripture gives us several learned men who show the way.

Apollos: accurate, and corrected

"Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of Elohim more accurately" Acts 18:24-26.

Look at what Luke says. Apollos was eloquent, mighty in the Scriptures and fervent, and he taught accurately (akribōs). And yet a tentmaker and his wife explained the way of God to him more accurately. He didn't have to be wrong about everything to have something to learn. Two humble believers took him aside, privately, and he listened. Then he went on to be a great help to many Acts 18:27-28.

Nicodemus: "the teacher of Israel"

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler, and he came to Yeshua at night John 3:1-2. Yeshua said to him: "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?" John 3:10. He was a recognized authority, and it must have stung. But he didn't walk away. Later he spoke up for Yeshua before the council John 7:50-51. And at the end, when most had fled, "Nicodemus also came, the one who had first come to Yeshua by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds" John 19:39. He began in the dark and ended in the open.

Paul: the best training of his day

Paul said he was "brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to the strictness of our fathers' Torah, being zealous for Elohim, just as you all are today" Acts 22:3. "Strictness" here is akribeia, from the same family of words as Apollos' "accurately." Paul had some of the most precise training of his day, and he was still wrong about the most important thing.

Later he listed his credentials: "If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Torah, a Pharisee… But whatever things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for the sake of the Messiah. Yes indeed, I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing the Messiah Yeshua my Lord" Philippians 3:4-8. He didn't stop using what he had learned; his letters are full of it. He stopped trusting in it.

"They had been with Yeshua"

The council was amazed at two fishermen: "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlettered and ordinary men, they marveled. And they recognized that they had been with Yeshua" Acts 4:13.

The same was said of Yeshua Himself: "How does this man know letters, having never studied?" He answered: "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wants to do His will, he will know concerning the teaching, whether it is from Elohim or whether I speak on My own" John 7:15-17. That is the key He gave: understanding the teaching comes with wanting to do God's will. Not from the degree, and not from the lack of one.

Knowledge and love

"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he does not yet know anything as he ought to know" 1 Corinthians 8:1-2. Paul wrote that to people who were proud of what they knew. It's a good verse to keep on the desk where we study.

Your training can be one of the best tools God has given you for this audit. You can read the original languages, check the history and weigh the arguments (see Keys for reading the Scriptures accurately). The only question is whether we're willing to let what we find correct us, the way Apollos did.

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