Bible Knowledge Is Not Godliness

Read Matthew 2:1-12

      Godly people will always be growing in their knowledge of the Scriptures, but Bible knowledge alone does not guarantee godliness. 

      When the wicked King Herod asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah was to be born, they were quick with the answer.  That’s easy – Micah 5:2 says he will be born in Bethlehem, King David’s home town.  They even quoted it (2:6).    

      But it wasn’t the Jewish Bible scholars who longed to find and worship God’s Messiah, but foreigners from the east.  For all their knowledge of the Scriptures, the religious leaders’ hearts were untouched by it.  They were nothing like Simeon in the temple “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25).  They were experts in Bible prophecy whose hearts were utterly unprepared for Messiah’s appearance in their own day. 

      We are not immune to mistaking mere Bible knowledge for spiritual receptivity and preparedness.  “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,” warns James (1:22).  “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect,” counsels Jesus himself (Luke 12:40).