1 Corinthians 8:2 (ESV) If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

1 Corinthians 8:2 (KJV) And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

Comparing these two translations I am intrigued by the differences in knowledge sources. While you may accept that differences exist in two of them, the third is the consistent and true source.

Imagination vs thinking.

Imagination is creative wish fulfillment. You see things as you would like to have them appear. It has nothing to do with truth or reality. It is a satisfaction of self interest. You begin with what you want the end result to be and create a path back to the beginning of the thought in order to be the producer, screenwriter and director of your own fantasy.

Thinking is reasoning power. What is logical for you fits into your calculations. Anything that does not fit your analytical mind is set aside so as not to cause false conclusions. If it doesn’t fit, then it must not be evidence and reasoning requires evidence.

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Here is your third knowledge source, faith. Look carefully at the comparisons of what faith does for us and the demands of imagination and thinking. There is hope in imagination and faith satisfies that part of us. There is conviction and this satisfies the reasoning power that needs a right conclusion.

Faith brings us to a point of knowing which satisfies both our imagination and our reasoning skills.

The last sentence in 1 Corinthians 8:1 (ESV) reads like this; This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. The word knowledge contains air quotes. I am sure Paul did not use air quotes but it does go to the subject of how we obtain knowledge. Paul said love edifies.

Psalm 119:160 (KJV) Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

What is the truth?

I didn’t grow up in a house that taught the Word of God. I didn’t have any preconceptions about God, Jesus, religion, nor a variety of topics that cover a wide range of doctrines. I didn’t even know what doctrine meant.

Others have been raised up and taught doctrine in accordance with their administrative services. The bible even admits to differences in administrations. That would be fine if it stopped at administration but it doesn’t. Doctrines vary and there is a wide range of opinions on some important matters.

If a person is raised up in another religion which does not espouse the deity of Jesus Christ we have some understanding of why their truths differ from ours so greatly. Their truths consist of what they have been taught. To some degree different administrations of faith are not all that much different. We tend to believe what we were taught.

Now here is the truth. His name if Jesus Christ and only Jesus is truth. The Holy Spirit will only testify of the words of truth spoken by Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not have an opinion that isn’t perfectly aligned with Christ’s Word.

Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV)

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

This washing of water with the word is a representation of removing not only unclean thoughts but also in making corrections of false doctrines. If we do not submit ourselves to the corrections of errors put on us by administrative doctrines, we will not come to know the truth as we ought to know it.