“Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression” (Psalm 19:12-13).
If I had a pet peeve, it would have be presumption. To me there is hardly anything so hard to listen to as ignorant and angry arrogance, the essence of presumption. Arrogance with genius might teach me something, but arrogance with stupidity is insufferable and useless, and teaches me nothing except to not be around it whenever I can avoid it.
False prophets and false teachers will arise, “Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, REVILING WHERE THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong” (2 Peter 2:10-13).
Pride is behind all sin, and to the degree to which pride is present, to that degree, the prideful person is spiritually blind. And spiritual blindness is of no little consequence. The great transgression mentioned in Psalm 19:12-13 is directly correlated to presumption, and presumption is a primary fruit of blinding pride. Presumption, according to James Strong, means “arrogance,” and is rooted in the idea of “to seethe;” figuratively, “to be insolent.” So, in other words, presumption is pride with an angry attitude, but instead of seeing only red (as anger alone evokes), presumption sees a blackness that is felt. Assuredly, presumption assumes things it cannot support and premises things on faulty bases; therefore, ultimately, by a sure chain of causation, presumption arrives only at unsubstantiated and false conclusions. This is done either by perfect logic or poor logic (it matters not which) because if the foundation is faulty, the house built on it is faulty. Just as a liar is not so much a liar because he gets things factually incorrect, but because he is dispositionally off-center, so poor logic is not so much poor logic because it arrives at the wrong conclusion, but because it began its chain of thought off basis.
And presumption is about the wrong basis of things, and therefore, presumption always terminates in darkness. Pride and all her children are blind. Reviling where they have no knowledge is the bane of our day. People flying off the handle full of fecal matter is an apt, albeit, crass and gross way of describing behavior too common today. Perhaps I’m just an old curmudgeon, but it seems to me that more people speak more often and with less expertise than ever before today. Never has presumption been so profuse, and deducing powers so poor (in spite of avalanches of information or data or knowledge available). And therein is the problem I suppose: too much too fast! Meanwhile, the corresponding absorption rate of information nutrition (true understanding) did not increase at the same rate as the availability of that information.
So many today know too little about too much, never wisely mastering a few important things, but rather foolishly and poorly learning many trivial things. Behind the saying “Jack of all trades, master of none” is a harried and superficial work ethic that potentially causes more problems than it solves. I imagine this problem is epidemic because of this Information Age we now live in. Nonetheless, since presumption (as the Scriptures teach), tends toward “great transgression,” it would behoove us to reconsider speaking, texting, tweeting, etc. ad nauseum reflexively, rather than moderately communicating reflectively. Unfortunately, things are exactly as Richard J. Foster described when he said, “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”
When the angel spoke to Daniel and said, “Conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4), it was not so that people could fill their heads with more knowledge than they could turn into wisdom, but for them to actually learn wisdom (the proper application of knowledge gained). As Foster said, we need “deep people,” not wide and superficial people (however intelligent or gifted they might be). We can’t master the rind and novice the seed. We must know things deep enough (seed center deep) to speak intelligently of them; if not, we cease promulgating and progenating effectively.
As John Gill put it (in reference to Daniel 12:4), “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased; that is, towards the end of the time appointed, many persons will be stirred up to inquire into these things delivered in this book, and will spare no pains or cost to get knowledge of them; will read and study the Scriptures, and meditate on them; compare one passage with another; spiritual things with spiritual, in order to obtain the mind of Christ; will peruse carefully the writings of such who have gone before them, who have attempted anything of this kind; and will go far and near to converse with persons that have any understanding of such things: and by such means, with the blessing of God upon them, the knowledge of this book of prophecy will be increased; and things will appear plainer the nearer the accomplishment of them is; and especially when accomplished, when prophecy and facts can be compared together: and not only this kind of knowledge, but knowledge of all spiritual things, of all evangelic truths and doctrines, will be abundantly enlarged at this time; and the earth will be filled and covered with it, as the sea with its waters.”
When the end comes, as assuredly it will (and perhaps it has already begun), we must be about our Father’s business—not flippantly or superficially—but really and deeply. Scripture declares that knowledge puffs up but love edifies, and I would suggest that knowledge without love is inherently superficial and presumptuous. True knowledge is inclusive of love because it is exclusive to Jesus Christ (who is God who is love); you cannot have one without the other. Paul, in one place, instructed Timothy to “guard the deposit committed to [him], avoiding profane, empty babblings, and opposing ideas falsely called knowledge” (1 Timothy 6:20); in another place, Paul said that unselfish love is the catalyst to “the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of the mystery of God, that is, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3). Thus the “falsely called knowledge” is without a doubt profane and empty, devoid of love, and therefore—if used—is presumption. Those that speak from themselves not only seek their own glory (see John 7:18), but also they presume, and are therefore found REVILING WHERE THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE.
If I had a pet peeve, it would have be presumption. To me there is hardly anything so hard to listen to as ignorant and angry arrogance, the essence of presumption. Arrogance with genius might teach me something, but arrogance with stupidity is insufferable and useless, and teaches me nothing except to not be around it whenever I can avoid it.
False prophets and false teachers will arise, “Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, REVILING WHERE THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong” (2 Peter 2:10-13).
Pride is behind all sin, and to the degree to which pride is present, to that degree, the prideful person is spiritually blind. And spiritual blindness is of no little consequence. The great transgression mentioned in Psalm 19:12-13 is directly correlated to presumption, and presumption is a primary fruit of blinding pride. Presumption, according to James Strong, means “arrogance,” and is rooted in the idea of “to seethe;” figuratively, “to be insolent.” So, in other words, presumption is pride with an angry attitude, but instead of seeing only red (as anger alone evokes), presumption sees a blackness that is felt. Assuredly, presumption assumes things it cannot support and premises things on faulty bases; therefore, ultimately, by a sure chain of causation, presumption arrives only at unsubstantiated and false conclusions. This is done either by perfect logic or poor logic (it matters not which) because if the foundation is faulty, the house built on it is faulty. Just as a liar is not so much a liar because he gets things factually incorrect, but because he is dispositionally off-center, so poor logic is not so much poor logic because it arrives at the wrong conclusion, but because it began its chain of thought off basis.
And presumption is about the wrong basis of things, and therefore, presumption always terminates in darkness. Pride and all her children are blind. Reviling where they have no knowledge is the bane of our day. People flying off the handle full of fecal matter is an apt, albeit, crass and gross way of describing behavior too common today. Perhaps I’m just an old curmudgeon, but it seems to me that more people speak more often and with less expertise than ever before today. Never has presumption been so profuse, and deducing powers so poor (in spite of avalanches of information or data or knowledge available). And therein is the problem I suppose: too much too fast! Meanwhile, the corresponding absorption rate of information nutrition (true understanding) did not increase at the same rate as the availability of that information.
So many today know too little about too much, never wisely mastering a few important things, but rather foolishly and poorly learning many trivial things. Behind the saying “Jack of all trades, master of none” is a harried and superficial work ethic that potentially causes more problems than it solves. I imagine this problem is epidemic because of this Information Age we now live in. Nonetheless, since presumption (as the Scriptures teach), tends toward “great transgression,” it would behoove us to reconsider speaking, texting, tweeting, etc. ad nauseum reflexively, rather than moderately communicating reflectively. Unfortunately, things are exactly as Richard J. Foster described when he said, “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”
When the angel spoke to Daniel and said, “Conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4), it was not so that people could fill their heads with more knowledge than they could turn into wisdom, but for them to actually learn wisdom (the proper application of knowledge gained). As Foster said, we need “deep people,” not wide and superficial people (however intelligent or gifted they might be). We can’t master the rind and novice the seed. We must know things deep enough (seed center deep) to speak intelligently of them; if not, we cease promulgating and progenating effectively.
As John Gill put it (in reference to Daniel 12:4), “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased; that is, towards the end of the time appointed, many persons will be stirred up to inquire into these things delivered in this book, and will spare no pains or cost to get knowledge of them; will read and study the Scriptures, and meditate on them; compare one passage with another; spiritual things with spiritual, in order to obtain the mind of Christ; will peruse carefully the writings of such who have gone before them, who have attempted anything of this kind; and will go far and near to converse with persons that have any understanding of such things: and by such means, with the blessing of God upon them, the knowledge of this book of prophecy will be increased; and things will appear plainer the nearer the accomplishment of them is; and especially when accomplished, when prophecy and facts can be compared together: and not only this kind of knowledge, but knowledge of all spiritual things, of all evangelic truths and doctrines, will be abundantly enlarged at this time; and the earth will be filled and covered with it, as the sea with its waters.”
When the end comes, as assuredly it will (and perhaps it has already begun), we must be about our Father’s business—not flippantly or superficially—but really and deeply. Scripture declares that knowledge puffs up but love edifies, and I would suggest that knowledge without love is inherently superficial and presumptuous. True knowledge is inclusive of love because it is exclusive to Jesus Christ (who is God who is love); you cannot have one without the other. Paul, in one place, instructed Timothy to “guard the deposit committed to [him], avoiding profane, empty babblings, and opposing ideas falsely called knowledge” (1 Timothy 6:20); in another place, Paul said that unselfish love is the catalyst to “the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of the mystery of God, that is, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3). Thus the “falsely called knowledge” is without a doubt profane and empty, devoid of love, and therefore—if used—is presumption. Those that speak from themselves not only seek their own glory (see John 7:18), but also they presume, and are therefore found REVILING WHERE THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE.
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