“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10
The consistent consensus of theological scholars is that the Bible means exactly what it says. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There are descenders from this logic, but they are rear. I propose that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom.
The fear of the Lord is twofold. First, it is a healthy fear (fright, terror) of the God that has the power to create an entire universe and all that is in it, is completely holy and hates sin (rebellion against Him). Second, it is an awe inspired reverence, respect, worship, admiration and adoration for the God that loved us so much that he sent his Son to die in our place. Jesus took on all our sin, of His own free will, with God the Father’s blessing. We should fear the Lord in this twofold manor at all times.
So why would the fear of the Lord be the beginning of knowledge? The word science means knowledge, so if we observe the world around us, we can easily see the work, knowledge, wisdom and skill of our Lord. He created exceedingly complex biomechanical machines, that we call humans, trees, birds, fish and more. There complexity has just been realized over about the past 50 years or so. Only God could create these complex organisms and the complex cosmologic order in our universe. Random chance doesn’t have a chance when faced with this level of complexity.
As we observe the universe that God created and seek to learn the knowledge and wisdom from God’s creation, we in turn become wise. Well, we become wise if we have the fear of the Lord. Without that healthy fear scientist fail to see the reality of God’s creative hand in our universe and planet. They assume that they are the discoverers and authors of their new found knowledge. They fail to recognize that they are learning what God already knows.
People in general fail to give our Lord the credit that he is due for everything we observe and know. They credit science and scientists – they credit research and discoveries and claim scientists are the first to see that discovery. They miss the point that our omnipresent God new exactly where that discovery was and allowed them to find it. A Christian that finds the discovery gives God the credit, while the non-Christian scientist takes all the credit for him/her self.
When we realize who has all the information from the beginning to the end we can give credit where credit is due and obtain the knowledge and wisdom of God. Fools despise this wisdom and instruction and instead live in ignorance and pride in their pseudoscience and day late and dollar short discoveries. God is the author of all information, knowledge and wisdom, so we should always give Him the credit, and humbly accept the accolades of our fellow scholars while giving our Lord all the credit.
In Job 28:28, Job says, “And unto man he [God] said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” Twice Job asks, before making this statement, “Whence then cometh wisdom?” He knew where wisdom came from and finally answered his own question in Job 28:28. He also mentioned that those that depart from evil, or in other words follow scripture, the example of Christ and the leadership of the Holy Spirit, they would develop understanding (wisdom).
God, our Lord Jesus, is the author of all information, knowledge and wisdom. Fear of Him is the beginning of all knowledge and wisdom. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Give all the credit for all our knowledge and wisdom to the Lord. For He alone is the author of all knowledge (science) and wisdom (understanding).