Right Words

From A.E. Knoch’s His Grandest Glories: Studies in Colossians.

Col. 1:9, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will, and all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

“Let us not degrade the apostle’s petition to a mere request for individual guidance in each step of our career. If we know his will concerning Christ and ourselves, that will shine upon our path and remove the need of being led like a blind man, every step of our way. Guidance should not be a matter dependent on external circumstances or inward impulses, but of wisdom and spiritual understanding. The lack of these has left the saints to the mercy of the forces of evil. Many who imagine that the holy spirit [sic] has given them a special and definite revelation are the dupes of evil spirits. They do that which is contrary to the will of God because they are not acquainted with it. They imagine that the Scriptures are not sufficient and need to be supplemented by direct revelations of his will as occasion arises, forgetting that, in the Scriptures, the man of God is fitted out for every good act (2 Tim. 3:17).

So apprehending the will of God is different in this age than in previous ages when the scriptures were not complete. Under those circumstances, other indications of God‘s will were critical for ascertaining it. While external circumstances do provide some indication of God’s will in this age, Knoch’s point is that the completed scriptures should be the first and primary thing that members of Christ’s body consult in apprehending God’s will.