The word of knowledge: a gift of the Holy Spirit

A woman comes to a well at noon, at the hour when no one goes, so as to meet nobody. There a tired stranger is waiting, and he asks her for water. They talk, and suddenly he tells her something about her life that no stranger could know. She does not run away. She leaves her water jar, hurries to the town and tells everyone: “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did” (John 4:29). What transformed her was not that someone knew her story—everyone in town knew it—but that someone knew it all and still stayed talking with her. That is what the second gift on Paul’s list points to:

“For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:8

This article is part of the series The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. We will look at what the word of knowledge is, what it is not, how it appears in the Bible, what it is for, why without love it does harm, and how prudently it must be used. At the end there is a prayer.

What the word of knowledge is

“Knowledge” here translates the Greek word gnosis. As with the previous gift, Paul does not say “knowledge” but “the word of knowledge”: a specific knowing that the Spirit gives and that is communicated for the good of others. Throughout history Christians have understood it in two ways, and both have support in Scripture.

As revealed knowledge. The Spirit makes known a fact the person could not know by natural means—something about someone’s situation or need—so as to be able to help them, pray accurately, or call them back to God. This is how it is chiefly understood in Pentecostal and charismatic churches.

As light for setting out God’s truth. The Spirit grants the ability to understand and explain the Gospel and Scripture with singular clarity, so that the listener “sees” what they did not see before. Many Church Fathers understood it this way, as do many historic churches, which relate it to the gift of teaching.

There is no need to choose. In both cases it is the same thing: a knowledge that comes from the Spirit and not from our own sharpness, and that is handed on as a word to build up.

What it is not

It is not divination or “mind-reading.” It is not information obtained by asking, investigating or reading people’s faces. It is not accumulated biblical learning, valuable as that is. It is not curiosity satisfied: God reveals nothing for entertainment. And it is not permission to expose other people’s lives. The Bible puts it in a way worth remembering whenever this gift is discussed:

“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Deuteronomy 29:29

The secret things belong to God. He knows everything—“all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13)—and he makes known only what is needed, to whom it is needed, when it is needed.

In the Old Testament

Nathan and David. The king had covered his sin carefully: no one knew anything. The prophet arrived with a story about a rich man who stole a poor man’s only lamb, and when David grew indignant he said: “Thou art the man” (2 Samuel 12:7). God had made known to him what was hidden; and wisdom showed him how to say it. The result was not David’s destruction but his repentance: “I have sinned against the Lord.” And at once, grace: “The Lord also hath put away thy sin” (12:13).

Elisha. His servant Gehazi ran secretly after Naaman to get money out of him, and on returning he lied. Elisha answered: “Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee?” (2 Kings 5:26). On another occasion the king of Syria thought he had a traitor at court, because Israel knew all his plans; a servant explained: “Elisha, the prophet… telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber” (2 Kings 6:12).

Daniel had to tell the king not only the meaning of his dream but the dream itself. And he made clear where it came from: “there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets… this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living” (Daniel 2:28, 30). Anyone who truly has this gift never takes the credit. Read Elisha and the double portion and Daniel in Babylon.

In Jesus

To Nathanael, who came with his prejudices—“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”—Jesus said: “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee” (John 1:48). We do not know what happened under that fig tree; Nathanael did, and he answered: “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God” (1:49).

And to the woman of Samaria:

“The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.”
John 4:17-19

It is worth noticing how Jesus used that knowledge. They were alone: he did not shame her in front of anyone. He did not begin there: first he asked her for water and spoke to her of the gift of God. He added no reproach: he told the truth and left her facing it. And the fruit was that a woman who hid from everyone ended up proclaiming Christ in her town, and “many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman” (John 4:39). That is the model.

In the Church

Ananias of Damascus received instructions of astonishing precision: “go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth” (Acts 9:11). A street, a house, a name, and what that person was doing. Thanks to that word, the blind persecutor received a brother who laid hands on him.

Peter, on the housetop at Joppa, knew by the Spirit that three men were looking for him and that he was to go with them without hesitation (Acts 10:19-20); so the door of the Gospel was opened to the Gentiles. The same Peter knew that Ananias and Sapphira were lying about their offering (Acts 5:3-4), in one of the most serious episodes in the book: God did not allow hypocrisy to settle into the foundation of the Church.

And Paul describes what happens when the Spirit touches someone in this way as they come into a meeting: “thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth” (1 Corinthians 14:25).

The other side: knowing God and his Word

It would be a mistake to reduce this gift to knowing hidden things about people. The great “knowledge” of the New Testament is knowing God: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Paul asked for all believers “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17). There are men and women to whom the Spirit gives a word that lights up a passage, that unties a knot in someone’s faith, that makes doctrine stop being cold and become life. That too is a word of knowledge, and the Church needs it as much as the other: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).

What it is for

To reach a person with the certainty that God knows them and is seeking them.
To pray accurately for someone, when we do not know what their real need is.
To call to repentance and open the door to forgiveness, as with David.
To guide service: where to go, whom to look for, as with Ananias.
To protect the community from deception.
To open Scripture and strengthen faith.

Always to build up. Never to show off, to dominate or to satisfy curiosity.

Without love, knowledge puffs up

“Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.”
1 Corinthians 8:1

Knowing something about another person gives power over them, and that power is dangerous. That is why Paul insists: “though I… understand all mysteries, and all knowledge… and have not charity, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). Love decides what is said, to whom, when and how; and often it decides to keep silent. “Charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Moreover, the gift is partial: “now I know in part” (1 Corinthians 13:12). No one knows everything about anyone.

How to discern whether it comes from God

Does it agree with Scripture and lead to Jesus?
Is it true? Unlike other impressions, this one can be checked. If it does not correspond to reality, it was not from God.
Does it produce freedom and hope, or fear and shame?
Is it spoken humbly, leaving the person free?
Is confidence kept? “He that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter” (Proverbs 11:13).
What fruit does it leave in the one who receives it and in the one who gives it?

Rules of prudence

What is sensitive, in private. Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman alone. Someone’s sin or pain is never exposed in front of others.
Better to ask than to assert. “Could it be that you are going through…?” leaves room for the person and for our possible mistake.
Never accuse on the basis of an impression. “Restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself” (Galatians 6:1).
No medical diagnoses, and no announcements of death, pregnancy or infidelity. Lives have been destroyed that way.
Do not use it to control or to gain authority over anyone.
Ask for wisdom along with it: knowing something is not knowing what to do with it.
Accept that you may be wrong, and submit to your pastors.

It must be said plainly: there are people who fake this gift. They gather facts beforehand, or throw out general phrases that would fit anyone, and present it as revelation before an audience. That is fraud, and it usually comes with a request for money. The true gift needs no stage.

How to grow in this gift

There is no technique. There is a path: closeness to God, love for people and faithfulness in small things. Very often the word of knowledge comes while interceding for someone: begin to pray for people with time and attention, and ask the Lord how to pray. Fill yourself with Scripture, so as to recognise his voice. Obey the Spirit’s simple promptings—“Go near, and join thyself to this chariot” (Acts 8:29). And ask for more love than knowledge: God entrusts his secrets to those who will not use them to do harm. Read How to learn to pray.

Frequently asked questions

Is it not the same as fortune-telling? No. Divination seeks hidden knowledge by forbidden means and for one’s own profit. This gift is neither sought out nor induced: God gives it when he wills, for another’s good, and it leads to Christ.

Can the person exercising it be mistaken? Yes. We are clay vessels and “we know in part.” That is why it is tested, and why it is spoken humbly.

How does it differ from prophecy and from discernment? The word of knowledge makes a fact known; prophecy conveys a message from God to build up; discernment distinguishes what spirit something comes from. In practice they intertwine.

Does Bible study get in the way of this gift? On the contrary: it safeguards it. The Spirit who inspired Scripture does not compete with it.

Series “The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit”: Introduction · previous: The word of wisdom · next: The discerning of spirits.

Prayer

Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise; before a word is on my tongue, you know it altogether. And knowing me like that, you have not gone away. As with the woman at the well, you have told me everything I ever did, and you have stayed talking with me. Thank you. Come, Holy Spirit, and grant me to know you, which is eternal life; everything else is added besides. If you wish to show me something of another person’s need, let it be so that I may love them better, pray truthfully, bring them to Jesus. Keep me from curiosity, from the vanity of knowing, and from using what I know to dominate. Teach me to cover, to be silent, to wait for your moment. May whoever speaks with me go away knowing that you know them and love them. Amen.