Sophomoric Faith I. Introduction A. High School 1. Standard delineation: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior 2. There is a progressive idea behind such a delineation a. Freshman: someone new, just beginning to learn b. Sophomore: someone with a little knowledge but has further to go c. Junior: now an upperclassman, almost to the highest level d. Senior: one with the greatest knowledge and experience, a term denoting seniority and prominence B. What if we were to consider high school as a metaphor for various aspects of life and faith? C. We would start out as "freshmen" 1. Life: physically born and early development 2. Faith: point of conversion, new spiritual life, early spiritual development (cf. Romans 6:1-11, Hebrews 5:12-13) 3. This stage is marked by significant humility and a thirst for knowledge and understanding of one's existence and environment D. We would then move on to being "sophomores" 1. Life: "adolescence," involving at least the teenage years if not the twenties as well 2. Faith: "spiritual adolescence" E. We could then speak of becoming "juniors" 1. Life: the time when we obtain greater responsibility and have a far better understanding based on life and experience; perhaps in one's twenties, or thirties to middle age 2. Faith: A period marked by a return of humility and wisdom based on study and experience tempering the attitudes fostered by knowledge (Hebrews 5:14) F. Finally, we would become "seniors" 1. Life: perhaps quite literally the senior years, the time when we have accomplished most of what we will be able to accomplish, having gained more experience and wisdom 2. Faith: A period still marked by faithfulness to the Lord's commands but now more responsible as shepherds or encouragers of others (1 Timothy 3:1-8, 5:1, Titus 2:2-5) G. For our purposes today, let us focus in on this second period: sophomoric faith 1. What is "sophomoric" faith? 2. What are the challenges that come with it? 3. What is the way forward? II. Sophomoric Faith A. The term "sophomoric" is actually quite apt 1. It may derive from Greek sophisma, "acquired skill, clever device" 2. Another theory suggests it is the combination of the Greek sophos, "wise," and moros, "foolish, dull," leading to the idea of the "wise fool" 3. "Wise fool" remains the most apt description of a "sophomore," and certainly of "sophomoric" faith B. How can one be a "wise fool"? 1. When we begin at something, we tend to have a good dose of humility because we are entering some sort of uncharted territory 2. Small children have this type of humility (Matthew 18:1-6): they are learning, and they frequently ask questions of authority figures in order to make sense of their world 3. So also for those who are small children spiritually and who feast on the milk of the Word (cf. 1 Peter 2:1-3) 4. But there will come a time when such people will begin to grow in knowledge but perhaps not as much in humility, love, or wisdom 5. Classic example: the student who has completed first year Greek a. After the first year of studying Greek, a student has the tools to understand the basic functioning of the language b. It is easy for such a student to imagine that they now have Greek figured out and can use their tools to come to "the" answer and "the" understanding of things c. It will take a few more years of study for the student to be disabused of much of that naivete after they have been confronted with a lot more of the challenges that bedevil the craft d. It is likely the same with other languages as well 6. The teenage years in general are also well understood as being "sophomoric" a. Little children grow up and start gaining a lot of knowledge b. That knowledge comes without a lot of experience or wisdom c. Many times such teenagers do not (and often cannot) have the "peripheral vision" of seeing all of the possible consequences of their behavior, their true fragility and the dangers that surround them, and they cannot yet understand the nuances, challenges, difficulties, and complexities of life d. They think they know everything and have everything figured out, and it is because they have done so well according to their own perspective and within their blinders! e. The problem is that they do not perceive their blinders and thus think they really do understand everything! 7. We see "sophomoric" tendencies in society as well a. Scientists get some knowledge about aspects of existence and think they can now extrapolate all truths from that knowledge... b. ...And then they make more discoveries that complicate the situation greatly, and almost always challenging not the "hard" science they discovered, but the assumptions and perspectives undergirding their philosophies c. People feel as if we have moved on beyond needing an understanding of God, chafing at the idea of an authority figure... d. ...but then life gets messy and complicated, fraught with difficulties and challenges, and the universe seems rather lonely and meaningless! e. We could go on and on! C. In terms of the faith, Paul provides an important warning in 1 Corinthians 8:1 1. An important principle: knowledge puffs up, but love builds up 2. The challenge of 1 Corinthians 8: Christians using their knowledge that no idol really exists to exercise the liberty of eating food sacrificed to idols 3. In so doing they were searing the consciences of Christians who had not yet attained to that knowledge 4. Knowledge without love was leading the Corinthians to sin against Christ (1 Corinthians 8:12)! D. Corinthians as manifesting sophomoric faith 1. In reality, one can see how the Corinthians are the prime example of Christians with sophomoric faith 2. 1 Corinthians 1-4: Corinthians were puffed up, divided into parties following different preachers, still thinking carnally, thinking themselves wise when they really remained foolish (1 Corinthians 3:1-4, 18-23, 4:6-21) 3. 1 Corinthians 5: Corinthians were puffed up and proud of their tolerance when they should have mourned and disciplined the offending brother 4. 1 Corinthians 8 described above 5. 1 Corinthians 12-14: Corinthians exercised spiritual gifts but not for building up; they seemed to enjoy the "power" of exercising the gifts, showed less concern about the love that energizes that exercise and the proper order which leads to building up E. What are the challenges here in Corinth? 1. The Corinthian Christians have some knowledge but lack spiritual character 2. They still think in worldly, not spiritual ways, and thus their knowledge gets distorted and used toward worldly ends 3. They exercise the powers and abilities given to them without regard to how they should be properly used and to what end 4. They think they have many things figured out when in reality they do not have a good understanding at all! 5. These are all the tendencies of a sophomoric faith: development of knowledge ahead of humility, love, experience, and wisdom! F. Sophomoric faith, then, is when we have grown in our knowledge and understanding but have yet to gain great depth in humility, love, experience, and wisdom 1. As with the teenage years in life, so with sophomoric faith: it is a phase we all need to get through if we are going to be able to press on to maturity (Philippians 3:12-15, Hebrews 5:14) 2. Yet such is easier said than done! III. Indicators of Sophomoric Faith A. Sophomoric faith, as with the sophomoric stage in life, can be fraught with danger 1. We might be tempted to get stuck at the sophomoric level and never develop further 2. We may think, feel, and act in ways we later will regret as being unprofitable because we were puffed up by knowledge without building up in faith (1 Corinthians 8:1) 3. We might cause great spiritual harm to ourselves and/or to others because of our "wise folly"! B. What, then, can be done? C. The first thing we must do is to understand the specific challenges and dangers that come with the sophomoric period of our faith, mentally assenting to the understanding that it is a phase we must pass through in order to get to where we need and want to go spiritually! D. One such indicator is the inability to see things from other perspectives 1. When we come to the knowledge of the truth, we may feel that it is so blindingly obvious that we cannot understand why anyone would believe or act any differently 2. It is easy to develop a judgmental attitude because of this inability (cf. Matthew 7:1-4), and that is dangerous 3. This is why James says we are to be quick to hear and slow to speak (James 1:19): we must first seek to understand others, what they believe and do, and why if we will have any hope of persuading them regarding the truth (1 Peter 3:15)! E. Another is a supreme confidence in one's own ability and understanding 1. Just like the Greek student after one year of study, we think we can easily make sense of everything and do everything after a gaining a little bit of knowledge 2. It is easy at this stage to get puffed up in one's abilities, thinking that we can overcome anything if we just try hard enough 3. Yet this is dangerous, since we do not actually have supreme understanding or ability (Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 3:20, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10) 4. After all, what will happen to us when we keep trying but constantly fail? 5. What will we do when we are faced with questions which have no easy answer? Can we live with the unanswered questions of life? F. "If we can we should" mentality 1. This mentality bedeviled Corinth as well as our society today 2. As with teenagers, so today: if we can, we should/must. Few people stop to think if we should do what we can do 3. Humans always figure out their capabilities before they figure out the propriety of what they are doing 4. So it is spiritually: we get knowledge, and since we have not yet developed the proper love and humility as we ought, we feel as if we should do things because we can, not showing concern about its profitability or how it impacts others (cf. 1 Corinthians 8) 5. Very dangerous: it is easy to destroy others in Christ because of our unloving knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:11-12)! G. We could perhaps consider other indicators, but these are sufficient to show the types of dangers and challenges that come with "sophomoric" faith IV. What Are We to Do? A. If we must all go through the "sophomoric" phase of our faith, and it remains fraught with such danger, what can be done? B. As the teenage years, so sophomoric faith: we must strive toward greater maturity and wisdom so as to grow out of it (Hebrews 5:12-14, 2 Peter 3:18)! C. Nevertheless, during the "sophomoric" phase of the faith, we do well to keep two matters in mind D. #1: True wisdom is the recognition that the more we learn, the more we realize the little we know and can know (Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 11:33-36)! 1. Socrates was right: all he learned was how comparatively little he really knew! 2. As we learn and grow, we realize how much more complex things are than they previously seemed 3. The more we learn and experience, the more we realize how limited we are in terms of our abilities, knowledge, and understanding! E. #2: Trust 1. Notice how the one thing most often lacking in sophomoric faith is the "faith"! 2. Knowledge puffs up: it makes us think we have greater ability and insight than we really do (1 Corinthians 8:1) 3. In this phase it is easy to put our trust in ourselves and what we see, and not to trust in God and what we cannot see (2 Corinthians 5:7) 4. As "sophomores" in the faith, we do well to not really trust in our own abilities or knowledge but always entrust ourselves to the Creator who is all-powerful and all-knowing (cf. 1 Peter 4:19) 5. We do well to seek to imitate Jesus in thought, feeling, and action, even if it does not always seem to make the most sense to us (Romans 8:29, 1 John 2:6) 6. And we do well to honor and respect our elders in the faith who have gone through the sophomoric phase of their faith and to learn from their hard-earned insights and wisdom (1 Timothy 5:1-2, Titus 2:2-5) V. Conclusion A. We have considered the concept of "sophomoric" faith: the time of the "wise fool," one who has knowledge not sufficiently tempered by love, humility, wisdom, and experience B. We all must go through that phase of our faith in some way or another C. It is fraught with dangers and challenges, and we must decide how "smooth" or "bumpy" the ride will be based upon our willingness to remain humble despite gaining some knowledge and to trust in both our own lack of insight and the value of reliance upon God our Creator and the insight that comes from our elders in the faith D. Let us continue to grow in the faith, gaining knowledge, love, experience, and wisdom, pressing on to maturity in Christ Jesus (Hebrews 5:14)! E. Invitation