If I said to you that I know something like the back of my hand, you would understand what I meant. It’s an English language idiom that means “to have very good and detailed knowledge of something.”
If someone said to you, “I know the bible like the back of my hand,” you would understand them to mean a deep understanding of the Scriptures, likely with large portions memorized, a more-than-average understanding of the various books, their contexts and how they come together. Honestly, it’s a pretty bold claim.
While the Bible doesn’t use that idiom, it could be said of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in Jesus day. They knew what we call the Old Testament backward and forward and could likely recite at least the first five books word for word. They also understood all the rabbinical interpretations and applications. I would love to have their knowledge.
The man we come to know as Paul the Apostle was once known as Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was highly regarded as a zealot, a teacher and a persecutor of the Christian faith. He stood by and held Stephen’s cloak as Stephen was being stoned to death for his beliefs. No one doubted his sincerity, his knowledge or his passion.
Despite all that, Saul was missing something. He didn’t yet know Jesus. That would come later in a divine encounter on the Damascus Road.
Without Christ, all his knowledge, his years of study, the sincerity of his beliefs and his zeal were meaningless. He was doomed to eternal damnation.
In Acts, Paul says; I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but having been brought up in this city, having been instructed at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Acts 2:3
Throughout Paul’s writings, we see that he came to understand that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that we are saved by faith through God’s grace and mercy, bought by the shed blood of Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Paul also teaches that we need to know the Word, to understand what it teaches and apply it to our lives. To be a Christian takes faith, but that doesn’t exclude knowledge.
All the “head knowledge” in the world, even if you can say you know the Bible, church history and theology like “the back of my hand”, without that moving to your heart and manifesting as faith, it’s useless.
Faith isn’t a blind leap. You have to have enough knowledge to know you are a sinner and what you need to be reconciled to God. Our walk isn’t a question of faith versus knowledge. It’s faith and knowledge.
Faith saves you, and the knowledge and its application deepen your relationship. With Christ. The way to reconciliation with God
I pray you have the faith to be saved, and the head knowledge to understand. I pray that your love for Jesus and knowledge of what He requires move you to application (works)
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed
Kevin
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
SUMMARY
Knowing Scripture deeply is admirable, but even the most profound biblical knowledge is worthless without personal faith in Jesus Christ. True Christian living requires both — faith that saves and knowledge that deepens the relationship.
KEY POINTS
Saul of Tarsus had unmatched scriptural knowledge yet was lost without Christ, proving that head knowledge alone cannot save.
Salvation comes by grace through faith — not works or intellectual achievement — as Paul himself came to understand after his Damascus Road encounter.
Faith and knowledge are not opposites; faith saves us, while growing in the Word deepens our walk with Christ and moves us toward application.
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All contents, “Gleanings From the Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2026 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, “Gleanings From the Word.” All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the Legacy Standard Bible® (LSB®), Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc.
From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.
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