In 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NET) we read, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. But if someone loves God, he is known by God.”
Knowledge, in the absence of love, tends toward arrogance. But love focuses on building others up. And think of love as “helpfulness.” To love is to help others become what God created them to be. But if we think we know all about that then we are no where near knowing what we need to know.
In other words, there needs to be a point in each of our lives when we realize that when it comes to spiritual reality, we know next to nothing. Then we are ready to believe the one truth that puts us on the path of true knowledge, that is, that Jesus himself will teach us everything we need to know to be his true friend, and everything we need to know in helping others become his friends too.
Such knowledge — coming as it does from him — is imbued with love. For that matter the apostle Paul here implies that building others up is what it means to love God and be known by God.
