2. Secondly, God has appointed knowledge as the immediate guide
2. Secondly, God has appointed knowledge as the immediate guide for individuals in all their ways, leading them to salvation and repentance. It is what the philosopher called τὸ ἡγημόνικον—the governing principle. Thus, the law in Romans 7:1-2 is compared to a husband, serving as the guide for the heart when it is written or revealed within. Just as a husband guides his wife in her youth, knowledge guides the heart. While beasts are controlled by a bit and bridle, God rules over men through knowledge. Therefore, if men continue to be wicked despite this light, they must sin greatly because there is no other restraint for them as human beings. If God deals with them as human beings, this is the only way. Hence, if this fails to produce the desired effect, nothing is expected to do so.
It is knowledge that enables men to be capable of sin, which beasts are not. Therefore, the more knowledge they possess, the more sin must necessarily be attributed to them if they are wicked.
Consequently, God does not simply consider men's actions and affections but primarily focuses on their knowledge, judging them to be more or less wicked accordingly. I can illustrate this with a comparison: Just as in kingdoms, God measures and punishes their wickedness mainly by considering their guides—the rulers—and their actions, as seen in Jeremiah 5:4. Initially, God looks at the poor people, but He excuses them, saying, "They are foolish and do not know the way of the Lord." Therefore, God would have been inclined to spare the kingdom despite their sins. However, He then turns to the rulers in verse 5, saying, "I will get me to the great men, for they have known the way of the Lord." When He saw that "they had broken the bonds," He asked, "How can I pardon you for this?" The same principle applies to God's judgments concerning an individual.
When God looks down upon a man and sees him engaging in loose and wicked behavior, He first examines the base affections within
him—unclean, profane, debauched, and inclined toward all wickedness. However, He says, "These base affections are foolish in themselves, but I will examine his understanding and superior faculties—the guides of these unruly affections—and see what they instruct these affections to do in order to restrain them." When He discovers that the guides themselves are enlightened and have known the way of the Lord, yet the will and affections, despite being informed with much knowledge, "break all bonds," He questions,
"How can I pardon you?" How can I pardon someone who knowingly indulges in drunkenness, impurity, and the like? Thus, to sin in this manner aggravates and magnifies sin beyond measure.
Moreover, it is evident that knowledge and reason are a person's guides because even erroneous knowledge imposes an obligation, a bond, and a tie upon an individual. This can only be the case because knowledge is appointed as a person's guide. For example, if a person considers something that is inherently common and indifferent to be a sin and forbidden, although the law does not prohibit it, "to him it is unclean," even though it is not unclean in Christ according to the law of Christ (Romans 14:14). In this case, the person's knowledge and judgment of the matter have the force of law for them since it presents itself as a law from God. Reason, which God has appointed as the immediate guide, leads the will to refrain from anything that is evil and presents it as evil. This is the law of human nature in all circumstances. Therefore, if a person were to perform an action that is inherently good but considers it evil, they would sin. Conversely, if they were to perform an action that is inherently evil but consider it good, they would also sin because they go against the dictates of nature. Thus, erroneous knowledge, even though it contradicts the law, becomes a law to me—not in itself but incidentally. Therefore, if it is a sin to go against a false light of conscience, even when it