Definition of Knowledge and Wisdom

KNOWLEDGE is stored information. It is whatever you ‘know.’ Knowledge does not require that information which you hold be true, it simply requires that you know something. Knowledge comes exclusively from learning. This means you can gain knowledge in school or from books. You can learn from experiences you have or from observing the experiences of others. The single defining factor of knowledge is that it is data which is stored in your brain—on your hard drive.

WISDOM is far different from knowledge. Wisdom is the ability to process knowledge. To play on the hard drive analogy, wisdom is the software that is able to organize the data on the hard drive and put it into practice. In a practical sense, wisdom still does not require that the data you are processing be truth, it simply is the ability to put knowledge into practice.

From a philosophical stance, wisdom requires that data be true. To process information which is false and apply it would be foolish. Think about statistics. Say I interview three people and ask what their favorite color is. The first person says that his favorite color is green. Not wanting to be left out, the second and third person also says green even though their favorite colors are yellow and red respectively. As the statistician, I conclusively state that all mankind has the favorite color of green. This is obviously wrong so philosophically this is not a wise conclusion

From a Christian perspective as well, wisdom is the ability to process truth. But, there are additional factors which apply over and above the philosophical stance. From the Christian perspective, truth must be God’s truth. We get God’s truth from God’s word. This makes the Bible our primary source of knowledge and the database from which we are able to pull from in order to be wise. So, from this perspective, wisdom is the ability to process the truth of God’s word and apply it to our lives.