In Christianity, the word of knowledge is a spiritual gift listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8. Among Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, it is regarded as a supernatural revelation of knowledge through the power of the Holy Spirit.[1] It is closely related to the gift of the word of wisdom.
Pentecostals and charismatics find it difficult to form a definitive portrait of the gift of the word of knowledge as they say there is a lack biblical examples that clearly reference it.[2] Many times this gift is explained in terms of a divine impartation of factual knowledge to a believer, such as the circumstances of friends or missionaries in need or danger, knowledge of which guides intercessory prayer and practical assistance. Knowledge imparted could concern hidden matters in the church leading to its purging or to the right counsel of its leaders. It could also concern the secrets of the human heart.[3] An often cited example word of knowledge is recorded in fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, when Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus told the woman how many times she had been married and that the man she was living with was not her husband. The woman perceived Jesus is a prophet because of this. Some Pentecostals are unsatisfied with this explanation since in biblical accounts these types of actions are ascribed to prophets, and this is seen as confusing the word of knowledge with the gift of prophecy in the church.[3]
Many Pentecostals seek to place this gift within the context of ministry in the church and not simply private revelation.[4] This view, advocated by Donald Gee, is that the word of knowledge is primarily a teaching gift.[5] Though imparted by a supernatural operation of the Spirit, this revelation comes by rational means. This does not mean, however, that all teaching ministry in the church is empowered by this gift. Pentecostals believe there must always be a teaching ministry made possible by "consecrated natural ability", but they also believe that anointed teaching is connected to this supernatural gift. Gee describes this gift operating in the teaching ministry:
There come times when the Spirit of revelation is so operating through a teacher exercising an anointed ministry that we become conscious of an illumination transcending all natural ability either to gain or to impart. It is in such hours that the sheep hear the voice of their Good Shepherd speaking through human lips, even as the early Christians of Asia had heard Christ speaking and had been taught by Him at Ephesus (Ephesians 4:20,21). We know it because our hearts burn within us as surely as theirs did upon the Emmaus road when the risen Christ 'expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.' By the gifts of the Spirit that Voice still expounds the Scriptures on that sweetest of all themes—himself.[6]