Shortly I'll be meeting up with one of my best friends and favorite pastors. He has no formal biblical education. Remember: wisdom is not mainly a question of degrees and diplomas. These obviously have their importance. But the wisdom from above is not necessarily a matter of formal education. Wisdom from above is a gift of spiritual discernment. The Bible everywhere encourages us in its pursuit. God wants each of us to use our minds. He made us insatiably inquisitive, which is why we never outgrow the child's "Why? Why? Why?" It's God who made us that way!
"Faith seeking understanding" is how the theologians of old put it. That comes from the Latin Fides quaerens intellectum (Anselm). Augustine put it like this: Crede ut intelligas. "Believe that you may understand." Anselm himself wrote: "O God, let me know you and love you that I may rejoice in you." So to all my fellow Bible students: reason is essential to faith. You are working very hard at your studies because you believe this to be true. Thank you!
(Sorry, friends, for all that Latin stuff. It's just the way I'm wired :-)