J. I. Packer wrote a book entitled Knowing God and talks about the difference between knowledge about God and knowledge of God. We don't just believe in God, but believe God! We can know a lot of facts about someone and yet not even know them at all. When God supposedly described Eve to Adam, don't you think he wanted to meet her and get to "know" her? We can know a lot about godliness and still not know God. We may have simply memorized the dance of the pious or going through the motions. Even the ability to say long prayers can be hypocritical and deceiving.
We know God by having a living and vital relationship with Him. To know Him is to love Him. To know Him is eternal life itself. We can know the Bible, or many Christians and still scarcely know our Lord. It is more than curiosity or a desire to know all the answers, it is a thirst for the living God, to love the truth, to meditate in His temple. We are meant to know God and if we want to boast, it should be that we know the Lord (Jer. 9:24 says, "Let him who boasts, boast that he understands and knows Me...").
Packer lists four propositions that show knowledge of God: Great energy for God; great boldness for God; great contentment in God; and great thoughts of God. Daniel 11:32 says that "those who know their God shall be strong and do exploits." God is incomprehensible because He is infinite and we can only know Him as He reveals Himself to us. He has revealed Himself to us in His Son. To know Jesus is to know God and to be saved is to know Jesus. Scholars seem to know a lot about God and theologians can make you think you are ignorant, but just being an enthusiast for the Bible can give you a more true knowledge of what matters than all the mumble-jumble gobbledygook. We can experience God and He wants us to know Him intimately, but we must be willing.
Knowing about God is not wrong per se, because it is a necessary precondition to knowing Him, so we must not look down on knowledge, for it has its place. Rejecting knowledge is not an option, but it is a means to the end of ultimately knowing God.
Packer says that a little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about God. Sometimes we really think we know a person, but don't--it is necessary to have a relationship with that person and not just know facts. Just being able to discuss Bible themes or religious topics in itself does not mean we know our God. Our prayer life, our witness, our testimony, our fellowship are better barometers of our relationship. We can have a good knowledge of God with doctrine and we can have little knowledge of God without doctrine; we can also have knowledge of God with little doctrine--our doctrine need not be impeccably correct to be holy.
Let's not be content just to be theologically correct at the expense of living faith and the love that is so important. Being good at theology might be a gift, but it is no sure sign of spiritual maturity. A Christian can get A's in theology and be very immature (don't confuse gifting with maturity, because one can use his gift without being mature). Some believers are more "blow than go," and are like backseat drivers or "armchair quarterbacks," thinking they know more than they do. "If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know as ye ought to know." (cf. 1 Cor. 8:2)
In the final analysis, it is not so important how well we know God, but that He knows us. (cf. Gal. 4:9 says, "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God...." Remember how important it is for Christ to know us: He will say to them "...I never knew you...." On the other hand, anyone who says he knows God because he has had some experience, or boasts that he knows "someone" (like knowing people in "high places") and does not obey God is a liar. Religious experiences and ecstasies are no guarantee of knowing God. Many religious mystics have religious existential "encounters."
Remember: We were made to know God with resultant love for Him. Jesus summed it up well when He said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (cf. John 17:3). Soli Deo Gloria!
We know God by having a living and vital relationship with Him. To know Him is to love Him. To know Him is eternal life itself. We can know the Bible, or many Christians and still scarcely know our Lord. It is more than curiosity or a desire to know all the answers, it is a thirst for the living God, to love the truth, to meditate in His temple. We are meant to know God and if we want to boast, it should be that we know the Lord (Jer. 9:24 says, "Let him who boasts, boast that he understands and knows Me...").
Packer lists four propositions that show knowledge of God: Great energy for God; great boldness for God; great contentment in God; and great thoughts of God. Daniel 11:32 says that "those who know their God shall be strong and do exploits." God is incomprehensible because He is infinite and we can only know Him as He reveals Himself to us. He has revealed Himself to us in His Son. To know Jesus is to know God and to be saved is to know Jesus. Scholars seem to know a lot about God and theologians can make you think you are ignorant, but just being an enthusiast for the Bible can give you a more true knowledge of what matters than all the mumble-jumble gobbledygook. We can experience God and He wants us to know Him intimately, but we must be willing.
Knowing about God is not wrong per se, because it is a necessary precondition to knowing Him, so we must not look down on knowledge, for it has its place. Rejecting knowledge is not an option, but it is a means to the end of ultimately knowing God.
Packer says that a little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about God. Sometimes we really think we know a person, but don't--it is necessary to have a relationship with that person and not just know facts. Just being able to discuss Bible themes or religious topics in itself does not mean we know our God. Our prayer life, our witness, our testimony, our fellowship are better barometers of our relationship. We can have a good knowledge of God with doctrine and we can have little knowledge of God without doctrine; we can also have knowledge of God with little doctrine--our doctrine need not be impeccably correct to be holy.
Let's not be content just to be theologically correct at the expense of living faith and the love that is so important. Being good at theology might be a gift, but it is no sure sign of spiritual maturity. A Christian can get A's in theology and be very immature (don't confuse gifting with maturity, because one can use his gift without being mature). Some believers are more "blow than go," and are like backseat drivers or "armchair quarterbacks," thinking they know more than they do. "If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know as ye ought to know." (cf. 1 Cor. 8:2)
In the final analysis, it is not so important how well we know God, but that He knows us. (cf. Gal. 4:9 says, "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God...." Remember how important it is for Christ to know us: He will say to them "...I never knew you...." On the other hand, anyone who says he knows God because he has had some experience, or boasts that he knows "someone" (like knowing people in "high places") and does not obey God is a liar. Religious experiences and ecstasies are no guarantee of knowing God. Many religious mystics have religious existential "encounters."
Remember: We were made to know God with resultant love for Him. Jesus summed it up well when He said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (cf. John 17:3). Soli Deo Gloria!
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