KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge refers to a body of factual data that is received and understood by a rational human being. The acquisition of spiritual knowledge is fundamental to Christianity. The prophets foretold that those of the Christian era who faithfully serve God will be those who "know" him (Jer. 31:31-34). Jesus declared: "It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that has heard from the Father, and has learned, comes unto me" (Jn. 6:45). Knowing the "truth" is prerequisite to being set free from sin (Jn. 8:32), and the knowledge of that truth is in the word of God (Jn. 17:17; 1 Tim. 2:4). While there is a rudimentary level of "knowledge" which testifies that there is such a thing as "right" and "wrong" (Rom. 2:14-15), the full body of spiritual knowledge necessary to please God is not intuitive. Nor is divine knowledge accessed directly by some sort of "personal encounter" with deity, or by a supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Rather, sacred knowledge has been deposited in that body of literature known as the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Paul reminded the Ephesian saints that the revelation of God's will had been made known unto him by "words," which, he said, "when you read" you can "perceive my understanding" (Eph. 3:1ff). To those pseudo-sophisticated moderns, who believe that spiritual acknowledge and truth are unattainable, Scripture replies: "We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding, that we might know him that is truth" (1 Jn. 5:20). The term "know" is also used in the New Testament in the sense of "obey." "And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments" (1 Jn. 2:3).