4.2 Defining - To Know

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3). This is the ONLY definition of “eternal life” found in the Bible.

The Greek word John used for “to know” was ginosko, which means every kind of knowing we could come up with, ranging from simple perception to sexual intercourse to the deep life-long knowing of intimate friendship. But Paul increased the scope of this “knowing” way beyond John’s word. To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge (Ephesians 3:19a). In other words, to KNOW beyond all possible definitions of “to know.”

An Unbelievable Claim. Then Paul states that knowing the love of Christ, that is, this one who lives in our hearts, leads to something totally unbelievable. That you might be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19b).

So, Jesus claimed that eternal life was for us to know God. And Paul claimed that this same Jesus, risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of God, lives in our hearts in all of His glory. And Paul claimed further that, as we learn the extent of the love of this Christ in our hearts, we will discover, in increasing knowledge beyond knowing, that all of God Himself is inside of us as well!!!

Base Assumptions. In Chapter 9, The Rule of Base Assumptions, we will attempt to understand what is really going on at the core of “Bible interpretation.” You see, if Ephesians 3:17-19 is the truth, then the words of those three verses must rule over every approach to the Bible. Yet they do not; in fact, these words are hardly known among Christians. Ephesians 3:17-19 should be just about the only thing taught among Christians, with every other verse in the Bible simply helping us to understand the impossible reality imposed on us by Paul’s words. Only one thing has the power to prevent such a knowledge of God inside of us – death!

The Rule of Death. Here is how it works, the thinking behind removing Ephesians 3:17-19 from any discussion of “what the Bible means.”

Yes, these words are true, very true. BUT – you cannot know God in this way now, you cannot know God in this way here, this kind of knowing is only for after you are dead. Once you die, then you can know God. And the reason you can know God only after death is because death is the only way you will go to a place called “heaven” which, as we all know, is the real definition of “eternal life.” And only there, after death, will you know God. Meanwhile the only thing the Bible means for us here and now is how we get to go to the right geographical place after we die.

Through Faith. It is only as we understand the reasoning behind defining “going to” heaven after death as the definition of “eternal life” can we then begin to grapple with Paul’s impossible claim.

Christ lives in your hearts by faith. – For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). The trick is the “by faith” part. Now, the Greek word translated “by” is dia, which actually means all the way through – as in diameter as the measurement that goes all the way through a circle. In other words, “by faith,” does not mean believing something nice that isn’t literally true. It means that Christ comes all the way through the passage of our faith to live in Person in us.

Let It Be to Me. Here is how faith works. “Christ lives in your heart through faith” is a word sitting there on the pages of the Bible. That line has the potential to become the “word of God,” but only as it enters into me by the Spirit. I connect directly with the Father as if this word is Him, personally, speaking into me and I give Him the one response He is waiting to hear.  “Let it be to me according to Your word.” Not according to what I see, but according to what God speaks. My response is faith directed towards a specific word. That specific word, by the Spirit and through my faith, enters into me – and Christ Jesus, Himself in Person, lives in my heart.

Intellect or Spirit? Knowing Jesus alive in me is the first part of knowing God. The question, then, is how do we know God? Do we know God primarily by our intellects with something called our “spirit” as a minor sideline? Or do we know God primarily by our spirits with our minds serving only as a servant?

Now, here is something you must know. The majority of Christian teachers and interpreters of the Bible are solidly in the first approach, knowing God primarily by the intellect and primarily through a mental study of the Bible. Yet there are millions of Christians who choose the second, knowing God and the Bible by their spirits first.

Instructions or Another Dimension? When John said that Jesus has given us an understanding (a through-mind) that we might know God (1 John 5:20), was He speaking of the human intellect or was He speaking of the human spirit?

Now, I want to show you how God seems to confuse the matter. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us (1 John 3:24). Do we read God’s instructions, understand what they mean with our minds and obey them? Or do we first know a dimension of reality that is Spirit before we can even know what God means by what He says?

How Do We Know? How do I know that Jesus lives in my heart? There is zero evidence to my sight and by extension to my human intellect that He does any such thing. God says it on the page; the human intellect reads it and assumes it to be true. Yet how will the human intellect ever “KNOW” beyond all knowledge this Person alive and real inside of them?

Now we have received… the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:12). – But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16b). Is this mind the human intellect or something much deeper?

Do We Choose? Did God give us a Bible and then expect us to “figure out” what He means by using our intellects to interpret the Bible? Or is there a dimension and reality that God makes available to believers in Jesus inside of which “knowing God” and thus interpreting the Bible becomes something incredibly real and alive? And does God allow each individual born-again Christian to choose whether they want to enter into that deeper dimension of Spirit or not? And do many who, by their right, choose not to enter into that realm of knowing God by Spirit continue to read and to interpret the Bible with their intellects?

Spirit and Truth. …true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).

Now, you must understand that those Bible interpreters who read the Bible by human intellect will give a reasonable explanation how what Jesus means by “spirit” is simply another aspect of understanding how the intellect works. More than that, they will explain that “truth,” here, is understanding God’s instructions, not the Person of the Lord Jesus alive in all that He is inside of us. I see that these Bible interpreters know a lot about God, but I also see that what they “know” does not interest me.

If there is another Person inside of me, I want to know Him.

The Largest Verse. But as I begin to know this Person alive in my heart, I am struck with an overwhelming Bible reality. Ephesians 3:19 is simply the largest verse, the largest set of words, in the entire universe, larger than all the rest of the Bible put together. To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

Just as it is the right of every Christian to read the Bible by their intellects in order to discover things about this “God,” it is just as much my right to know what on earth God means when He claims that He fills me with ALL that He is.