Knowledge of God (Part One)
The below is the first installment of a three-part series on the knowledge of God.
Understanding the Knowledge of God
Years ago, Samantha and I came upon this quote that has stayed around in our lives and home. The quote, a prayer, is from an anonymous source:
May God deliver us from every false thought about the Christian life.
Before intersecting this quote, I never realized how much I needed to pray it and, as a minister, to pray it for others. The phrase “every false thought” became a filter as God’s Spirit began to personally reveal how our lives were based so much on religious tradition (hair length, appropriate clothing, worship service order, type of music, and so forth) and Christian cliches (“God won’t give you more than you can handle.”).
So many Christians, including myself, had made the Christian life not truly based on His Person or on the full counsel and Voice of Truth in the Scriptures. It was quite humbling and convicting to realize that my “knowledge of God” that I was personally practicing and ministerially teaching was contaminated with mere religious traditions and non-biblical cliches.
How is your knowledge of God? Are their wrong thoughts that exist in your Christian life that are not of God? Is your knowledge of God based upon His revelation from the Bible or fused with modern culture and worldly counsel?
Let’s look at some of the New Testament Scriptures that mention the phrase, “knowledge of God” to better gain a biblical understanding of its necessity as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
1. No “knowledge of God” (1 Corinthians 15:34)
Sober up as you should, and stop sinning! For some have no knowledge of God –
I say this to your shame!
Paul, declaring and defending the grand revelation and teaching of Jesus’ resurrection, addresses an erroneous practice of well-meaning but ignorant believers being baptized for others to contribute to their eternal existence (1 Cor. 15:29-ff). Paul states if Christ has truly been raised (which He has) then those who have died have and will experience resurrected lives as well. Thus, there is no need or benefit in the practice. Christ’s work in death, burial, and resurrection is sufficient! It appears, from the passage, this practice had surfaced from false teachers or what Paul labels, “Bad company…” (v. 33). Paul, addressing the Corinthian believers, calls them to wake up and stop doing wrong with the baptizing practice.
According to Paul, the “bad company” clearly display they do not know God or an accurate understanding that needs to be gained from Jesus’ resurrection. However, it is the Corinthian believers, who are Paul’s primary audience and main concern, who have revealed their poor judgment and lack of knowledge to receive the teaching and perform the unnecessary practice as followers of Christ. They must take personal and church responsibility for what they have done “and stop sinning!” Yes, though ignorant, they are still accountable for their actions!
Similarly, since a child, who grew up in church, I have heard many times, “God will not give you more than you can bear or handle.” Through God’s help in reading the Scriptures, I have come to understand this is simply not true. I’m sure Noah would love to answer that statement after being told to build a huge boat! (Genesis 6:14) Or Abraham would raise skepticism of such a comment when He was told by the LORD to “Go to a land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) Gideon would yell out, “Not true!” when God’s assignment was to go defeat the Midianites with only 300 peeps armed with bowls and torches. (Judges 6:14) You can most likely continue to think of other Bible characters like: Moses, Joshua, David, Esther, Mary, the disciples, and so forth who faced an invitation from God that was big and impossible unless God came through.
So, making it personal, are there areas of Christian belief and teaching that you do not have true knowledge of God? Yes, you may have salvation through Christ Jesus, read your Bible, pray, and attend church but, as the Corinthian believers, you may have adopted a belief and practice that is not truly based upon God’s Person, the teachings of Jesus, and the Scriptures as a whole.
