What Do We Know?

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. 1 John 5:20 (NIV)

Are you familiar with the expression, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you?” While there may be circumstances where this maxim is proven true, often, it is demonstrably false. While someone may take comfort in the idea that “ignorance is bliss,” the Bible addresses this succinctly: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6 (CSB)

Back in the days of Watergate, Sen. Howard Baker asked the question, “What did the President know, and when did he know it?[1]” It was a question of moral responsibility. Knowledge demands accountability, but it also has great possibilities. Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power.” What will we do with this power?

Depending upon your translation, the word “know” in its various forms appears around 1000 times in the Bible. The phrase “we know” is found 59 times in the NIV. Of those instances, 19 appear in 1 John. Biblically speaking, the word “know” means more than casual recognition. It means understanding, recognition, or discernment. We will look closer at what we know and what it means for us.

We Know That God Has a Relationship with Us

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 1 John 5:19 (NIV)

John is definitive about our relationship with God. The connection is not based on feelings or emotions; it rests on the truth. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 1 John 3:10 (NIV).

John sees love and actions as indicators of our relationship with Christ. Sinless perfection (1 John 1:8) may be beyond our grasp, but if we have no desire to do what is right or we do not love for our brothers and sisters, it does not matter how many times we have prayed “the sinner’s prayer.”

We know that it is only by God’s grace that we are saved. Our actions and our love serve as validation that we have received (and entered) a saving relationship with God through Christ Jesus. John provides the means by which we can test the genuineness of our relationship. When other voices or even our own heart casts doubt on our relationship with God, we can still have assurance.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:18–20 (NIV)

We Know That God Hears Us

And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:15 (NIV)

Let this thought sink in for a moment.  God hears us.  God is not disengaged.  He wants to give us what we ask for when it is in accordance with his will. Verse 14 tells us that we can have “bold confidence” and that when we “ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

We must resist the temptation to look for the caveats or exemptions to this invitation. Yes, it is an invitation from God to approach him with boldness as we bring our requests. Many of us are probably afraid of this invitation because of the associated responsibility.

This privilege to ask in accordance with his will is possible because we are in a relationship with him. It is not about our worthiness; it is about his graciousness. We must not listen to voices from without or within because they will try to convince us that this is not a legitimate offer from God.  Obedience leads to answered prayer.

Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. 1 John 3:21–22 (NLT)

We Know That Our Future Is Secure

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 (NIV)

It is not productive to spend much time speculating about things that are yet to come. Many details about the new heavens and the new earth have not yet been shown to us. John tells us right here that “what we will be has not yet been made known.” In other words, the nature of our resurrection bodies is something that we do not know.

What we do know is that “when Christ appears we shall be like him.” This promise is enough to sustain us. With this promise, we know that our future is secure. Focus on what we know: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. 1 John 3:14 (NIV)

The God who created the heavens and the earth has made himself known to us. He loves us with a love that never ends, and it was very costly. We know that he has commanded us to love each other. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16 (NLT)

Is it not amazing how much we know?

 

Steve Ekeroth

 

Photo by Keenan Constance from Pexels

 

 

 

[1] The Curious History of ‘What Did the President Know, and When Did He Know It?’ | Brennan Center for Justice