Knowing God and Knowing God

It is a bit of a shame that English has only one major word for knowing. In the Greek of the New Testament, there are two main words, oida and ginosko. Oida refers to knowing something through an intellectual apprehension of the subject. Ginosko, in contrast, carries with it a sense of experientially knowing something.

So, when the Gospels say that Joseph was not intimate with Mary until after Jesus was born, they say that Joseph did not know (ginosko) her. Likewise, when the woman with the issue of blood felt that she was healed and when Jesus felt the healing power leave him, in both cases, the word used is ginosko. Both the woman and Jesus knew what had occurred not by an intellectual understanding, but by the experience of what just happened.

1 Jn 3:6 states (in part): No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

This verse is puzzling until we understand that the word for know in this verse is ginosko. What John is saying is that the way to overcome sin is to have a life-changing experience of the presence and love of God - to know God by an intimate experience, not just intellectually.

This truth highlights that being a Christian is all about experiencing the love and presence of God. Everything else in the Christian life is the natural result of having developed the habit of being in His presence in a significant, experiential way.