“Knowledge” of the Holy
I thank Whit for leading us off here at R&R. I think it rather appropriate for us to start off in humility, understanding that God far surpasses our ability to fully comprehend His nature and ways. What we have comes from revelation in the Scriptures and the words that the Spirit moves on our hearts and minds. I simply want to pick up on some thoughts from “I am who I am” and add in some more general ideas floating through my mind right now. I want to briefly unpack that word “knowledge,” focusing on how it relates to faith and our own ideas of R&R’s mission. This will virtually be a copy and paste job from a recent post on my own blog (see the list of contributors for a link):
Tonight, I attended a performance of “Rebirth of a Nation,” a film created by Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) that seeks to deconstruct and remix the 1915, W.D. Griffith film, “Birth of a Nation,” a highly acclaimed cinematic venture and historical one of the most controversial films in America. The film led off with a clip of two gentlemen sitting down, each smoking a cigarette and talking about the original film, “Birth of a Nation.” The gentlemen to the left of the frame asked the other man, Griffith himself, creator of the film, “Do you believe ‘Birth of a Nation’ to be truth?” It is what Griffith responded with, what was later affirmed by Paul Miller, that has me most irked and desperate to release these thoughts. Griffith quoted Pontius Pilate’s words to Jesus before allowing him to be crucified, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). This question is the central question of postmodernism as well. What is tragically ironic about Pilate’s statement was that he was looking at Truth. One of the great mysteries of the Christian faith is that Truth is not a set of principles, or morals, or facts to be ascertained; Truth is a person, Jesus Christ. That is not something that can just filed away–that is a thought that begs for contemplation and that ultimately humbles this college student holding knowledge as supreme, and yet constantly mistakes knowledge in the heart with mental propositions. God truly surpasses any attempt by such a finite being to comprehend without revelation. Oh, how far has cultural Christianity erred from this awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping idea into morality!?!
Our American culture has a habit of ridiculing the French, but I think their language (among others) has more to offer in terms of expression, especially when it comes to types of knowledge. In the English language, we are limited to the phrase “I know this/that,” but in French (and Spanish and other non-English languages), there are distinctive meanings to “knowledge” — savoir and connaitre. Savoir refers to knowing “something,” some fact, or how to do something. Connaitre is used when someone knows someone else, another person. Did I get a stellar score on the AP French exam in high school–no! But I think this distinction has actually been the most valuable piece of knowledge I have received from those required language classes. It is a distinction that many of us, me being the worst, fail to understand in the way we approach our faith! Knowing God is about connaitre, not savoir. But in our Western “enlightened” culture, we continually think of our faith by way of savoir. As if knowing enough scripture or reading numerous “Christian” texts gives eternal life. What we need is to know (connaitre) a person, or rather Three Persons in One, the Holy Trinity. Jesus explains the difference to the Jews around him at the time [John 5:39-40]:
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
Study without prayer (a common pattern in my life) becomes a shallow intellectual pursuit. Jesus shows the futility in pursuit for that knowledge. My hope is not (well should not be) founded on a scientific proof of God, but rather the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, son of God the Father. How often have I reduced my “relationship” with Christ to some combination lock of scripture and pedantic intellectualism?? The knowledge that God speaks of is always a matter of the heart!
My prayer for both us as contributors and for any and all that may comprise our audience is that we would be firmly resolved to proclaim Christ as supreme in all things. I pray that we would have a conviction that the all of the Scriptures testify to Christ, with his name exalted from Genesis to Revelation. For those of you that have not come to know the Lord, I pray that you would not see these words as another argument, but rather a humble attempt to contextualize the Scriptures to our current moment. At the end of the day, our hope is that you would have a real encounter with the God of the Universe and come to know the indescribable love of Christ in your heart.
This is not about more book knowledge to file away somewhere, this is about knowing Christ intimately.
~Stephen Hess
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Excellent post, Steve! Thanks for that, something I needed to hear…