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The term “know” means to know by experience in our passage; it is an intensive, intimate knowledge of God which includes having already experienced salvation and the present and future desire to experience Christ-likeness; this was Paul’s “soul quest” according to F.B. Meyer. It was a day to day thing to become more and more like Christ and less like Paul. There is a difference, however, between possessing intellectual knowledge of Christ and experiential knowledge of Christ. Let me try to illustrate this.
There was this famous biblical archaeologist trying to explain the difference between intellectual knowledge and experiential knowledge. We would also say colloquially, explaining the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. During an archaeological expedition this, non-Indiana Jones type, eminent archaeologist lost sight of the base camp while searching for an ancient site.
With his nose to the sandstone, he finally realized that he was lost in the desert, and he didn’t know the way back to base camp. This took place during the early part of the twentieth century; so cell phones were non-existent. And this brilliant erudite scholar failed to carry a compass with him; he didn’t mention anything about companions, water, or mode of transportation as he related his story.
With his nose to the sandstone, he finally realized that he was lost in the desert, and he didn’t know the way back to base camp. This took place during the early part of the twentieth century; so cell phones were non-existent. And this brilliant erudite scholar failed to carry a compass with him; he didn’t mention anything about companions, water, or mode of transportation as he related his story.
Two things working in his favor were (1) he knew the base camp was due west, and (2) he also knew that the sun sets in the west. By following the sun he made his way back to base camp safely. He said before this time the fact that the sun rose in the east and set in the west was merely intellectual knowledge to him, merely a fact, but when he applied that knowledge (or experienced it), it probably saved his life for the direction he thought might have been the way back to camp would have actually taken him deeper into the desert. This is the difference between intellectual knowledge and experiential knowledge, academic and application (the 18″ gulf).
It is the same way in experiencing or knowing God; it is an amalgamation or merger of knowing and doing the will of God that makes living for God a successful spiritual enterprise bringing glory to Him. It is one thing to know about God, but quite another to know Him. Do you really know Him or only about Him? The former follows the Son and gets you to heaven; the latter leaves you in the desert high and dry, to die. <><
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