SERIES INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome, ladies and gents to the brand-new series on understanding the Classifications of Celestial Knowledge.

I’m sure many of you are wondering what the purpose of an article as straightforward as “knowledge” is, let-alone a whole series on it. If you are among the few who might be wondering such, I don’t blame you for it. In the light of casual observation, there’s no practical reason to learn about knowledge and its classifications in the scriptures.

If I may, for a moment, turn your attention to one of my favorite scriptures:

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.” –Proverbs 25:2

In this scripture, the author points out how God takes pride in concealing mysteries. He also tells us the purpose for it by saying Kings delight in the honor of unraveling those truths that God takes pride in concealing.

In Ephesians 4, Paul makes an amazing statement that offers perhaps the greatest introduction into this series when he writes:

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”—Ephesians 4:11-13

Paul tells us that the reason God created these five offices and selected specific people to take up those offices is:

1. To perfect (meaning to fully equip, and fully cloth) the saints
2. To bring the church (every Christian) to one knowledge of God
3. To bring the saints to a full knowledge of the Son of God
4. To edify the body of Christ

So, then what does all that mean? What does ‘coming to a full knowledge of the Son of God’ mean? Since there is only one God, one gospel, one way, one truth, and one light, then how come there are so many indoctrinations and of the same single truth on earth? Why so many churches? So many differences in opinions? So many contradictions and level of understandings. How can it all stem from a single body of truth? And if so, how, and when will we ever reach a unity in a single knowledge of the Son of God?

The answer to all this lies in the extent to which you have knowledge on a particular subject.

Let’s have an example:

“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:” – James 5:14

Straight-forward bit of scripture, right? At first glance, he teaches us of how to get healed. He says if any is sick among us, all he must do is call for the elders who will heal him.

That’s the first layer of knowledge in that verse. But see beyond the lines: in this very same portion of scripture, he points to say the ones who have the power and knowledge to heal any sick among us are the elders, right? So, then who heals the elders when they get sick? The answer is simple: elders don’t get sick. Jesus calls healing “the children’s bread” in Matthew 15:26 which means at some point in your Christian maturity, you never fall victim to sickness.

That’s the second layer of hidden knowledge in there.

Two layers of truth within the same portion of knowledge. This gives you a basis of what you can then aspire to be: continue to be a child and fall victim to the circumstances of this world, or become an elder and reign over the circumstances of this world?

The scriptures are replete with such hidden bits of knowledge that are always missed when observed casually. And the only way to find these gems is to know how and what to think.

So, that’s what we’re covering in this article series: the levels of knowledge so we form a basis for how to think and how to interpret the scriptures for ourselves:

Now at this point, I would like to point out that if you haven’t read my previous article series on Who and What a Christian Really Is, I strongly recommend giving that a read before we dive into the first type of knowledge.

For all those who’ve been following since my last series, we can safely continue forward and take a deeper journey into more complex elements. We are discussing Knowledge and Wisdom in the scriptures and the first type of knowledge is called ‘Ginosko’.

GINOSKO

In the first level of knowledge among the three major classifications that I’d love to discuss is ‘Ginosko’.

It’s important to have a clear understanding of these classes of knowledge because they signify much, or at what level you understand the word of God at.

Ginosko is the second most frequently used of the three words translated “knowledge” in the New Testament (used approximately 196 times) and usually presupposes a more personal involvement with the subject of knowledge. Ginosko means “to be taking in knowledge” or “to recognize or understand”. Put simply put, Ginosko is a discovery of knowledge.

Let’s have a clearer example of when this word was used:

“And ye shall know (Ginosko) the truth, and the truth shall make you free” – John 8:32

Okay, first off, I love how non-believers always reference this scripture wrong.

As I said earlier, its important to understand the classifications of Biblical knowledge because it signifies at what level you understand the word of God.

The scripture above quotes words by the master himself, Jesus Christ, and he explains that the knowledge of truth is capable of making people free. There are a few things right there of key importance and I’d love to tackle them one by one for a bit.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING MADE FREE AND BEING SET FREE

I grew up quoting that scripture wrong. I always assumed that the knowledge of the truth would set me free.  And even as I went on in life over the course of my youth, I realized most of the world was quoting it as I was too, so in essence I assumed it must be true. Little did I know this was going to be perhaps one of the largest misconceptions in the whole church.

The scripture quotes the master, Jesus Christ, clearly stating that the knowledge of the truth will make you free; not set you free. So, what’s the difference?

Take for instance, the story of a prisoner who’s been locked up for some time. Then a document is signed and issued for his release from captivity, and he is, from that moment onwards, regarded as a free man, right? So, if grammar serves me right, that document is the legal declaration that he has been set free, right? But for as long as he doesn’t know about it or the people in charge haven’t acted on that knowledge and told him about it, he will continue thinking of himself as a prisoner even though he has already been set free.

In the mid of the man, he is still a prisoner even though, he has been set free. But when he comes to discover that knowledge and is told that he was set free a little while ago and is even as far as presented the legal document of proof, his discovery of that new knowledge makes him free. He was set free when the document was signed, but his discovering of that knowledge is what made him free even though he was set free early on. Get it now?

Consider now what Jesus must have meant by his statement “…the truth shall make you free.” It means we were set free from bondage a long time ago but just never knew. But his earnest hope in that verse is that we get to discover the truth that we were set free a long time ago and we can take action on that knowledge and thereafter walk out of bondage because now we know there are no longer any chains or locked doors holding us back.

I am aware that there are some translations that use the term “set you free” as opposed to “make you free” and I don’t understand why they would have been translated that way. Either because the initial Greek construction has no suggestion of being “set free” or rather uses a more meticulous word meaning “to liberate or make free”.

That’s the difference between being set free and being made free, so quote it correctly because it will restructure your mindset to thinking of what the truth actually is rather than what it’s not.

It’s exceedingly important that we study the word of God for ourselves because when the day of judgment comes, we won’t be able to blame our ignorance on anyone else. I’ve heard so many over the years seem to quote it wrongly; from musicians to politicians, and its obvious now that they must have walked similar, if not the same paths of attaining that information as I did, growing up. And had I not read it for myself and discovered what the scripture actually says, I would be misleading you in this article series right now.

But that’s just one part of the story. If knowledge really will make us free, then two questions arise:

1. knowledge about what?
2. And set us free from what?

Let’s tackle them right now

YE SHALL GINOSKO THE TRUTH

It’s obvious that the kind of knowledge used here is Ginosko, right? And so far, we’ve pretty much discovered that Ginosko is more “discovery knowledge” in this context.

So a better rendering of that scripture would be:

“And ye shall discover the truth, and the truth shall make you free” – John 8:32

Understand it now, don’t you? I’m sure it makes more sense having placed in the meaning of the word “know” there. So, he’s talking of a discovery here. He says we will discover the truth and that the same discovered truth will make us free.

Now that we’ve discovered the kind of knowledge he’s referring to, we can proceed to understanding what exactly the knowledge it is that he is talking about.

WHAT TRUTH DOES JESUS REFER TO?

“And ye shall discover the truth, and the truth shall make you free” – John 8:32

So, the knowledge he is referring to is obviously “the truth”, right? But, come on—really? The truth about what? There are so many truths in the world and outside the world too. There are some truths about how I am the pinnacle of human perfection and masculinity. So, then which among these many truths is Jesus referring to?

Well, the answer is quite simple, really. He’s talking about himself!

Don’t worry, I understand that it may be a little hard to get what I mean by that so let me explain it this way: when Jesus made a statement one time that was just way too awesome to forget:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life (Zoe, remember?): no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”—John 14:6

Amidst all the other super awesome things he had said in this scripture, I want to point out the “I am the truth” portion. By ‘truth’, there he means that he is the manifestation of reality i.e., He is reality itself… I wish to explain this in much greater detail but unfortunately, that’s a topic for later discussions. I assure you that we will discuss these things in coming articles but for now just bear with me for the sake of staying on topic.

Regardless, in a nutshell, Jesus is saying that He, himself, is the very essence of truth (reality) and in context of the verse prior to the one directly above, He said:

“And ye shall discover the truth, and the truth shall make you free” – John 8:32

He is pretty much implying that the knowledge of discovering the person of Jesus Christ and getting to understand his word fully is what will make you free. The knowledge attained by getting to discover and understand his gospel will make you free.

For instance, in the previous article series we learned who and what Christians really are. As we discussed each of the six characteristics, they gave us a newfound freedom and liberty because of the understanding it brought of discovering the real ‘truth’ of what the scriptures make us out to really be.

That right there, is the first kind of knowledge and I’m sure by now you understand the importance of getting to know the types of knowledge and why getting to know each one and their context is super important.

Thank you so much for joining me on this amazing quest to understand the first of 3 major celestial classifications of knowledge. In my next article, we discuss the second classification of knowledge. I look forward to seeing you then.

CONCLUSION

If I am to conclude this article then let it be on this note: these principles and everything we discuss on my platform is for Christians and Christians alone. If you are not Christian then this cannot apply to you no matter what you try. And this is not me saying this, Jesus Himself says it,

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”—John 14:6

There is no other way to have this except by becoming Christians. Christianity is not just a religion. Read everything we’ve taken a look at from our very first article series on Who and What a Christian Really is for yourself to know what a Christian is. If you are here and haven’t given your life to God (and therefore aren’t Christian) then I offer you the opportunity to give your life to God.

Simply believing in God and in Jesus DOES NOT make you Christian.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.“—Romans 10:9

Paul tells us exactly how to become Christian. He says you need to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and you need to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. If you have never done this then you have not Christian no matter how often you go to church and no matter how good a person you are. So, right now, if you’re reading this and wish to give your life to God and become a Christian, repeat this prayer below out-loud to yourself wherever you are,

“O Lord, God,

I believe with all my heart in Jesus Christ, Son of the living God.

I believe He died for me and God raised Him from the dead.

I believe that He’s alive today.

I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life from this day.

Through Him and in His Name, I have eternal life; I am born again.

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul!

I’m now a child of God. Hallelujah!”

Now if you said that prayer for the very first time and gave you life to the Lord today, congratulations: you are now a new creation! You are born again! And you are child of God from this day. Please, please, please reach out to me directly using my contact form or on the numbers given below and I will respond to you immediately: I have amazing gifts lined up just for you and I wish to help you through your Christian walk. Feel free to read my article series on Who and What A Christian Really is to learn more about who you are as a Child of God, what it means to be a child of God, and what you have as a child of God.

Thank you so much for joining me on this amazing journey and I look forward to seeing you in my next article where we discuss the Mirror Principle.