Classifications of Celestial Knowledge Part 3 – Epignosis

Now if you thought Ginosko and Eido were awesome, wait till you get a load of Epignosis.

In case you haven’t really been following in the understanding of the importance of these three classes of knowledge, the easier way is to consider it this way:

Take for instance, your friend decides to get you a Christmas gift and he gift wraps it for you and hands it over to you. At first glance, you have no idea what that gift is inside that box, right? Here’s where the three levels of knowledge begin to take shape: first you unwrap the gift and as a result discover (Ginosko) that your friend got you a smartphone. Having discovered that the gift is a smartphone, you continue on wit the awareness (Eido) that your friend got you a smartphone as a present. But simply having it in your hands and being aware of its existence doesn’t mean you’re using it. That’s where the third levels of knowledge come in:

Once you start using the smartphone you gain a knowledge of acquaintance (Gnosis). Gnosis is the beginning of knowledge. It is a knowledge with participation i.e., you know how to use that smartphone. Gnosis is general knowledge of participation (e.g., you know where the power buttons are; you know how to operate the device; you know how to take care of the device—that’s gnosis)

“But grow in grace and [in] the knowledge (Gnosis) of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him [be] glory both now and forever. Amen.”—2 Peter 1:18

In this scripture, Peter exalts us to grow in knowledge (Gnosis) of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He says we increase our knowledge of Him in terms of quantity. If this were not possible, Peter would not have exalted us to do so. There is a body of knowledge of Jesus Christ (a Gnosis of Him) and Peter says we grow in it i.e., we increase how much we know of and about Jesus Christ. The reason for this will become clearer in coming articles but for now just bear with this exaltation.

So, Peter means now that you have discovered your gifts (in the case of our article series’ so far: Jesus and his gospel and the life of Christianity you have); and now that you are aware of these gifts; Peter says use that knowledge you have and increase your knowledge of it through active participation. He means exercise the word—put it to work; experience it for yourself by living that life for yourself. Peter is saying test and prove this knowledge for yourself because that’s the only way you increase how much you know about your gift.

Why does Peter make this statement? Why does he assume we need to know more about Christ? Many of us have grown up knowing a lot about Jesus through the popular stories we hear growing up, so what does he mean to ‘grow in knowledge’?

“that they may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge (Epignosis) of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Gnosis)” – Colossians 2:2-3

Paul says, all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. There are mysteries that are deliberately hidden in Christ. This means that not all knowledge of Christ is made public to just everyone. There are hidden treasures of knowledge in Christ and the only way to discover (Ginosko) these treasures is by growing in the general knowledge of Christ.

Notice however, that there is a second Greek word there used for knowledge, Epignosis and he calls it a ‘true knowledge’. Gnosis is the beginning of knowledge i.e., you know how to use your smartphone through active participation with it. Epignosis is the completion of knowledge. It is knowledge of completeness. Complete and accurate knowledge of a particular subject matter—there is nothing more you can know about something—you know everything about that smartphone inside and out to the point nothing is hidden from you (from hardware to software and everything in-between). Paul here suggests there is a complete knowledge of Christ—a full and accurate knowledge to which end there is nothing left for you to know.

Recall also in our first article of this series where we discovered that Jesus Christ is ‘the truth’, meaning reality itself. Recall all the many things that Jesus did while he was on earth, He was a complete master of reality. He always knew what to do, when to do what to do, how to do it—there was nothing that happened that caught Him off guard; He was a complete master of reality. Everything that happened was all according to His plan, expectation, timing, and intention. He did nothing by accident and said nothing by accident. He was a complete master of reality!

Paul here acknowledges that Christ truly is the embodiment of all wisdom and knowledge: Christ doesn’t just have knowledge, He is knowledge itself—He is knowledge personified. And he charges that we can have and comprehend as much knowledge of reality and knowledge as Jesus Himself did.

Epignosis appears in the Bible and translated to mean ‘know’ 0 times, ‘acknowledgement’ 5 times, and 3 times as ‘perceive’. By far, the greatest definition of Epignosis is “having full discernment of a subject matter”—you know completely everything about a particular subject matter so much so that it has become a part of your own knowledge. You understand perfectly and fully and need NOTHING more concerning it.

EPIGNOSIS OF THE WORD

“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge (Epignosis) of him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened (flooded with light); that ye may know what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,” – Ephesians 1:15-18

This portion of scripture is just out this world—it baffles comprehension and here’s why: Paul prays that God may hive to us (Christians) the Spirit of wisdom (Sophia) and revelation (apokalupsis) in the knowledge (Epignosis) of Him.
Let’s break down this scripture starting with the word translated “revelation” there—apokalupsis. We won’t talk so much about the word used for wisdom simply because its our topic of discussion in a coming 3-part article series titled “Classifications of Celestial Wisdom”.

The word translated “revelation” there is the Greek word “apokalupsis” which means a “disclosure” or “revealing”. It denotes an object being obscured by a veil and being uncovered to see what’s been hidden there. In the case of our gift wrapped smartphone, apokalupsis means you did not know what was underneath the wrapping paper, and after you unwrapped and unveiled the gift, it becomes disclosed and revealed to you that this is a smartphone.

That alone begs a number of questions: for Paul to have to pray for a knowledge of God to be revealed to us, then is it really just a case of his knowledge being hidden in the scriptures, or could he perhaps be talking about something way deeper than that?

The knowledge he is praying be revealed to us isn’t Ginosko (where we just get to discover the word) or Eido (where we become more aware of the word), or Gnosis (where we gain a general experience with the word), rather he talks of Epignosis of the word. That means knowing the word in full detail coupled with how to use it to get results and take advantage with it.

Paul prays that we learn and know the word on a whole different level that just makes us master of reality. Can you imagine it, though? That there is such a thing as full and accurate and complete knowledge and experience with the word of God in all His majesty fully? That we too can know as much as Jesus know to become total masters of reality so that we know everything about everything. What manner of person would you be if you knew that? Well, you’d be something called a Huios (a matured Son of God—like Jesus), but that’s a story for another day.

Now, for Paul to have t pray that God Himself reveals this kind of knowledge through His Spirit means that its not something that just easily comes by. It must be a real treasure, and you know what they say: treasures aren’t found on the surface; you have to dig deep for them. It is my sincere hope that through our journeys together in coming articles, and videos, and podcast, I can bring you to an understanding enough to start understanding these things for yourself.

GRACE THROUGH EPIGNSOS

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge (Epignosis) of God, and of Jesus our Lord” – 1 Peter 1:2

This part of scripture is just wow! I’d love to take the time to explain a little more about it, but I’m sure from what we’ve learnt so far that you have the “knowledge” enough (pun-intended) to decipher what it must mean, right?
But, for those who may be struggling a little, I’ll give you a quick and very short run down.

What that verse is telling you is that the grace that you have working in your life right now can be increased exponentially by simply gaining more and more knowledge on the word of God—and not just any type of knowledge, but “Epignosis” in particular.

For those who aren’t aware what Grace is, I recommend taking a look at where we studied it in detail in my article series “Who and What a Christian Really Is Part 5 – Grace”.

So, what does that mean? If you want to multiply that grace working in your life, get more of the word of God and start acting on it—because remember, Epignosis is knowledge with participation.

Don’t just sit around and claim you know the word; act on what you know! That’s the quickest way to Epignosis because as we’ve already discussed, Epignosis is complete knowledge that comes through participation—a deliberate action.

ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS THROUGH EPIGNOSIS

“According as his divine power hath given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” – 1 Peter 1:3

Okay, people, you honestly to admire that this thing called “the scriptures” and “Christianity” just seems too good to be true. It’s as if everywhere you turn, God just has a blessing to just slap you right in the face with.

Peter here is saying God, through His divine power, has given to us every single thing that has to do with life and godliness. But how can you receive them if you haven’t worked them out? And how can you work them out if you aren’t aware of them? And how can you be aware of them if you haven’t discovered them? God has already given them to us. According to Him and according to reality, all things are already ours, but many of us don’t know that all things have been given to us and due to that fact, we cannot receive them.

I mean just the past few things we’ve read, and it already seems like God is taking this whole “blessings” thing way too far. All things? Mine? How do you even process that?

If you think I’m just messing with you and reading too deeply into this, here’s another verse to show you just how far God seems to be willing to go just to bless us:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ” – Ephesians 1:3

That right there is the definition of going too far. Did you read that correctly? Or perhaps the best question would be “Did I type that correctly? Yes, I did—and so did Paul when he was writing that to the Ephesian church.

Paul here, is saying that God has blessed us (past tense) with all (not some, but all) spiritual blessings in Christ (meaning you have to be Christian to have this). That’s just unimaginable right there. Being blessed with all blessings? Grace is a blessing, and so is favor, fortune, wealth, divine health, success, victory, eternal life, etc. and Paul is saying God has given us all of them with none left to spare.

Also, have you noticed just how casually Paul is saying that? He is at home with this knowledge. Those aren’t the words of someone who has just recently discovered that he has been blessed with all spiritual blessings, rather it sounds more like a person who has been aware of this for so long that he has used and experienced and taken advantage of the knowledge that its not eve as big a deal to him. This is pretty much reality to him.

So, what the Bible is saying is that the more of God’s word we know, the more success and awesomeness we pile up in life for ourselves. No wonder God said to Joshua back in the Old Testament:

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” – Joshua 1:8

See? So, I’m not the one who came up with the idea of studying the word like a maniac and being successful through it. God is the one who suggested it—I’m just following along.

He is saying if you mediate on the word of God long enough and have it soak in your mind and in your heart for long enough, then that knowledge will cause you to act according to the principles inscribed in the scriptures, and consequently cause you to be successful in all that you do.

Another quick thing there is that He says the word must not depart from your mouth. What He means there is that you must always talk the word of God. If anything, or anyone comes out against you in anyway, use the word as your response—if there’s something you want to have in life the talk it forth: claim that you have it: that’s how faith works, remember? Thoughts control words, which control actions which control destiny. So, use your words to possess whatever it is you want.

If it’s a job you want, start claiming it—after all, you already have evidence tat you own that job, right?
So, that’s pretty much it about the three classifications of celestial knowledge.

CONCLUSION

Now before closing on this chapter of Celestial Knowledge, I feel the need to spoil a little surprise for you: this article series is simply just an introduction to both knowledge and wisdom and thus, it shouldn’t come as a shock to you when I say that these are just the basics I’m sharing with you—there are far deeper realities, meanings, secrets, and teachings on both knowledge and wisdom that we will dive deeper into in coming articles.

Worry not, however, I’ve got your back. I won’t let your curiosity go unsatisfied.

If I am to conclude this series then let it be on this note: these types of knowledge and everything we discuss in this series and 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 an 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.

At any rate, thank you so much for joining me on this epic journey to “knowledge” and I hope you’ve learned a few things from it all and hopefully had some fun too along the way. Until the next article series, have an epic flex of life, fam.