WHAT CAN WE KNOW?

In another post (“Limits to Human Knowledge”) I concentrated on what the Bible had to say about the inherent limitations to what we can actually know. Most of those passages came from the Old Testament. But now, looking at the other side of the coin on what we can be secure in knowing, it is not surprising that most of the pertinent scriptures come from the New Testament instead. But first, it is enlightening that even in the book of Job, the title character finds some facts about God on which he can rely.

Job 19:25 “I know that my redeemer lives and at last he will stand on earth.” The accuracy of this translation has been much questioned since this amazing statement appears to run counter to Job's other comments in the book. But I don't think that there is any serious reason for us to throw it out simply because it doesn't fit our presuppositions. Whether Job realized the full import of the words he was saying, it certainly does fit the coming of our Redeemer Jesus Christ to earth to save us.

Job 42:2 “I know that you [God] can do all things and that no purpose of yous can be thwarted.” This statement certainly contradicts a liberal pastor who a friend of mine was heard to state after reviewing the book of Job in a sermon. “The moral of the story is that if we run into difficulties in our lives, we should not blame God since He had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

And as pessimistic as the Teacher in Ecclesiastes appears to be, he can still state in 8:12-13: “Yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him; but it will not be well with the wicked.”

Matthew 13:10 “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” In speaking these words to his disciples, Jesus was explaining how those who follow him are given certain insights into spiritual matters that are presented to outsiders only in an indirect manner, such as through parables, until they come to the point where they are ready to comprehend them. I once heard a pastor say something rather interesting and insightful: “If someone tells you that they can't understand the Bible, reply that perhaps they are reading someone else's love letter.” That statement bears some contemplation.

John 8:31-32 “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” This statement is a companion to that in Matthew 13. Note the emphasis on the verb “continue.” It is only by persevering in God's word that we can even begin to discern spiritual truths.

Luke 1:3-4 “It seemed good to me...to write an orderly account...that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed.”

John 19:35 “He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.”

John 21:24 “We know that his [John's] testimony is true.”

As far as I know, these are the only times in the Bible where someone states that a book can be believed because it is true. But they point to the reliability of Scripture as a whole in pointing us to the truth.

Romans 6:6 “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.” This is one truth that believers in Christ's sacrifice can lay hold of even when circumstances cause us to doubt our salvation.

Romans 6:9 “For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” This is the central fact underpinning our understanding of the truth that the same applies to all who have died and been buried with Him.

Romans 8:22 “ We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail until now.” This verse has been cited as a possible spiritual explanation for the scientific concept of entropy, the fact that the universe is “running down.”

Romans 8:28 “We know that in everything God works for good for those who love him who are called according to his purpose.” This is one of those statements in the Bible to which we can easily give intellectual consent but which are difficult to see in our lives when things are not going the way we had anticipated.

Romans 14:14a “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.” This could be cited as an example of the fact that there are probably a great number of things deriving from God that we can rely on implicitly even if they are not explicitly stated in the Bible.

I Corinthians 2:16 Paul quotes from Isaiah 40:13 – “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” However, he then adds, “But we have the mind of Christ.”

I Thessalonians 5:2 “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” In essence, Paul is saying that we know that we cannot know when Christ will come again. But even this is a sort of knowledge that many Christians tend to ignore in favor of their own timetable.

II Thessalonians 3:7 “For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, how we were not idle when we were with you.” Paul cites the example of his own life for others to emulate.

II Timothy 1:12 “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that Day.” At least that is the way I have always sung these words in one of my favorite hymns. But it turns out that, as NRSV notes, that there is an alternative translation in which Paul says that it is that which God has entrusted to him that will be kept. Towner, for one, interprets the thing entrusted as referring to the Pauline mission that God has given him. One could say both that God entrusted that mission to Paul and that Paul entrusted that God would help him to preserve it and proclaim it.

James 3:1 “For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” That is a verse of which I would have preferred not to be reminded. But when I do remember it, I try not to be too dogmatic in my pronouncements unless there are a lot of reliable scholars to back me up.

I Peter 1:18-19 “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers...with the precious blood of Christ.” And that statement applies to just about everyone no matter who their ancestors were.

I John 1:21 “I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and know that no lie is of the truth.” Unfortunately, we all need to be reminded of this simple fact from time to time since it is so easy to believe a lie that you want to believe in.

I John 3:5 “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” Those two statements are not unrelated since it was only a sinless person who could make adequate sacrifice on our behalf.

I John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” This is one of the three tests of a true Christian that John repeats throughout his epistle, the others being obedience to God's commands and belief in both the divinity and humanity of Christ.

I John 5:13 “I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” This is but one of the statements in the New Testament teaching the concept of the eternal security of believers.

I John 5:18 “We know that any person born of God doesn't sin, but He who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.” The opening clause of this verse is seemingly contradicted elsewhere in this letter where it says that even Christians sin. The resolution to this problem is probably found by translating 5:18 to say that those born of God do not habitually sin or are not characterized by their sinful behavior.

I John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.” This pessimistic thought has been taken too much to heart by some Christians who use it wrongly to justify complete withdrawal from anyone who is not a believer.

I John 5:20a “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding to know him who is true...”

All of the above passages do not even begin to describe all that we as believers know. These just happen to be some of those which actually contain the verb “know” in them.