Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Shalom,

One of my favorite Greek words is the word: epignosis. It is translated knowledge in several places in the New Testament. Here are a few:

Rom 10:1-2 (KJV)
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

Eph 1:17 (KJV)
17 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 of him:

Eph 4:11-13 (KJV)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:13 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:

Phil 1:9-10 (KJV)
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

Col 1:9-10 (KJV)
9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Col 3:10 (KJV)
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

1 Tim 2:3-4 (KJV)
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

2 Tim 3:7 (KJV)
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

2 Pet 1:2-3 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

2 Pet 1:8 (KJV)
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This Greek word, epignosis, means: recognition, full discernment, precise and correct knowledge. It gets even more interesting and enlightening as we break it down further. Epignosis comes from the Greek word, epiginosko, which means: to become fully or thoroughly acquainted with, to know accurately, to understand. It is a compound word made up of the two words epi and ginosko. Ginosko means: to learn to know, to come to know, to understand, to become acquainted with, to have knowledge of. Epi is a primary preposition which means superimposition of time, place, order as a relation of distribution. What does that mean exactly? It means that one thing is placed positionally on top of another thing and on and on, in a layering affect! What are we layering? The "knowledge" of the Word of God! Remember one of the Scriptures that is key to this blog is Romans 8:31-32:

Romans 8:31-32 (Amplified)
31So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples.
32And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free


By meditating and acting on the Word of God, we enable our Teacher, the Holy Spirit, to bring understanding of the Word. Each new layer of understanding builds on the strong foundation you already have, making you even stronger in the Word! THIS is "knowing" the Truth! The Truth you know will set you free and, if you keep "knowing" it every day, it will keep you free! And remember that Jesus IS the Word of God and also this promise:

John 8:36 (KJV)
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36 (Amplified)
36 So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free.

No question about it! The Truth of God's Word IN you and obeyed BY you will bring the freedom you are really looking for! So let's get at it! Until our next post,

Shalom in Him!