Why is the knowledge of God such an important theme? I've been making the argument that the point of life is to know God and make him known. Some of the major surprises in the gospels is that the knowledge of God is unique to Jesus, that the Jews didn't know him when he showed up, and that their alleged knowledge of God was incomplete as a result. By rejecting the incarnate God before them, they demonstrated their spiritual blindness, ignorance, and arrogance. Obviously, that is not what we're aiming for! So, another reason why the knowledge of God is so essential is that it is synonymous with salvation.
What does it mean to be saved? Ask any Christian and you'll get a variety of answers. Some will mention hell. Some will mention forgiveness. Some will mention going to heaven when they die. Some will even mention the wrath of God. Some will mention being born again. Others will say something about eternal life. One of the reasons why there would be such a variety of responses is that these themes are associated with salvation. People pick up on different themes and view the framework of salvation from those perspectives. It’s not that these answers are wrong, it's just that they don't give the full picture. I think the Scriptures teach us that the knowledge of God encompasses all these things. Let me give you some examples.
Jesus warned the crowds about those who would call upon him as Lord, speak authoritatively in his name, perform exorcisms and miracles, but failed to do the Father's will. He declares to these people, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness" (Matt. 7:21-23).
Jesus uses the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep as a metaphor for salvation. The sheep respond to the call of the shepherd because "they know his voice" (John 10:4, 16, 27). Jesus declares, "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father" (10:14-15). The knowledge of the Father toward the Son and of the Son toward the Father is the point of comparison between the shepherd knowing his sheep and the sheep knowing their shepherd!
In his high priestly prayer, Jesus defines eternal life. He says, "this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). Eternal life is summed up as knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son.
The apostle Paul picks up on this theme as well. Describing the conversion of the gentiles, he says, "Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" (Galatians 4:8-9)? The paradigm Paul uses for them to understand their conversion is the knowledge of God. Their past is summed up as a time in which they did not know God and their present as a time in which they now know him.
I hope you noticed there is an even more fundamental knowledge, one on which our knowledge is built. And that is God's knowledge of us. Jesus knows his sheep. The gentile believers are known by God. The wicked pretenders Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount were never known by him. The foundation of our knowledge of God is his knowledge of us. When we speak of salvation, we should not only be speaking of our knowledge of God, but of his knowledge of us. Our knowledge of God is a result of his knowledge of us. To be saved means to know God and to be known by God.
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