SESSION GOAL

In this session we want to wrestle with the mystery of knowing God, and the importance of how God allows us to know him through the Bible & other Christians.

Can we know God?

Many languages have more than one word for “knowing”, where English struggles with just one word. For example many languages have words to differentiate knowing facts or information from knowing a person. Perhaps you know both your parent’s birthdays. This is different from knowing how your mom laughs at jokes that are not funny, or your dad’s way of responding to bad news is always to comfort you. And then there are even some languages that have a special word or phrase for “getting to know” some knowledge. 

And yet both kinds of knowledge are important—particularly when it comes to knowing God. We can’t know God unless we know him in the relational way like we know our parents. Neither can we know God if we do not have the information to know who he is. But what does it matter? 

A few examples of “knowing a person”: in German kennen; in Chinese 认识 (rènshí), in biblical Greek γινώσκω (ginosko). These same languages have a different word for “knowing facts or information”: German wissen; Chinese 知道 (zhīdào); biblical Greek οἶδα (oida).

Why are we interested in knowing God?

Ecclesiastes 3:11 - But he also causes all things to happen at the right time. He puts questions  [eternity] in our minds. We want to know what happens after our death. We cannot understand all the things that God has done.

For discussion:

Hebrews 3:4 - Every house has someone who built it. But God is the one who has built all things.

Romans 1:18-20 -  God in heaven shows that he is angry with people. He is angry because they do not respect him and they do bad things. Because they continue to do those bad things, they choose not to accept God's true message. They should understand what God is like, because God himself has shown it to them clearly. Ever since God made the world, he has been showing people clearly about himself. We cannot see God. But the things that he has made show us clearly what he is like. We can understand his great power that continues for ever. We can know that he is the true God. So there is no reason for anyone to say, ‘We could not know about God.’

So what tells us that God is out there? (Natural knowledge of God)

For discussion:

Romans 2:14,15 - The Gentiles do not have God's Laws. But they may still do the right things that those Laws say. They do right things because of what they themselves think is right. In that way they are showing that they have a certain law in their minds [conscience], even though they do not know Moses' Laws. Those people show that they know what is right. It is like God has written his Laws deep inside them. Their thoughts tell them the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did something that is wrong.’ And sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did what is right.’

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 - The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”  But we have the mind of Christ.

How does God make himself known?

John 1:1-5, 9-14, 18 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

For discussion:

  • Add a short summary or a list of helpful resources here.