End of the Rainbow
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; Philippians 3:10 NASB
Know– Do you struggle with certainty? Do you want to know for sure what to believe and what not to believe? Are you plagued with the discovery that what you used to think was absolutely true doesn’t seem so now? Are you exhausted over trying to get the right answers to living God’s way? Perhaps you need to redirect your effort and concern. Perhaps, maybe, perchance, miqreha.[1] Zornberg notes:
“In other words, total certainty can never be achieved in human affairs. Meaning cannot be finally arrested, stopped in its tracks. It is affected by sociological conditions, even by the very fact of reading: the literate woman, who has read the Talmudic text, will be able to manipulate the outcome of such a test.”[2]
“Perhaps total certainty is ultimately not only unachievable but undesirable in human affairs. The apprehension of beauty . . . may rather educate one to a lifetime struggle for truth, within a field of error—as though madness and error, questioning and conflict, were the unavoidable hazards of being human, and as though sin and confession were the unavoidable paradigm for life in the wilderness.”[3]
Maybe we’re looking for the wrong thing. Maybe we want certainty because we feel insecure, confused, afraid. But if Zornberg is right, and I suspect she is, then certainty will not give us the comfort we desire. Why? Because it will only be our certainty, subject to our interpretation and meaning. That’s not what we want. We don’t want the solipsistic world of individual isolation. We want to be sure among others, and that, says Zornberg, is precisely why certainty can never be the answer. Relationship, the hard-wired need of every human being, requires risk. Relationship is a function of uncertainty, of possibilities yet undetermined, of change and re-evaluation. Relationship requires trust, not certainty. And the more I press to be absolutely certain, the less trust operates in my life—and the less I need to commit myself to the mystery of relationship.
Paul proclaims his great desire—“to know him.” The Greek verb is ginṓskō. Some information about this verb is essential:
“The ordinary use is for intelligent comprehension (‘to perceive,’ ‘to understand,’ ‘to know’), at first with a stress on the act. As distinct from aisthánesthai, ginṓskō emphasizes understanding rather than sensory perception, and as distinct from dokeín it is a perception of things as they are, not an opinion about them. Related to epistḗmē, gnōsis needs an objective genitive and suggests the act of knowing rather than knowledge as such. This act embraces every organ and mode of knowledge, e.g., by seeing, hearing, investigation, or experience, and of people as well as things. Supremely, however, knowledge implies verification by the eye; hence the dominant concept is that of knowledge by objective observation. This is related to the Greek view of reality.”[4]
Paul’s view of knowing Yeshua is observation and investigation, thought and practice. It is not some spiritual, indubitable apprehension, some apodictic vision or undeniable final truth. Paul’s quest rests firmly within the boundaries of human knowing. It is Hebraic emunah—trust based on experience, just like every other relationship human beings engage. Paul’s epistemology is Hebraic, where “hearing is more important than seeing, and events (as divine or human acts) constitute the reality of knowledge rather than the timeless principles behind things.”[5] In Hebrew thought, “we have knowledge, not as mere information or mystical contemplation, but only in its exercise.”[6]
“To know him” is something akin to entering into a relationship of active trust and obedience, doing the truth rather than having the truth. And with this comes “a lifetime struggle for truth, within a field of error.”
Thank God we don’t have to get it all right.
Topical Index: truth, certainty, miqreha, ginṓskō, know, emunah, Philippians 3:10
[1]https://skipmoen.com/2011/11/the-random-universe/
[2]Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, Bewilderments: Reflections of the Book of Numbers, p. 53.
[4]Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament(p. 119). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
Is this the average standard for the Spirit-filled life? If we are to live by faith, and not by sight, is it not that the standard stays the same but what we are trying to find.? God does not change, his principles his standard, is morals, Etc without the distractions around us even Spirit-filled Believers waiver so much that they bring others off track. But let us reason together and find what the true light and glory is a following the Lord, we are crucified with Christ yet we live, that works we do are not of our own but Christ through us. The US would be Spirit-filled Believers before us, currently around us, and in the future. These common threads would help us thanks for respectively on track to what God’s desire is. I think.so.,. anyway.
Why do we “need to have it all right” (know all the truth up front) in the first place? Wrong need! All we need to have Him who has it all right already. Love/truth-about-love comes from beyond us. Understanding (“have it all right”?) that love is what automatically happens when that love happens to us (and no other way). If we are waiting to cognitively know ABOUT love(/truth) before we choose love, we will be waiting till the cows come home because I think that is like wanting to hold the baby first so we can decide whether or not we want to conceive it. Choosing love IS how we know (experience) love. This is the correct order of operations. “First comes love, then comes knowledge-about-love; then comes the baby in the baby carriage.” May we allow our Lover to love us today! Like the old song says; “we’ll understand it all by and by”. I think understanding truth is all 20/20 hindsight: the truth has to happen, first. And let it begin with me!
Put simply, ginōskō has the sense of ‘come to know’, that is, arriving at new knowledge, a new comprehension.
Important here are the verses leading up to Paul’s statement, beginning at 3:1. He considers these things loss, (3:5-8) skubalov (refuse, excrement), as compared to Messiah, and that a correct understanding, ho ginōsis (noun form of ginōskō), the knowledge he now has (3:8), is faith in Christ, “the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith”, rather than a “righteousness of my own derived from the Law” (3:9), and he is seeking to know Christ further, as he states in 3:10.
Dr. Dean Sherzai, neurologist (today’s episode of Depression, Anxiety and Dementia Secrets called “How To Heal Your Brain With Food”) addresses the paradigm challenges we face when it comes to knowledge. He says “We want confirmation bias. It’s the biggest problem in humanity. That which I like I am going to look for data that confirms that bias. KNOWLEDGE DOESN’T GET RID OF CONFIRMATION BIAS – IT JUST GIVES YOU BETTER LANGUAGE TO CONFIRM YOUR BIAS.”
He makes the point that motivation is not what drives change: change drives motivation. He goes on to talk about what does change behavior by saying “behavior changes in small increments (we have to give people ways to make those changes) and then the brain says “I like it”. And THAT’S motivation: that’s how you change behavior.”
Great wisdom shared, we must not preconceive how things will be with God in our lives. We will be setting ourselves up for disappointment. We need to let go of our convictions. Thank you Laurita.
Everyone should be aware of confirmation bias. Unfortunately, most aren’t. Most folks are intellectually lazy, as well, and the schools are promoting an emotions-based way of learning as opposed to using critical analysis devoid of emotion so as not to distort outcomes. Apparently, for this reason, plus a basic distrust of news and written sources, many of the younger generation will post questions on the ‘net, check responses, then choose to adhere to the consensus. It’s a shame.
Just yesterday I found this video (I just started watching this guy’s stuff recently), a guy, Rick Beato, from the music industry who posts various kinds of vlogs related to music. He posted a recent one in which he commented about the way Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham’s drums were recorded on “When the Levee Breaks”. Due to the comments accompanying that particular vlog filled with erroneous information in an attempt to ‘correct’ him–based on their own bias, picked up from someone’s bad information–he posted a new one specifically to correct this misinformation.
youtube dot com/watch?v=XZYDDX1DHDU
At 7:45 is his admonition: …Before you go and repeat things that you hear, the information is actually already out there if you want to know [the truth of the matter]….
One of the comments accompanying this second vlog made me LOL: You’re encouraging people not to just repeat stuff they hear on social media, but rather go out and research first to ensure accuracy? The internet would implode, dude.
But hopefully Beato will actually get some folks to challenge the information they hear and read, and search out other material that may run contrary to their view in order to arrive at the truth.
So for the last few months, I have been praying…”help me to perceive, hear, see, understand, know Your perfect Will, so I can do it, in thankfulness, give praise, and then teach( or lead). I am seeking, but feel lost in the wilderness ( like the wilderness Today’s Wodr…wow on Mother Theresa). But here, I am hearing this prayer as a misdirection. Instead, I should be just Trusting, even if I can’t seem to “perceive, see, know….”?? Feels like aimlessly walking. Help!!