Knowledge

Concept

Knowledge in Scripture encompasses both intellectual understanding of God's revelation and the intimate experiential knowing that characterizes a covenantal relationship with God. The Hebrew yada carries both cognitive and relational dimensions — Adam "knew" his wife (Gen. 4:1) and Israel was called to "know" the LORD (Hos. 6:6). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9, 17) represents the forbidden appropriation of moral autonomy, the desire to determine good and evil independently of God. Proverbs places the fear of the LORD as the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7) and wisdom, establishing that true knowledge is not merely factual but covenantally ordered. In the NT, Paul warns against the puffed-up "knowledge" that destroys weaker believers (1 Cor. 8:1–3) while praising the knowledge of God that surpasses all understanding and unites believers to Christ. John's Gospel uses ginoskein (to know) for the mutual indwelling of the Father, Son, and believer (John 10:14–15; 17:3). Paul's great prayer is that believers "may know him" (Phil. 3:10), treating this as the supreme goal of the Christian life. False knowledge — Gnosticism — is opposed in 1 Timothy 6:20 and 1 John 4.