Ginosko: Knowing Jesus

There is an adage in the West, "It's not what you know, its who you know." This statement emphasizes relationships over reason, that you might be greater scholar of the day, but if you aren't sociable and don't have connections, you probably will remain anonymous and without support. This is true of God. There are plenty of people who know about God, theologians who can explain doctrine like a professor, but what matters is that you know God, as in know Him personally like a friend, "And this is the way to have eternal life--to know you (ginosko), the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." (John 17:3, Jesus Christ), "Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life We believe and know (ginosko) that You are the Holy One of God," (John 6:68-69), "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing (gnosis) Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ," (Philippians 3:8), "This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge (epignōskō) of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ," (Ephesians 4:13), "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death," (Philippians 3:10). There are some chilling words from Christ to those who think knowing Him isn't important, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew (ginosko) you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." (Matthew 7:21-23).There plenty of people going to call Jesus Lord, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Neo Gnostics, Copts, and other groups who deviated from the True Knowledge of Jesus as recorded in Holy Bible, and they shall be called "workers of Lawlessness," because they failed to teach people who Jesus really is, The Christ, the Son of God, Very God himself of the Godhead (Trinity), and Savior for all Sins. 

To Know in Scriptures above  comes from Greek word ginóskó (γινώσκω) which is to know personally, "ginṓskō – properly, to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance). 1097 /ginṓskō ("experientially know") is used for example in Lk 1:34, "And Mary [a virgin] said to the angel, 'How will this be since I do not know (1097 /ginṓskō = sexual intimacy) a man? Even the other Greek words for know and knowledge such as gnosis and epignosis leads to personal relationship:, "gnṓsis (a feminine noun derived from 1097 /ginṓskō, "experientially know") – functional ("working") knowledge gleaned from first-hand (personal) experience, connecting theory to application; "application-knowledge," gained in (by) a direct relationship (ginōskō) and, "epígnōsis (from 1909 /epí, "on, fitting" which intensifies 1108 /gnṓsis, "knowledge gained through first-hand relationship") – properly, "contact-knowledge" that is appropriate ("apt, fitting") to first-hand, experiential knowing. This is defined by the individual context. See 1921 (epignōskō). Ginosko is the kind of know Christ wants to have, personal experience, deep and close relationship. Plenty of scholars are content to have people know Christ intellectually, but it is experientially, intimally, and to personally know and be an friend of God that matters, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you," (John 15:15), and "And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend." (James 2:23). We are suppose to be a friend of God the Trinity, to have close and personal relationship with Him, and experience His Presence through his manifestations, visions, and more. 

This is why I become concerned for people who are in churches that teach God is distant and behind a holy canopy and altar where he is inaccessible. This isn't at all what ginosko, the word used for knew in the Matthew chapter. We should not be content with distance, Jesus Christ died to break the distance of sin, He tore veil in Temple, the curtain of separation between God and Man, "Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.  At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.  They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people," (Matthew 27:50-53), and "And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus," (Hebrews 10:19). Jesus desires to be close to us, He lives inside of us who believe in Him!, "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory," (Colossians 1:27), "Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?," (1 Corinthians 3:16), and "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me" (John 17:20-21). Christ wants to be One with us, that is ginosko, to be personal, intimate, experience us and we experience Him! Do not listen to lies that He desires distance, even in Old Testament period He desired to be close to His people, "Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!," (Exodus 24:9-11). It matters that you ginosko Jesus Christ, that you ginosko the Holy Trinity! Do not settle for Gnosis (knowledge, to know about). This will not suffice when Jesus Christ returns on the clouds in glory! You cannot accept Jesus as your LORD and Savior, and then shelve Him to collect dustg  or put Him on back burner of your life and then expect Him to bail you out on Great Day of Judgement! The reason the Apostle Paul says, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling," (Philippians 2:12) isn't about doing works of piety or going to masses to be saved, but it means working out that salvic relationship with Christ daily, that He is your Savior and you must have relationship with Him, ginosko, and by knowing Him (John 6:40) you are saved. Its relational, not merit based by doing good deeds. When Jesus urges us to stand firm in faith (Matthew 24:13) He means to keep believing and relating to Him personally. We don't get to confess Jesus in one moment and then wait to cash in our eternal chips, or withdrawal the bail out money for our sins on Judgement Day! No its a ginosko, a knowing Jesus daily, its relational, believing is plural and infinite, not one moment and then you abandon Jesus for the rest of your life and then when Judgement Day comes you expect Him to save you from the fires; Here is proof that Once saved always saved (expecting Christ to save you when you abandon Him in every way) isn't true: "Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has put in charge of his household to give the others [in the house] their food and supplies at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that [faithful] servant when his master returns and finds him doing so. ⁴⁷ I assure you and most solemnly say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that servant is evil and says in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time [he will not return for a long while],’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards; ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he is not aware, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and put him with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger]," (Matthew 24:45-51), "Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, ⁴ but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. ⁵ When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. ⁸ Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out. But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves. But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. ¹¹ Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’ “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return," (Matthew 25:1-13), the lamps that the bridsman or virgins didn't keep lit was their ginosko, their knowing the Bridgegroom Jesus in personal relationship, they let the light and flame of their passionate relationship with Christ go out and so we locked out of the marriage feast room; "Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. ²⁹ To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. ³⁰ Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth [hell, "They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth," -Matthew 13:42],"(Matthew 25:28:30), "Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name, At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other," (Matthew 24:9-10), "Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons," (1 Timothy 4:1), "For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— ⁶ and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame," (Hebrews 6:4-6), "20If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through their knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and turned away from the holy commandment passed on to them," (2 Peter 2:21-22), "And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Lawlessness will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 24:10-13). The reason Jesus says stand firm, is that you have to keep ginoskoing, knowing, relating to Him. The point is if you don't ginosko, know Jesus in deep personal relationship and want Him above all else, then you are likely to fall away from faith when persecution happen, "And the beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation," (Revelation 13:7), "This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus/This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus, (Revelation 14:12), "If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed." This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God's people." (Revelation 13:10). Standing Firm and enduring to end is to everyday keep ginosko, knowing Jesus in personal, experiential, and intimate relationship until either you repose or He returns on the clouds!

Many will say LORD, but It is those who chose to ginosko Christ that will say friend, just as Jesus said to His Apostles who ginosko Him (John 15:15). Getting saved by Jesus wasn't merely to escape Hell, The Second Death (Revelation 20:15, Revelation 21:8), the point was so we could be with Christ and know (ginosko, relate, experience and be close to) Him for eternity; it involves wanting to be with Him! He died for our sins to remove the separation (curtain) between us and Him; to not want a relationship with Jesus, to not want intimacy, to not want to relate, experience Him, and be His friend would in essence be going back to sin, because even though you confess to be Christian, in deed you aren't seeking Him and having relationship with Him, which is the whole point, that you want to be with Jesus and Gohead (Trinity) forever! Another way to understand ginosko is this, a person is your friend that you stop calling, and over time you don't know them anymore, and you lose touch; that is exactly what you want to avoid by applying ginosko, knowing Christ daily, so that your relationship is so strong you have faith and trust in Him for everything, and you stand firm through all adversities. 

There are some churches that operate like facebook, twitter, and other social networks. They see God's posts, but they don't actually commune and meet with Him in person (presence). Then there are churches that apply ginosko, and in their meetings the LORD Jesus is present, and they build that relationship with the Lamb of God both at meeting and each and every day.

Yes you are saved when you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart He was raised from dead (Romans 10:9-10) and that you believe in Him and you shall have eternal life (John 6:40). But what I am saying is that from that comes a relationship/the purpose of that is to be with Christ, the confession and belief are first day of marriage to Christ [Christ requires you follow His direction daily and to do that you have to relate to him deeply daily], you are saved, but if you neglect the relationship it can end in divorce! (either you falling away or Jesus saying I never knew you). Because confessing Jesus and believing in Him is connected to the relating, experiencing, and wanting to be close to Him. When Apostles confessed and believed in Jesus, they didn't stop and go back to fishing, they spent their lives in preaching the good news (Gospel) and living in a relationship with the Holy Trinity, with Christ Jesus! They grew more intimate with Christ in their walk and relationship with Him day by day. That is the key I am talking about. To know Jesus, ginosko, to have relationship with Him which keeps the confessing and believing in Him alive as well; their interconnected believe (trust), confess (say it out loud) and relationship (ginkso); they are like mini-trinity, when you believe and confess it builds the relationship, knowing Jesus, and when you know him, relate to Him it builds your trust/belief [you can't trust someone when you don't have directions from them or know them well to catch their body language, and unique aspects of who they are] in Him and you can confess Him, preach the Gospel before people. The closer you know, ginosko Christ, the more easily you will believe (trust) in hard times, and confess Him when it is dangerious. Amen.