And this is Eternal life, that they know you…. John 17: 3
Eternal life is not simply the concept of life after death but rather the kind of life we have after we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. It is the life that Jesus displayed on earth and the life that He came for us, as children of God, to possess.
Eternal life begins when I encounter the saving knowledge of Jesus and increases as I learn who He is. Jesus’ prayer is that we would hold knowledge of the Father and the son so that we might be perfectly one with Him.
The primary way God reveals himself to believers today is through His word, breathed on, by His Holy Spirit. His word was first spoken, then revealed in Jesus and finally written, that we might believe.
“..but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31
As His children, we are to behold Him, to learn from Him and grow up to be like Him. We continually feed upon Him in order that we might more fully know Him.
The Ephesian prayer is that we would have a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The Spirit of knowledge is for the one pursing a lifetime’s relationship with the Lord. To know Him is eternal life.
Helps Word Study on the word KNOW ~
1097 ginōskō – properly, to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance).
1097 (ginōskō) suggests "knowing through personal experience" (A. T. Robertson, WP 2,122,123), i.e. through relationship. This root (gnō-) implies personal, first-hand knowing (perceiving, understanding) – a subjective knowing "grounded in personal experience" (J. Thayer).
In contrast, 1492 (eídō) typically focuses on "objective (self-evident) knowing" as it results from observation, i.e. "absolute knowing" in the sense it does not require a personal relationship.
The point being, we might (eido) some things about God (head knowledge) but not (ginosko) Him personally and intimately. Jesus shows this realty from John 5:39-40
‘You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.’
Let me suggest that whatever knowledge we hold through our current personal experience still has room for so much more understanding. We are told Moses was a friend of God who spoke with him ‘face to face’. His intimate encounters with God revealed God’s very character and nature. From Jesus, we have a first hand knowledge of the heart and mind of God, as expressed through Him. Now we have been invited into this knowledge.
Our fellowship with the Father is built from feeding upon His word and then our conversations with Him through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us to reveal the heart and mind of God, to teach us all things and lead us into truth. As we feed upon the Word, the Holy Spirit rightly divides soul and spirit. He searches intents and motivations, rightly aligning us to righteousness, producing life for us.
We are now seeing a renewal, highlighted by the Spirit of God, to hold a place of honor for His Word. An honor for His word, creates the door for entrance into union with Him. ‘How can two walk together unless they be agreed?’ ‘A house divided can not stand!’ Without knowledge of the word there can be no agreement to it. Willing submission comes from the honor we hold in our hearts for His word. Without an honor for His word, there can be no unity, no oneness with Him, because we have rejected His knowledge, wisdom and ultimately the life it gives.
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 1 Cor. 13:12
As Paul said, not that I have alredy obtained or am already perfect but I press on to make it my own… that I may know Him.