Tag: epignosis

Romans 3:20 – Good Deeds

Posted on by Will

Therefore by the works of law no flesh will be justified in His presence, for through the law is the knowledge of sin.

Truth to Learn

No one can do enough good deeds to be saved.

 

Behind the Words

“Therefore” is translated from the Greek word dioti, which is a compound word made up of dia, meaning “through” or “by” and hoti, which means “that.” Hence, dioti basically means “through that, because of that, or for this reason.”

The word “works” is from ergon which means “a product of labor, a work, or a deed.”

The word translated “flesh” is sarx, which literally means “flesh of a living creature.” It is used here to denote all of mankind, both Jew and Gentile.

“Justified” is from dikaioō, which means “to declare someone righteous” or “to make someone righteous.”

The phrase “in His presence” is translated from enōpion. This is another compound word. It is made up of en, indicating a static position (in, on, over, etc.) and ops (a derivation of optomai – to see) which refers to “sight” or “eyes.” So, literally this word means “in His sight,” though it is often translated “before Him” or “in His presence.”

The word translated “knowledge” is the Greek word epignosis, which means more than simply knowing something. It means “to recognize and understand something” or “to have full knowledge of something.”

 

Meaning Explained

Remember that whenever we see a “wherefore” or a “therefore” we need to see what it’s there for. In the previous verse we learned that the Law was given so that all those who tried to obey the Law would be found guilty before God without excuse. Therefore, that is, in light of this fact, because of this… “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His presence.” 

What Paul is saying is that justification before God cannot be obtained by obeying any set of rules no matter who made the rules. Why? Because it is through rules (Law) that we recognize sin and sinfulness.

If you recall the account of the temptation of Adam and Eve, up until God gave them the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were without sin. If they had eaten of the tree before they were told not to, they would not have been sinning; but due to the fact that they had been commanded not to, it suddenly became sinful to do so.

What Paul is telling us in these verses is that we cannot become righteous by following any set of rules, whether God-made or man-made. How then can one become righteous before God? Is it impossible? Paul is going to begin telling us in the next two verses.

 

Application

Just because we can’t be declared righteous through doing good deeds doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do them. We ought to do them out of obedience and gratitude. In other words, we can’t be saved by doing good deeds, but once we are saved, we should do them because we want to, not because we have to.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2017 Will Krause. All rights reserved

2 Peter 2:20 – Knowing Entanglement

Posted on by Will

For if they having escaped the corruption of the world by acknowledging our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled and overcome by it, they are worse off in the end than they were at the beginning.

Truth to Learn

True salvation can’t be lost, but mere intellectual salvation can.

 

Behind the Words

The word translated “corruption” is the Greek word miasmata. According to Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, “The word was anciently used…to express those noxious particles of effluvia proceeding from persons infected with contagious and dangerous diseases.”

“Acknowledging” is translated from epignōsis, made up of epi, meaning “above or over” and ginōskō, meaning “to have intellectual knowledge.”

The word translated “entangled” is emplekō from which we get our English word implicate. This particular Greek word originally meant “to braid in or to interweave.” It later came to mean “to be involved in or to become entangled in.”

 

Meaning Explained

This is one of those verses that, on the surface, appears to imply that it is possible to lose one’s salvation, so let’s look closely at it. Remember that Peter is talking about those people “who are just escaping from those who live in error,” and these false teachers were “promising them freedom,” but instead what these false teachers did was: “by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.”

He now says, “If they have escaped the corruption of the world …” What is this corruption that Peter is talking about? It is all the contagious, putrefied slime that is created by sin. Peter does not say that these people had escaped from sin but from the effects of sin in the world. And, he says that these have escaped “by knowing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  It was through intellectual knowledge that these people were able to escape the pollution of the world; it was not by experiencing faith in the Savior. It was head knowledge, not heart knowledge. And through this great knowledge that they had acquired, they were able, in their own strength, to temporarily get away from the corruption and purification of the world system.

But, because they had knowledge instead of faith, they “are again entangled in it and overcome.” And Peter says that their state is now worse than it was before they had escaped. They have now been convinced that their sins are okay and that there is no need for repentance. Even their great intellectual knowledge is not able to save them now (and, in fact, it wasn’t able to save them in the first place). These people have not just returned to their former sins in a casual manner, they are now totally entangled in them.

The point is not that one can lose one’s salvation; rather, it is that salvation through human efforts is not salvation at all.

 

Application

No matter how much you know about the Bible and no matter how much you deny your own desires and sinfulness, you cannot be saved apart from submission to God Almighty, confessing (agreeing with God regarding) your sinfulness and accepting the blood of Christ to cleanse you from your sins.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2017 Will Krause. All rights reserved

2 Peter 1:3 – God-given Godliness

Posted on by Will

His divine power has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the full knowledge of him who called us through glory and worthiness.

Truth to Learn

All that we need for life and godliness comes from God.

 

Behind the Words

“Divine” is translated from theios, which is derived from theos, meaning “God.” It refers to that which is uniquely God’s and proceeds directly from Him.

The verb “has given” is translated from dōreomai, which means “to give a gift” (one that is undeserved). It is expressed here in the perfect tense, indicating past completed action with an ongoing effect, where the emphasis is on the effect.

“Full knowledge” is the same word, epignōsis that we looked at in the previous verse, meaning complete, in-depth knowledge.

The word translated “worthiness” is the Greek word arêtes, which means “moral excellence” or “superiority.”

 

Meaning Explained

In this verse Peter continues his benediction by saying that it is through His Godly power that Jesus Christ has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Some have supposed that this means all things that pertain to spiritual life and godliness, but I am of the persuasion that he means all aspects of life, both earthly and eternal. As born-again Christians we have everything we need to live a successful life of faith and to expect eternal life in the grace of God, not because we have done anything, but because He has given it to us through His divine power.

As we noted above, the act of giving was accomplished in the past, but it has current ongoing consequences. The point when the giving actually took place can be interpreted either as the point in time when we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior or the point in eternity past when He chose us:

Even as he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and without blemish before him In love (Ephesians 1:4)

Peter seems to imply that we receive everything we need for life and godliness by developing the in-depth, personal knowledge of God in Jesus Christ that we talked about in the last verse. He is the one who called us, and He is the one who empowers us:

Among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:6)

What I want you to see from these two verses is that God shows His grace to us and gives us peace as we recognize and accept who He is and what He has done. And because of His divinity and power, He has called us to Himself and He has given us everything we need for life and for living in a godly manner. But we only get this through understanding and thoroughly knowing who He is, how glorious He is, and how powerful He is.

 

Application

We must recognize that we are what we are and we have the salvation that we have solely because of who He is, not because of what we have done.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2017 Will Krause. All rights reserved

2 Peter 1:2 – Abundant Peace

Posted on by Will

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Truth to Learn

Peace with God comes from complete knowledge of Him.

 

Behind the Words

Some translations use the expression, “through the foreknowledge of God,” which is a little misleading. The normal word in Greek for “through” is dia, but that is not the word used here. The Greek word used here is kata, which in this case means “according to” It’s a fairly minor point but it is this: grace and peace do not come as a process (through the doing of something), they are found in something (in a full knowledge of Him, and in an intimate relationship with Him).

The word translated “knowledge” is the Greek word epignōsis, which is made up of epi, meaning “over or above” and ginōskō, meaning “to know, in an absolute sense.” Therefore, it is much more than simply knowing about God. It means having an intimate relationship with Him based on thorough knowledge. It’s not the knowledge that we get by simply being exposed to Him, but the complete knowledge we get by spending time with Him, studying Him carefully and thoughtfully.

The word translated “multiplied” is plēthunō, which is derived from plēthō, meaning “to fill.” Plēthunō means “to be filled up” or “to increase fully.” It is expressed here is in the optative mood, indicating a sincere desire on Peter’s part.

 

Meaning Explained

Peter now offers a significant benediction to his intended readers. He proclaims that grace and peace should increase to the readers of this letter. Literally, he says, “Grace to you and peace to be filled-up.” That is, grace in the form of forgiveness of our sins by a righteous God through the sacrifice of His son, and peace, that elusive characteristic and quality that only comes to one who is firmly fixed within the body of Christ. Peter is not wishing for a little peace, but that his readers be filled with it.

If you search the New Testament carefully, you will see that God never promises Christians pleasure or comfort. Instead, He promises us peace. The Apostle Paul says that righteousness, peace, and joy are what the kingdom of God is all about:

For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, (Romans 14:17)

Also, notice that Paul told the Christians in Rome that it is not just peace in general, but peace with God:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1)

Now we see that Peter tells us the blessings of grace and peace come as a result of having a thorough knowledge of God, which only comes by careful study and consistent fellowship.

 

Application

Do you have peace with God? The more you learn about Him and the more you submit to His lordship over you, the more peace you will have no matter what may be happening around you.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2017 Will Krause. All rights reserved

Ephesians 4:13 – Gifts For Unity

Posted on by Will

untill we all may come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

Truth to Learn

Christians should all be working for each other.

 

Behind the Words

The word “until” is from mecri, which marks an endpoint in place or time. There is a similar Greek word, achri, which focuses on the whole duration up to the endpoint. Mecri, however, focuses on the endpoint itself.

“May come to” is the translation of the Greek word katantaō, meaning “to arrive somewhere” or “to attain something.” It is expressed here in the subjunctive mood, indicating the possibility or probability of the occurrence.

“Unity” is from enotēta. This word is derived from heis, meaning one. Enotēta means “unity” or “oneness.”

The word translated “knowledge” is the Greek word epignosis, which means more than simply knowing something. It means “to recognize and understand something,” that is, “to have complete, in-depth knowledge of someone or something.”

“Full grown man” is from the Greek words andra teleion. Andra, a form of anēr refers to “a man,” although as it is used here, it refers to “a person.” Teleion, a form of teleios, means “complete” or “of full age.” Thus, together these two words refer to “a fully grown person.”

The word “measure” is translated from metron, meaning “a measure of length or capacity.”

“Stature” is from hēlikia, meaning “maturity, in age or size.”

 

Meaning Explained

In today’s verse, Paul tells us some of the reasons that God gave us spiritual gifts. In the opening verses of this chapter, he told us that we are to be humbly and patiently bearing with each other, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit, being bound to one another by peace. In the following verses he talked about why unity is a defining characteristic of the Christian faith. He also told us how Christ came to present gifts to each one of us when He arrived home after His victory over Satan and death. As we learned in yesterday’s verse, these spiritual gifts are given to every believer, and we are to use our gifts to minister to members of the church and, thereby, to build-up the body of Christ.

The first objective of our ministering to each other and building up each other is two-fold. It is to reach that unity Paul talked about in verse three, and it is so that each of us might come to a full knowledge of the Son of God. Here he calls that unity “the unity of the faith.” Even though there have been splits in the Christian church throughout the centuries, and it sometimes seems that every church is going off in its own direction, there are two unifying factors. One is our common faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us. The other is the complete in-depth, experiential knowledge of who Jesus is.

Another objective of our using our spiritual gifts within the church is so that we might become fully grown Christians. And, in using our spiritual gifts in the church, we help each other mature in our relationship with God. This is why the writer of Hebrews said:

And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

 

Application

It is quite apparent that we are in the last days and that Christ could return any day now. Instead of living for ourselves in these last days, let us use our gifts to strengthen each other and to prepare ourselves for our heavenly reunion with the Savior.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2015 Will Krause. All rights reserved

Ephesians 4:13 – Gifts For Unity

Posted on by Will

till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

Truth to Learn

Christians should all be working for each other.

Behind the Words

“Come to” is the translation of the Greek word katantaō, meaning “to arrive somewhere” or “to attain something.”

The word translated “knowledge” is the Greek word epignosis, which means more than simply knowing something. It means “to recognize and understand something,” that is, “to have complete, in-depth knowledge of someone or something.”

“Perfect man” is from the Greek words andra teleion. Andra, a form of anēr refers to “a man,” although as it is used here, it refers to “a person.” Teleion, a form of teleios, means “complete” or “of full age.” Thus, together these two words refer to “a fully grown person.”

The word “measure” is translated from metron, meaning “a measure of length or capacity.”

“Stature” is from hēlikia, meaning “maturity, in age or size.”

Meaning Explained

In today’s verse, Paul tells us some of the reasons that God gave us spiritual gifts. In the opening verses of this chapter, he told us that we are to be humbly and patiently bearing with each other, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit, being bound to one another by peace. In the following verses he talked about why unity is a defining characteristic of the Christian faith. He also told us how Christ came to present gifts to each one of us when He arrived home after His victory over Satan and death. As we learned in yesterday’s verse, these spiritual gifts are given to every believer, and we are to use our gifts to minister to members of the church and, thereby, to build-up the body of Christ.

One of the objectives of our ministering to each other and building up each other is a two-fold objective. It is to reach that unity Paul talked about in verse three, and it is so that each of us might come to a full knowledge of the Son of God. Here he calls that unity “the unity of the faith.” Even though there have been splits in the Christian church throughout the centuries, and it sometimes seems that every church is going off in its own direction, there are two unifying factors. One is our common faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us. The other is the complete in-depth, experiential knowledge of who Jesus is.

Another objective of our using our spiritual gifts within the church is so that we might become fully grown Christians. And, in using our spiritual gifts in the church, we help each other mature in our relationship with God. This is why the writer of Hebrews said:

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Application

It is quite apparent that we are in the last days and that Christ could return any day now. Instead of living for ourselves in these last days, let us use our gifts to strengthen each other and to prepare ourselves for our heavenly reunion with the Savior.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.