Two Week Post

This one is going to have to last for about two weeks, so I'm going to make it a little bit deeper.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. When it is translated to English sometimes you loose some things (I am NOT saying that the meaning or content is changed...you just miss some subtle things).

I don't know Greek, but by using some resources you can see some cool things. I used olivetree.com and a Strong's Concordance to do this.

Here we go:

There are two Greek words which are both translated "knowledge" in the NIV. One word indicates knowing facts (I know my wife's name) and one word indicated having a relational knowledge (I know how to make my wife smile).

Lets look at some verses from 2 Peter 1:2-8 (I'll highlight "knowledge" to show which Greek word is used).


Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you see that once we have knowledge of God he wants us to also add knowledge(relationship). There is such a big difference between knowledge of a person and knowledge (relationship) with a person. A relationship is so much deeper.

Congratulations if you have made it this far. Don't give up now...this is the cool part:

Ephesians 3:17-19 says, "I pray that you...may...grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."

It says that the love of Christ is HUGE. It is so big that it surpasses knowledge. I'd like everyone who reads to take a stab at which knowledge it is talking about.

I'll be back on July 18