I was first “discipled” in a fellowship that warned against spiritual experiences and snubbed anyone who chased miracles and manifestations of God. All claims to miraculous healings were immediately suspect and were eventually written off as fraudulent acts perpetrated by faith-healing con men, excessive emotionalism, or psychosomatic healings. In that fellowship, we approached God through reason and intellect. The Word of God was to be studied, dissected, debated, and unlocked through the logic of sound reasoning. Any other approach was a prelude to deception.

The Holy Spirit spoke through the written word and the written word only and there was no current revelation beyond the last paragraph of the Book of Revelation – preferably in the King James Version. Experience was deemed untrustworthy and entirely subjective. To know God was to study about him. Any other approach was invalid. There were some wonderful people in that fellowship, but I also noticed some men who could quote almost the entire Bible, but the fruit of the Spirit seemed to be glaringly absent in the lives of some of these learned men.

In the New Testament, there are two words that are often translated “to know.” One is gnosis and the other is epígnōsis. Gnosis is the accumulation of knowledge or information about a thing. I can know about God by studying the Bible, reading commentaries, hearing sermons and so forth. Epignosis is knowledge gained through a first-hand relationship. It is “contact-knowledge” gained from first-hand, experiential knowing. It is the difference between saying that I know about someone or that I personally know that individual and have spent extensive time with him.

In my part of the country, everyone knows about tornadoes. We have all seen Twister five times, read about tornadoes in science class since the third grade, and have seen numerous pictures and reports of the devastation left in their wake – usually on the ten o’clock news. However, our knowledge does not compare to the knowledge of those who have actually huddled in a home while the roof was torn off, while the shift in barometric pressure was ravaging their eardrums, while they actually heard the tornado approaching like a freight train, or after they opened the door of the closet they were cringing in to step out onto a bare foundation. Their knowledge and understanding is epignosis – a personal, experiential understanding of a person or thing.

Peter speaks of “knowledge” several times in just a few verses in his second letter. He says, “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” (2 Peter 1:2-3). Both times, he uses the word epignosis for knowledge. He says that grace and peace cone to us through an experiential understanding of God, an experience, as well as everything we need for life and godliness. A few verses later, Peter says, “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control…” (2 Peter 1:5). In that verse he uses the word gnosis.

We need both a learned and studied knowledge and personal experiences with God to have a full understanding of who he is. Feeling the overwhelming presence of God as peace, joy, or love in prayer or worship is epignosis. Experiencing God through a prophetic word, a healing, or deliverance is epignosis. Receiving supernatural provision, miraculous protection, or hearing the voice of God as you wait quietly for him is epignosis. Operating in a spiritual gift and knowing that God just did something through you that was beyond your ability is epignosis. Receiving a warning or a truth in dreams and visions is epignosis. Nothing changes us like those moments. Those are experiences of God that shaped the faith of men and women from Genesis to Revelation. They still do if we receive them.

There is an interesting section of scripture that seems out of place in the text but it says, “Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent… The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent” (Ex.33:7-11).

This text suggests that although anyone could go to the tent for an encounter with God, only Moses and Joshua seemed brave enough or hungry enough to do so. Joshua is about the only hero in scripture about which there are no recorded failings. His faith was phenomenal and his obedience was sure. Perhaps, it was because he so often experienced God at the tent, which he rarely left during Israel’s years in the desert.

The written word is essential and foundational, but experiencing God takes our understanding and faith to a different level. Epignosis (experience) without gnosis (understanding from the Word) will likely lead to deception, but data without experience will lead us to another kind of deception…a sterile knowledge of God without the impact of his presence. The Pharisees produced the fruit of extensive study without a personal experience of God. When experiences with God came as miracles of healing and deliverance, they rejected them. If they couldn’t deny the miracle, they ascribed it to Satan. Not only that, but they never recognized in Jesus the God they had studied about for endless hours, even though Jesus said that if we have seen him we have seen the Father. Intellect, untrained by encounters with God, will often blind us to his revelation.

Studying about God is essential, but so is experiencing him. I would encourage you to pursue both so that you can love him with all of your heart and mind. The promise is, “If you seek him, he will be found by you!” (1 Chr.28:9). Be blessed in your pursuit.