Becoming a theologian: Can we know God?

Yesterday we discussed whether God exists. We answered, "Yes!" Perhaps the next question - certainly an important one since we are defining theology as knowing God and knowing about God - is "Can we know God?"

We can know God because He makes it possible for us to know Him.

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Matthew 11:27

• So, who can know God?
• Jesus (the Son)
• and those that Jesus chooses to reveal God to
• Jesus also helps us to know about God.

No one has ever seen God. But God, the one and only Son, is at the Father's side. He has shown us what God is like.

John 1:18 (NIrV)

Though we can know God, we can't understand him completely

• We are finite, which means that we can be measured. Whether we want to measure our height, weight, or age, we can be measured. God, however is infiite, which means that He can't be measured. He has no beginning or end.

Lord, you are great. You are really worthy of praise. No one can completely understand how great you are.

Psalm 145:3 (NIrV)

• Consider for a moment, Star Wars. Certainly, you boys know a lot about Star Wars.
• Do you think that you know everything there is to know about Star Wars?
• What planet is Han Solo from? Corellia (I had to look that up
• But Star Wars - even with the six live action movies, the Clone Wars movie and TV, video games, and books - is finite. If we could devote all of our time to studying Star Wars (and before you ask no, you may not) we might eventually know all there is to know about Star Wars.
• Even though you've seen each of the Star Wars movies a whole lot of times, don't you still want to watch them again and again?
• When we consider again that God is infinite, can we ever expect that we could know all there is to know about God?
• Even though we can't know all there is to know about God, we should still strive to know as much about God as we possibly can.

We can know God and that is a good thing

This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

• God Himself says that we CAN know Him.
• Knowing God is something that we can boast about. What is boasting?
• If God says we can boast about knowing Him, do you think it is good to know God?
• Do you want to know God better?