At the beginning of the two major sections of this portion of 2 Corinthians, 5:1-10 and 5:11-6:2, you notice that they each begin with the words “we know.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 says, “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” And then in the first half of verse 11 we read, “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.” That introduces us to a theme that ties these two sections together, which is the theme of Christian knowledge. It causes us to raise the question: How is it that Christians know or claim to know anything—that is, anything spiritual?
There are different ways of knowing, of course. Some of our knowledge is by what we would call “intuition.” Sometimes we just sense that a situation is not right, and later we find out that this was indeed the case. There is knowledge that comes by experience. You learn by experience that if you mishandle tools, you get hurt. So if you have any sense, you either stop trying to be a handyman around the house or you learn how to handle them properly. There is also knowledge that comes by research, that is, by careful investigation. That is what most scholarship is about. In science we make experiments. We test hypotheses and see what works and what does not. Out of that we gain knowledge that we did not have before.
When we turn to Christianity, what is the basis of the knowledge we have there? The Bible does not discount these different kinds of knowledge. For example, in its own way the Bible affirms the value of experience or careful investigation. Concerning experience, we are told to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8). When we seek to apply that in our lives we find that it is true. Nevertheless, neither intuition, experience, nor careful investigation is the basis for Christian knowledge. The kind of knowledge we have in Christianity comes by revelation, and it is based on the character of God.
We have an example of this in Luke 9, which is paralleled more fully in Matthew 16. The Lord Jesus Christ was talking to His disciples and asked them on this particular occasion, “Who do the crowds say I am?” (v. 18b). They proceeded to give all the answers that were going around. Some said John the Baptist, while others said Elijah or another of the ancient prophets of Israel who has come back to life. But then Jesus got personal and asked His disciples who they thought He was. Peter, acting as the spokesman for the group, replied, “The Christ of God” (v. 20b). From Matthew’s account, we see that Jesus then told Peter that the answer he gave was given by God. Peter’s answer was the result of revelation—not intuition, experience, or even by careful research.
Our knowledge of God and His ways comes on the basis of that written revelation which is the Bible. It is interesting that Peter himself recognized this. In 2 Peter the apostle is talking about his own experience as one of Jesus’ disciples. Peter refers to the glorious event of the transfiguration of Jesus. It was perfectly evident to Peter and the others who witnessed this that this was no mere man. This was God incarnate. Furthermore, they even heard a voice from heaven declaring, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (1:17b). Yet as wonderful as that experience was, nevertheless Peter says here that there is now something even more certain than seeing Jesus in His flesh. This is the revelation of God in Scripture.
