III. PREREQUISITES TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

A. God Initiated His Self-Revelation

The knowledge of God differs from all other knowledge in that man can have this knowledge only as far as God reveals it. If God did not initiate the revelation of Himself, there would be no way for man to know Him. Therefore, a human being must put himself under God who is the object of his knowledge. In other scholarly endeavors, the human being often places himself above the object of his investigation, but not so in the study of God.

The knowledge of God differs from all other knowledge in that man can have this knowledge only as far as God reveals it. If God did not initiate the revelation of Himself, there would be no way for man to know Him. Therefore, a human being must put himself under God who is the object of his knowledge. In other scholarly endeavors, the human being often places himself above the object of his investigation, but not so in the study of God.

The knowledge of God differs from all other knowledge in that man can have this knowledge only as far as God reveals it. If God did not initiate the revelation of Himself, there would be no way for man to know Him. Therefore, a human being must put himself under God who is the object of his knowledge. In other scholarly endeavors, the human being often places himself above the object of his investigation, but not so in the study of God.

B. God Gave Language for Communication

Certainly an essential part of God’s revelation is a provision of means for communicating that revelation. Also the record of the personal revelation of God in Christ necessitates some means of recording and communicating that revelation. For this purpose God gave language. He devised it and gave it to the first man and woman in order that He might communicate His instructions to them (Gen. 1:28–30) and that they might communicate with Him (3:8–13). It also seemed to have a part in their subduing the unfallen creation and giving names to the animals. Even after the division of the one original language into many at Babel, languages served as the means of communication on all levels. We can certainly believe that the omniscient God made provision for languages that were sufficient to communicate His self-revelation to man.

C. He Created Man in His Image

When God created man in His image and likeness He made him, like Himself, a rational being with intelligence. To be sure, human intelligence is not the same as divine intelligence, but it is a real intelligence, not fictitious. Therefore, humans have the ability to understand the meaning of words and the logic of sentences and paragraphs. Sin has removed the guarantee that human understanding is always reliable, but it does not eradicate a human being’s ability to understand.

D. He Gave the Holy Spirit

To believers God has given His Holy Spirit to reveal the things of God (John 16:13–15; 1 Cor. 2:10).

This does not make the believer infallible, but it can give him the ability to distinguish truth from error (1 John 2:27).

These works of God make it possible for us to know and obey the many commands in Scripture to know Him (Rom. 6:16; 1 Cor. 3:16; 5:6; 6:19; James 4:4).

These works of God make it possible for us to know and obey the many commands in Scripture to know Him (Rom. 6:16; 1 Cor. 3:16; 5:6; 6:19; James 4:4).