The High Calling of God – Part 4

We are called to be conformed to the image of Christ. This is our calling and destiny in Christ. Even so, walking in the full image of Jesus is not instantaneous. The Scriptures outline the stages we go through to walk in the full measure of the stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 3:7-11). As shown in the previous study, experiencing the new birth in Christ is what starts us on our journey. The next stage is to know Him (Philippians 3:10).

The Greek word translated “know” in Philippians 3:10 is “ginosko”, which refers to having knowledge and understanding of something/someone. It also connotes “deep intimacy”. Here is truth: we cannot be fully conformed to the image of Christ if we have no intimacy with Him, and do not have knowledge and understanding of His ways. Knowing Christ therefore requires that we develop an abundant love for real knowledge – i.e. the Word of God (See Philippians 1:9, NASB). If our love for the Word of God has any depth and seriousness to it, then we will not be okay going a day without studying/meditating on it. God’s Word is a revelation of Himself and His ways (John 1:1, Matthew 11:27), and by it we obtain understanding (Proverbs 9:10; Matthew 13:13-15) and know His will (Romans 12:1-2; Colossians 1:9-10). The Word of God, is Jesus Himself, and it is the foundation upon which every genuine truth and the knowledge of God is built (Mathew 7:24, John 1:1; 1 Corinthians 3:11). The Word of God is the glory of God (Revelations 21:23), and by it we are transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Knowing Christ also requires that we are led by His Holy Spirit daily. As we are told “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:11-12)”. Even so, the Holy Spirit’s leading does not contradict the Word of God, for He takes that which belongs to the Father, and the Son (who is the Word and the revealer of the Father) and shows them to us (John 16:14-16; Matthew 11:27). Without the Holy Spirit, the Word of God will be dead to us; we could read it always and never come to any knowledge of the Truth.

It is neither the Scriptures nor the Spirit alone but the combination of the Word and the Spirit that brings us the full revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus confirmed this when He told the Sadducees, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power (Spirit) of God (Matthew 22:29)”. We cannot ignore the ministry of the Word and get hooked up only to the move of the Holy Spirit. Neither are we better off quenching the move of the Spirit in our lives and in our meetings. Without both the Word and the Spirit, we will go into error.

The knowledge of the Scriptures and of the Spirit of God is not just to make our minds beautiful or puff us up. We are commanded to obey and live by the Word and by the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:16; John 15:14). This is how we are able to walk uprightly. It is the upright with whom God is intimate (see Proverbs 3:32b), and those who are intimate with Him are those who are maturing into the very image of Christ (Philippians 3:10-11).

-Kwadwo Omari, PhD
© August 7, 2017.