Sometimes, theology loses the simplicity that’s in Christ Jesus.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3
Knowing Christ is the evidence for Christ. That’s not circular reasoning. It’s a little bit like saying, “Knowing your dad is proof of his existence.” or “Seeing my car in the driveway is proof that it’s in the driveway.” However, there’s a huge difference between observing or experiencing someone in the carnal and knowing Christ. There’s a huge difference between seeing and interpreting a mountain by the weakness of human capability and knowing Christ by Divine revelation. When human beings observe or experience, they interpret what they see, feel, hear, smell, taste, and otherwise experience. It’s impossible to observe anything without interpretation. Interpretation must add to the observation or diminish it. It’s common to interpret through the filter of the worldview. The worldview is a fake reality that appears more real, to the person who owns it, than real reality.
Knowing Christ isn’t like that. Christ reveals Himself to us. He is the creator of your human spirit, mind, and body. He’s well able to impart knowledge of Himself and His Truth. He’s well able to lead and guide.
We, on the other hand, have a problem in that we tend to interpret what He says. When we read Scripture, we tend to dip into our worldviews and come up with various interpretations. Often, we don’t even ask Christ to reveal the Bible to to us. Even when we ask, we tend to get in there to give Him our help. He doesn’t need our help. In the same way, scientists tend to use assumptions. Business professionals tend to resort to assumptions.
Yet, every observation and experience can become part of knowing Christ. If we acknowledge Him in all our ways, we will become more aware of His teaching and leading moment by moment in every situation. In this way, He can reveal reality to you, whether in the physical realm or the spiritual realm. In this case, it isn’t you doing the interpretation. You don’t try to exercise your fallen mind to understand the people that you know. You don’t try to lean on your own understanding (assumptions, stories, and worldview) to interpret scientific evidence. You ask God about it. You hear His Voice explaining how it all works. The Holy Spirit speaks through Scripture, by the way, and never contradicts Himself. Don’t add to His words. Don’t diminish His Words. Don’t make assumptions. Listen to Him.
This is a progressive progress from glory to glory. It’s not about gaining a bunch of knowledge about things or theology. It’s about coming to know Christ and His truth. Through submission to His Spirit, we are actually changed, transfigured, into His same Image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.
A Secular scientist may think that this is quite different from the process of science. However, true science follows this process exactly. It’s progressive. It doesn’t get closure on theories that can’t be proven. A true scientist opens his or her mind to God to reveal the meaning of what they are looking at. A true theologian does the same when looking at Scripture. In both cases, current knowledge is to be held loosely since it’s imperfect, it’s incomplete, and it might be totally wrong. In both cases, the person who is looking for truth listens to the Voice of Jesus Christ.
“My sheep hear My Voice.” Jesus speaking in John 10:27
