Knowing The Unknowable

Knowing the Unknowable

. . . and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19, ESV

MANY BOOKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN about knowing God. We talk about growing in our relationship with him and knowing him better. We study his Word to see what he has done in the past and to better understand his nature, character, and ways. We want to know about him intellectually and by experience.

That’s an admirable goal, and we can learn a lot about who God is by digging deep into his Word, experiencing him through life and prayer, and having a genuine relationship with him. But our normal efforts are not nearly enough, primarily because he is too big to be fully known. There is too much depth, too much variety, too much mystery. We can grow in knowledge of him, but our minds can only do so much.

That’s why Paul prays that we would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. This may seem contradictory; how can we know what is beyond knowledge? But this must be a divine awareness awakened within us by God himself. If the love of Christ surpasses natural knowledge, there is no way to comprehend it naturally—especially in the infinite dimensions that Paul uses to describe his love in the previous verse. We need supernatural strength to be able to grasp the breadth, length, height, and depth of his love.

When, with God’s revelation and power, we begin to grasp what is beyond our capacity to comprehend, something changes inside us. We see differently and are transformed into his image (2 Corinthians 3:18). And as we are changed, we are filled with his nature. In fact, according to Paul’s prayer, we are filled with the fullness of God—the infinite embodied in the finite, just as the Word became flesh so many years ago. This is a staggering thought, and one we would dare not believe if it were not revealed in the inspired Word. It’s also part of a life-changing prayer God is certain to answer as we grow in believing him.

The love of God is broader than the measures of man’s mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.