Our Most Important Belief
I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
Philippians 3:8
If anybody could qualify to have a relationship with God on the basis of the Old Covenant and their Jewish heritage, Paul would be the leading candidate. He was a “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5), and “as for righteousness based on the law, faultless” (verse 6). Paul was a zealous defender of the faith and knew all about God, but until the Lord struck him down on the Damascus road, he didn’t know Him at all. He had an Old Covenant relationship with God but not a personal one. After his conversion, Paul reflects on his lost status in the Jewish community: “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things” (verses 7-8).
The most important belief that we can have is a true knowledge of God and who we are in relationship to Him. Who is God? The Westminster Confession says, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchanging in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.” Can we actually Know Him? Scripture declares that God is incomprehensible. “How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out” (Job 36:26). Being finite we cannot fully comprehend the infinite, yet we can truly know Him. Paul prays “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better” (Ephesians 1:17).
God has made Himself known through His Word, but the written Word by itself can only give us a theology about God. The ultimate revelation of God is Jesus, His Son. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the father” (John 14:9). It is through Christ that we personally know our Heavenly Father. “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). The triune nature of God is fully revealed in our relationship as children of God with our heavenly Father. “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and He in us: He has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:12-13). Because we have a personal relationship with God, we know Him as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
As children of God, we can personally petition our heavenly Father (see Matthew 6:9-13), because there is only one mediator between God and men, and that is Jesus Christ (see 1 Timothy 2:5). “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). As our heavenly Father, He “disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). God knows us better than we know ourselves, and He has made the ultimate sacrifice in order that we may know Him and have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
A few question to ponder:
Review Philippians 3:1-14. How did Paul’s goal change after converting from Judaism to Christianity?
What should the story of Paul’s transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant (i.e., from law to grace) impact us today?
What is the difference between knowing God and knowing about God?
How can we personally get to know God better?
What difference does it make to you personally to know that Christianity is a relationship as opposed to a religious ritual?
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.