Knowledge: Gnosis and Epignosis in 2nd Peter 2:1-8

 

In 2 Peter 1:1-8, there there are two words translated into English as "knowledge".

The two words generally translated as 'knowledge' are 'gnosis' and 'epignosis'. Whereas 'gnosis' conveys the idea of just 'knowing', 'epignosis' is a knowledge that involves a 'full discernment', which is 'to become fully acquainted with' or to have a full understanding of something.

Here is the text:

"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge (epignosis/full discernment) of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge (epignosis/full discernment) of him that has called us to glory and virtue:

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;(gnosis/knowing)

And to knowledge (gnosis/knowing) temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge (epignosis/full discernment) of our Lord Jesus Christ.(II Peter 1:1-8)

It seems that Peter is saying that we are called as disciples to do more than just know the gospel, or to know that it is real and good and accept it and follow "the commandments or the words of the prophets", but rather the message here is that it is essential that we continue, all our lives, to grow in  faith, virtue, further general knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity/love in order to truly comprehend Christ and to comprehend and live His gospel.

(You can read more about that in this link: 

https://biblefocus.net/living-word/knowledge/index.html       )

Being able to say "I know the gospel is true", or "I know that [insert anything you think is true] is true', is not what we are called to aspire to be able to do. That is not the "requirement for an  acceptable level of sufficient belief or knowledge" that we must aspire to, or worry about if we cannot honestly declare it.

What is required? That we welcome the Lord into our life in a way that opens us to learning, from Him (how to become more like Him in faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity towards others), and that as we engage in that communion with Him and in His work we, by his grace, increase our capacity to see as He sees, know as He knows, and show forth grace (a ready willingness to help) towards others as He does.

That's what we are called to when God speaks about "knowledge". It is not an "I have arrived, I know such and such" kind of thing. It is a lifelong communion with God and His grace in our discipleship.

Watching Interactions on the Day of the Passover, Matthew chapter 21 and Mark chapter 14

There are three interactions in these chapters that caught my attention, this time through.

The first occurred when the disciples were sent to find an ass for Jesus's entry into the city of Jerusalem. Jesus told them that, if the unknown owner of the ass and her colt ask why they were taking her, they should simply explain that the Lord needed her. And, sure enough, that was enough of a reason for the owner to let her go.

How often are we that generous, giving or lending our resources freely to those on the Lord's errand and doing so with trust in Him, rather than asking for all the details and being concerned until what we have lent is returned?

The second that caught my attention occurred when the woman brought a box of ointment of spikenard and poured it on Jesus's head. It was the response of some of those sitting with him: disapproval of her having spent a lot of money to express her love and respect rather than spending that money on the poor.  Jesus comes to her defense and counsels compassion and appreciation rather than fault finding.  It was a that point that Judas, who felt responsible for keeping track of the funds and how they were used, chose to leave.

How easy it is for us to find fault when someone uses funds in good ways that, to us, seem "less good than it could have been by a long shot".  How easy it is to get our dander up and become unhappy and divisive when we judge another's use of sacred funds or similar resources?

The third I considered was the man who was drawing water from the well.  Christ knew that the "goodman of the house" where that man lived, would be willing to let Jesus and his disciples share the passover meal in his upper room. 

 In those days drawing water was woman's work.  So why was this man doing that?   We don't know, but it's likely that the woman who usually did that was unable, due to injury, absence, illness, or whatever, and he (brother, son, servant, whatever) had undertaken the task.

So perhaps we learn that this is a household where, at least in this case, individuals were more interested in providing what was needful for others than they were interested in the comfort or discomfort of firm boundaries of responsibilities.  Less focus who gets to do or not do what.  More focus on helping to get things done so that all have what they need (which in this case was water) in a home which, it turns out, is a place where Jesus and his imperfect disciples are welcome.

 

"Authority" in church

 I recently read a piece written by a woman who struggles with the notion of priesthood authority, deeply concerned about who is or is not currently authorized to hold certain callings in church and advocating making changes to both expand that and to free organizations in the ward from excessive oversight by men (giving examples of that excessiveness) which intrinsically gives leaders of those organizations less power and authority.

Below are some of my ruminations in regards to that. Always in a stage of progress, I hope.

In regards to your three examples, for what it's worth, that's not the way it works in our ward. 

Our Relief Society presidency organizes classes independently.

The Primary presidency considers who to call them the president counsels with the bishop and others to see if they have insights that would be helpful and then asks that the bishopric issue the call, not because priesthood means you have authority to issue calls or to nix them, but because it helps immensely if calls all come from one place, rather than each president independently issuing calls to members of the congregation whenever they feel inspired to do so. In my ward, that would be chaotic and divisive, rather than uniting.

It is true that a Sunday School president currently is a calling designated for men. As a woman I have no problem with that. All our Sunday School teachers work independently. He mostly just serves to help them get  substitutes when teachers aren't there and does the same process of choosing teachers that the Primary president does. I appreciate his humble service

The fact that seems to be missing in this conversation is that the world defines the one who has authority as the one who has the power of administration: the power to approve or reject, to declare what is or is not allowed, to instigate change or require the status quo, to not only add input but to independently make final decisions.  And it assumes that that involves ignoring, discounting, and/or disrespecting opinions other than one's own. It creates tiers of perceived value of individuals.

That kind of authority is one that we all, you, me, and everyone else falls into doing during our lifetimes. And though we usually don't recognize it in ourselves, we get angry when we see it in others.

And we get even more angry when we feel like we are prevented from changing or influencing the exercise of that kind of authority.

And we get more angry when we sense that our thoughts on really, really important issues are being ignored by people exercising that kind of authority. (Current national political situation is a classic example of this.)

As long as we believe that church authority is like world authority and administration, and that those who don't have it are powerless or being treated as second-class (like the way the world feels right now) we will continue to believe that changing who has the power will change the dynamics. 

But that's not true. What is most important in the discussion of priesthood authority is for all men and women (whether currently "having authority" or not) to perceive it as it really is when it is in play, and to live it the way Jesus teaches it.

The problems which we see are not due to men having "authority" at church. They are due to way too many of us are either seeing authority being exercised in the world's way, or exercising it in the world's way ourselves.

Scriptures define the exercise of priesthood authority, (the kind that Jesus has and that he showed forth in everything His did or does and which we all may receive) in words that make it not only clear that it is completely different from the world's exercise of authority, but also that when exercised as it is designed to be exercised, involves all of us, both men and women, equals in the sight of God, and fully invested in creating mutual trust, charity, humility, listening, patience, courage and mercy in whatever He call us, officially or unofficially, to do. 

It is not about who does what. It's not about what office, position or set of to-do lists we have. It's not about being the director or having the final say. It's about how we understand Him and how His love transforms His work, and the  specific, loving, individual work He does hand in hand with us as we serve,  as individuals and as a group, and which has the power to create further trust and love among us.

The problem is that too many of us, both men and women, are stuck in the world 's definition of authority and carry that into our callings at church. Our ways are not His ways.

The solution to the situations you see is not to expand the parameters of who gets to do what. (I am not opposed to that happening, I just know that doing so would not change the root cause of the challenge you see). Rather the solution is to help us all, both men and women, to comprehend the immense difference between the way the world exercises authority and the way God calls us, his children, both women and men, to exercise any authority we receive from Him.

That's a huge, unending task. But that comprehension is the only thing that will truly level the playing field.