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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman
Experiential
Knowledge "I know you can't
just walk into most American banks and exchange your American money into
Canadian money," he told me. "Well,
what you know in your head I've experienced in my life while living in Knowing is one thing.
Experiencing what you know is another thing, something that is
relevant to becoming a Christian. We
can have all sorts of Biblical knowledge about being a Christian, but
knowing is definitely not experiencing.
With this in mind, read John 3:16.
"For God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life." The verb
"believes" in the phrase "whosoever believes in Him"
is translated from the Greek verb "pisteuo" that means "to
trust." You could, then,
translate this phrase as "whosoever trusts in Him."
I prefer "trusts" since "believes" in our
common usage is more of a mental process, an acceptance of something that
we consider to be true. That
isn't the definition of "pisteuo." In our English text the
word "believes" is a verb, an action, a thought process we
perform. In the Greek text
"pisteuo" (believes) is a participle, a word formed from a verb
that describes something or someone. So
what does "pisteuo" describe in John 3:16?
It describes the person in question as being a trusting in Jesus
person. It's more than a
thought process. It's who he is. His
knowledge of Jesus has become experiential, and what he is experiencing is
a trusting relationship with Jesus. Furthermore,
"pisteuo" is a present active participle.
This means the one in question is now a present day, active
trusting in Jesus person. That's
not just head knowledge. Trust
is a matter of the heart, a reality he experiences.
So how does this come about in one's life? The context of John 3:16
concerns one being born again (John 3:7) as the Holy Spirit enters your
very being, resulting in you becoming a trusting in Jesus person.
That's not a matter of the mind.
It's a spiritual reality. Without
Him in your life, you are not a Christian (Romans 8:9).
Far too often we use
John 3:16 to preach "believe in Jesus and be saved, understanding
that believe is a mental acceptance of the truth of Jesus.
That is a misrepresentation of the text that distorts the gospel.
We must preach "become a present day, active trusting in Jesus
person by being spiritually born, and then you will be saved."
Apart from that we preach "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6
- 7). The gospel is all about
experiencing what you know. It's
about experiential knowledge. Scripture
References John 3:7 "You
should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'" Romans 8:9 "You, however, are
not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if
indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ." Galatians 1:6 - 7 "I am astonished
that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the
grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no
gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and
are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ."
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