Tools for Knowing God

Mankind, in distinction from the rest of God’s creation, obtains knowledge through empiricism, reason, intuition, and faith. It is through a synthesis of these ways of knowing that we can obtain knowledge of God.


Empirical knowledge is gained through scientific investigation and personal experience. Learning how to read and apply language, studying mathematics, understanding biology and geography are all foundational for understanding God and are gained through empirical knowledge. Studying the Old and New Testaments, examining the historical and literary context, is another, more specific example of how empirical knowledge can be leveraged to know God better.


Reason is another means for obtaining knowledge which can be used to know God. A traditional example of reason is seen in the formula: if A is greater than B, and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C. Some deny the ability to know God and his will through this method, but Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool”. The Lord was claiming that Isaiah’s listeners could use reason as a means for understanding his power to redeem them from their sins. They could reason that if he was interested enough to speak to the prophet he would be faithful enough to fulfill his word to them.


Intuition is another way mankind has for gaining knowledge. Intuition is the sense of right and wrong; the gut feeling that a person gets in a particular moment or during an event based on a backlog experience. Luke records the debate of the church leaders and includes the words, “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas” (Acts 15:22). These men had reviewed scripture, had heated debate, but in the end they relied on what “seemed good”.

Faith is the final way in which we can come to know things. This is knowledge gained based on the word of a trusted authority. In reality this is how we gain most of our knowledge. Despite the rejection of faith by the scientific community much of their knowledge is based on the ideas and knowledge of trusted authorities and early scientific investigators. This is necessary because it would take too much time to gain the same knowledge through empiricism or reason. It is primarily through faith that we come to know God. Paul lays this process of gaining knowledge out in Romans 10:14-17 when he writes, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? …So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ”. It is through faith in the word of trusted authorities, like Paul, that we come to believe on the Lord.


So, we can come to know God through all four means by which humanity can know. None of them alone, however, is sufficient for knowing God. Faith is inadequate to answer the critical questions of skeptics. Intuition is only as valuable as our interpretation of our experiences and our experiences are so varied from one another that the same event may trigger different intuitive responses. Intuition alone also proves to be inadequate for knowing God. Reason and empiricism are even more subject to human weakness because it is only through our filter of experience that we can apply reason and evaluate the outcomes of our empirical investigations. None of us are by nature perfect thinkers and we are often premature thinkers. So, with these inherent weaknesses in mankind reason and empirical investigation will always be subject to some degree of uncertainty. However, when all ways of knowing are applied, individually, but especially in community, whatever can be known of God is accessible.


These four ways for knowing can be used by both general and special revelation. General revelation is what can be known through creation. Reason and empirical investigation may be considered the primary tools for receiving general revelation, but as mentioned above so are intuition and faith. Special revelation is what can be known only because God has chosen to reveal it to mankind. The primary tool for special revelation is faith, but without empiricism, reason, and intuition a complete revelation is not possible.