Experiential knowledge of God is the believer’s growing awareness of the Lord that comes through consistent obedience to His revealed will. This knowledge differs from intellectual understanding alone. A person may possess accurate doctrinal information and yet lack a deep, personal awareness of God’s presence and activity in daily life. Jesus taught that obedience creates the conditions for deeper disclosure when He said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him” (John 14:21; cf. John 14:15; 23; 1 John 5:3). Christ is not promising new revelation beyond Scripture, but a richer manifestation of Himself to the believer who responds positively to His Word. MacDonald states, “In one sense, the Father loves all the world. But He has a special love for those who love His Son. Those are also loved by Christ, and He makes Himself known to them in a special way. The more we love the Savior, the better we shall know Him.”[1] As the believer walks in obedience, biblical truth moves from the pages of Scripture into the realities of life experience. Warren Wiersbe states:
When the sinner trusts Christ, he is born again and the Spirit immediately enters his body and bears witness that he is a child of God. The Spirit is resident and will not depart. But as the believer yields to the Father, loves the Word, prays, and obeys, there is a deeper relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit…Our experience with God ought to go deeper and deeper, and it will as we yield to the Spirit of Truth and permit Him to teach us and guide us. If we love God and obey Him, He will manifest His love to us in a deeper way each day.[2]
This experiential knowledge develops gradually through repeated decisions to trust and obey God in the circumstances of life. Every act of faith strengthens the believer’s understanding of God’s character, faithfulness, wisdom, and power. Constable states, “Some believers love Jesus more than other believers do. This results in some believers obeying Him more than others, and enjoying a more intimate relationship with Him, and a greater understanding of Him, than others enjoy.”[3] Abraham learned God’s faithfulness through years of waiting for the promised son (Gen. 12:1-4; 21:1-3; Rom. 4:19-21). Likewise, believers today come to know the Lord more deeply as they apply His Word during times of blessing, adversity, testing, and suffering. Doctrine believed and applied becomes doctrine experienced. Through this process, theological truths cease to be merely abstract concepts and become living realities that shape thought, conduct, and perspective.
The apostle Paul expressed this pursuit when he wrote, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). Paul already knew Christ positionally and doctrinally, yet he desired an ever-deeper experiential knowledge of his Savior. This pursuit characterized his entire Christian life. The mature believer never outgrows the need to know the Lord more fully. Through obedience, dependence, and faithful endurance, Christ becomes increasingly real in the believer’s daily experience. The result is a growing confidence in God’s character, a greater appreciation of His grace, and a more intimate awareness of His presence. Experiential knowledge of God is therefore the progressive unveiling of Christ to the obedient believer who consistently responds to divine truth.
Steven R. Cook, D.Min., M.Div.
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[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1547.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 353.
[3] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Jn 14:21.