knowing – Three Minute Bible

August 24, 2026August 23, 2026

1 Timothy 6:20b – Knowing Truth

Picture of an explosion in a rock quarry (Grok)

Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge…

Summary: Paul’s instruction to Timothy is unbending.

This passage is dynamite.

The question that jumps out at us like a blast from a rock quarry is, “What is falsely called knowledge?”

Paul clearly has knowledge of the truth. We have seen it throughout his letter. In his opening sentence, he points to “God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1). A few verses later, he reminds us that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” and that we should “believe in him and receive eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:15-16).

A little while later, he mentions that God wants “all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth,” and then he continues with “there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:3-6).

So what does it mean to come to a “knowledge of the truth”? After all, isn’t that what Paul is warning us against—that which is “falsely called knowledge”?

When Jesus worked his first miracle at a wedding in Cana, he changed water into wine (John 2:1-10). But he didn’t just change water into wine—he changed it into the very best wine. How do we know? We know because the ‘master of the banquet’ tasted it, and he had knowledge of both ordinary wine and very good wine.

The same is true for the Gospel.

We know the truth because Paul and others have testified to the truth in the Bible. Paul himself reminds Timothy of this truth almost a dozen times in this letter alone. Why would Timothy listen to “godless chatter” and “opposing ideas”?

The answer is that we don’t know. Perhaps Timothy, as young as he was, was being buffaloed by older men who claimed to know things that were not true. Maybe Timothy was being gentle as Paul had demanded of overseers. Yet, Paul’s closing words are almost urgent: Don’t listen! Turn away!

That which is “falsely called knowledge” is a lie, and it is dangerous.

Application: Learn to tell the difference between knowing truth and false knowledge.

Food for Thought: What sets the truth apart from the other things we talk about?

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August 6, 2025August 6, 2025

Philippians 2:11b – If You Know, You Know

… to the glory of God the Father.

Summary: Everything Jesus did was to bring glory to his Father. His life is an inspiration to all who believe in him.

There is a saying you might have heard that goes like this: ‘If you know, you know.’ It suggests that you have to be part of the ‘IN’ group to get the meaning.

September 1, 2021September 1, 2021

2 Peter 1:2 — I’d Know You Anywhere

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Summary: Recognizing someone you know is a kind of “knowing” that is hard to describe. Seeing a loved one after twenty years means seeing someone whose appearance has changed a lot, yet we “know” who they are. This is the kind of knowing that Peter refers to in this passage.

June 6, 2020June 6, 2020

1 Peter 1: 2 (a) — An Absence of Uncertainty

… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…

In our post titled, “God’s Eye” we discussed how God’s view of time is different than our own. In today’s passage, Peter affirms the idea that God knows the future. He uses the word, “foreknowledge” to describe how God chooses us.

Perhaps you have had a sense of “deja vu” now and then? It is the feeling that you have already been someplace or done something before you have actually experienced it. To be clear, that is not anything like foreknowledge.

September 9, 2019September 8, 2019

Knowing (III) – John 18: 4a

Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him…

John often refers to what Jesus knows. As we read John’s gospel account of Jesus’ ministry, it is easy to pick out the people who don’t “get” Jesus. They simply don’t know who Jesus is. But Jesus knows who they are. In fact, Jesus knows their hearts (John 2: 24-25).

There is an interesting illustration of what it means to “know” in the second chapter of John. The story is set in Cana at a wedding feast. The party has run out of wine, and Jesus’ mother, Mary, takes this minor crisis to her son. Jesus then changes the water into wine. In verse 9, it says, “… the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.”

The servants knew what had happened because they had filled the jars with water. They had seen the water poured into the cup given to the steward. They heard the steward declare that not only was the water actually wine, but it was “the best.” John distinguishes between what the servants know and what the steward knows. The steward does not know where the wine has come from. The servants do because they were there and they know what they have seen and heard.

Similarly, Jesus knows what is going to happen to him because he has already seen and heard what will be done. Please do not ask me how this works. I don’t know. I do know that God exists outside of time and that God is both the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. God’s ability to foretell what will happen with certainty and knowledge is one of the things that makes God God.

As Christians, we often marvel that Jesus would go to the cross knowing what would happen. Today, for a moment, let us just marvel at the fact that Jesus knows.

Food for Thought: What does it mean for you that Jesus knows everything about you. Not only what has happened to you in the past and what is happening now, but what will happen during every moment that remains of your life on earth?

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April 13, 2019April 12, 2019

Mystery – John 13: 3

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God…

If this were a mystery story we would want to know what Jesus knew and when he knew it. John tells us what Jesus knew. He knows that all things are under his power. Presumably that means all things. Even Judas. Even the Romans.

John also tells us that Jesus knows where he had come from and where he was going. That alone is worth a blog post. Who among us knows where they are going? Do you know someone who has a plan for their life and is on a mission? Is this person spectacularly successful? Do they really know where they are going or is there an element of chance in their life?

The real mystery is how did Jesus know? Again and again, in John’s gospel John points to the fact that Jesus is more than just a man. He is a Traveler. He has come from someplace and is going someplace. His time in the Middle East was short but powerful. In three years Jesus changed the world forever.