A question, read by SIFT
Can a person know God personally?
Read by SIFT · 6 Nov 2026 About this reading
DEVELOPMENT: written up by Claude from an OpenAI reading
Every verse in it is shown whole.
Yes. Scripture speaks of people who already know God, not only of people who hope to one day. The writer of 1 John says to the readers:
"I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father." ()
The same letter describes this as a shared life with God himself, and with other people who know him:
"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." ()
One reading says that no one can truly know God, or that knowing him is only a hope for after this life. If that were so, 1 John 2:13 would be false, so that reading falls. The passages that seem to say God cannot be known are worked through below, each in its own words.
Scripture teaches this: a person can actually know God personally. This means a real relationship, made possible by God making himself known through Jesus Christ and his Spirit. It does not mean finding God by one's own cleverness, understanding everything about him, or seeing his unveiled glory now. Nor does it mean that everyone who says they know him really does.
The rest of this answer explains what Scripture says this knowing is, how it comes about, what it includes, and where its limits are.
All verses are quoted from the King James Version.
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How it was read, replayed
Here the replay stays still. This is the reading in brief; every step of it is listed below, in order.
"Can a person know God personally?"
- 19 minutes 43 seconds of reading, by an AI from OpenAI
- 65 searches of Scripture
- 2,132 verses opened, from 100 chapters
- 7 false readings struck out
- 10 conclusions handed on
- then the answer, written by Claude in 10 minutes 17 seconds
The readings it struck out, and the verses each would break
- - No person can actually know the Father, or all such knowledge is only future or aspiration: contradicts the actual knowledge asserted in 1 John 2:13 and Galatians 4:9, quoted above. 1 John 2:13 · Galatians 4:9 · John 17:20 · 1 John 1:3 · Matthew 11:27 · John 14:6 · John 6:44
- - Everyone automatically knows God because a covenant promise says all will know him: contradicts the following assertion and the lovelessness test below. John 17:25
- - An inward profession or religious words suffice while obedience and love can be discarded: directly contradicts both tests. 1 John 2:4 · 1 John 4:8
- - Bare identification of who Jesus is establishes loving fellowship: the following hostile recognition supplies the distinction; its words must not be relabelled as the fellowship of 1 John 1:3. 1 John 1:3 · Mark 1:24
- The broader knowledge usage must also remain: creation can disclose truth which people reject. Romans 1:21
- - Personal knowledge requires presently seeing God's unveiled face or comprehending all his ways: contradicts Exodus 33:20 and 1 Corinthians 13:12, quoted in this hand-off. Exodus 33:20 · 1 Corinthians 13:12 · 1 John 3:6 · 1 John 1:8 · 1 John 1:9 · 1 John 2:1
- - Personal means a compulsory private message independent of the witnesses' word: lacks a stated requirement and conflicts with treating that word as insufficient, given John 17:20 and 1 John 1:3. John 17:20 · 1 John 1:3
Verdicts
- Scripture teaches that a person can actually know God personally, in the relational sense described here. Lead with the positive scriptural substance before the verdict wording.
- The witnessing writer also asserts actual fellowship with the Father and Son and declares the witnessed message so that the recipients may share it.
- Jesus identifies eternal life with knowing the only true God and his sent Christ.
- Being known by God belongs to this account. Galatians gives emphasis to God's recognition, without itself specifying a timetable for that recognition.
- The relationship is made possible through Jesus Christ and the given Spirit. It is received disclosure and access, not an achievement of unaided intelligence or religious merit.
- The read-back added explicit evidence for access and reconciliation, so the final answer must not leave personally at mere awareness of another being's existence.
- The inward character of this relationship is supported without prescribing a particular sensation or judging anyone's experience.
- Knowing includes true content, faith, love and obedience. Avoid making knowing God the opposite of knowing anything true about him.
- This knowledge is possible now, without present sight, and remains partial. A future fuller knowing does not cancel present knowledge.
- It is not confined to the original eyewitnesses. Jesus expressly includes later believers through their word, and the letter invites its recipients into fellowship through the declaration already quoted.
How it was read, replayed from its own logs in the order it happened, at eight times its real speed (slower through its record, so each part can be read). It pauses once, at the reading's conclusions. The clock is the real time it happened.
What this reading did
Scripture alone. By its words, and by the Greek and Hebrew behind them. Search 4, personally, was the first that found nothing.
In its own context. Whole passages, and 70 whole chapters. Every verse was first opened in a passage of at least 6 verses.
False readings fall. It struck out 7 readings, each by a verse it would make false.
Traceable. Every verse it quotes opens in its chapter, as the reading opened it.
The Greek and Hebrew word searches use data from STEP Bible.
What "personally" means here
A search of the King James text found no verse that uses the word "personally". That shows only that this English word is not used there. So the question is answered from what Scripture says about knowing God.
"Personally" could mean several things. It could mean a real relationship with God, rather than just knowing facts about him. It could also suggest seeing him, knowing him completely, or getting a private message from him. Scripture treats these differently, so this answer takes each one separately. The relationship is what Scripture positively describes.
It is a relationship with the Father and the Son. 1 John 1:3 speaks of fellowship "with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ". It also brings in "fellowship with us", so knowing God does not mean being alone with him and apart from others.
Jesus, praying to the Father, ties eternal life to knowing God:
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." ()
This is a prayer, and a prayer's request is not a report that it has already happened. That is why 1 John 2:13 matters so much: it says, as a fact, that the readers have known the Father.
Knowing God goes with being known by him. Paul writes to the Galatians:
"Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods." ()
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" ()
The words "or rather are known of God" put the weight on God's knowing of them. The verse does not say when that began. In the same chapter, God gives his Spirit, and through him the heart calls God "Father":
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." ()
Paul also tells the Corinthians that God himself called them into this fellowship:
"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." ()
Jesus speaks of knowing in both directions. Using the picture of a shepherd, he says:
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." ()
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:" ()
Here being known goes together with hearing and following. It is not a technique for hearing a voice.
To his disciples, before he left them, Jesus said:
"If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." ()
"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." ()
"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." ()
The promise in John 14:23 that the Father and the Son will make their home with a person comes with its condition: loving Jesus and keeping his words.
Jesus also called his disciples friends:
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." ()
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." ()
"Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." ()
He spoke these words to the disciples who had been with him. He explains the friendship by what he made known to them. Being his friend does not cancel obeying him, and abiding in him means depending on him.
Moses is one example of a man known by God. The account says:
"And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle." ()
"Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people." ()
"And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name." ()
The comparison to a friend is about how the LORD spoke with Moses. Moses' prayer to know God does not mean he had no relationship with God already. The LORD says he knows Moses by name. The same chapter also limits what Moses could see. That limit is explained further down.
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It is God's gift, through Jesus Christ and his Spirit
This relationship is something God gives and makes known. People do not get it by their own intelligence or religious merit.
The way is Jesus Christ.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." ()
So any idea that a person can reach the Father apart from the Son is ruled out, because it would make this verse false.
"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." ()
The direction runs from God to people. The Son gives understanding, and people come to know. Scripture does not say the reverse, that human effort makes God reveal himself.
The verse that seems to shut everyone out has its own exception. After rebuking towns that would not repent, Jesus thanked the Father:
"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." ()
"All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." ()
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." ()
On its own, "neither knoweth any man the Father" could sound as if only the Father and the Son can ever know the Father. But the verse finishes: "and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." If the exception is cut off, the verse is made false, so that reading falls. Verse 25 says God has in fact revealed these things, and to "babes", not to people because they are wise or important. Then Jesus goes straight on to invite people to come to him. He does not tell them to go and find God on their own.
Luke records the same words in another setting, after the seventy disciples came back from their mission:
"All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." ()
The exception is still there. Luke uses a different Greek word for "know" than Matthew does. That does not change what the sentence plainly says.
On our own, people cannot do this. God gives it by his Spirit. Paul writes to the Corinthians:
"For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." ()
"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." ()
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." ()
This inability is real, and the answer does not deny it. But the same passage gives God's answer to it:
"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." ()
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." ()
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." ()
No one can instruct the Lord. That does not take away what is given in Christ.
Jesus says the same thing in his own words:
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." ()
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." ()
"It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." ()
"Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father." ()
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." ()
So the idea that a person can reach God by their own intelligence or merit is ruled out: it would make John 6:44, 1 Corinthians 2:14 and 1 Corinthians 1:21 false. Jesus explains the drawing as the Father teaching, and those who learn from the Father come to him. He keeps this learning distinct from seeing the Father. He then promises everlasting life to the one who believes. The words Jesus quotes "in the prophets" were read in their own chapter, a promise of restoration and peace:
"And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children." ()
Paul also describes God's light shining into the heart:
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." ()
The creation account behind those words was read:
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." ()
The link between creation's light and light in the heart is made by 2 Corinthians itself. It is not drawn only from the shared picture. And the knowledge is centred on Christ.
God's love comes first:
"We love him, because he first loved us." ()
Romans 3 does not make knowing God impossible after God has given it. Romans says:
"There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." ()
This is a charge against all people, and it stands. It is not permission to claim that people are naturally able to know God. Romans gives its own reason for the charge:
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." ()
The same argument does not end in hopelessness. It goes on:
"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:" ()
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" ()
The words Romans uses come from the Psalms, and those were read in their own setting:
"The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God." ()
"They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." ()
"Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." ()
One reading takes Romans 3:11 to mean that even God's gift can never lead to anyone knowing him. That would make 1 John 2:13 and Galatians 4:9 false, so that reading falls. The charge remains true, and human boasting remains shut out. God's answer to it is grace through Christ.
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Brought near: access, peace and love
"Personally" means more than knowing that God exists. Scripture speaks of being brought near to God and given access to him. Paul writes to Gentile believers:
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." ()
"For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." ()
"In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." ()
Romans speaks of peace and reconciliation:
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" ()
"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." ()
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." ()
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." ()
So the relationship is reconciliation, not just better information. God's love and Christ's death come before anything a person could earn. The access in Romans 5:2 has a stated way, which is faith, and a stated place, which is grace. It is not a claim to see or master God.
Hebrews calls its readers to come near on the same ground:
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," ()
"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." ()
Coming near involves faith and cleansing, in the way God has opened. The same chapter also gives a serious warning, which is set out below.
The relationship is also inward. Scripture describes God's love and his Spirit at work in the heart:
"And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." ()
"And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." ()
"Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." ()
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." ()
These verses describe what God gives. They do not lay down any particular feeling a person must have, and they are not a test of anyone's experience. In 1 John 3:24, keeping his commandments is not separated from the Spirit God gives.
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Knowing God includes truth, faith, love and obedience
It includes true things about God. Knowing God personally is not the opposite of knowing true things about him. It is more than that, but it includes it. Jesus prayed:
"For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." ()
The LORD says what knowing him includes:
"But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD." ()
"Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." ()
Knowing God includes who he is, what he is like and what he does. It goes together with believing and understanding. In Isaiah 43:10, God's choosing and making himself known come before the purpose "that ye may know".
It includes faith, love and keeping his commandments. 1 John says what the commandment is:
"And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." ()
"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." ()
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." ()
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." ()
"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." ()
"Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." ()
"We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." ()
So 1 John 2:3 shows that a person can know that they know God, and obedience is the test it names. Love cannot be taken out of the relationship. Denying the Son cannot go together with having the Father. The one who knows God hears the witnesses' message.
The prophets say the same. Knowing the LORD goes with faithfulness, truth and mercy. Religious ritual cannot take its place:
"I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD." ()
"Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land." ()
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." ()
"And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart." ()
In Jeremiah 24:7, God promises to give the heart to know him. This is a promise to the captives pictured by the good figs, and it comes with belonging to God.
David charged his son Solomon:
"And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever." ()
Knowing and willing service go together here, with a condition and a warning. A command to know God does not show that everyone will obey it.
Paul joins knowledge of God to thoughts brought under Christ's rule. He also rebukes some for not knowing God:
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" ()
"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." ()
Other passages agree. They add no new test, and certainly no test of private experience:
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." ()
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ()
"But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." ()
"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:" ()
"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." ()
John 3 speaks of being born of the Spirit, of faith in the Son God gave, and of deeds brought into the light. 2 Peter joins knowledge to what God provides and to godly living. 2 Peter 1:8 is an "if", and it does not say the result comes to everyone.
Knowing God personally also fits with a shared life of teaching, fellowship and prayer. The believers in Acts are described this way:
"And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." ()
This is a record of what they did. It does not mean every feature of that community must be copied before a person can know God.
Saying "I know God" is not the same as knowing him. One reading takes knowing God to be nothing more than a claim, some religious words, or an inner sense, while obedience and love can be dropped. That reading falls, because it contradicts 1 John 4:8 and this verse:
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." ()
Scripture shows such claims being exposed:
"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." ()
"Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee." ()
"Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him." ()
Israel's cry in Hosea 8:2 is something Israel said, and the next verse shows God did not approve it. Jesus warns of people who claim him:
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." ()
The knowing denied here is not simply being aware of who these people were or what they had done.
Not every use of "know" means this relationship. Romans says creation shows people truth about God, and they turn away from it:
"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them." ()
"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" ()
"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." ()
Here creation shows God's power and Godhead, and it leaves people without excuse. But this "knowing" comes with refusing to honour or thank him, so it is not fellowship.
An unclean spirit knew exactly who Jesus was and still opposed him:
"Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." ()
So the idea that simply recognising who Jesus is amounts to loving fellowship with God falls. Hostile recognition like this is not the fellowship of 1 John 1:3.
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Sin, confession and a serious warning
Knowing God does not mean never having sinned, and sin is not irrelevant to it. 1 John says both:
"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" ()
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." ()
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." ()
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ()
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" ()
"Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him." ()
"In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." ()
Two opposite readings fall here. The first says anyone who knows God has never sinned and never needs forgiveness. That would make 1 John 1:8–9 and 2:1 false. These are written to the same "little children" who, in 1 John 2:13, "have known the Father". The second says sin has no bearing on knowing God. That would make 1 John 3:6, 3:10 and 2:4 false.
The letter holds all of this together. A claim that goes against one's deeds is false. Sin goes against abiding in God. Confession, cleansing and an advocate are given for sin. This answer does not set any number of sins, or any rule about how often, because the reading found none in these verses.
Hebrews gives a severe warning alongside its call to draw near:
"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins," ()
"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" ()
"For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people." ()
The wilful sin this warning describes is contempt: trampling the Son of God underfoot, counting the covenant blood unholy, and insulting the Spirit of grace. Knowing the truth does not make that kind of rejection safe. The warning does not say that everyone who receives access will do this. It does not cancel the call to draw near earlier in the chapter, or the advocate of 1 John 2:1. Nothing in it is a verdict on any person.
The words Hebrews quotes were read in their sources. These show that knowing God does not mean being exempt from his judgment:
"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." ()
"For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left." ()
"For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants." ()
Seeking God and finding him. Not every religious seeking finds God. Hosea describes people who would not turn back to God:
"They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD." ()
"They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them." ()
"I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early." ()
They brought their flocks to sacrifice while refusing to turn back, and they did not find him. Even so, God's withdrawal looks ahead to the time they will admit their wrong and seek his face.
Isaiah rebukes people who seemed eager to seek God:
"Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God." ()
"Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high." ()
Their seeming eagerness is part of a rebuke. The way they treated others spoiled it.
The promises of finding God come together with their conditions:
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." ()
"But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." ()
James 4:8 is part of a call to humble repentance. The promise and the commands to cleanse and purify belong together. The words about grace in that same call to humility in James 4 were read in their source:
"Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly." ()
Deuteronomy 4:29 is a promise with conditions, given within Moses' warning to Israel about being scattered and coming back. It is not a promise that God is found by casual searching.
A father's instruction to his son in Proverbs follows the same pattern. The LORD himself is the one who gives:
"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;" ()
"If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;" ()
"Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." ()
"For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." ()
So a promise of finding God is never cut off from its stated conditions of heart and conduct. Nor does it reduce knowing God to saying certain words or reaching a certain feeling.
Knowledge is no licence for pride. Paul corrects Corinthians who used their knowledge in a way that harmed a fellow believer:
"Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." ()
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." ()
"But if any man love God, the same is known of him." ()
"As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one." ()
"And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?" ()
1 Corinthians 8:2 can sound like "no one knows anything". It does not mean that, and verse 4 in the same passage states true knowledge about God. The point is knowing "as he ought to know", without pride, and with love. Loving God and being known by him stand side by side in verse 3. This adds a limit to the answer. It does not take back the answer that real knowledge is possible.
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Known now, without seeing, and only in part
Knowing God now does not mean seeing him. Peter writes to strangers scattered abroad:
"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:" ()
Several verses say no one has seen God. Each one, in its own words, still leaves room for God making himself known:
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." ()
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." ()
"No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." ()
"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:" ()
John 1:18 says no one has seen God, and in the same sentence says the Son has made him known. 1 John 4:12 puts "no man hath seen God" and "God dwelleth in us" in one verse. Colossians 1:15 calls the Son the image of the invisible God.
So the idea that an invisible God cannot be known in a relationship falls, because it would make 1 John 4:12 and 1 Peter 1:8 false.
When Philip asked to see the Father, Jesus answered:
"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" ()
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." ()
Jesus explains how the Father is seen in him: the Father is in him, and the words and works are the Father's. This does not make every kind of "seeing" in Scripture the same thing.
God's unveiled glory is not seen now. 1 Timothy says:
"Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." ()
This verse and Ephesians 2:18 speak of different things. One is the light no one can come near. The other is the access God gives through Christ. 1 Timothy 6:16 cannot be stretched into a denial of all access. Ephesians 2:18 cannot be stretched into a right to see God unveiled. This answer offers no account of what that light physically is.
The same chapter that calls Moses God's friend also limits what he could see:
"And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." ()
"And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live." ()
"And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen." ()
In the same account, God speaks with Moses as with a friend and refuses to show his face. The comparison to friendship does not cancel that limit. What God shows, he controls and limits.
Knowledge now is real, but partial, and it can grow.
"For we know in part, and we prophesy in part." ()
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." ()
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." ()
Present knowledge is partial, not missing. Being sons now and seeing him as he is later are kept apart.
Two readings fall here. One says knowing God personally means seeing his unveiled face now, or understanding everything about him. That would make Exodus 33:20 and 1 Corinthians 13:12 false. The other says this knowledge is only for the future, because full sight is future. That would make 1 John 2:13 and Galatians 4:9 false, and 1 Corinthians 13:12 itself says "now I know in part".
Knowing God can deepen:
"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;" ()
"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;" ()
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." ()
"And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." ()
Colossians 1:10 and Ephesians 3:19 are prayers. They are not statements that everyone has already received what is asked. In Philippians, the writer has already been laid hold of by Christ Jesus and is still pressing on. Knowing Christ there includes sharing his sufferings, so it is not a promise of an easy life. Ephesians 3:19 asks to know a love that "passeth knowledge". It is real knowledge of something that is never fully grasped.
The elder's instruction to Gaius uses "seen God" in a way that cannot mean physical sight:
"Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." ()
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Not only for the first followers
Jesus' prayer reaches beyond the disciples who were with him:
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;" ()
1 John 1:3 tells what the witnesses saw and heard "that ye also may have fellowship with us". Matthew 11:25 speaks of revelation "unto babes". So the idea that knowing God belonged only to the eyewitnesses, or only to a learned few, falls, because it would make John 17:20 and 1 John 1:3 false. This does not promise everyone the disciples' office, their audible meetings with Jesus, or their teaching commission.
God promised a new covenant in which his people would know him.
"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." ()
"And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." ()
Hebrews quotes this promise while describing a better ministry that has already been obtained:
"But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." ()
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." ()
These verses support knowing God. They join it with God's law written within, belonging to him, and forgiven sin. "From the least to the greatest" also shows it is not only for the great.
The words "they shall all know me" belong to the covenant people the passage names. They do not say every human being already knows God. That reading falls because it would make 1 John 4:8 and this verse false:
"O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me." ()
Knowing the LORD is also not limited to Israel by definition. Isaiah promises it to Egypt, after Egypt's judgment:
"And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it." ()
Knowing God personally does not require a private message. Scripture records particular times when God revealed things:
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." ()
"To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:" ()
"Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him." ()
"And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD." ()
These are particular events: the Father revealing Christ to Peter, Paul's commission to preach, and Samuel being established as a prophet. Samuel's "did not yet know" gives way to the LORD revealing himself "by the word of the LORD". None of these makes it a rule that everyone must have the same experience.
Ephesians separates what was revealed to apostles and prophets from what readers understand by reading:
"Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)" ()
"Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;" ()
So the idea that "personally" must mean a required private message, apart from the witnesses' word, has no support. Scripture never states such a requirement. Such a requirement would also treat the witnesses' word as not enough, against John 17:20 and 1 John 1:3. That is not the same as saying Scripture denies every possible private experience. This answer makes no judgment on anyone's claim that God has spoken to them.
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Passages that seem to say God cannot be known
Each of these was read in its setting. Each one is true as it stands. None of them, in its own words, says God cannot make himself known.
The speeches in Job. Job's friend Zophar asked:
"Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" ()
The question is about finding God out "unto perfection" by searching. It does not forbid knowledge that God himself gives.
Elihu said:
"Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out." ()
"Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?" ()
Elihu's words come in a speech praising God's greatness and his years that cannot be counted. The same speech says God teaches like no one else.
Job himself spoke of knowing "a little portion":
"Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?" ()
"And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." ()
A little portion is not nothing. In Job 28, after people cannot dig up or buy wisdom, God himself tells man what wisdom is.
One reading takes Job 11:7 or 36:26 to deny all knowledge of God, even knowledge he gives. That would make 1 John 2:13 false, so that reading falls. The limits in these verses can stand without denying what God reveals.
Not everything Job's friends said is God's own teaching. At the end, the LORD rebuked Eliphaz and his two friends:
"And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath." ()
That rebuke names Eliphaz and his two friends. It does not automatically include Elihu. Eliphaz had said:
"Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." ()
It sounds like an invitation to know God. But it comes in a speech accusing Job, and the LORD later rebuked the speaker. So this answer does not rely on it as a promise to everyone. The answer rests on Scripture's direct statements elsewhere.
Job also complained that God seemed hidden from him, while still holding to God's words:
"Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:" ()
"Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." ()
At the end, Job said:
"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." ()
Job's complaint does not show that no one knows God. His meeting with God at the end is not a command that everyone must have the same experience. Knowing God does not mean every moment feels like easy access. This answer says nothing about why anyone is struggling now.
God's ways are beyond searching out.
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" ()
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" ()
The question in Romans 11:34 was read in its source in Isaiah, where it is about directing or teaching God:
"Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?" ()
"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding." ()
Isaiah 40:28 puts true knowledge of God ("Hast thou not known?") and understanding that cannot be searched out in the same verse.
The question that follows in Romans 11 was also read in its source in Job:
"Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine." ()
It asks whether anyone gave to God first so that God owes them. That is part of God's questions about his power.
Ecclesiastes and the whole of God's work.
"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." ()
"Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it." ()
"For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them." ()
These verses say no one can find out the whole of God's work from beginning to end, even with hard work or wisdom. Ecclesiastes 9:1 also shows that a person's circumstances cannot tell anyone whether God loves or hates them.
One reading takes Romans 11:33–34 or Ecclesiastes 8:17 to mean that nothing God reveals can be known. That would make 1 Corinthians 2:10 and 1 John 2:13 false, so that reading falls. What these verses deny is searching out God's judgments, counselling God, and finding out all his work. They do not say God cannot make himself known.
"Eye hath not seen" and "the wisdom of the wise". In 1 Corinthians, Paul draws on two passages of Isaiah. Both were read in their chapters. The first is a prayer about what God alone prepares:
"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." ()
In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul goes straight on to say that God has revealed these things by his Spirit, in 1 Corinthians 2:10, quoted above. That is how the writer himself continues. It is not a way of escaping the hard verse.
The second is a judgment on people who honoured God only with their lips:
"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." ()
It does not say God cannot reveal himself.
Who is speaking matters. Some people in Jerusalem said:
"Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." ()
These are the crowd's words about where the Christ comes from. They are not the Gospel writer saying God cannot be known. Jesus answered them:
"Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not." ()
To other opponents he said:
"Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying." ()
This rebukes those particular people. It does not cancel the knowledge Jesus told his disciples they had, in John 14:7. Jesus also joins knowing God with keeping his word.
God's own knowing of his people also has its setting:
"I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought." ()
God recalls caring for Israel in the wilderness, and the chapter goes on to rebuke Israel for forgetting him. Hosea 13:5 and Galatians 4:9 both speak of God knowing his people. Neither is a formula for deciding whether any person today is known by God.
Paul in Athens. Paul told the Athenians:
"That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:" ()
"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:" ()
"Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." ()
God's purpose is that people seek him, and he is near. The response Paul calls for is repentance, not idle curiosity. The account records that some believed. It does not say everyone who heard found God.
People who said they saw God. Scripture records some striking encounters:
"And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." ()
"But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD." ()
"And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God." ()
"But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these." ()
"And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him." ()
These are true reports. Jacob named the place and said his life was spared. The account identifies the one who appeared to Manoah as the angel of the LORD. Manoah's fear that they would die is what he said, and his wife answered him from what God had received and shown. The promised son was born.
None of these accounts is a requirement for knowing God personally. None of them cancels the limit in Exodus 33:20. This answer does not settle exactly how each appearance happened. It does not need to. Whatever the manner of these appearances, 1 John 2:13 and 1 Peter 1:8 still say plainly that God is truly known without seeing him now.
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How the words were checked
The reading looked at how Scripture itself uses the key words, including the Hebrew and Greek words behind the English. The same original word can mean quite ordinary things in other places. So in each place, the sentence decides the meaning. A word on its own does not.
The Hebrew word for "know" in Exodus 33:13 is also used for recognising a person, and for God making something known:
"And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him." ()
"And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:" ()
The Greek word for "know" in John 17:3 is also used for Jesus noticing what his disciples were reasoning about. The word in Matthew 11:27 is used the same way of the scribes:
"Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?" ()
"And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?" ()
So the word in Matthew 11:27 does not, by itself, mean complete or perfect knowledge. Matthew 11:27 and Luke 10:22 use different Greek words, but they share the same Father, the same Son and the same exception. That shared content links them.
The Greek word for "fellowship" in 1 John 1:3 is also used for a gift of money and for sharing in the Lord's Supper:
"For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem." ()
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" ()
What these uses have in common is sharing. Money, bread and a relationship with God are not the same thing. What makes 1 John 1:3 a relationship with God is what it says: fellowship "with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ". 1 Corinthians 1:9 adds God's call into his Son's fellowship.
The Greek word for "sinneth" in 1 John 3:6 is also translated "trespass" and "faults":
"Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." ()
"For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." ()
The word itself supplies no rule about how often, or how many. Sin, rebuke, repentance and forgiveness are told apart by the sentences around them. So are wrongdoing and suffering for doing well.
A Greek word often translated "see" is also used of knowing someone's thoughts:
"And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" ()
So "seeing" does not always mean seeing with the eyes. And a word for "knowledge" appears as "science" in a warning against false claims to knowledge:
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:" ()
That is a warning against false knowledge. It does not forbid true knowledge.
Wherever a passage used here quotes an older one, the older one was read in its own chapter before the quotation was relied on. Besides the sources already shown above, these were checked:
"And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount." ()
This is God's instruction to Moses about the sanctuary. Hebrews 8 quotes it about ministry, not to define what knowing God means.
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." ()
Jesus quotes this in John 10. In the psalm, God is rebuking unjust judges, and the psalm goes on to speak of their death. It does not make ordinary people all-knowing.
"Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause." ()
"They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away." ()
Both psalms have the words "hate me without a cause" that Jesus quotes in John 15. The reading did not decide which one he meant. Both are prayers in suffering, and neither promises a life free of it.
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What this answer does not say
It gives no verdict on any person. The question asks whether knowing God is possible, and Scripture says it is. This answer does not say, and cannot say, whether any particular person knows God, including the person asking. That belongs to God. Nothing more was needed about your situation to answer the question you asked, so nothing is asked of you here.
It does not judge any claim about what God has said to someone. Scripture does not make a private message a requirement for knowing God. This answer neither accepts nor rejects any present-day claim of such a message.
What was searched, and what was not. The reading searched the King James text by word and by subject, including the original Hebrew and Greek words, and read each passage it relied on in its setting. It did not read the whole Bible. Some search results were shown but not opened, and some pages of results were never shown. All of these are listed in the record. None of them is described, and none is treated as evidence either way. This answer does not claim that Scripture is silent on anything because of them.
The reading also did not settle exactly how each recorded appearance of God happened, or every detail of the fuller sight still to come. The answer does not depend on either. Whatever the details, Scripture's plain statements that people know God now, without seeing him, still stand.
None of those limits leaves the question open. Nothing is left open about whether a person can know God personally, in the sense explained above. 1 John 2:13, quoted at the start, states it directly: the readers it addresses have known the Father.
Every step of the reading
Everything the replay shows, as plain text, in the order it happened. Times are from the moment the reading began.
Every search, in order (65)
- words know God 1 found
- words know thee 12 found
- words no man knoweth 6 found
- words personally 0 found
- words know the LORD 6 found
- all of God + unsearchable 1 found
- all of God + find 16 found
- words seen God 5 found
- words fellowship 16 found
- words known of God 2 found
- words knowledge of God 8 found
- words understandeth 11 found
- words acquaint 1 found
- words knoweth God 2 found
- original word G1921 38 found knew 14 · know 7 · known 4 · acknowledge 3 · knowledge 3 · perceived 3 · knoweth 2 · knowing 2 · ye 2 · acknowledged 1 · knowest 1 · should 1
- original word G2842 18 found fellowship 12 · communion 4 · communicate 1 · communication 1 · contribution 1 · distribution 1
- original word G1097 208 found know 84 · known 45 · knew 29 · knoweth 16 · perceived 7 · ye 6 · have 5 · knowing 5 · we 5 · knowest 4 · let 4 · shall 4 · understood 4 · thou 3 · understand 3 · is 2 · sure 2 · allow 1 · aware 1 · can 1 · did 1 · do 1 · felt 1 · had 1 · hast 1 · hath 1 · knewest 1 · knowledge 1 · of 1 · perceive 1 · resolved 1 · shalt 1 · speak 1 · the 1 · they 1
- original word H3045 873 found know 430 · known 105 · knew 83 · knowest 66 · knoweth 59 · knowledge 19 · shew 12 · perceived 11 · tell 8 · certainly 7 · wist 7 · acquaintance 6 · perceive 6 · acknowledge 5 · knewest 5 · shewed 5 · teach 5 · wot 5 · consider 4 · cunning 4 · skill 4 · sure 4 · understood 4 · certain 3 · declare 3 · declared 3 · discern 3 · ignorant 3 · learned 3 · mark 3 · taught 3 · understand 3 · aware 2 · considereth 2 · could 2 · endued 2 · feel 2 · have 2 · knowing 2 · skilful 2 · wit 2 · acknowledged 1 · acquainted 1 · advise 1 · answer 1 · appointed 1 · assuredly 1 · can 1 · cannot 1 · certainty 1 · come 1 · comprehend 1 · diligent 1 · discerneth 1 · discovered 1 · famous 1 · felt 1 · friends 1 · hast 1 · hath 1 · her 1 · instructed 1 · kinsfolks 1 · kinsman 1 · man 1 · perceivest 1 · prognosticators 1 · regardeth 1 · respect 1 · surety 1 · to 1 · unawares 1 · understanding 1 · well 1 · will 1 · wotteth 1 · ye 1
- words known God 1 found
- words know him 18 found
- words world by wisdom 1 found
- words communion 3 found
- all of God + invisible 2 found
- all of mind + LORD 29 found
- words draw nigh to God 1 found
- words pattern 13 found
- words friends 48 found
- words none that doeth good 5 found
- words understand 89 found
- words cannot see 4 found
- words seek the Lord 27 found
- words counsellor 14 found
- all of know + God + not 54 found
- words first given 1 found
- words man hath seen 4 found
- words not known 40 found
- words eye hath not seen 2 found
- words resisteth 3 found
- words wisdom of their wise 1 found
- words hath prevented 1 found
- all of eye + God + beside 1 found
- all of grace + lowly 1 found
- all of know + sheep 6 found
- words perceived 35 found
- words hated me without 1 found
- words taught of 3 found
- all of seen + love + whom 2 found
- all of know + God (page 2) 153 found
- words Ye are gods 3 found
- words hate me without a cause 2 found
- all of know + God + not (page 2) 54 found
- words knoweth nothing 2 found
- words near unto 32 found
- words known of him 1 found
- words access 3 found
- words reveal 7 found
- original word G601 26 found revealed 22 · reveal 4 · shall 3 · is 2 · hath 1
- original word G1108 28 found knowledge 27 · or 1 · science 1
- original word G4318 3 found access 3
- original word G264 37 found sin 16 · sinned 15 · sinneth 7 · trespass 3 · hath 2 · faults 1 · had 1 · hast 1 · have 1 · offended 1
- original word G1492 624 found saw 183 · know 166 · see 78 · knowing 38 · seen 34 · knew 28 · knoweth 22 · ye 15 · knowest 11 · beheld 10 · tell 9 · seeing 8 · looked 7 · sawest 7 · behold 6 · known 6 · we 6 · shall 4 · thou 4 · wist 4 · knewest 3 · perceive 3 · perceiving 3 · should 3 · sure 3 · can 2 · have 2 · not 2 · wot 2 · are 1 · aware 1 · cannot 1 · canst 1 · consider 1 · could 1 · did 1 · do 1 · had 1 · hath 1 · having 1 · how 1 · i 1 · knowledge 1 · me 1 · of 1 · they 1 · understand 1 · understandeth 1
- words judge his people 5 found
- words Vengeance belongeth 2 found
- words Let there be light 1 found
- words Vengeance is 2 found
Every time it opened Scripture (14 times, 2,132 verses)
- John 17 26 Matthew 11 30 Luke 10:1–24 24 Exodus 33 23 Jeremiah 31:23–40 18 Hebrews 8 13 1 John 1 10 1 John 2 29 1 John 3 24 1 John 4 21 1 John 5 21 Titus 1 16 Job 11 20 Romans 11:25–36 12 John 1:1–34 34 Galatians 4:1–20 20 Proverbs 2 22 363 verses, 363 new
- 1 John 1 10 1 John 2 29 Hebrews 8 13 52 verses, 0 new
- 1 John 3 24 1 John 4 21 1 John 5 21 Jeremiah 9 26 Hosea 6 11 1 Corinthians 13 13 Romans 1:16–32 17 Romans 3:1–26 26 159 verses, 93 new
- John 14 31 John 15 27 1 Corinthians 1 31 1 Corinthians 2 16 James 4 17 Job 36 33 Job 42 17 Psalms 14 7 Psalms 53 6 185 verses, 185 new
- Isaiah 40 31 Isaiah 29 24 Isaiah 64 12 Exodus 25 40 Proverbs 3 35 Job 41 34 1 Timothy 6 21 197 verses, 197 new
- John 10 42 John 6:22–71 50 Philippians 3 21 Colossians 1 29 2 Peter 1 21 Acts 17:16–34 19 Deuteronomy 4:1–40 40 222 verses, 222 new
- Matthew 7 29 Matthew 16:1–12 12 Mark 2:1–12 12 Mark 1:14–28 15 Luke 4:31–37 7 Genesis 29:1–20 20 Genesis 41:37–45 9 Romans 15:22–33 12 1 Corinthians 10:1–22 22 2 Corinthians 13 14 1 Samuel 3 21 173 verses, 173 new
- Ecclesiastes 3 22 Ecclesiastes 8 17 Ecclesiastes 9 18 Job 22 30 Job 23 17 Job 26 14 Job 28 28 Isaiah 54 17 Psalms 82 8 1 Peter 1 25 196 verses, 196 new
- Jeremiah 24 10 Isaiah 43:1–21 21 Isaiah 58 14 Hosea 2 23 Hosea 4 19 Hosea 5 15 Hosea 8 14 Hosea 13 16 John 3:1–21 21 John 7:14–44 31 John 8:31–59 29 Genesis 32:22–32 11 Judges 13 25 3 John 1 14 263 verses, 263 new
- Psalms 35 28 Psalms 69:1–21 21 Acts 2:37–47 11 60 verses, 60 new
- Ephesians 2 22 Ephesians 3 21 Romans 5:1–11 11 1 Corinthians 8 13 1 Chronicles 28 21 Isaiah 19 25 1 Corinthians 15:12–34 23 2 Corinthians 10 18 Galatians 1 24 178 verses, 178 new
- Hebrews 10 39 Luke 17:1–10 10 1 Peter 2:11–25 15 Matthew 9:1–8 8 2 Corinthians 4 18 Matthew 16:13–20 8 98 verses, 98 new
- Genesis 1 31 Deuteronomy 32 52 Psalms 135 21 104 verses, 104 new
- John 17:3, 8, 20, 25–26 5 1 John 1:3, 6–9 5 1 John 2:1, 3–4, 13, 23 5 1 John 3:2, 6, 10, 18, 23–24 6 1 John 4:6–8, 12–13, 16, 19 7 1 John 5:20–20 1 Galatians 4:6, 8–9 3 John 10:14, 27 2 John 14:6–7, 9–10, 17, 23 6 John 15:5, 14–15 3 Matthew 11:25, 27–28 3 Luke 10:22–22 1 John 1:14, 18 2 John 6:37, 44–47 5 1 Corinthians 1:9, 21 2 1 Corinthians 2:10–12, 14, 16 5 Romans 3:11, 19, 22, 24 4 Psalms 14:2–3 2 Psalms 53:3–3 1 Exodus 33:11, 13, 17, 20, 23 5 Job 11:7–7 1 Job 36:26–26 1 Job 26:14–14 1 Job 28:28–28 1 Job 42:5, 7 2 Romans 11:33–34 2 Isaiah 40:13, 28 2 1 Timothy 6:16–16 1 1 Corinthians 13:9, 12 2 Ecclesiastes 3:11–11 1 Ecclesiastes 8:17–17 1 Ecclesiastes 9:1–1 1 Romans 1:19–21 3 Mark 1:24–24 1 Matthew 7:23–23 1 Titus 1:16–16 1 Jeremiah 9:24–24 1 Jeremiah 24:7–7 1 Hosea 2:20–20 1 Hosea 4:1–1 1 Hosea 5:4, 6, 15 3 Hosea 6:6–6 1 Hosea 8:2–3 2 Hosea 13:5–5 1 Isaiah 43:10–10 1 Isaiah 58:2, 4 2 Jeremiah 31:33–34 2 Hebrews 8:6, 11 2 Deuteronomy 4:29–29 1 Proverbs 2:5–6 2 James 4:8–8 1 Acts 17:27, 30 2 1 Peter 1:8–8 1 Philippians 3:10, 12 2 Colossians 1:10–10 1 Acts 2:42–42 1 Genesis 29:5–5 1 Genesis 41:39–39 1 Matthew 16:8–8 1 Mark 2:8–8 1 Romans 15:26–26 1 1 Corinthians 10:16–16 1 Exodus 25:40–40 1 Job 41:11–11 1 Isaiah 29:14–14 1 Isaiah 64:4–4 1 Isaiah 54:13–13 1 Proverbs 3:34–34 1 Psalms 82:6–6 1 Psalms 35:19–19 1 Psalms 69:4–4 1 Romans 5:1–2, 5, 8, 10 5 Ephesians 2:13, 18 2 Ephesians 3:4–5, 12, 19 4 1 Corinthians 8:1–4, 11 5 Hebrews 10:19, 22, 26, 29–30 5 Deuteronomy 32:35–36 2 Psalms 135:14–14 1 2 Corinthians 4:6–6 1 Genesis 1:3–3 1 Matthew 16:17–17 1 Galatians 1:16–16 1 1 Chronicles 28:9–9 1 Isaiah 19:21–21 1 1 Corinthians 15:34–34 1 2 Corinthians 10:5–5 1 Exodus 33:18–18 1 Job 36:22–22 1 Job 22:21–21 1 Job 23:8, 12 2 1 Samuel 3:7, 21 2 Genesis 32:30–30 1 Judges 13:21–24 4 John 7:27–28 2 John 8:55–55 1 John 3:6, 16, 21 3 2 Peter 1:3, 8 2 3 John 1:11–11 1 Colossians 1:15–15 1 Proverbs 2:1, 4 2 Acts 17:34–34 1 1 Peter 2:20–20 1 Luke 17:3–3 1 Matthew 9:4–4 1 1 Timothy 6:20–20 1 200 verses, 0 new
The reader's own notes (8)
- The reading will begin with the two permitted SIFT files, then gather and test passages on knowing God, including passages that appear to deny or limit it. The working record will be completed and read back before the hand-off is written.
- The first passages distinguish knowing God from seeing him or fully searching out his wisdom. They also distinguish a claim to know God from a life consistent with that claim. Those distinctions need checking in their settings and across the words used.
- The wording supports a real relationship with God: fellowship with the Father and Son, being known by God, and addressing him as Father. The strongest objections gathered so far concern human inability, unseen glory, and knowledge that remains partial. The reading is testing those limits without weakening them.
- The objections are becoming more specific. One passage says the natural man cannot receive the things of God’s Spirit, then describes God revealing them by his Spirit. Another says knowledge is partial now, rather than absent. The record will preserve those qualifications, along with the warnings against empty profession and disobedience.
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RECORD.mdhas been drafted with the search results, reading ranges, whole-verse evidence, and rival readings. The next step is the required read-back, especially to check whether “personally” raises anything the current account of fellowship and knowledge has left unfinished. - The read-back found two additions worth making. Access to the Father needs its own evidence, alongside the passages about unapproachable light. A further warning also checks pride in knowledge: the text qualifies how a person knows, then speaks of loving God and being known by him. Both will be added before the hand-off.
- The revised record is complete. Its 200 whole-verse quotations matched the permitted Scripture tool exactly. The hand-off is now being written from that record, including the added access passages, the strongest objections, and the limits on what can be said about a particular person.
- Completed RECORD.md and HANDOFF.md. The required read-back and quotation checks are complete. The answer itself has not been written.
What its record and its hand-off say, in their order
Question and scope
“Can a person know God personally?”
This is a question about possibility, not an assertion that everyone knows God, a request to pronounce on a particular person's standing, or a disclosure of an experience. No circumstance or unfinished thought was supplied. Personally can mean actually knowing God in a relationship, rather than merely possessing information about him. It could also suggest seeing him, knowing him completely, or receiving a private communication. Those senses must be distinguished by the passages, without assuming that the question asserts any of them.
The files opened for reading before Scripture were /Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/know-god/inputs/SIFT-v3-CORE.md and /Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/know-god/inputs/SIFT-v3-POLICY.md, whole and together. The hashes supplied in the instruction were not independently checked: no hashing command was permitted. Scripture was read only through the permitted KJV fetcher; searches and word indexes supplied locations, not definitions. No outside source or other run was read. This file is /Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/know-god/out/RECORD.md. Its required read-back and any resulting revision precede the hand-off.
From its hand-off to the writer
Their words
“Can a person know God personally?”
The question asks whether this is possible. It does not claim that everyone knows God or disclose whether the questioner does. Personally needs a plain explanation: actual knowledge, fellowship, love and access to the Father through Christ. It must not silently become complete comprehension, visible access to unveiled divine glory, or a requirement of private communications. No personal circumstance needs clarification to answer the possibility asked. No verdict on the questioner's standing is authorised by the question or established by the record.
Hard passages
Matthew 11:27: Jesus speaks after rebuking unrepentant cities and thanking the Father. The strongest apparent exclusion contains its own exception for the Son's disclosure. The sentence must be kept whole.
"All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." ()
"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." ()
Luke 10:22, read in the seventy's return setting, retains the same exception. The different word number there does not change that demonstrated meaning. No word number supplies an independent definition of the kind or extent of knowledge.
"All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." ()
Unseen God and unapproachable light: neither denial of sight says that God cannot disclose himself or grant access through Christ. John explains declaration within the very sentence; 1 John joins unseen God and divine dwelling within one verse. The added Ephesians 2:18 assertion of access must stand with the limit in 1 Timothy.
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." ()
"No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." ()
"Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." ()
Exodus itself records friendly speech and a restriction on sight. Their coexistence is explicit; no invented physical account is needed.
"And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle." ()
"And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." ()
"And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live." ()
Jesus explains his own Father-disclosure through his presence, words and works. Do not flatten this into an assertion that every kind of seeing is identical.
"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" ()
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." ()
Human inability: the natural man's inability is real. The same passage's answer is God's revelation by his Spirit, quoted under Verdicts. The affirmative answer must not imply self-sufficiency.
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." ()
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." ()
The cited unseen preparation was checked in Isaiah 64's prayer before relying on the argument. The later assertion of revelation is the writer's own continuation, not a proposed escape from the negative.
"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." ()
John 6's drawing condition, quoted above, continues with divine teaching and distinguishes it from seeing the Father. Its prophetic source was read in Isaiah 54's restoration setting.
"It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." ()
"And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children." ()
"Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father." ()
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." ()
Romans 3's indictment stops human boasting; the same argument supplies grace and righteousness through faith. Its wording was checked in Psalms 14 and 53. It cannot be expanded to make the actual knowledge in 1 John 2:13 impossible even after God's gift.
"There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." ()
"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:" ()
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" ()
"The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God." ()
"They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." ()
"Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." ()
Searching out God and his works: Zophar's question specifies searching to perfection. Elihu's negative is in a speech magnifying God's greatness, unsearchable years and power, which also acknowledges divine teaching. It is not rewritten as a denial that God can give the knowledge actually asserted elsewhere. Job 42's rebuke applies to Eliphaz and his friends, not automatically to Elihu.
"Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" ()
"Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out." ()
"Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?" ()
"Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?" ()
Romans magnifies unsearchable judgments; its counsellor question was checked against Isaiah 40. That source joins knowledge of God to his unsearchable understanding.
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" ()
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" ()
"Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?" ()
"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding." ()
Ecclesiastes denies discovering the whole work, and denies a verdict about love or hatred from outward circumstances. It does not deny the specific knowledge God gives through Christ.
"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." ()
"Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it." ()
"For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them." ()
The read-back's added knowledge warning: 1 Corinthians 8 concerns idol food and a brother harmed by the use of knowledge. Its qualification about knowing properly must remain; turning it into universal ignorance would contradict its own assertion in verse 4. Knowledge of God is not permission for pride or lovelessness.
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." ()
"But if any man love God, the same is known of him." ()
"As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one." ()
"And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?" ()
The added prayer in Ephesians confirms knowledge of love alongside its surpassing measure. The request is not an assertion of universal attainment.
"And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." ()
The new-covenant promise: Jeremiah's promise joins knowing the LORD with inward law, belonging to him and forgiven iniquity, within its stated covenant scope. Hebrews quotes that promise while describing a better ministry already obtained. These are positive support for knowing God; they do not say every person already knows him, and they are not used to replace the direct present knowledge assertions.
"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." ()
"And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." ()
"But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." ()
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." ()
False profession and sin: the sharp statements cannot be dismissed because the answer is affirmative. They distinguish the relationship from a claim made against one's deeds. The letter's provision for confession and an advocate, already quoted, also cannot be erased. No numerical rule for sins or a special tense definition was imported.
"Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him." ()
"In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." ()
"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." ()
Hosea's seekers do not find while refusing to turn and bringing their flocks; Isaiah's daily seekers fast with wicked strife. Thus a promise of finding cannot be detached from its stated heart and conduct conditions.
"They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD." ()
"They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them." ()
"Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high." ()
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." ()
The read-back added Hebrews 10's access and warning together. Its warning concerns wilful sin, described by contempt for the Son, covenant blood and Spirit of grace. Received knowledge does not license that contempt. The warning is not a statement that all who receive access will do this, and it does not cancel the chapter's offered approach. No personal verdict follows from quoting it.
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," ()
"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." ()
"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins," ()
"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" ()
Its citation was checked in Moses' song and the parallel psalm. These sources retain judgment and God's dealings with his people; knowledge is not immunity from judgment.
"For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people." ()
"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." ()
"For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants." ()
Other passages carried forward from the read-back
These entries preserve the additions and setting corrections made during the mandatory audit. They need not all occupy equal space in the eventual plain answer, but their implications must not be contradicted or omitted where they qualify its wording.
Scope and willing service. David's charge concerns Solomon; an imperative is not proof that everyone will obey. Isaiah's promise concerns Egypt after judgment, so knowing the LORD cannot be confined by definition to ethnic Israel. The Corinthian rebuke concerns some without knowledge, and the second letter joins thought to obedience.
"And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever." ()
"And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it." ()
"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." ()
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" ()
Revelation's means. The light of knowledge is given in hearts in the face of Christ; its creation-light source was read. Ephesians distinguishes revelation to apostles and prophets from the recipients' understanding through reading. Peter's disclosure and Paul's commission are particular recorded occasions, not a compulsory pattern of private messages for everyone.
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." ()
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." ()
"Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)" ()
"Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;" ()
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." ()
"To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:" ()
Recorded encounters and hiddenness. Samuel's not-yet knowledge gives way to revelation by the word in his prophetic setting; this is not made a universal audible-call requirement. Eliphaz's favourable-sounding acquaintance sentence is not an independent universal promise: his accusation and outcome must be read with the LORD's rebuke. Job's complaint of hiddenness coexists with attention to God's words; knowing does not establish that every moment feels like easy access.
"Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him." ()
"And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD." ()
"Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." ()
"And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath." ()
"Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:" ()
"Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." ()
Jacob's preservation and the angel's appearance to Manoah remain actual reports. They are not made requirements for personal knowledge or denials of Exodus 33's restriction. Manoah's prediction of death is reported speech, immediately answered by his wife, and followed by the promised birth.
"And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." ()
"But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD." ()
"And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God." ()
"But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these." ()
"And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him." ()
Who is speaking and who knows. The claim in John 7 is the Jerusalem hearers' claim about Christ's origin, answered by Jesus' distinction concerning his sender. John 8 rebukes particular disputants; it does not cancel the disciples' knowledge. These are setting controls, not new universal denials.
"Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." ()
"Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not." ()
"Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying." ()
Birth, faith and conduct. John 3 retains birth of the Spirit and faith in the given Son, with deeds brought to the light. Second Peter retains divine provision and conditional fruitfulness. The elder's command to Gaius retains the distinction between evil and being of God. Colossians keeps the invisible God and his image together. These supplement the principal knowledge and fellowship passages; no new private-experience test is extracted.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." ()
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ()
"But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." ()
"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:" ()
"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." ()
"Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." ()
"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:" ()
Conditions and outcomes. Proverbs' promise follows receiving the words and seeking wisdom; its named source is the LORD's gift. Acts records some actual believers; it does not say all hearers found him. Neither an imperative nor a purpose is converted into universal fulfilment.
"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;" ()
"If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;" ()
"Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." ()
"For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." ()
"Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." ()
Word-use controls. The additional indexes did not supply definitions or a frequency rule. The same indexed word can appear as trespass or faults; repentance, forgiveness, wrongdoing and suffering are distinguished by the sentences. A word also rendered in visual ways can refer to thoughts. Knowledge rendered science in one warning concerns a false claim. These checks qualify the explanation, without adding a special lexical route to knowing God.
"Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." ()
"For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." ()
"And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" ()
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:" ()
Ruled out
The contradictory readings below would make the carrying verse false. An additional private-message requirement is distinguished as unsupported rather than falsely described as an explicit contradiction. The verses already quoted in Verdicts remain part of this section's evidence; their entire text need not be repeated in the eventual answer.
- No person can actually know the Father, or all such knowledge is only future or aspiration: contradicts the actual knowledge asserted in 1 John 2:13 and Galatians 4:9, quoted above.
- Knowing is confined to eyewitnesses: contradicts John 17:20, quoted above, and the recipient-facing invitation in 1 John 1:3.
- Only Father and Son can ever know the Father, without any human exception: removes the exception in Matthew 11:27, quoted under Hard passages.
- The relationship can be reached apart from the Son: contradicts John 14:6, quoted above.
- A person has the unaided capacity to obtain it by intelligence or merit: contradicts the necessary condition in the following verse. God's gift answers the inability; the inability is not denied.
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." ()
- Everyone automatically knows God because a covenant promise says all will know him: contradicts the following assertion and the lovelessness test below. Jeremiah 31's scope is the promised covenant people, not every human irrespective of that covenant.
"O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me." ()
- An inward profession or religious words suffice while obedience and love can be discarded: directly contradicts both tests.
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." ()
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." ()
- Bare identification of who Jesus is establishes loving fellowship: the following hostile recognition supplies the distinction; its words must not be relabelled as the fellowship of 1 John 1:3.
"Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." ()
The broader knowledge usage must also remain: creation can disclose truth which people reject. Knowing in every occurrence is not automatically the relationship meant in the question.
"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." ()
- Personal knowledge requires presently seeing God's unveiled face or comprehending all his ways: contradicts Exodus 33:20 and 1 Corinthians 13:12, quoted in this hand-off.
- Knowing God entails never having sinned or never needing cleansing: contradicts the following provision and warning against self-deception. The opposite claim that sin has no bearing on knowing is also ruled out by 1 John 3:6 under Hard passages.
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." ()
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ()
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" ()
- Personal means a compulsory private message independent of the witnesses' word: lacks a stated requirement and conflicts with treating that word as insufficient, given John 17:20 and 1 John 1:3. Do not claim that Scripture denies every possible private experience; no contemporary claim of divine speech is adjudicated.
- A complete grasp of information permits pride or disregard for a brother: contradicted by the added 1 Corinthians 8 passage, quoted below. This is an added qualification from the read-back, not a retreat from actual knowledge.
Verdicts
Scripture teaches that a person can actually know God personally, in the relational sense described here. Lead with the positive scriptural substance before the verdict wording. The decisive evidence is an assertion of knowledge already possessed, rather than only a prayer for a hoped-for result.
"I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father." ()
The witnessing writer also asserts actual fellowship with the Father and Son and declares the witnessed message so that the recipients may share it. This is the principal explanation of personally. It includes fellowship with other people; the word does not require isolation.
"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." ()
Jesus identifies eternal life with knowing the only true God and his sent Christ. This is a prayer; its requests are not all treated as reports of fulfilment. The actual knowledge assertion above supplies that distinction.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." ()
Being known by God belongs to this account. Galatians gives emphasis to God's recognition, without itself specifying a timetable for that recognition.
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" ()
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." ()
The relationship is made possible through Jesus Christ and the given Spirit. It is received disclosure and access, not an achievement of unaided intelligence or religious merit.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." ()
"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." ()
"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." ()
The read-back added explicit evidence for access and reconciliation, so the final answer must not leave personally at mere awareness of another being's existence.
"For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." ()
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." ()
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" ()
"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." ()
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." ()
The inward character of this relationship is supported without prescribing a particular sensation or judging anyone's experience.
"And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." ()
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." ()
Knowing includes true content, faith, love and obedience. Avoid making knowing God the opposite of knowing anything true about him. The relationship exceeds bare recognition but includes the received message.
"For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." ()
"But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD." ()
"And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." ()
"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." ()
This knowledge is possible now, without present sight, and remains partial. A future fuller knowing does not cancel present knowledge. Knowing can deepen; it is not a claim to possess God exhaustively.
"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:" ()
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." ()
"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;" ()
It is not confined to the original eyewitnesses. Jesus expressly includes later believers through their word, and the letter invites its recipients into fellowship through the declaration already quoted.
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;" ()
Open
Nothing is left open about the possibility asked, at the distinctions established in the record. The affirmative has direct positive support; it is not merely an alternative that survived elimination.
The finite reading did not exhaust the canon or the broad word-index pages. Unread hits remain explicitly listed and unused in RECORD.md; their existence is not called scriptural silence. The precise mechanics of every recorded appearance and every detail of future fuller sight were not determined. Neither is required to establish actual knowledge without demanding present sight: 1 John 2:13 and 1 Peter 1:8 state that directly, while 1 Corinthians 13:12 retains the future contrast. These are limits of this record's coverage, not competing verdicts on the question.
The questioner's personal standing and any contemporary claim of what God said are not adjudicated. There is no required follow-up question for the general possibility. The completed record is the source for this hand-off; the eventual answer should be plain, keep its qualifications, and not present this development document as the answer itself.
Other readings that quote its verses
- What does it mean to be born again?38 verses in common
- Does God exist, and what is Scripture's own witness to it?33 verses in common
- Can anyone see God, and what does God look like?32 verses in common
- Is a person saved by faith alone, or are works required?31 verses in common
- Can a person who is truly saved ever lose their salvation?28 verses in common
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