How to Know (in part)

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But if one loves God, one is known by him.I Corinthians 8:1-3:

If you think you know - you don’t know...

"Two rules are to be observed, as Augustine teaches. The first is, to hold the truth of Scripture without wavering. The second is that since Holy Scripture can be explained in a multiplicity of senses, one should not adhere to a particular explanation, only in such measure as to be ready to abandon it if it be proved with certainty to be false; lest Holy Scripture be exposed to the ridicule of unbelievers, and obstacles be placed to their believing." -St. Thomas Aquinas

1 Cor 13:8-12

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

We know in part

If you think you know - you don’t know...

Eph 4:10-13

10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.

If you think you know - you don’t know...

We know in part

Different people have different parts so we look for the connections

The Orthodox Church is primarily the Church of tradition, in contrast to the Catholic Church, which is the Church of authority, and to the Protestant Churches which are essentially churches of individual faith.

"How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are!Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.... Your hair is like a flock of goats...Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes...Your lips are like a scarlet thread,Your temples are like a slice of pomegranate...

"...Your neck is like the tower of Davidbuilt with rows of stones on which are hung a thousand shields...... Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazellewhich feed among the lilies...

"... Your lips, my bride, drip honey,Honey and milk are under your tongue...And the fragrance of your garmentsis like the fragrance of Lebanon.Your belly is like a heap of wheat...

"... Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,which faces towards Damascus..."

From Song of Solomon chapters 4 and 7

"How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are!Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.... Your hair is like a flock of goats...Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes...Your lips are like a scarlet thread,Your temples are like a slice of pomegranate...

"...Your neck is like the tower of Davidbuilt with rows of stones on which are hung a thousand shields...... Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazellewhich feed among the lilies...

"... Your lips, my bride, drip honey,Honey and milk are under your tongue...And the fragrance of your garmentsis like the fragrance of Lebanon.Your belly is like a heap of wheat...

"... Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,which faces towards Damascus..."

From Song of Solomon chapters 4 and 7

Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an unbeliever to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. Augustine

Jer 9:23-24

23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches,

24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

1 John 4:7-87 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

16 Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me; 17 if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. ”

John 7:16-17

If you think you know - you don’t know...

We know in part

Different people have different parts so we look for the connections

Love, and know you know someone

Think you know something?