THE FULL KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST
From Ever-Learning to Living Revelation
The great burden of the Apostle Paul was not merely that believers would gather information, but that they would come into the full knowledge of the Son of God. The tragedy of many believers is that they are constantly hearing sermons, attending conferences, reading books, and collecting teachings, yet remain spiritually weak because revelation has not become reality within them.
1 Corinthians 2:9–14
Paul warned Timothy concerning people who are:
2 Timothy 3:7
“Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
This is intellectual Christianity without spiritual unveiling. It is possible to know Greek words, doctrines, and systems of theology, and yet not know Christ experientially.
The Pauline revelation calls the believer beyond mental assent into spiritual union with Christ.
Paul prayed:
Ephesians 1:17
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”
Notice carefully: revelation comes in the knowledge of Him.
Not merely knowledge about Him.
There is a vast difference between studying Christ and knowing Christ.
Christianity Is Christ Revealed in Man
One Bible teacher emphasized repeatedly that Christianity is not a religion of imitation but a revelation of divine life imparted to the believer.
The central truth of the Pauline revelation is this:
Christ did not merely die for us.
He died as us.
He was not only crucified on our behalf; we were identified with Him in His death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation.
Paul declared:
Galatians 2:20
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
This is not poetic language.
This is legal and spiritual reality.
The Cross was not merely an event in history.
The Cross was God’s dealing with the old creation.
The death of Jesus was the death of the old man.
The resurrection of Jesus was the birth of a new creation race.
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”
The believer must come into revelation knowledge of this reality, or he will continue living as though he were still spiritually defeated.
The Cross: God’s End of the Old Man
Many believers know that Jesus died for sins, but few understand that God intended the Cross to terminate the authority of the old Adamic nature.
Paul wrote:
Romans 6:6
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.”
The Cross was not simply forgiveness.
The Cross was execution.
God did not improve the old man.
God crucified him.
Religion tries to reform the flesh.
The Gospel declares its death.
This is why self-effort cannot produce victory. The flesh cannot perfect itself. Victory comes through identification with Christ.
Many believers live under condemnation because they still identify themselves according to the old creation rather than the new creation.
But the Pauline revelation teaches that the believer’s true identity is now in Christ.
The Resurrection: The Birth of a New Humanity
The resurrection of Jesus was more than a miracle. It was the inauguration of a new order of humanity.
Jesus became:
“The firstborn from the dead.”
Colossians 1:18
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
The believer is now joined to the resurrected Christ.
Ephesians 2:6
“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Notice the tense:
Not “will raise us.”
“Hath raised us.”
This is present spiritual reality.
The Church has preached too much of a future salvation and too little of a present union with Christ.
The believer is not trying to attain victory.
He is learning to walk in the victory already accomplished in Christ.
The Holy Spirit: The Teacher of Reality
No man can enter this revelation through intellect alone.
Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit:
John 16:14
“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
The Holy Spirit does not merely give information.
He unveils spiritual reality.
Without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Bible becomes only literature. But when the Spirit illuminates the Word, truth becomes life.
This is why two people may hear the same sermon: one leaves unchanged, while another is transformed forever.
Revelation is the difference.
Paul himself declared:
Galatians 1:12
“For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” — The Holy Bible
The Church today does not merely need better sermons.
It needs unveiled Christ.
Ever Learning but Never Knowing
One of the greatest dangers in the modern Church is spiritual accumulation without transformation.
People collect teachings the way others collect books.
They move from preacher to preacher, conference to conference, video to video, yet remain spiritually immature because truth has never become revelation in their spirits.
Knowledge alone puffs up.
Revelation produces transformation.
A man with information debates truth.
A man with revelation becomes possessed by truth.
When revelation comes:
- prayer changes,
- worship changes,
- identity changes,
- boldness comes,
- fear breaks,
- condemnation leaves,
- authority rises within the believer.
The believer begins to know:
“I am who God says I am in Christ.”
The Cry of Paul: That Christ May Be Formed in You
Paul’s ministry was not merely to establish churches. It was to unveil Christ in believers.
Galatians 4:19
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” — The Holy Bible
The goal of true ministry is not dependency upon men.
It is the unveiling of Christ within the believer.
The believer must move:
- from religion to revelation,
- from effort to union,
- from self-consciousness to Christ-consciousness,
- from fear to sonship,
- from striving to resting in finished redemption.
The Finished Work Must Become a Living Reality
The Cross, the Resurrection, and the indwelling Christ must become more than doctrine.
They must become the believer’s consciousness.
When the believer truly knows:
- that he died with Christ,
- was raised with Christ,
- is seated with Christ,
- and indwelt by Christ,
then Satan’s accusations lose power.
For the believer begins to stand not in self-righteousness, but in identification with Christ.
This is the secret of bold faith.
Not confidence in human ability—
but confidence in the finished work of Christ.
Conclusion: The Need of This Generation
This generation does not need another powerless Christianity built only on intellectual agreement.
It needs revelation.
It needs believers who know:
- the Father,
- the Son,
- the meaning of the Cross,
- the power of His Resurrection,
- and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Paul declared:
Philippians 3:10
“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.” — The Holy Bible
This must become the cry of the Church again.
Not merely:
“Teach me more.”
But:
“Holy Spirit, unveil Christ in me.”
For when Christ is truly revealed in a believer, Christianity ceases to be a religion and becomes the manifestation of divine life in human flesh.
Colossians 1:26–27
“Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”
Ephesians 3:16–19
“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
Romans 8:11
“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
What we must do?
Colossians 3:1–4
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
Romans 12:2
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Hebrews 10:14
“For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
1 John 4:4
“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
Philippians 2:13
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
John 17:3
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
