Yada: The True Heart Of Christianity

The challenges our movement experienced over a decade ago caused me to search the Scriptures to better understand that which I had been calling “heart”. Over a period of several months, I came to understand that the “heart” is what is involved in the OT concept of yada’, the Hebrew word for “know”. In this article I will attempt to explain that concept, a concept that I think distinguishes us from nearly all other movements of today that I am aware of1, a concept that I would urge everyone to hold on to and never surrender; a concept, which, when experienced, is basically the watershed of spiritual life and death.

The Greek word here in Matthew 7:23 is ginosko. Of the 946 times yada’ is found in the Hebrew OT 2 , over 490 times it is translated by _ginosko_in the LXX (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) 3 . Hence, ginosko is the major Greek word used for yada’. The Greeks, however, did not have a word that translates yada’ with its full meaning. The closest term the Greeks had was ginosko. The Greek term ginosko designates predominately an intellectual concept which is not the predominate concept involved in yada’. The major emphasis of yada' includes subjective dimensions of knowing, not just the objective.4 Groome states,
“. . . in Greek philosophy ginoskein has a predominant meaning of ‘intellectual looking at’ an object of scrutiny and strongly connotes objectivity . . . For the Hebrews yada’ is more by the heart than by the mind, and the knowing arises not by standing back from in order to look at, but by active and intentional engagement in lived experience . . . the Hebrews had no word that corresponds exactly to our words mind or intellect.”5 “Yada’” has the basic meaning of “to perceive, know”6. Its semantic range is broad and also embraces definitions such as “find out”, “know by experience”, “recognize”, “acknowledge”, “know a person, be acquainted with”, “be skillful”, “teach”, “make known”7, as well as “to notice”, “learn”, “to know sexually, have intercourse with, copulate”, “to have experience”, and “to take care of someone” 8. This word for the most part involves knowledge gained through experience.9 It thus basically indicates experiential knowledge.10 This is contrary to much of our modern day understanding of “knowledge” and its acquisition which largely involves pure thought by one’s own contemplation or mere verbal transmission of information from teacher to student in a classroom setting. That is not to say that yada’ does not include these types of knowledge and teaching but that it has as its major dimension experientially gained or relationally gained knowledge.

• Jer. 16:21 states,
  "Therefore I will teach (yada’) them--this time I will teach (yada’) them my power and might. Then they will know (yada’) that my name is the LORD”. Here knowing God comes from him causing them to experience his power and might.

• Ezek. 30:8 states “Then they will know (yada’) that I am the LORD, when I set fire to Egypt and all her helpers are crushed”. Here, knowledge of God comes through experiencing his character of justice and wrath. This concept of “knowing that I am the LORD” occurs over 65 times in Ezekiel alone, indicating relational knowledge coming through experiencing his judgments.

• Hosea 2:19-20 states: "And I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in loving kindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know (yada’) the Lord” (NASB). Here one sees that knowing the Lord is a result of experiencing his righteousness, justice, loving kindness, compassion, and faithfulness.

• Hosea 6:2-3 states, “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him. So let us know (yada’), let us press on to know (yada’) the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth” (NASB). Here, knowledge of God is obtained through experiencing His reviving them and giving them rain. They would not know God, however, if they did not press on in faithfulness to experience his character. Knowing God comes from experiencing God’s faithfulness, mercy, and provision.

• One of the most important passages in the OT is Jer. 31:34. It reads, "No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know (yada') the LORD,' because they will all know (yada') me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (emphasis mine). The word "For" here indicates that knowing the LORD comes about as a result of a person experiencing the LORD's forgiveness and his forgetting their sins. Knowing God thus comes by experiencing his grace.11

All of these passages indicate that knowing God involves interpersonal experience with his character. God is allowing people to know him through experiencing his character. Knowing God, however, also involves our response to him. It is associated with one’s obedience to him (I Sam. 2:12; Job. 18:21), fear of him (I Ki. 8:43; II Chron. 6:33), serving him (I Chron.28: 9), belief in him (Is. 43:10), trust in him (Ps. 9:10; Prov. 3:5-6)12 confession of one’s sin (Ps. 32:5), and knowledge of the Torah or his Word (Ps. 119:79)13. It thus “involves not just theoretical knowledge but acceptance of the divine will for one’s own life”14.

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize (epiginosko, an intensive form of ginosko)15 them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize (epiginosko) them. "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew (ginosko) you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

When I reflect back on what I have experienced in our movement, it brings me great joy to see how those who studied the Bible with me prepared me to meet my God, prepared me to experience (yada’) Him, and prepared me to allow him to know (yada’) me! I am so glad they helped me dig deeply into what sin16 I had so I could really experience His character of forgiveness, grace, and love. No wonder Jesus said, “. . . he who has been forgiven little loves little." (Luke 7:47). The more we admit our sin, the more we will be able to love God, and know him, and God know us! I am so glad people helped me to come to a place of brokenness over my sin. God’s love became so real when that happened, as I experienced his offer of grace in an incredible way.

I am so glad that people helped me to understand that experiencing God involves listening to him through the reading of his word and that God experiencing me involves my praying and crying out to Him. No wonder David was a man after God’s own heart. I can see it in the Psalms where he opens up his heart to God and God experiences what is in his heart. I am so grateful that my leaders were hard on sin. They were protecting my yada’ with God. I am so thankful that many of my disciplers in the past insisted on my obedience to God!17 They were (whether or not they knew it) helping me with my yada’ with God and others. I am so grateful that people who discipled me helped me to learn what total openness is and urged me to express it! Relationships do not exist without it, whether they are relationships with others or with God. No wonder John 3:20-21 states:

1That does not mean there are not those out there who have experienced what we (or I) have but that generally I am just unaware of them in my experience.

2The information on Hebrew words occurrences in this paper are from John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson, The Hebrew-English Concordance to the Old Testament With the New International Version (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 120, hereafter designated as HECOT. This reference in on page 617.

3Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, eds, translated by J. T. Willis (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), vol. 5, 453, hereafter designated by TDOT. Cf., Edwin Hatch and Henry Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983), vol 1, 267-70.

4Thomas H. Groome, Christian Religious Education (San Francisco: Harper & Roe, 1980), 141.

5 Groome, 141. W. Schottroff (TLOT, vol. 2, 514) concurs stating: . . . the meaning of yada’ in Hebr. would be insufficiently stated if one were to limit it strictly to the cognitive aspect . . . without simultaneously taking into account the contractual aspect of the meaning, e.g., the fact that yada’ does not merely indicate a theoretical relation, a pure act of thought, but that knowledge, as yada’ intends it, is realized through practical involvement with the obj. of knowledge. The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis , 5 vols., edited by Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), vol. 2, 410, (hereafter designated as NIDOTT) also concurs stating, “The fundamentally relational character of knowing (over against a narrow intellectual sense) can be discerned, not the least in that both God and human beings can be subject and object of the vb.”

6 The Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, by Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann, translated by Mark E. Biddle (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1997), vol. 2, 508, hereafter designated as TLOT.

7Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs in A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1976), 393-94, hereafter noted as BDB.

8 TLOT, vol. 2, 390-92.

9 Lawrence O. Richards, Christian Education: Seeking to Become Like Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), 33.

10 There are only a relatively few times it means “intellectual” knowledge.

11To know God is, as Terence E. Fretheim states, “is to be in a right relationship with him, with characteristics of love, trust, respect, and open communication”, NIDOTTE, vol. 2, 413.

12 TLOT, vol. 2. 518.

13 NIDOTTE, vol. 2, 413.

14 TDOT, vol. 5, 478.

15 This word is also, the majority of the time, the Greek translation of yada’ in the LXX.

16Most religious groups today do not do this and do not prepare people to yada’ God, nor him to yada’ them.

17I admit the way it was done was not always correct or for the right reasons as one tended to obey just because some one said to and not because it came from the heart, nor was there always an understanding of experiential/relational knowing of God. I do believe, however, that many began their Christian walk with yada’ but gradually gave it up for serving and following men. I believe and pray that they can re-establish their yada’ and if we can now look to the future through the concept of yada’ and urge people to obey God as a way of knowing him and being known by him, we will save many from death and cover a multitude of sins (James 5:20).