PROGRESSION OF KNOWLEDGE

DAY 105

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

As short as today’s verse is, there are some interesting points to note in this encounter between the Jewish leaders and the Apostles. The outcome of their short discourse, summarised in the verse above, draws our attention to three verbs: ‘saw’, ‘perceived’ and ‘recognised’.

It is interesting to note that three different verbs are translated from the Greek, each representation a kind of knowing based on the depth of knowledge gained. ‘See’ simply relates to spectating, you see the facts before you and take it as it is.
In realising, you seize or take possession of the knowledge. This is where you lay claim to and internalise what you know. The intention is to get familiar.

The third verb of recognising is the point where you become ‘fully acquainted with a body of knowledge’. It involves your understand of the interrelationships between that knowledge and others, as well what practical expression of that knowledge means.

Our knowing of God, and our roles, whether in the family or our society at large, must likewise be progressive- from seeing, through to realising then recognising. We cannot stay as spectators nor become just memorisers of knowledge, we ought to arrive at the point where our full acquaintance leads to a visible effect on the very way we live.

#sly