The Big Idea
What does it mean to approach Scripture in humble unknowing?
Note
Used as LCOS epistle for August 2026
How do you know what you know?
You may not have ever stopped to wonder about that, but if you have, you probably have feelings about that question. The question of how we know things can quickly make your head spin. Many philosophers, theologians, and even scientists have taken a crack at trying to pin down this slippery question. The general study of how humans know and understand things has been a topic of debate all the way back to ancient Greece.
As Christians, it becomes a topic of importance when we start to think about how we know and understand Scripture. All of us have the capacity to learn and reason about daily life. We can choose what we eat for breakfast or how to budget our money. But our capacity to understand things clearly is clouded by the effects of sin in ways we often are unaware. This is not a small hurdle but one that the Formula of Concord states as follows:
The Book of Concord, p. 491
human reason and understanding are blind in spiritual matters and understand nothing on the basis of their own powers.
In other words, on our own, we cannot understand a single letter of Scripture. We can study, memorize, and gather an impressive array of facts, ideas, or theories about God and about Scripture. But if the Holy Spirit is not at work within us, all those bits and pieces will never become true knowledge and understanding. Its a little bit like giving a toddler all the tools and parts to change a tire. You can sit and explain the whole procedure. They may even be able to repeat things back to you. But when the wrench gets put to the bolts, or the tire needs rolled, they will not be able to do it. We are in that same position with God and His word. We may indeed have all the resources and tools to be a premier scholar. But under our own power, we will not be able to truly understand a thing.
But this does not mean we are in a hopeless position. St. Augustine points out a much different path to knowledge and understanding than we often travel:
Tractates (Lectures) on the Gospel of John, Augustine of Hippos, Para. 6
understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe that you may understand;
Likewise Luther echoes this humble approach to reading Scripture:
What Luther Says Vol 1, p. 90
These are statements of the Holy Spirit, taken from Moses, “God said, let there be light” (Gen 1:2). No human intellect or wisdom is able to grasp them, however high it may be. Therefore we should not consult reason in this matter but should give the Holy Spirit the honor that what He says is the divine truth. We should believe his words, meanwhile blinding, nay, gouging out, the eyes of reason.
We approach God and His word not as a judge, but as a little child learning how to speak from our Father. Knowing and not knowing are often set against each other as a black and white difference. You know it, or you don’t. While this may be true of everyday things, or facts, etc. It is completely wrong when it comes to knowing God and His word. A more helpful distinction is to think about ignorance, unknowing, and knowing.
Ignorance is when we simply ignore or fail to hold on to God’s Word. Like the crowds who heard Jesus but did not follow Him or do anything He said.
Paul lays out the ideas of knowing and unknowing in 1 Corinthians 13:12:
1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
In all that we learn and think and understand, on our best days, with the most sophisticated tools, and the power of the Holy Spirit pushing us, we only know a little. This partial knowing is the way we live our whole lives. If we are honest about this we can accept our unknowing. Not giving up and slipping into ignorance, but seeking and searching and learning with the awareness that we live not in full knowledge, but in unknowing. Knowing in its fullness will never be here on earth until Jesus returns and we physically and tangibly see Him face to face.
As we learn to come to Scripture in faith and our unknowing. I leave you with Psalm 131 as the Holy Spirit’s faithful guide to learn to live in this way:
Psalm 131
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.