belonging-is-being-known-not-knowing

# Belonging is being known, not knowing The question at the last is not what you knew of God or did in his name, but whether he knew you. Scripture keeps reversing the direction we assume: not that we have come to know God, but to be known by him; before I formed you in the womb I knew you. The ground of belonging is not our knowledge of him, vast and even miraculous as it can be, but his knowing of us, begun and held from his side. Provenance: the New Testament's own reversal (Galatians 4:9, 1 Corinthians 8:3, Matthew 7:23), where ginōskō carries the covenant Hebrew yada; a long-held reading (Packer, Knowing God). Occasioned by a Holy Word Explained word-study. Related: [[seeking-connection-presupposes-the-connection-it-seeks]], [[you-are-received-from-above-through-the-face-of-the-other]], [[grace-gives-someone-not-something]]