The True Paradigm of True Existence
With the entry of sin into the world, falseness and deceit entered. And with the dissolution of human existence and its fall under the sway of death, human knowledge became corrupted and turned into a false knowledge, incapable of perceiving truth except through divine revelation itself, i.e., the Holy Scripture and the word of God. Thus, revelation came to restore man to the true knowledge that was his, deposited in his human being, and to which the Book of Genesis referred with one phrase: "Let Us make man in Our image" (Genesis 1:26). And the words "image" and "likeness" mean there are three levels of human knowledge:
The first: which is man's knowledge of his being and capacities as an image of God, in which he sees God and perceives, through contemplating his being, the resemblance between him and the Creator.
The second: man's knowledge of the creatures around him, placed at his service.
The third: the knowledge of God Himself, which is the highest degree of knowledge, and it differs from the first and second degrees in that it is revealed by God, and man cannot storm it, take it by force, or obtain it by the capacities bestowed upon him. We have placed this degree last because it is the greatest and of the highest rank than the first and second.
And we were created according to the image of God, because God is the creator of all things. And according to this image, knowledge does not come to us from the outside, but it is within us. If we advance in the knowledge of beings and the cosmos, this knowledge finds its origin within us, i.e., the element of intelligence and the power of observation that God placed in us. And if we advance in self-knowledge, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit accompanies this degree and purifies those who ask sincerely, because this knowledge becomes like a reflection of human existence on everything. And to the extent that man knows himself, he knows God, and this is due to the existence of God's image in us, and to the extent of the purity of that image, the knowledge of theology (the divine nature) in us is pure.
#KnowledgeOfGod #ImageOfGod #Revelation #Theology #SelfKnowledge #ChristianAnthropology 🔍 The True Paradigm of True Existence
With the entry of sin into the world, falseness and deceit entered. And with the dissolution of human existence and its fall under the sway of death, human knowledge became corrupted and turned into a false knowledge, incapable of perceiving truth except through divine revelation itself, i.e., the Holy Scripture and the word of God. Thus, revelation came to restore man to the true knowledge that was his, deposited in his human being, and to which the Book of Genesis referred with one phrase: "Let Us make man in Our image" (Genesis 1:26). And the words "image" and "likeness" mean there are three levels of human knowledge:
The first: which is man's knowledge of his being and capacities as an image of God, in which he sees God and perceives, through contemplating his being, the resemblance between him and the Creator.
The second: man's knowledge of the creatures around him, placed at his service.
The third: the knowledge of God Himself, which is the highest degree of knowledge, and it differs from the first and second degrees in that it is revealed by God, and man cannot storm it, take it by force, or obtain it by the capacities bestowed upon him. We have placed this degree last because it is the greatest and of the highest rank than the first and second.
And we were created according to the image of God, because God is the creator of all things. And according to this image, knowledge does not come to us from the outside, but it is within us. If we advance in the knowledge of beings and the cosmos, this knowledge finds its origin within us, i.e., the element of intelligence and the power of observation that God placed in us. And if we advance in self-knowledge, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit accompanies this degree and purifies those who ask sincerely, because this knowledge becomes like a reflection of human existence on everything. And to the extent that man knows himself, he knows God, and this is due to the existence of God's image in us, and to the extent of the purity of that image, the knowledge of theology (the divine nature) in us is pure.
#KnowledgeOfGod #ImageOfGod #Revelation #Theology #SelfKnowledge #ChristianAnthropology