Blue Bell Theology

Much of our spiritual formation is accomplished through sacred rhythms and practices, like the spiritual disciplines, faithfully worked out in our lives. The spiritual disciplines are a vital means by which God spiritually forms us, so as a part of our People of the Deep series, we want to give a simple, practical next step to make them a part of your life.

Twice in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul stops his explanation of what God has done and is doing in the world through the Gospel and begins to pray that we might know what it is to experience the power of what he is talking about.

Twice he prays that we would know God and what He is doing in the Gospel.

Twice he gives us an aspiration for which to strive and prays that we would attain it. Twice he describes the deeper waters where we are called to go and prays that we would be carried out into it. Twice he prays that we would “know” what he is talking about.

Now, I want to explain something that is really important to understand.

Paul says in Ephesians 1:8, “…that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”

And again, he says in Ephesians 3:19,“…to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”

He has something very specific in mind when he prays that we would “know.”

Two Words For Knowing

So apparently there are two words for “know” in Greek.

One word is the Greek word “oida” and it refers to knowing facts and data. Like I know Austin is the capital of Texas. I know that the square root of 144 is 12. I know that Portugal is the world’s largest exporter of cork. 52% of all the cork in the world comes from Portugal. Now you know that. You’re welcome. That’s “oida.”

The other word for know is “ginosko.” Ginosko is the word that Paul uses in Ephesians 1 and 3. That word refers to a different kind of knowledge that is experiential. As in, it’s knowing something because you’ve experienced or because you’ve felt it. For instance I might know (oida) that Whataburger Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits are made of chicken and the sweet tears of joy collected from the angels. That’s different however from the experience of biting into one and tasting it in all of its glory (ginosko). Make sense?

Sweet Like Blue Bell

So check this out — back in the 1700s Jonathan Edwards wrote a little book called A Treatise on Religious Affections. And in that book he sets up this contrast between a person who only knows in their head that honey is sweet and someone who has actually tasted that honey is sweet.

Edwards would actually say it like this. He would say: “There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness.”

So having young kids you get to see this all the time…

One time in particular stands out to me when I got to see this illustration actually work with my son Matt. So up until that particular point in Matt’s life (he was 1 at the time), he had not tasted ice cream.

He had seen ice cream before.

He had seen his brother eat it before.

He had seen the smile on his brother’s face when he ate ice cream.

But for his entire life up to that point, he had only known ice cream from afar. He was only been able to see others enjoy it. Until that day when we gave him a little spoonful of Blue Bell vanilla. At the moment that spoon went into his mouth and he tasted that sweet, creamy ice cream, what do you think happened?

Exactly what all of us did the first time we tasted Blue Bell vanilla. His eyes got really big. A big smile starts to break on his face as ice cream is just flowing down his chin. He starts giggling.

That’s ginosko.

This is how Paul wants us to know the power experiencing God and what He is doing in the Gospel. That’s not a mental ascent. That’s not just knowing some facts. That’s not standing in a sanctuary just observing other people worship. It’s not just giving the Sunday school answer…

It’s knowing in the deepest parts of your soul that by your own experience the Sunday school answer is sweeter and more satisfying than anything else.

That’s the kind of “knowing” Paul prays for us to have.

He wants us to have this deep, felt understanding where we are completely satisfied in God because we have such a visceral and felt experiential knowledge of Himself that our eyes get really big, a smile starts to break out on our faces and we start giggling.

That’s Blue Bell Theology.