# “Knowing God and knowing about God” by John Owen

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2009/08/07/knowing-god-and-knowing-about-god-by-john-owen/
- Published: 2009-08-07T09:37:44-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“The difference between believers and unbelievers as to knowledge is not so much
in the _matter _of their knowledge as in the _manner _of knowing. Unbelievers, some
of them, may know more and be able to say more of God, His perfections, and His 
will, than many believers; but they know nothing as they ought, nothing in a right
manner, nothing spiritually and savingly, nothing with a holy, heavenly light.

The excellency of a believer is, not that he has a large apprehension of things,
but that what he does apprehend, which perhaps may be very little, he sees it in
the light of the Spirit of God, in a saving, soul-transforming light; and this is
that which gives us communion with God, and not prying thoughts or curious-raised
notions.”

–John Owen, [_Overcoming Sin and Temptation_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433550083?tag=toletaupanre-20),
Eds. Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2006), 117.

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