The New Covenant opens access to God so that those who enter it are no longer cut off and may come to know Him. Eternal life consists in knowing God. God comes to know people through their obedient submission to the requirements He places upon them. Anyone who practices lawlessness remains unknown to God. Knowing God begins with learning facts about Him yet moves beyond that point to intimate acquaintance. The process resembles the way two human strangers become well enough acquainted to marry. Experiencing life with God supplies an intimacy that mere information cannot provide. Obedience forms an essential part of that experience because shared standards allow two parties to live life in the same way. Without obedience no genuine communion occurs. Tasting God pictures the first step toward taking Him into oneself so that He becomes part of the strengthening, healing, building, and changing of the person. This tasting takes place through study, prayer, meditation, and obedience, all directed toward knowing God and deepening community with Him.

Knowing God is a profound and intimate relationship, one that requires more than mere acknowledgment of His existence. Many claim to know God, but the critical question remains: does God know them? Jesus warns in His parables that not everyone who calls out "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom, for many are called, but few are chosen. He emphasizes that He does not know those who practice lawlessness, unrighteousness, and iniquity, despite their claims of familiarity with Him. To truly know God means to experience Him intimately, as depicted in the imagery of a husband and wife, a groom and bride, reflecting the deep bond between God and His people. Obedience is inseparable from knowing God. Jesus declares that if we love Him, we must keep His commandments. Without obedience, there can be no genuine love for God, for all unrighteousness is sin, and all of God's commandments are righteousness. God reveals Himself as a God of lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, exercising these traits in the earth with unwavering standards. He is straight, just, and consistent, never compromising His laws. As His people, we are called to reflect these same characteristics, growing in grace and knowledge to embody His holy, righteous character. To be known by God, we must strive diligently, making every effort to supplement our faith with virtue and to practice righteousness. This striving is a struggle against adversaries and a fervent labor to align with His will. We must exercise lovingkindness toward one another, maintain proper judgment, and remain steadfast in obedience, just as He does not waver. Though we may fall short in weakness, we do not practice sin but repent and continue on the path of righteousness, resisting the wearing down by the adversary who seeks to weaken us in these perilous times. By knowing God through obedience and intimate relationship, we can be assured that He knows us, and we will persevere through the narrow gate.

Certain knowledge of God stands as the foundation for properly approaching Passover, since doubt itself dishonors God and disqualifies a person from receiving what He promises. James warns that the doubter, vacillating between trusting God and trusting the world, is like a wave tossed by wind, unstable and unable to receive anything from the Lord. By contrast, faith is complete trust in God's character and promises. Believing in the name of the Son of God is what grants assurance of eternal life, as John states directly: those who believe may know that they have eternal life. This assurance stood in direct contrast to early Gnostic mysticism, which claimed redemption through esoteric knowledge of a divine light within, bypassing faith in Christ, repentance, and His atoning death. John's purpose was not reactionary but redemptive, aiming to deepen believers' understanding, ethical firmness, and loyalty to God. The decisive test of whether one truly knows God is set forth in 1 John 2:3-6: keeping His commandments. Anyone who claims to know Him while disobeying is called a liar, while whoever keeps His word has the love of God perfected in him. This obedience does not produce justification, which comes by faith alone, but it serves as evidence that one has been born from above. Knowing God is not mere intellectual assent or acquaintance with facts about Christ's life; it is an intimate, personal relationship that inevitably transforms conduct. John's characteristic vocabulary—know, abide, keep, walk—weaves doctrine and practice together inseparably, showing that genuine belief always issues in a changed life. This relationship is pictured as being "in Christ," an organic union like a branch abiding in the vine, from which spiritual fruit—love, joy, peace, and the rest—naturally grows. Because this union is vital rather than mechanical, one cannot receive Christ's life without becoming like Him. The test of assurance, therefore, is not mystical experience, feelings, or visions, but simply whether one walks as Christ walked: humbly, meekly, sorrowing over sin, and loving both God and others. Love itself is defined as the keeping of commandments, since love always manifests itself by doing what the beloved desires. This obedience-based assurance connects directly to knowing the love of God, which is never grasped apart from Christ, the sole mediator between God and humanity. Any emotion or belief about God's love that bypasses Christ must be distrusted. Genuine knowledge of that love produces observable fruits: loss of the sense that God is against oneself, a reverent yet no longer cowardly fear of God, awareness of sins forgiven, gratitude, increasing hatred of sin, desire to obey and draw closer to God, humility over one's own inadequate love, and joy in hearing of the Father and the Son. These practical evidences, rooted in obedience and communion with Christ, allow believers to say with certainty, before partaking of Passover, "I know that I know Him."