Can we know God? If so, how?

[NewLifeInChrist]

You misunderstand my first sentence. I don't serve sin as if sin and Satan were my masters at all. However, sin still resides in my sinful nature, which is steadily being overcome by my true Master (actually Father), because I have become an adopted son of God, who has given me a new, resurrected nature through his new birth.

I am still sinful because of the old, sinful nature which Paul described in Romans:
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Rom 7:16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
Rom 7:17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Rom 7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Rom 7:21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Rom 7:23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Rom 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Rom 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Well said!!!

One more verse is needed to round out the thought... "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Ro 8:1)

Christ is in Me, I am in Him, and I am a new creation! As a result, there is now no condemnation to me for the sins and sinfulness of the flesh.

 

[Bruce.Leiter]

I'll stick with Jesus' words on that.
He said that those who commit sin are the servants of sin. (John 8:34)
When will you decide to be reborn of God's seed ?
Those reborn of God's seed, don't have a sinful nature.

Paul is writing about his past life while still in the flesh. (Rom 7:5)
His verse 23 plaint is answered in Rom 8:2, and his verse 24 plaint was answered in Rom 6:6.
The plaints are from his past, while trying unsuccessfully to live according to the Law.

Here are Jesus' words on sin that you referred to with their context, Hopeful 2:
Joh 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
Joh 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Joh 8:33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Joh 8:35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
Joh 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

True Christians are no longer SLAVES to sin and Satan; sin does not dominate them the way a slave master would. Jesus does not say that we no longer have any sin in us. Paul does by his letters' many commands like:
1Th 5:16 Rejoice always,
1Th 5:17 pray without ceasing,
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I would agree with you about Romans 7 except that Paul includes his struggles with sin there in the section about God's GRACE (3:21--11:36) following his description of humans' GUILT (1:18--3:20) that produces our GRATITUDE (12:1 through the rest of the book). Context is very important in interpreting Scripture.

 

[Hopeful 2]

Here are Jesus' words on sin that you referred to with their context, Hopeful 2:
Joh 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
Joh 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Joh 8:33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Joh 8:35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
Joh 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Thanks for printing it all out.
But the message remains the same; if one sins, they are a servant of sin.
As Jesus said elsewhere that no man can serve two masters, sinners do not serve God.

True Christians are no longer SLAVES to sin and Satan; sin does not dominate them the way a slave master would. Jesus does not say that we no longer have any sin in us. Paul does by his letters' many commands like:
1Th 5:16 Rejoice always,
1Th 5:17 pray without ceasing,
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Paul does indeed refer to no sin being in us; in fact, three times in Romans 6 !
Rom 6:7..."For he that is dead is freed from sin."
Rom 6:18..."Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Rom 6:22..."But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."
Thanks be to God !

I would agree with you about Romans 7 except that Paul includes his struggles with sin there in the section about God's GRACE (3:21--11:36) following his description of humans' GUILT (1:18--3:20) that produces our GRATITUDE (12:1 through the rest of the book). Context is very important in interpreting Scripture.

I don't know what you are writing about ?
Paul's narrative about being unable to please God, was about his past under the Law, and still in the "flesh". (Rom 7:5)
He wasn't "in the flesh" after his conversion to Christianity.

 

[Randy]

What does knowing God mean in the Bible? How can we grow in knowing God?

Yes we can know Him.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Calling on the Lord by faith is the key that opens the door of fellowship with Christ Jesus.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

 

[Randy]

God is love.
Loving others as Jesus loved is a good start to getting to know the Lord for those who seek such a relationship.
Those who fear the Lord hate evil.
Those who love God are known by God.