Our "heart-knowing" God

    At our church, our pastor has begun a sermon series on the Book of Acts. In our study of Acts one, a word jumped out of the text that really grabbed my attention. This Greek word is καρδιογνὼστης (kardiognostes) and it is only found in Acts 1: 24 and Acts 15: 8. For those of you with a basic exposure to Greek, you can see it is a compound word which literally means, “heart-knower”. This word is uniquely Christian in that it is only used in the two Acts passages and by some of the church fathers. In both of the verses where this word is used, it references God as being the “heart-knower”.

     The first place we see this word used is in Acts 1: 24. The apostles are in the upper room after Jesus ascended to heaven and Peter stands up to speak. Appealing to the Old Testament, he tells the apostles they need to select a replacement for the traitor, Judas Iscariot. After considering the qualifications for a new apostle, they selected Joseph and Matthias as candidates (vs. 23). Rather than running them through the HR Department, they prayed to God and then casted lots as a means for God to chose who He wanted. As the passage states, Matthias was chosen as the replacement for Judas (vs. 26).  

     What we want to highlight is how the apostles began their prayer of supplication to God. Literally it says, “You, Lord, heart-knower (kardiognostes) of all, show which you have chosen…” (vs. 24). The apostles recognized two things when they prayed to God. 1) Just as Jesus, in consultation with His Heavenly Father (see Lk. 6: 12), chose The Twelve, they wanted to make sure God chose the replacement. 2) The apostles had developed qualifications for the candidates that were based upon their outward behavior. They knew that God is the one who could see the inner person (the heart) of the two candidates and the apostles appealed to the “heart-knower” to chose the right one.

     This harkens back to 1 Samuel 16: 7, when Samuel was directed by the LORD to anoint the next king of Israel. The LORD said to Samuel, “…man looks at the outward appearance but the LORD looks at the heart.” Apparently, the apostles learned this lesson and appealed to God for His choice of the apostle to replace Judas.

     In Acts 15: 8, it is the Apostle Peter who uses this word in the context of speaking before the Jerusalem Council. The main topic of discussion at the Jerusalem Council evolved around how Gentile Christians should conduct themselves. Peter begins to address the council by recounting how God used him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and see them come to faith in Christ (Ac. 15: 7). Next, he describes how God confirmed their faith by giving them the Holy Spirit (vs. 8). Peter was able to testify that their faith was genuine by the outward manifestation of the Spirit in their lives. On the other hand, God was able to witness their faith, as the heart-knowing (kardiognostes) God, by seeing the inward change of these Gentiles, when they heard the gospel. As a result of their inward change, He gave them the Holy Spirit.

     What do we learn from the use of this word in the New Testament? Concerning ourselves, we must not be self-deceived into thinking we can please God by our behavior and works alone. God knows our heart and He wants our heart to be completely His. Concerning others, we can easily be fooled by the outward actions of others. This is particularly true of those who claim to be Christians, but are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing (Mt. 7:15). We must be discerning and look to the “heart-knower” to help us recognize those who are genuine in their faith.