KNOWING — A Word-Study Dossier
γινώσκω in Romans 1:21 and John 17:3, with their threads and the LXX background

This dossier assembles the texts. It does not deliver a verdict. The occurrences stand first, the background second, the open question last — in the words in which it was left open.

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I. THE TWO TEXTS

"Because, knowing God, they didn't glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened." (Rom 1:21, WEB)

"This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ." (John 17:3, WEB)

One verb stands in both verses: γινώσκω (Strong's 1097) — to know, to come to know, to perceive, to recognize.

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II. EVERY OCCURRENCE IN THE ROMANS THREAD (Rom 1:18–32)

The thread is Paul's descent account: wrath revealed against those who suppress the truth (Rom 1:18). The γινώσκω word-group occurs four times in it.

1. Rom 1:19 — γνωστόν (gnōston)
   Verbal adjective of γινώσκω (Strong's 1110), neuter nominative singular.
   "That which is known of God is manifest among them, for God manifested it to them" (paraphrase of Rom 1:19).
   Not a verb form: the knowing here is first spoken of as a thing possessed — the knowable of God, made plain.

2. Rom 1:21 — γνόντες (gnontes)
   γινώσκω, aorist active participle, nominative masculine plural (V-APA-NMP).
   διότι γνόντες τὸν Θεὸν οὐχ ὡς Θεὸν ἐδόξασαν ἢ ηὐχαρίστησαν.
   "Because, knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor give thanks."
   The participle stands before both refusals. The knowing is presented as complete, antecedent — it is not in progress when the refusal comes.

3. Rom 1:28 — ἐπιγνώσει (epignōsei)
   Noun ἐπίγνωσις (Strong's 1922), dative feminine singular.
   "They did not see fit to have God in knowledge" (Rom 1:28, paraphrase).
   The verb of the sentence is not γινώσκω but δοκιμάζω: οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν — "they did not approve, did not see fit" (aorist active indicative, 3rd plural). The knowing refused here carries the compound noun: full knowledge, recognition, acknowledgment retained.

4. Rom 1:32 — ἐπιγνόντες (epignontes)
   ἐπιγινώσκω (Strong's 1921), aorist active participle, nominative masculine plural (V-APA-NMP).
   "Who, having known full well the righteous decree of God — that those who practice such things are worthy of death — not only do them, but approve those who practice them" (Rom 1:32, paraphrase).
   The chapter ends with the knowing still in place. The descent does not erase it. It ends in approval given with knowledge.

Summary of the thread: every verb form is aorist. No present-tense γινώσκω occurs in Rom 1:18–32. The knowing is everywhere presupposed, completed, standing behind the acts — never described as ongoing.

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III. EVERY OCCURRENCE IN THE JOHN 17 THREAD

The thread is the Son's prayer: for those given to Him (John 17:6), that the world may know (John 17:23), closing with the name made known (John 17:26). γινώσκω occurs seven times, and its causative cousin γνωρίζω twice at the close.

1. John 17:3 — γινώσκωσιν (ginōskōsin)
   γινώσκω, present active subjunctive, 3rd plural (V-PSA-3P), under ἵνα ("that").
   αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωὴ, ἵνα γινώσκωσιν σὲ τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεόν.
   The tense is present: the knowing is durative, ongoing — and it is set as the content of eternal life itself.

2. John 17:7 — ἔγνωκαν (egnōkan)
   γινώσκω, perfect active indicative, 3rd plural (V-RIA-3P).
   νῦν ἔγνωκαν — "Now they have known that all things You gave Me are from You" (John 17:7, WEB wording as fetched: "Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you").
   The perfect: a knowing arrived at, with its state abiding at the time of the prayer.

3. John 17:8 — ἔγνωσαν (egnōsan)
   γινώσκω, aorist active indicative, 3rd plural (V-AIA-3P).
   καὶ ἔγνωσαν ἀληθῶς ὅτι παρὰ σοῦ ἐξῆλθον — "and they knew truly that I came forth from You."
   It stands in a chain: they received the words (ἔλαβον), they knew truly (ἔγνωσαν), they believed (ἐπίστευσαν). Knowing and believing stand side by side, both aorist, neither absorbed into the other.

4. John 17:23 — γινώσκῃ (ginōskē)
   γινώσκω, present active subjunctive, 3rd singular (V-PSA-3S), under ἵνα. Subject: ὁ κόσμος, the world.
   "That the world may know that You sent Me" (John 17:23).
   The present subjunctive again — the same form-class and tense as 17:3 — now prayed for the world, not yet stated as fact.

5. John 17:25 — ἔγνω (egnō)
   γινώσκω, aorist active indicative, 3rd singular (V-AIA-3S), negated.
   ὁ κόσμος σε οὐκ ἔγνω — "The world has not known You."

6. John 17:25 — ἔγνων (egnōn)
   γινώσκω, aorist active indicative, 1st singular (V-AIA-1S).
   ἐγὼ δέ σε ἔγνων — "But I have known You." The speaker is the Son, of the Father.

7. John 17:25 — ἔγνωσαν (egnōsan)
   γινώσκω, aorist active indicative, 3rd plural (V-AIA-3P).
   καὶ οὗτοι ἔγνωσαν ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας — "And these have known that You sent Me."
   Verse 25 sets the three aorists in one row: the world has not known; I have known; these have known.

8. The related verb — John 17:26, γνωρίζω (gnōrizō, Strong's 1107)
   ἐγνώρισα (egnōrisa), aorist active indicative, 1st singular — "I made Your name known to them."
   γνωρίσω (gnōrisō), future active indicative, 1st singular — "and I will make it known."
   A different verb, from the same root: not knowing, but making known. The prayer's last word on knowing is that the Son does it — past and future, done and continuing.

Summary of the thread: the γινώσκω of eternal life (17:3) and of the world's prayed-for knowing (17:23) is present subjunctive — ongoing, held inside the ἵνα of the prayer. The knowings stated in the indicative (17:7, 8, 25) are perfect once and aorist four times — one of the four under negation, spoken of the world. No present indicative of γινώσκω is used of anyone's knowing in the chapter.

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IV. THE LXX BACKGROUND OF THE WORD

γινώσκω is the Septuagint's standard rendering of the Hebrew verb ידע (yadaʿ). Yadaʿ in the Hebrew Scriptures ranges wider than information: perceiving, experiencing, recognizing, covenant regard, and union. The Greek word carries that range into the New Testament. Three anchor texts:

1. Genesis 2:9, 17 (LXX) — the word stands in the tree's name.
   "The tree of knowing what is knowable of good and evil": τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ (Gen 2:9 LXX).
   The adjective is γνωστόν — the same word Paul uses in Rom 1:19 for "that which is known of God."
   Genesis 2:17 (LXX) names the tree with the infinitive: τοῦ γινώσκειν καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν — "of knowing good and evil."
   Man's first forbidden knowing and Paul's "what may be known of God" share the word-group in the Greek Bible.

2. Genesis 4:1 (LXX) — knowing as union.
   Ἀδὰμ δὲ ἔγνω Εὔαν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ — "And Adam knew Eve his wife."
   ἔγνω is the aorist of γινώσκω, translating yadaʿ. The knowing is conjugal union, not cognition about a fact. The LXX uses the ordinary Greek verb for it without apology.

3. The knowing of God toward man (Hebrew Bible).
   "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2, paraphrase of the Hebrew). Yadaʿ spoken by God of Israel is covenant choosing, not discovery — God learns nothing.
   "The knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hos 6:6, paraphrase of the Hebrew daʿath Elohim): God names knowledge of Himself as what He desires from His people.
   The word therefore runs in both directions in the old Scriptures: man knows God, God knows man — and in neither direction is it bare information.

Also standing behind both passages: Deuteronomy 8:2's testing "to know what was in your heart," and Jeremiah 9:24's boast — not in wisdom, might, or riches, but in understanding and knowing the LORD (Hebrew Bible texts, cited in paraphrase). The dossier notes them as background to the word, not as exegesis of the two passages.

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V. THE ARRANGEMENT, SET SIDE BY SIDE

Romans 1 thread:
— The knowable of God is made plain (1:19, adjective).
— Men, having known God (1:21, aorist participle), refuse glory and thanks.
— They do not approve to retain God in full knowledge (1:28, noun).
— Having known the decree full well (1:32, aorist participle of the compound), they practice and approve.
In Romans, knowing is everywhere complete and antecedent. It does not prevent the fall. It accompanies it to the end of the chapter.

John 17 thread:
— Eternal life is defined as an ongoing knowing (17:3, present subjunctive).
— The given ones have known (17:7, perfect), knew truly and believed (17:8, aorists side by side).
— The world's knowing is prayed for, pending (17:23, present subjunctive).
— The world has not known; the Son has known; these have known (17:25, three aorists in a row).
— The Son makes the name known, and will make it known (17:26, the causative verb, aorist and future).
In John, knowing is gift-shaped: the Son makes known, the given ones know, the world's knowing is the prayer's request.

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VI. THE CRUX, LEFT OPEN — IN THE WORDS IN WHICH IT WAS LEFT

From the afternoon piece on Rom 1:21 (Oct 22, 2026), quoted exactly:

"The crux stays open: is thanklessness the unbelief itself, or its first fruit? Paul puts 'having known' before the refusal. That rules out ignorance as the cause. But what is this 'knowing' that perishes? And how does it sit with 'this is eternal life, that they know You' (John 17:3)? Does the same verb name two different knowings? Or does the difference lie entirely in what the knowing does — glorify and give thanks, or not?"

This dossier assembles the text under that question. It does not answer it.

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Sources: Greek text and parsing — Nestle 1904 via BibleHub text analysis (Rom 1:19, 21, 28, 32; John 17:3, 7, 8, 23, 25, 26), verified 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23. English — World English Bible (public domain). LXX texts — Gen 2:9, 17 and Gen 4:1, verified 2026-10-23. Amos 3:2 and Hos 6:6 are cited from the Hebrew Bible in paraphrase and marked as such.