FULL knowledge, recognition — epi, 'upon, in addition', intensifying gnōsis, 'knowledge': not information about a thing but the deeper, personal, acknowledging knowledge OF a person. ⚠ It is a keyword of 2 Peter, framing chapter 1 — grace multiplied 'in the epignōsis of God and of Jesus our Lord' (1:2), all things given 'through the epignōsis of the one who called us' (1:3), the virtues keeping one from being unfruitful 'toward the epignōsis of our Lord' (1:8) — and the letter ends where it began, bidding readers 'grow in the grace and epignōsis of our Lord' (3:18). The Pastorals use it the same way, salvation as coming 'to the epignōsis of the truth' (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Timothy 3:7). It is knowing that has become acquaintance, the antidote the letter sets against the false teachers' counterfeit gnōsis. KJV 'knowledge'; several moderns 'full knowledge' to catch the epi-. → first discussed at 2 Peter 1:2