To have eternal life in Christ, you must know God and Jesus. It is not enough to accept Christ into your life. You must know Him.  

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3

The word “know” in Hebrew is to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, or feel. It is a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16

The NIV says it differently: “we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in Him.”

We can know what God says in His word. It is another thing to rely on it and live it.  

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him (Jesus will make Himself known to you).” John 14:21