That's a good point. Knowledge is more than book knowledge. When Paul speaks about knowledge, he is speaking about experiencing something. Thus, the "knowing" of Christ is more than reading about the Gospel narratives, and why atheists get nothing from this "knowledge".
Regards
Something we sometimes forget is transformation. What repentance is, metanoia.
Jesus didn't say, 'read this' or 'study this' or 'know this' but 'do this.' We do not have to see this as earning salvation but as part of the means to experience transformation, to 'know' Christ, to 'know' the Kingdom.
I'm not saying that prayerful reading of scripture cannot be transformative, lectio divina for example (I believe Protestants have something similar). But the words alone are not magic. Something else, words +, is required for transformation. Transformation can even occur without words.
And I believe transformation, being born again, is what Christ calls us to, rather than getting the words or the story or the theology correct.
Scripture is useful, IMHO, as it serves to preserve and transmit the means and knowledge for this purpose, and as it aids the individual in his/her own transformation. Otherwise it becomes pure book knowledge, only history and philosophy.
I realize this thread is much about the theology and I'm learning a great deal of very interesting things from all the posters. I don't mean to denigrate this discussion at all, only to remind us, myself included, of the greatest value of our shared faith.
Well if this be true, we let loose a big can of wiggly worms. The Mormons experience a burning bosom, after reading the Book of Mormon, ostensibly after what the Christians on their way to Emmaus experienced when meeting the risen Christ. Then a whole array of "personal revelations" are unleashed and error runs amuck. Paul also said,
in Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.