Knowing God
J I Packer
Class notes – #4,
- Communion – Commemoration of All Souls
- Review from last week – Questions, comments and general discussion.
Chapter Nine – God Only Wise - What do we mean when we talk of God’s Wisdom?
- “manifested in creation and in God’s guidance of nations and individuals” (Wisdom Chapters 10-19)
- How do we differentiate God’s absolute Wisdom from His absolute Knowledge (Omniscience)?
- Knowledge is neutral in morality – it is access to factual points.
- Wisdom has both a moral and an intellectual quality – as Packer says, it is “the practical side of moral goodness”.
i. “God acts in the light of all of the facts and in light of correct values” (Erickson)
- Wisdom must be directed towards the right end – it is “the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal”.
i. Knowing all things, God also knows what is good or what is the best possible action or outcome of any single event.
1. What is the impact of this knowledge in our understanding and acceptance of God’s action in our lives? in the “bad things happening to good people” situations?
- How do we differentiate God’s wisdom from human wisdom?
- God’s wisdom cannot be frustrated – human wisdom is susceptible to circumstantial factors outside of our control
- God’s wisdom is always active, searching and never fails – human wisdom is limited, prone to wrong conclusions based on inadequate information or limitations in our knowledge and is frequently mislead by our biases or sin.
- God always has perfect information – sometimes humans act unwisely simply because we do not have all the facts.
i. Inexperience can also lead a human to make a mistaken decision. (a child, if offered a dime and a nickel will often take the nickel because it is larger, not understanding that it is less valuable).
- God’s goals in the world:
- What, according to Packer, is the mistake most people make in thinking about God’s primary goal in the world? (pp 91)
i. “Misunderstanding what the Bible means when it says that God is love, they think that God intends a trouble free life for all, irrespective of their moral and spiritual state”
1. Anything bad – pain, suffering, loss – leads them to conclude that either God is not all powerful, that God is not wise or not good, or that God does not exist.
- What does Packer say is God’s ultimate goal? (pp 92)
i. “that we should love and honor Him,
ii. praising Him for the wonderfully ordered complexity and variety of His world,
iii. using it according to his will and so
iv. enjoying both it
v. AND HIM”.
- As examples of His interaction with people, what do we see in God’s dealing with Abraham? (pp 92-93) and Jacob (pp 94-95)?
- Abraham
i. Abraham had little moral courage
ii. Needed to practice ‘living in God’s presence”.
iii. Needed to learn to trust and obey God – even if it made no sense.
- Jacob
i. Needed to see what it was like to be swindled
ii. Needed to learn to “hold on to God”.
iii. No longer trust in his wits, but in God’s grace.
- How do we apply the lessons of Abraham and Jacob to our lives? (pp 97)
- Next week NO CLASS. Wednesday 7th – Chapter 10
Big Question: What is the wisdom God has given us?
