Knowing God

J I Packer

Class notes #11 – December 7, 2005

1. Review from last time
   
   

2. Describe the ministry Packer writes about and describes as “cruel”:

1. He describes it as Evangelical (pp 244)

                                                               i.      Because it is based on acceptance of the bible as God’s Word

                                                             ii.      Promises God’s assurances of salvation

                                                            iii.      Teaches of justification by faith through the cross

                                                           iv.      It tries to lead people to a new birth and new life in Christ’s resurrection

2. It misapplies God’s truth’s about the effect conversion to Christianity will make in a young believer’s life.
   
   This is, perhaps, a fine lesson in one fact: that every Christian doctrine and truth can be misapplied, pushed too far or otherwise used inappropriately in a way that is detrimental to God’s revealed truth!
   
   

3. It gives too much assurance about the joy, peace and ability to overcome temptation through Christ and not enough emphasis on the need for continued growth both spiritually and emotionally.

4. In tends towards emotionalism and immaturity.

5. It gives false hope for things that will never be – that is for a life free of temptation and sin.
   
   

2. What is the danger Packer sees in this misapplied doctrine?

1. Young Christians with false hopes may despair when they suffer continued temptation and sin.

2. We may seek emotional fulfillment of religion and not spiritual growth, increased understanding, or development.
   
   

3. In what way does God make life more “difficult” or “challenging” for a mature Christian? (pp 246)
   
   

4. What is the remedy for failure and sin in this “misapplied doctrine” of Evangelicalism? (pp 247)

1. “Find, confess and forsake his defection; to reconsecrate himself to Christ and maintain his consecration daily; and to learn the habit, when problems and temptations come of turning them over to Christ”.
   
   

5. What is the deadly fault of this remedy?

1. Smacks of works righteousness.

2. Leads to despair

3. May lead to arrested spiritual development

4. May lead to abandonment of faith as a false “tonic” or religion.

5. It confuses the Christian life on earth with the Christian life in heaven (pp 249).
   
   

6. What is Packer’s solution to this dilemma?

1. GRACE!
   
   

7. What is Grace?

1. The “Will of grace” is God’s eternal plan to save

2. The “Work of grace” is God’s “good work in you”.

                                                               i.      St Paul

                                                             ii.      Other saints and Christians

                                                            iii.      Each of us is a work of God’s grace as we are continually sanctified.

Sanctification is the process through which we are continually made more Christ like through the working of God’s grace within us.

3. The purpose of grace is to “restore our relationship with God”. (pp 250 – “Grace is God drawing us sinners closer and closer to Himself”.   
   
   

8. How does a proper understanding of grace eliminate the error of Packer’s misapplied doctrine?

1. Grace helps us to understand that it is God who strengthens us and that whenever we slip or fall He is still standing there strong and immovable – He is a “strong rock, a firm defense and a sure hope” – in our times of need.

2. Understanding grace helps teach us to depend upon God and NOT upon ourselves.

3. Grace helps us understand that God restores those who turn to Him for strength.
   
   Read attachments on Grace:

                                                               i.      Augustine

                                                             ii.      Aquinas

                                                            iii.      Luther

10. Where do we find the teaching Packer is opposing in this chapter?
    
    

The selections below are taken from Christian Theology Reader, edited by Alister E McGrath:

Augustine on Freedom and Grace                         6.16

In this passage, written in 412 at the height of the Pelagian controversy, Augustine stresses that true human freedom is a divine gift, rather than something which naturally occurs within fallen humanity. It is only when the human will has been liberated that it longs to be united with God, and is enabled to achieve this end. See also 6.13; 6.14; 6.44.

Source: de spiritu et littera, 5; in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 60, ed. C. F. Urba and J. Zycha (Vienna: Tempsky, 1913), 157.10-24.

But we say that the human will is so divinely aided towards the doing of righteousness that, besides humanity having being created with the free choice of God's will, and besides the teaching which instructs us how to live, it receives also the Holy Spirit, through which there arises in the heart a delight in and a love of that supreme and unchangeable good which is God. This takes place even now, while we still walk by faith and not by sight. Now on account of this free gift, humanity longs to be united to its maker, and be inflamed to be allowed to share in his true light, so that humanity may also derive its blessedness from the one who created it. A person's free choice will only serve to lead them to sin, if the way of truth is hidden from them. And when it is plain to them what they should do and to what they should aspire, even then unless they feel delight and love in doing so, they will not perform their duty, nor undertake it, nor attain to the good life. But in order that we may feel this affection "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts" not "through the free choice which springs from ourselves" but "through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5).

6.21 The Council of Carthage (418) on Grace

The Pelagian controversy was officially ended by the Council of Carthage, which laid down a series of propositions which it defined as the teaching of the catholic church on this matter. It explicitly condemned as heretical a series of eight teachings, as set out below. See also 6.13; 6.14; 6.16; 6.18; 6.19; 6.20.

Source: H. Denziger (ed.), Enchiridion Symbolum, 24-5 edn (Barcelona: Herder, 1948), pp. 51-4.

1. That Adam, the first human being, was created mortal, so that, whether he sinned or not, he would have died from natural causes, and not as the wages of sin;

2. That new-born children need not be baptized, or that they are baptized for the remission of sins, but that no original sin is derived from Adam to be washed away in the laver of regeneration, so that in their case the baptismal formula "for the remission of sins" is understood in a false rather than in its true sense (non vera sed falsa intelligatur) ...

3. That the grace of God, by which we are justified through Jesus Christ our Lord, avails only for the remission of sins already committed, and not for assistance to prevent the sins being committed ...

4. That this grace ... only helps us to avoid sin in this way; that by it we are given by revelation an understanding of God's commands that we may learn what we ought to strive for and what we ought to avoid, but that it does not give us also the delight in doing, and the power to do, what we have recognized as being good ...

5. That the grace of justification is given to us so that we may more easily perform by means of grace that which we are commanded to do by means of our free will (per liberum arbitrium); as if we could fulfil those commands even without the gift of grace, though not so easily...

6. That the words of the Apostle John, "If we say that we have no sin, etc." (1 John 1:8) are to be taken as meaning that we should say that we have sin not because it is true, but on account of humility on our part ...

7. That in the Lord's Prayer the saints say "Forgive us our trespasses" not for themselves, because for them this prayer is unnecessary, but for others among their people who are sinners ...

8. That in the Lord's Prayer the saints say "Forgive us our trespasses" out of humility and not because they are true ...

6.22 The Synod of Arles on Pelagianism

The condemnation of Pelagianism continued in the fifth century, with southern France emerging as a region in which the issue was of particular importance. The southern French city of Arles was the venue for a synod which confirmed a series of condemna­tions of Pelagianism. The precise date of this synod is not known; however, it is referred to in a letter of Faustus of Regium to Lucidus, dated 473, suggesting that the synod met shortly before the letter was written. The Synod condemned a series of Pelagian statements, while offering positive statements of its own. A representative selection is printed below. See 6.18; 6.29; 6.20; 6.21.

Source: Letter of Faustus of Rhegium to Lucidus (473); in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 20, ed. A. Engelbrecht (Vienna: Tempsky, 1891), 165.20-166.2; 16-20.

[The following statements are condemned:]

1. That after the fall of Adam, human free choice (arbitrium voluntatis) was extinguished;

2. That Christ, our Lord and Saviour, did not die for the salvation of all people;

3. That the foreknowledge of God forces people violently towards death, or that those who perish, perish on account of the will of God;

[The following statements are affirmed:]

1. Human effort and endeavour is to be united with the grace of God;

2. Human freedom of will (libertas voluntatis) is not extinct but attenuated

and weakened (non extinctam sed adtenuatam et infirmatam esse);

3. Those who are saved could still be lost, and those that have perished

could have been saved.

Thomas Aquinas on Grace                                        6.25

The Summa Theologiae ("The Totality of Theology"), which Aquinas began to write in Latin in 1265 and left unfinished at the time of his death, is widely regarded as the greatest work of medieval theology. In this section, Aquinas deals with various ways in which the word "grace" may be understood, while affirming that in its proper sense, grace designates something supernatural implanted by God within the human soul. See also 6.13; 6.16; 6.28; 6.29.

Source: Summa Theologiae, lallae, q. 110, a. 1.

As used in everyday language, "grace" is commonly understood to mean three things. First, it can mean someone's love, as when it is said that a soldier has the king's favor - that is, that the king holds him in favor. Secondly, it can mean a gift which is freely given, as when it is said: "I do you this favor." Thirdly, it can mean the response to a gift which is freely given, as when we are said to give thanks for benefits which we have received. Now the second of these depends upon the first, as someone freely bestows a gift on someone else on account of their love for them. And the third depends upon the second, since thankfulness is appropriate to gifts which are freely given.

Now if "grace" is understood in either the second or third sense of the word, it will be clear that it leaves something in the one who receives it - whether it is the gift which is freely given, or the acknowledgement of that gift. .. To say that someone has the grace of God is to say that there is something supernatural in the soul, coming forth from God (quiddam supernaturale in homine a Deo proveniens).

6.28 Martin Luther on Sin and Grace

During the academic year 1515-16, Luther delivered a course of lectures in Latin at th University of Wittenberg on Paul's letter to the Romans. A copy of these lectures has survived, allowing insights into Luther's theology at this early stage in his career. In the course of analyzing Romans 4:7, Luther opens up a discussion of the relation of sin and grace in the life of the believer. His basic argument is that sin and righteousness coexist in the existence of believers, so that they are at one and the same time sinners and righteous people. See also 6.12; 6.13.

Source: Lectures on Romans (1515-16); in D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, vol. 56 (Weimar: BohIau, 1938), 269.25-30; 272.3-21.

Since the saints are always conscious of their sin, and seek righteousness from God in accordance with his mercy, they are always reckoned as right­eous by God (semper quoque iusti a Deo reputantur). Thus in their own eyes, and as a matter of fact, they are unrighteous. But God reckons them as righteous on account of their confession of their sin. In fact, they are sin­ners; however, they are righteous by the reckoning of a merciful God (Re vera peccatores, sed reputatione miserentis Dei iusti). Without knowing it, they are righteous; knowing it, they are unrighteous. They are sinners in fact, but righteous in hope (peccatores in re, iusti autem in spe) .. .

It is like the case of a man who is ill, who trusts the doctor who promises him a certain recovery and in the meantime obeys the doctor's instructions, abstaining from what has been forbidden to him, in the hope of the pro­mised recovery (in spe promissae sanitatis), so that he does not do anything to hinder this promised recovery ... Now this man who is ill, is he healthy? The fact is that he is a man who is both ill and healthy at the same time (immo aegrotus simul et sanus). As a matter of fact, he is ill; but he is healthy on account of the certain promise of the doctor, who he trusts and who reckons him as healthy already, because he is sure that he will cure him. Indeed, he has already begun to cure him, and no longer regards him as having a terminal illness. In the same way, our Samaritan, Christ, has brought this ill man to the inn to be cared for, and has begun to cure him, having promised him the most certain cure leading to eternal life ... Now is this man perfectly righteous? No. But he is at one and the same time a sinner and a righteous person (simul iustus et peccator). He is a sinner in fact, but a righteous person by the sure reckoning and promise of God that he will continue to deliver him from sin until he has completely cured him. And so he is totally healthy in hope, but is a sinner in fact (sanus perfecte est in spe, in re autem peccator). He has the beginning of righteousness, and so always continues more and more to seek it, while realizing that he is always unrighteous.