Knowing God

J I Packer

Class notes - #1, September 14, 2005

1. Knowing God – A modern classic guide to discovering and knowing the God revealed in Scripture. Packer presents the Christian faith in an engaging style.
   
   John Stott, writes "the truth he handles fires the heart. At least it fired mine, and compelled me to turn aside to worship and pray."
   
   

2. Background & Biography:

1. James I Packer is one of the preeminent evangelical theologians today.

2. Short biography - J. I. Packer was born July 22, 1926, in Twyning, Gloucestershire, England to James (a clerk) and Dorothy Packer. He was educated at Oxford (BA, 1948, MA and D.Phil., 1954). (He knew CS Lewis, who had a major influence on Packer)

3. He began his career as an Anglican clergyman and served as assistant curate in Birmingham, England in 1952 then as a tutor at Tyndale Hall, Bristol, England, a librarian and later, warden, at Latimer House, Oxford, England. He returned to Tyndale Hall, as principal, in 1970; then associate principal at Trinity College, Bristol from 1971-79.

4. In 1979, after teaching and preaching for 27 years in England, he became Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Regent College, and in 1989 he was installed as the first Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology.

5. Packer's writings include books such as A Quest for Godliness (Crossway), Growing in Christ (Crossway), and Rediscovering Holiness (Servant) and numerous articles published in journals such as Churchman, SouthWestern Journal, Christianity Today, Reformation & Revival Journal and Touchstone.

                                                               i.      Dr. Packer published his first book, Fundamentalism And The Word Of God in 1958 and has written many excellent books over the years, one of his most famous being Knowing God, featured below, which has been published in several languages.

                                                             ii.      Packer also served as general editor of the English Standard Version of the Bible.

6. Serves as a Senior Editor and Visiting Scholar of Christianity Today

7. Member of Evangelicals and Catholics Together

                                                               i.      He has become an outspoken proponent of the ecumenical movement but believes that unity should not come at the expense of abandoning orthodox Protestant doctrine. Nonetheless, his advocacy of ecumenicism has brought sharp criticism from some conservatives.

8. Named one of Time Magazine’s 25 most influential Evangelicals

9. Packer is married to Kit, has three children, and enjoys tapping his foot to classic jazz.

2. Quote and snippets by Packer:

1. Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647 continuing a short series on the Bible: God the Father is the giver of Holy Scripture; God the Son is the theme of Holy Scripture; and God the Spirit is the author, authenticator, and interpreter of Holy Scripture.

2. All Christians believe in divine sovereignty but some are not aware that they do, and mistakenly imagine and insist that they reject it. What causes this odd state of affairs? The root cause is the same as in most cases of error in the Church--the intruding of rationalistic speculations, the passion for systematic consistency, a reluctance to recognize the existence of mystery and to let God be wiser than men, and a consequent subjecting of Scripture to the supposed demands of human logic. People see that the Bible teaches man's responsibility for his actions; they do not see how this is consistent with the sovereign Lordship of God over those actions. They are not content to let the two truths live side by side, as they do in the Scriptures, but jump to the conclusion that, in order to uphold the biblical truth of human responsibility, they are bound to reject the equally biblical and equally true doctrine of divine sovereignty, and to explain away the great number of texts that teach it. The desire to over-simplify the Bible by cutting out the mysteries is natural to our perverse minds, and it is not surprising, that even good men should fall victims to it.

                                                               i.      What does Packer say about God’s Sovereignty?

1.      In the preface in 1975 he answered a question or criticism of why there was no separate chapter on God’s sovereignty. He wrote: “I deliberately chose to write no separate chapter, but to deal with it as John Newton said he dealt with Calvinism: He did not make an issue of it, but mixed it into his treatment of everything else, so that, like sugar in coffee it “sweetens the whole”.

4. Churchmanship and Theological perspective:

1. Calvinist/Reformed tradition.

2. He is considered to be one of the most important evangelical theologians of the late 20th century.
   
   

5. Knowing God – the Preface

1. Packer himself suggests this book is not a “treatise on God”; but, rather, at best a “string of pearls” – small studies on great subjects” (pp 11)
   
   We want to take this individual pearls and strong them together to make a necklace.

2. Explore Packer’s difference between “balconeers” and “travelers”.

                                                               i.      Which are we?

                                                             ii.      Socinian –

1.      denial of Trinity

2.      Rationalist

3.      Denial of divinity of Christ – the cross was not necessary – God can forgive sins based on man’s repentance and good works (Pelagian).

4.      Unitarian

                                                            iii.      Arminianism

1.      Views doctrine like much of the pre-Augustinian fathers and John Wesley did.

2.      Has a narrow view of predestination – ie., God had foreknowledge of who will repent and He predestines them to salvation

3. Packer says he wrote Knowing God:

                                                               i.      Out of the conviction that ignorance of God lies at the root of the contemporary church’s weaknesses

                                                             ii.      And to help the “sick tree of Christendom ingest a “vitamin rich” diet.

                                                            iii.      To help groups of Christians identify and apply the essential truths of biblical theology.

4. Three sections of the book:

                                                               i.      The first directs our attention to the hows and whys of knowing God

                                                             ii.      The second directs us to the attributes of God

                                                            iii.      The third to some primary benefits enjoyed by a person who is God’s child.

5. We will do sections 1 & 3 first
   
   

5. Next week – Chapter One – The Study of God

1. Big question – Why is the study of God important? How will knowing this affect your life this week?