Knowing God

J I Packer

Class notes #3 – September 28, 2005

1. Review from last week
   
   

2. Note the continued emphasis of knowing of God vs knowing about God (pp 26). What does this mean? How does it impact our lives to know “of” without knowing “about”?
   
   

3. How can we distinguish between knowledge about God and knowing God? How does Packer do it?
   
   

4. On pages 24-25 Packer levels charges against Evangelicals about the depth of their faith.

1. Are these charges true for us?

2. What are “High-Church” or “Anglo-Catholic” equivalents?

3. What do these types of religious life say about our faith?
   
   

5. On page 26 – what is the difference between knowing “about God” and knowing “about Godliness”?
   
   

6. The Four characteristics of Knowing God.

1. Those who know God have great energy for God

                                                               i.      Pp 28: “While their God is being defied or disregarded, they cannot rest; they feel they must do something; the dishonor done to God’s name goads them into action”.

                                                             ii.      “Nor does this energy for God stop short with public gestures”.

2. Those who know God have great thoughts of God.

3. Those who know God show great boldness for God

                                                               i.      Oswald Chambers: they “smilingly washer their hands of the consequences”.

                                                             ii.      Note he admits the difficulty of finding the right course – it may be “agonizingly difficult”.

                                                            iii.      Note others may not agree. Further more, WE MAY SOMETIMES BE WRONG!

4. Those who know God have great contentment in God.

                                                               i.      We trust and rest in God. We accept His will as the necessity for the consummation of His divine plan to save His people.

7. Why are our prayers a good summary of our view of God? What do our personal prayers say about our understanding and relationship with God?
   
   

8. How – or why – is the knowledge of God the basis of a genuine, personal peace?
   
   

9. What are the two things Packer directs us to do if we wish to know God?

1. Recognize how much we lack knowledge of God.

2. Seek the savior.
   
   How do we do these day by day?
   
   

10. pp 32 – Note sentence: “The Lord Jesus is now absent from us in body, but spiritually it makes no difference”…Packer is not saying Christ is “bodiless or now pure spirit. The point is that He is bodily separated from creation through His ascension. We are physically separated.
    
    

11. Next time (Chapter Three) “Big Question”: What does it mean to know God?