Book Review: Knowing God

Knowing God
by J. I. Packer
286 pages, with index

The gist:

From current Christian publications, you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or refuting this or that ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture, or what have you. But our line of study makes the present-day concentration on these things look like a gigantic conspiracy of misdirection. Of course, it is not that; the issues themselves are real and must be dealt with in their place. But it is tragic that, in paying attention to them, so many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is, and always will be the true priority for every human being--that is, learning to know God in Christ. (Emphasis mine.)

As Packer moves through three main sections (Know the Lord, Behold Your God, If God be for us), he redirects the readers' focus from the earthly and temporal to the godly and eternal. His emphasis falls not on a specific attribute of God, but on an entire range of attributes. As such, we see a God that is the only true God, the God Incarnate, unchanging, majestic, wise, truth, love, gracious, judge, wrathful, good, severe and jealous.

The last section focuses our view that this God is for us. In this section, we see how God provided not merely expiation but propitiation for our sins. Chapter 19, which is entitled "The Sons of God" paints a beautiful picture of our adoption as sons of God. Not only did God provide salvation through Christ his son, he has accepted us as children through Christ's work. Another chapter looks at God as our guide. Packer notes that all of us, at some time or another, will miss the road that God has laid out for us. Thankfully, as Packer points out "Our God is a God who not merely restores, but takes up our mistakes and follies into his plan for us and brings good out of them."

My take:
As Packer states, so many well-meaning believers short-change themselves or their brothers in Christ by focusing on only some of God's attributes or on some aspect of the Christian walk. At the end of the section entitled "Behold Your God," Packer seems to allude to such people when he talks of God's jealousy and references the Laodicean church in Revelation 3. "How many of our churches today are sound, respectable--and lukewarm?" Packer says, calling for revival.

If one wants to know what is going on in a room, one will scan from side to side, using his or her senses of sight, smell, sound, and touch to get the full picture. A person looking through a telescope at one part of the room while wearing ear and nose plugs will not get the entire picture of what's going on. The same is true in knowing God.

By emphasizing only part of God's attributes, we present an inaccurate picture of Christ. So often, it seems, pulpits are full of God's judgement, wrath, severity, and jealousy. What does that, by itself, do to inspire worship? We need also to see God as the only true God, who is immutable, majestic, wise, loving and gracious.

Packer's book serves as a wake-up call to that fact. When we study Knowing God in that light, peripheral issues to the book that could distract people, such as the use of numerous Bible translations and Packer's questionable associations, will fade away and we will gain from the experience.

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