If you attend a Reformed Church, you could probably ask your Pastor which preachers influenced him the most and he would probably say, "Edwards, Whitefield, Spurgeon, etc." If you asked what theologians most influenced him he would probably say, "Augustine, Calvin, Luther" and go on and on with these names of historical figures that grounded the Reformed faith. Even today, if you asked many Reformed preachers who "converted" them to Reformed Theology, it would probably be in the line of MacArthur, Sproul, Piper, Chandler, Ferguson, Mohler, etc. etc. Somehow, the name of J.I. Packer is not as mainstream as those that have come before and after him - but as soon as his name comes up there is an unavoidable shame that falls on everyone that didn't mention his name.
J.I. Packer influenced and instructed many of those men that I just named and was the one that led them to have strength and conviction in their theology through his literature - with the greatest of his popular works being Knowing God. The cover itself bears witness to the greatness of this book, proclaiming its incomparable sales of over one million copies. How does the book read, and what exactly does it proclaim that is so profound?
As you listen, God is actually opening his heart to you, making friends with you and enlisting you as a colleague.
The first section of this book ("Know the Lord") introduces the reader to what exactly Dr. Packer means by "knowing God". Although the book is written to a Christian audience, the depth with which Dr. Packer elaborates on theology - literally, "the study of God" - is unparalleled. The word pictures that he uses to depict what a relationship with God is like are understandable, and without obvious holes that analogies are prone to fall into.
One of my favorite things about the way that Dr. Packer speaks of coming to have a relationship with God is that, even though he wrote the book in 1973, it still rightly addresses the most common error in the American Evangelical Church today, namely a lack of adherence to the scripture. Packer makes clear that a relationship with God comes only through the reading or the hearing of the Holy Scriptures and the application of those scriptures to the heart by the work of the Holy Spirit. He is so careful to align the work of the Spirit with the Word of God that he even breaks with grammatical correctness to maintain this connection, as in: "Perhaps you have been acquainted with the Bible and Christian truth for many years, and it has meant little to you; but one day you wake up to the fact that God is actually speaking to you - you! - through the biblical message." That final note, "through the biblical message" is something that most would have left off, but in today's emotionally-led over-spiritual world, that phrase is more important than anything else that he said. Sola Scriptura indeed.
God is the Judge of all the earth, and he will do right, vindicating the innocent, if such there be, but punishing lawbreakers. God is not true to himself unless he punishes sin. And unless one knows and feels the truth of this fact... one can never share the biblical faith in divine grace.
Section two of Knowing God is entitled "Behold Your God". This section, which composes the majority of the book, addresses the various attributes of God; Unchanging, Majestic, Wise, True, Loving, Gracious, Judging, Wrathful, Good, Severe, and Jealous. In this section, Packer touches on several topics that are foreign to the Christian world in general today - not the least of which being the difference between God and ourselves. Packer addresses this directly, at one point stating, "In our pagan way, we take it for granted that God feels as we do." The modern thinker would be baffled at such an insinuation - that to assume that God thinks and feels exactly as we do is pagan!? Yes, indeed. Packer powers on to juxtapose human characteristics with those of God, specifically in regard to our impotence to spiritually rectify or redeem ourselves.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of this book is the regular and frequent inclusion of many great works of prose and poetry that serve to display and engrain into memory the points that Packer is making. He is not so picky as to only include songs or poetry written by hand-picked poets either. One lengthy quotation is from Charles Wesley. This aspect of the book is only rivaled by the fact that the book concludes with a scriptural index in which one can reference all the ways that Packer examines certain texts in and through his book - a great tool for teachers and preachers seeking to understand or apply a hard text.
The final section of the book, "If God Be for Us" speaks to the Christian directly, giving both admonitions and assurances for difficult times that are sure to come. This section is not simply an application, however, as it contains some of the greatest points of theological instruction in the book. In a book that numbers 279 pages, it is page 261 that I think bears the greatest explanation of the sovereignty of God that I have yet read. The difficulty in explaining this topic through written text without any of the oratorical (rhetorical) appeals that one may use in person is so high that few accomplish anything of worth. Yet, here in the last few paragraphs of this book we receive a text-by-text breakdown of how that the Bible has presented God's sovereignty and work in and through various people and times to accomplish His perfect will. This examination of sovereignty can only hope to be replicated without plagiarism, but may never be surpassed in excellence.
Further, on page 265, Packer engages the topic of Limited Atonement - specifically the most difficult aspect of that doctrine which is not the opposition that it presents to Universalism (although that is covered in its own section) but that point that most Christians detest which states that the purpose for which Christ came to achieve was achieved at the cross and all of those for whom He died are in fact redeemed by His death - and consequently those who are not redeemed (says Packer and so goes the Reformed view) were never intended to have benefitted anything from the death of Christ on the cross. Defending that view has fallen out of favor, and it takes a man as adequate as Packer to rightly stand against the gales of public opinion and defend it.
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