Knowing God
J I Packer
Class notes – #6,
- Evening Prayer
- Review from last week – Questions, comments and general discussion.
Chapter Eleven – Thy Word is Truth - What are the two aspects or facts of God that are assumed throughout the bible?
- He is King – He rules
i. He is absolute sovereign over His creation
ii. He orders all of the worlds affairs; nothing happens without His foreknowledge and without His allowing it to happen.
- God speaks – He is Word
i. God ‘utters words that express His will’
ii. God communicates with His creation
- God’s communication with us is the only way we can really know anything about Him
- General Revelation
i. That communication of Himself to all persons at all times and in all places
1. God’s self-manifestation that is available through
a. Nature (greatness and beauty of creation)
b. History – salvation history, including the preservation of the people of
c. The nature of the human being (ie.., self-awareness and the awareness of a being greater than himself – man’s religious nature)
ii. Natural theology – the idea that it is possible, without prior commitment of faith and without the church or bible, to come to a genuine knowledge of God on the basis of reason alone.
General Revelation and, especially Natural Theology – put the onus on Man to find God.
- Special Revelation
i. Particular communication and manifestations of Himself to particular persons at particular times.
ii. The primary purpose of Special Revelation is relational – the knowledge about was necessary for the knowledge of.
iii. Types of Special Revelation
1. Historical Events – biblical OT history – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph; the history of
2. Divine Speech – spoken and in prayer.
3. The Incarnation – God takes human form in a particular time and place in order to communication with His creation in a more direct and personal way.
iv. Is the bible ‘Special Revelation?
1. No – in that it is a record of the history of God’s Special Revelation
2. Yes – in that it incorporates God’s word (God’s Word written) and delivers a divine message to its hearers.
- Why does God speak to us? (pp 110)
- Unlike most human kings, God is not remote from His realm; rather, according to Packer, “He made us with the intention that He and we might walk together forever in a love relationship”.
i. Because of the other properties of God we have discussed (infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, etc) we cannot know God without His reaching out to make Himself know to us.
ii. God’s communication is both informative and “an invitation to love Him”.
- God’s Word as Absolute Truth – “we are to believe and obey [God’s Word[ not only because He tells us to, but also, primarily, because it is a true word”.
- How can we understand the truth of God’s Word as found in the bible?
i. Absolute Inerrancy – the Bible is literally true in every detail
ii. Full Inerrancy – what the bible describes is true, although it records the participant’s impressions and not necessarily scientific truths.
iii. Limited Inerrancy – The bible is inerrant in its salvific doctrinal references; ie., the bible is theological, not scientific.
iv. Inerrancy of Purpose – the purpose of the bible is to bring people into a relationship with Jesus, not to communicate any scientific or historical truths.
- Packer (pp 113) – “Truth in the bible is a quality of persons primarily, and of propositions only secondarily. It means stability, reliability, firmness, trustworthiness, the quality of a person who is entirely self-consistent, sincere, realistic, undeceived. God is such a person: truth in this sense is his nature and he has not got it in Him to be anything else”
- God’s commands are true (pp 113-114)
i. They have stability and permanence.
1. They tell us about what God wants to see in our lives
2. They tell us about the unchanging truth of our own nature.
ii. Richard Baxter: “we can be a saint – or a brute”.
1. If we abandon God’s commands then we begin a downward spiral “our conscience atrophies, the sense of shame drives up, one’s capacity for truthfulness, loyalty and honesty is eaten away, one’s character disintegrates”. We become less human!
- God’s promises are true, for God keeps them.
i. God has the power, capacity and will to fulfill His promises.
- What is a Christian? (pp 116)
- “True Christians are people who acknowledge and live under the word of God”.
- Christians know that the Word of God “has both convinced them of sin and assured them of forgiveness”.
- Next class – Wednesday 28th – Chapter 12
Big Question: What is the Love of God? What does the Love of God mean?
