Book Thoughts: J.I. Packer: An Evangelical Life
My Observations
(1) Packer was able to have stagering influence throughout his life and ministry.
(2) How prolific of a writer Packer was throughout his life and various positions.
(3) Packer’s ongoing defense of biblical inherency and truth.
(4) Packer’s love for the local church and ongoing drive to help lay Christians.
(5) Packer was a simple man yet extremely courageous.
(6) Packer was a humble man yet unflinchingly and unashamedly bold about the text of Scripture.
My Favorite Quotes
(1) "All honest work is worth doing for the glory of God, and we may find ourselves called to do any honest work that we’re fitted for…. Worship is honoring God in every appropriate way. When one labor is labor that one feels called to, then one is fulfilling one’s vocation as one pursues it" (page 199).
(2) When asked for advice for young men entering the ministry [Packer responded]: "Dig Deep and dwell deep. I think superficiality is a great weakness of the evangelical world today…. And then I would say, Expect incomprehension from your evangelical friends…. And expect opposition from great sections of the church and from the secular world." (page 210).
(3) When asked how a person can develop a pattern for Bible reading that will help him or her know God better: "Focus particularly on the richer books…. There are some books in Scripture which, as words of God to his people, have a richer vitamin content than others…. [Additionally,] linger in those books that have a special resonance with you individually" (page 211).
(4) "Scripture can only rule us so far as it is understood, and it is only understood so far as it is properly interpreted. A misinterpreted Bible is a misunderstood Bible, which will lead us out of God’s way rather than in it" (page 257).
(5) Packers rules for interpreting the Bible (page 257):
(1) We must take the human authors of the bible into account and respect their human intentions.
(2) We must not allegorize a text contrary to what the author intended.
(3) The Bible is not a code, but a book that everyone can understand in its main ideas.
(4) Every passage is the Bible is embedded in a specific historical context.
(5) Individual parts of the Bible must be interpreted in light of other parts.
(6) We must acknowledge that the unchanging truth of the Bible is embedded in historical particulars that we need to reapply to our own situations.
(7) No meaning can be read into a biblical text, but must be read out of it.
(6) "Simply stating the truth is not sufficient. Good writing requires personal communication––‘communication that hits the heart.’ Readers must be made to feel about the writer ‘he’s talking to me’… this person is trying to search me in order to help me, and I must let him do it.’ Learn to write for people…there is a certain art and craft in writing in such a way that it gets to the reader’s heart" (page 294).
(7) "Packer accepts Phillips Brooks’s definition of the sermon as ‘truth through personality,’ going so far as to say that ‘the preacher is, indeed, half of his sermon….Packer is looking for authenticity is preaching. The preacher is not the authority that the congregation is asked to accept as the basis for belief; the Bible is the authority. But the congregation needs to see that the preacher ‘manifests both the mentality of a messanger [from God] and the disposition of a disciple" (page 370).
(8) "Discussions of biblical inerrancy, secular humanism, abortion, signs and wonders, women’s ordination, prophecy, and Christian healing have to be maintained, but they tend to be barren fields for the soul. I should like to be remembered as one who pointed to the pasturelands" (page 412).
What I Want to Emulate from Packer’s Life and Ministry
(1) Packer’s views on vocation and writing.
(2) Packer’s confidence and steadfast foundation to God’s Word.
(3) Packer’s devotion to his ministry and work.
