Remembering Christian Author J.I. Packer — Unafraid to Label Evil By Dr. John Sparks for CNS News
The Institute for Faith & Freedom pays tribute to one of the major Christian spiritual leaders and writers of the last 75 years—J. I. Packer, who died July 17.
Like many of us who are Christians, I first came in contact with Packer through his classic book, “Knowing God.” In this one volume, published in 1973, translated into at least 23 different languages, from German to Urdu, Packer made the claim that “once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord.”
That challenge led me and millions of others to read and discuss that remarkable book and to begin a never-ending journey to understand and respond to the Triune God of the Bible. Packer said it another way, as a pointed warning:
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“So we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business….Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfold, as it were, with no sense of direction, and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.”
Men and women of all eras, who have tried living solely according to their own promptings and inclinations, and then came to know God, can say a loud “amen” to that statement.
Why is Packer so helpful to us?
Principally, because he wrote in such clear, readable, and compelling prose. His topic sentences make one want to read on to see how he develops a point. Besides “Knowing God,” one of his books I have turned to regularly over the years since its publication in 1981 is simply titled “God’s Words.” In this short, 200-page work, Packer, in his inimitable style, discusses 17 key biblical words such as grace, revelation, the world, faith, death, and others. Each chapter takes one word and explores its appearance and meaning in the scriptures. My copy is red-marked and the pages are falling out of the binding because I have come to it so many times for guidance. The chapter on “sin” is still, to this writer, a prime example of how Packer captures readers’ interest, explores the topic fully, and leaves them with a deep appreciation of the subject and, more importantly, with a willingness to live a life more consistent with the word of God.
