This short chapter underscores the crucial difference between knowing someone (in this case, God) and merely knowing about that person. It is possible to know a great deal about God, and even about godliness, without actually knowing God himself—that is, without living in an active relationship of faith and trust in him. One might know a great number of facts about a person but still not know them, and the latter form of knowledge is richer than the former: “A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about him” (26).

Those who truly know God give evidence for it in lives transformed by joy and contentment. Packer enumerates four of their attributes: those who know God are marked by great energy for God, thinking high thoughts about God, showing great boldness for God, and exhibiting contentment in God. Drawing from examples in the biblical book of Daniel to make his case, Packer shows how the heroes of the story evidenced this richly devoted confidence in God at every turn of the story. “There is no peace,” he writes, “like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and that God has known them […]” (30-31).

Packer frames knowing God as one’s ultimate purpose in life. “What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God” (33). He acknowledges that doing so is not an uncomplicated endeavor. Even to know another person is something that humans never fully attain—those who are closest to them can still surprise them. In God’s case, though, the seeker is assisted by the fact that God has sought to make himself known, demonstrating his character through his self-revelation in the Bible and inviting each person into a spiritual relationship with him.

Our response, then, should be to diligently seek out God’s character in the ways he has revealed himself to us: primarily in reading Scripture and studying the truths it reveals about God, and then in following God’s commands and rejoicing in his favor. God even went one step further than making himself known through a set of writings and revealed himself in personal form, as Jesus Christ. Knowing God is not an abstract matter of spirituality, then, but a real encounter with a living person. As such, Packer writes, the nature of knowing God is a matter of personal involvement, made possible by his grace toward believers. This personal dimension of knowing God means that it is not merely about humans knowing God, but about him knowing humans, individually and personally. Believers have the great consolation of being known by God and cared for by him to such an extent that he has graciously entered into relationship with them.

In this chapter, Packer addresses one of the foremost concerns of biblical religion: the threat that idolatry poses to the true worship of God. In ancient Israel, the context in which the Bible was written, this threat was a clear and explicitly defined problem, as most of the surrounding cultures practiced religious forms that were rooted in the veneration of idols. This problem is addressed in the opening stipulations of the Ten Commandments, and Packer suggests that the priority that Scripture gives to it means that it was an issue not only for ancient Israel but for the whole endeavor of knowing God at all, in whatever culture one finds oneself. Specifically, he notes the apparent biblical prohibition against making images of any kind to use in worship.

Even in cultures that would not consider idolatry as such to be part of their religious context, the use of images in worship continues to be pervasive, and Packer regards this as a dangerous problem. He views the use of images in worship as dishonoring to God, not only because it may contravene God’s commandment, but because images obscure God’s glory and convey false ideas about God’s nature. This is especially so in the case of images meant to represent God himself. Despite Packer’s insistence that his position on this subject is the clear intention of the biblical prohibitions, he also recognizes that it runs against the majority practice within historic Christianity, and from the 1993 edition of Knowing God onward, he has included an additional note at the end of the chapter, replying to some of the critiques he has received. He acknowledges that while images harness the God-given power of imagination, and despite the helpfulness some have found in religious imagery’s inspiration of devotion, Packer insists that these good usages still fall short of best practices and that it would be better to do without images at all.

With Chapter 4’s reflection on images and the nature of God serving as an introduction to a theology of God the Father, Chapters 5 and 6 move to reflections on the other two divine persons of the Trinity: the Son and the Holy Spirit. Chapter 5 centers its attention on the incarnation of the Son of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Packer notes that while many modern skeptics will balk at believing such miracles as the virgin birth or the resurrection, the incarnation itself is an even greater miracle—the notion that the eternal, infinite, immortal God would become incarnate as a time-bound, finite human being, and even, astonishingly, would die. Once one accepts the miracle of the incarnation as possible, all the other difficult miracles of Jesus’s story become believable. Not only so, but the incarnation offers explanatory power for all the curious and difficult parts of the biblical Gospels—Jesus’s insistence on his divine identity in his teachings, his ability to work miracles of healing, his power over nature, and so on.

Packer examines the doctrine of the incarnation by looking at the Christmas story. He notes that it makes two things clear about the nature of Jesus Christ: first, that he was God—more specifically, in light of other biblical information, he was the Son of God, sharing full divinity with the Father. The prologue to John’s Gospel is especially clear on this point, defining the nature of the Son of God as eternal, personal, and divine, with the power to create, animate, and reveal. Second, the Christmas story also shows Jesus to be God made man—not only fully divine but fully human as well. He was born into the world as a human being, but unique in his purpose: he was born to undertake the salvation of the world by dying on the cross; in Packer’s words, he was “born to die” (58).

How does complete deity fit together with complete humanity in a single person? Packer closes his chapter by addressing one of the modern ways of addressing the nature of Christ, called the kenosis theory, which suggests that Jesus emptied himself of some of the attributes and prerogatives of divinity to live a human life. Packer finds this position unpersuasive, arguing instead that the Bible shows Jesus practicing a measure of self-limitation, not bound by the strictures of his nature, but by the elective action of his own will, submitting in obedience to God the Father’s purposes. Jesus empties himself not by becoming less than God, but by choosing not to claim the glory that is his right and instead submitting to the Father’s will and the humble circumstances of human life.

In Chapter 6, Packer examines the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. He draws on both biblical terminology and traditional creedal statements to fill out the picture of the Spirit’s role. Jesus described the Holy Spirit as “another Comforter”—a term in the original Greek that can also be rendered as advocate, counselor, or helper. Corresponding to the way the Bible refers to Jesus as the “Word” of God (see John 1:1), the Spirit was active as the “Breath” of God throughout the Old Testament, sent by the Father to enact his will and bring it to fruition. The New Testament also shows Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to fulfill the divine purpose. The interrelationships of the Trinity are made clear in the Bible: though all share the same divine nature as the single Godhead, the Son is subject to the Father, and the Spirit is subject to the Father and the Son.

Packer underscores the importance of the work of the Spirit, noting that too often the Spirit is ignored in a human conception of the Christian life. But the Spirit’s role is crucial: “Why, were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit there would be no gospel, no faith, no church, no Christianity in the world at all” (69). The Spirit empowers the proclamation of the gospel message, illuminates the gospel’s meaning and application, and grants the gift of faith to bring people to the spiritual new birth of salvation. The proper response, then, is to recognize the work of the Spirit and to rely on it for one’s continued spiritual life and growth.