Knowing God

Packer opens his first chapter with an extended quote from the nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon, who commends to his audience the benefits of engaging in the study of God. Packer then addresses some of the questions modern readers might bring up: Is theology really necessary? Is it interesting? To these, Packer is clear, arguing that the study of God is important for every human being: “Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. […] Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded […]” (19). He argues that just as it would be cruel to take an Indigenous Amazonian and drop them in the middle of London without any instruction in how a different society functions, so human beings (like the Amazonian) will find themselves sad and bewildered if they undertake this life without any knowledge of the purpose for which the world was made. 

The study of God, in Packer’s view, proceeds from five basic truths: that God has communicated to humanity through the Bible, that God is sovereign and glorious, that God has acted through Jesus Christ to offer salvation, that God exists in a