Knowing God in 2008: The Only True God

When we hear the word idolatry, what often comes to mind are thoughts of statues or anything we place before God, like money. But in chapter four of Knowing God, Packer instead addresses inadequate or even blatantly wrong views of God as idolatrous. As Packer quotes Hodge, "idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods, but also in the worship of the true God by images." In other words, visual or pictorial images of any member of the Trinity is a violation of the second commandment. Packer says that "the commandment thus deals, not with the object of our worship, but with the manner of it; what it tells us is that statues and pictures of the One whom we worship are not to be used as an aid to worshiping Him."

What were most convicting and helpful to me were two reasons why the second commandment is so important: first, images dishonor God because they obscure His glory, and second, images mislead man. For example, when Aaron fashioned a golden calf for the Israelites, it was not a new god, but it was an attempt to visibly symbolize the God of the Israelites. Regardless of Aaron's intent to fashion a fitting symbol of Jehovah for the people, it was a gross violation of the second commandment, "for what idea of His moral character, His righteousness, goodness, and patience, could one gather from looking at a statue of Him as a bull?" Similarly, "the pathos of the crucifix obscures the glory of Christ, for it hides the fact of His deity, His victory on the cross, and His present kingdom..."

Additionally, images can mislead man because they convey false ideas about God - the second commandment also prohibits wrong mental images of Him. "Those who hold themselves free to think of God as they like are breaking the second commandment...To follow the imagination of one's heart in the realm of theology is the way to remain ignorant of God, and to become an idol worshiper - the idol in this case being a false mental image of God." In other words, as sinful creatures, apart from His word, we cannot rightly conjure up images of God as we should, or as He truly is. Who are we to claim to have the accurate image of God? This leads to the positive aspect of the second commandment.

The positive side is that we are to "recognize that God the Creator is transcendent, mysterious, and inscrutable, beyond the range of any imagining or philosophical guesswork of which we are capable; and hence a summons to us to humble ourselves, to listen and learn of Him, and to let Him teach us what He is like and what we should think of Him." As Isaiah 55 says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways."

God is so above us, Packer writes, that we cannot know of Him unless He speaks and tells us about Himself. Thankfully, Jehovah has revealed Himself to us in His word, the Scriptures, and through His Son, Jesus Christ. Without such Words, we cannot have an accurate view of God. Are we keeping the second commandment? Is the God whom we worship the God of the Bible? I know I am guilty of breaking this commandment over and again with imbalanced mental images or overlooking certain attributes of God, but I pray for forgiveness and grace through Christ, through whom God has spoken.

We'll cover such a topic next week in chapter five, "God Incarnate."

Knowing God in 2008: Knowing and Being Known

We're looking at J.I. Packer's Knowing God, and now we're at chapter three: "Knowing and Being Known."

WARNING: This post will not do this chapter justice. There's a lot here, and it's very worthwhile reading. Grab the book, read chapters one through three at least. Maybe next week we'll tell you chapter four is also indispensable!

What stands out to me in this chapter is a contrast: God is highly exalted; God is personal.

Packer reminds us, "The more complex the object, the more complex the knowing of it." He points out that of course this is true of God, and we should expect the study of God to be...well, actually impossible. Unless he makes himself known to us.

But God is not just a complex object of inquiry. God, who has revealed himself to us in His word and in His Son, is personal. For this reason, it is better to compare God to an exalted person whom we would not be able to know unless they chose to make themselves known to us -- like a president or world leader. Actually, as Packer reminds us, this is true of anyone -- we do not know anyone unless they choose to share their "real" self with us.

It's amazing that we have such a God who does choose to make Himself known. And if we find ourselves in the process of knowing God, we can be sure that it's because He knew us first!


"But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God..." (Galatians 4:9)

"And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3)

Knowing God in 2008: The People Who Know Their God

We're going through J.I. Packer's modern classic Knowing God, and have just finished the second chapter. We will try to cover one chapter per week, and you are invited to join in the reading or simply "overhear" the discussions here and at the New Covenant blog.

In the second chapter of Knowing God, Packer once again stresses the difference between knowing about God and knowing God. Knowing God is not just knowing the facts, but radically applying such knowledge to our lives. Those who know God "count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus...and do count them but dung, that I may gain Christ and be found in him...that I may know him" (Philippians 3:7). Counting things as loss or dung, Packer says, means that one "does not live with them constantly in his mind: what normal person spends his time nostalgically dreaming of manure? Yet this, in effect, is what many of us do. It shows how little we have in the way of true knowledge of God."

That statement reminded me of the sexual purity conference at church several months ago at which the speaker likened wallowing in sin to going back to a dead skunk. How much more should we yearn to have joyous thoughts of God than thoughts turned to a dead skunk? This knowledge of God and not merely about God is evident in the book of Daniel and summarized by Packer in four points. As I read through each of these four, I realized how much I fall short of truly knowing God though I know about God.

1. Those who know God have great energy for God: They react to the anti-God culture around them. This reaction is not only through public actions, but it starts with fervent prayer. "Men who know their God are before anything else men who pray, and the first point where their zeal and energy for God's glory come to expression is in their prayers...If, however, there is in us little energy for such prayer, and little consequent practice of it, this is a sure sign that as yet we scarcely know our God."

2. Those who know God have great thoughts of God: The central truth proclaimed by Daniel is that "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men." Packer asks if this is how we think of God. Do our prayers reflect this perspective? "Does this tremendous sense of His holy majesty, His moral perfection, and His gracious faithfulness keep us humble and dependent, awed and obedient, as it did Daniel?"

3. Those who know God show great boldness for God: "They may find the determination of the right course to take agonisingly difficult, but once they are clear on it, they embrace it boldly without hesitation. It does not worry them that others of God's people see the matter differently, and do not stand with them."

4. Those who know God have great contentment in God: This is reflected throughout the book of Daniel, as well as in Paul's epistles: "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ" (Romans 8:38-39).

So if we desire such knowledge of God, two things must follow: we must recognize how much knowledge we lack of God, and we must seek Christ. The next chapter focuses on "Knowing and Being Known."

photo source: Erwin C. Nielsen/Painet Inc., Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Struggle

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. (Colossians 4:12)

This verse speaks of "struggling in prayer."

Have you (or I) done that lately? Do you (or I) understand what it means?

A related question is, should I be on the computer right now - or learning the answer to these questions?