Rating: 
Summary: Creature, Behold Your Creator
Review: If you only read one book other than the Bible, make it this one. Packer is an extraordinary theologian (arguably the greatest of the late 20th century) and this book is a distillation of the heart of his theology.
The focus of the book is the attributes of God and how they shape the way He relates to us. While you might be worried that the book will read like the second chapter of a systematic theology, you'll find no such dryness here. Packer's writing is passionate and lively. He discusses his Creator with the intimacy and excitment of a son talking about his beloved Father. His discussions of God's wrath and the "goodness and severity" of God are particularly stirring (possibly because they are all but absent from the theological vocabulary of our post-modern churches).
Packer is not content to objectively point out the attributes of God--instead he insists on making God's nature applicable to us as His creation. This fervor for the relationship between creature and Creator naturally flows into the final section of the book--a discussion of God's wonderful plan of redemption through Christ Jesus and our adoption as sons and daughters of the Most High.
His passion for the gospel and unwavering love for the Lord are highly contagious. You may find yourself in tears while reading this book (either with sorrow or joy). When I first read this book, God used it to teach me of the reality and significance of His divine anger toward sin. Now I turn to it when I need to be reminded of just how precious I am in the sight of my God. My only advice: read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe Packer's best book
Review: This book you will find Dr. Packer at his finest. The book is written for the average church-goer, but there is much here for the pastor or serious Bible student. Jesus says in John 17:3 that eternal life is knowing the only true God. Well, this book seeks to set out for the reader who that God is and what He is like. Packer, with the skill of an artist and the insight of a trained theologian who truly know his subject puts God's attributes on display for the reader. The Bibical data of God's own self-revelation is laid out for everyone to read and enjoy. One way to evaluate a book, especially in today's profit driven book market, is how many reprints it goes through. Already a Christian classic, his is one that people will be reading for generations to come.
Rating: 
Summary: Quench the Word of God
Review: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 1:25 AV)
Packer refers to the word of God throughout this book. Those who challenge the inerrancy of the Bible will find this work useless. God chose to teach us humans through the word of God. Therefore the Bible is where individuals learn about God.
J.I. Packer sets out by differentiating between God and His creatures (man). In what ways man has nothing in common with his creator. Packer at length describes as being self existent, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, omniscient, and omnipresent. After these aspects of God are fully described, Packer continues by clarifying analogies between man and God. These are called perfections. Man can be holy, Man can love, man can show mercy, man can be truthful, man can be good, man can be patient, and man can be just. Packer describes how God is perfect and these aspects about any man is imperfect.
The first 137 pages of this book will not offend today's
Christian. Page 138 starts a discussion about Grace and how many miscomprehend the term. Why? Because some deny God as judge, they deny the wrath of God, and do not comprehend that God is a jealous God. That God is good because He is severe about sin. Someone must take the punishment for sin.
After an explanation of God, man, and sin, Packer teaches the heart of the Gospel. That only those who repent accept Jesus as Savior are heirs of the Father and are adopted sons of God. Only then does discussion turn to the more popular themes: how God is our guide, how the repentant sinner is helped through his trials and the adequacy of God.
The width of our knowledge of God is no gauge of the knowledge of God. (pg. 39) Notional correctness (best biblical scholar with presume accuracy) may/may not obtain the closer relationship with God. Packer argues knowing God is a matter of involvement. Prayer - corporate, private and without ceasing. Bible study - corporate, private devotional, and scholarly
Obedience out of love for God and people. Only then Friendship with God may occur. Trying a mouthful of God and enjoy it.
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the
man that trusteth in him. (Psalms 34:8 AV)
Early in the book is a discussion about the Trinity
complete with scriptural proofs.
Rating:
Summary: Getting to know God's "other side." Idolators beware!
Review: This is a book for Christian idolators. You're probably scratching your head and wondering what I mean by that phrase, since it seems oxymoronic. How can a person be a Christian and an idolator at the same time? Very simply, by worshiping God as something other or less than he truly is. We all do it to a greater or lesser degree, depending on our theological and doctrinal "upbringing." Every Christian, whether a truly born again believer or a merely nominal professor of Christ, knows a certain amount of truth about God, some of us very little, others rather alot by comparison. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, your knowledge of the infinite God is forced to pass through the filter of your finite, sin-tainted human mind. The result is a false or incomplete notion of God's nature and character. In other words, we worship something other than the One True and Living God -- i.e., an idol. Packer writes to alert complacent Christendom to this seemingly little-recognized phenomenon. He astutely points out, though, that this occurs not simply in ignorance or as a function of limited human capacity to comprehend the infinite. Rather, there is a certain degree of willfulness involved, as many of us choose to disregard or downplay those aspects of God's character which we find less pleasant than others. For example, western Christians love to talk about God's mercy, love and providence. We extol his kindness, longsuffering and forgiveness, as if these "good" attributes were the only ones worthy of mention. But what about those qualities which get fair less play in the Christian bookstores -- things like wrath, justice, righteousness and holiness? When was the last time you saw a bestseller about the wrath of God? Yet wrath is just as much a part of God's makeup as his mercy. He is no less holy and righteous and just than he is good and forgiving. It is to these unpopular and oft disregarded qualities that Packer redirects our attention. The author also reminds us of the vast difference between knowing "about" God, and actually "knowing God". In other words, our heads can be filled with theology, but if it doesn't translate into a life-altering relationship of love and obedience toward God, we cannot say that we know God. And so Packer sets out to teach us something about how to know God by exploring his attributes, and in particular the "unhappy" ones. He also, in what I think is one of the best portions of the whole book, spends a fair amount of ink expounding the crucial doctrines of propitation and adoption. Even better, he gives the most succinct and eloquent summary of the gospel which I have ever read, by linking these two concepts in a simple three-word phrase: the gospel is the good news of "adoption through propitiation." The theological depth of that statement is simply mind-bending, and Packer's formulation of it, by itself, makes this book worth reading. My only criticism would be of the book's undue (in my opinion) verbosity. The author could have communicated the same truth with the same impact in a much more concise presentation. I found some of the chapters toward the center of the volume to be a bit labored and dry, and even occasionally redundant. Nonetheless, this has been and will continue to be a classic, and I commend it to the reading of every believer who is serious about diving deeper into the unfathomable depths of God's nature and character. Let us be idolators no more!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Packer has written an excellent book that has impacted people world-wide! Among the points Packer covers include: 1. We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in the world without knowing God.
2. We cannot know God unless He speaks to us. Do not elevate your thoughts of God over what He has said about Himself in the Bible.
3. God had to bring Abraham and Jacob to the end of themselves.
4. The goodness, patience, and discipline of God.
5. While God is love, He is also a God of judgment.
6. Do not be concerned about your rights - let God vindicate you!
7. God will justify and not condemn us through our relationship with Jesus Christ. Read this great classic and be encouraged!
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