Product Description

If the modern world can be characterised by one thing it is probably the enormous increase in the number of words around but that increase has also been accompanied by a seemingly corresponding decrease in understanding. It is the irony of the information age that instead of bringing clarity it has raised uninformed opinion to the same level as truth. The church has also not been faultless. Rather than discuss ideas in order to come to some settled agreement, the church has been characterised as trying to make words mean different things in order to accommodate differences. But the church should be a beacon of light to the world. The church has the words of eternal life. J. I. Packer is a master wordsmith. He is also gifted with the ability of showing where truth lies in complicated reasoning. These skills combine to make Words from God a fascinating read and a lifechanging one. The 18 words are Death, Devil, Election, Faith, Fellowship, Grace, Holiness, Justification, Lord, Mediator, Mortification, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Revelation, Sanctification, Scripture, Sin & World.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #702424 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 218 pages

Review
"A doctrinal Solomon Mediating debates on everything from a particular Bible translation to the acceptability of free-flowing Pentecostal spirituality, Packer helps unify a community that could easily fall victim to its internal tensions." -- Time Magazine "Time Magazine/Book Endorsement"

About the Author
Jim Packer is named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals alive. He is the Board of Governors Professor of Theology at Regent College, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Customer Reviews

Pregnant Brevity
"I love pregnant brevity, and some of my material is, I know, packed tight (Packer by name, packer by nature). I ask my readers' pardon if they find obscurity due to my over-indulging this love of mine" (from the Foreword, by J.I. Packer)

Packer wastes no words in this concise treatment of key biblical themes. Don't let his genuine modesty fool you, though; there is no obscurity to pardon in this excellent little book. Unfortunately, some of the best books Inter-Varsity Press ever published went out of print years ago. Such was the fate of Packer's book "God's Words," originally published by IVP in 1981. I'm thankful that it's been reissued now by Christian Focus.

Any good Bible student knows that word studies can be misleading and dangerous. If you're familiar with Packer's writing, it should come as no surprise that he avoids those pitfalls. The book is worth buying for the introduction alone, where Packer lays out key principles for any profitable word study.

The 18 words he examines in this book are: Death, Devil, Election, Faith, Fellowship, Grace, Holiness, Justification, Lord, Mediator, Mortification, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Revelation, Sanctification, Scripture, Sin, and World.

The introduction closes with Packer's clearly stated intention in writing: "I hope that the following sketches of biblical themes (they are no more) will subserve the Spirit's double purpose of constantly leading us to love and adore the Christ of the Scriptures, and to amend our lives by their light. I have no interest in any study of biblical material that does not seek these biblical ends."

Clearly, this is no mere academic exercise. Prepare to amend your life.