Book of the Month: Knowing God by J.I. Packer
And some articles to feed your soul
Greetings, readers. Today I bring you my book of the month recommendation for February. This is the second post in this series. In case you missed it, last month I recommended Humbled by David Mathis. You can read that review here. Full disclosure: I am using an affiliate link for this post, which means I’ll earn a small commission if you use the link and purchase the book.
"As clowns yearn to play Halmet, so I have wanted to write a treatise on God."
So begins J.I. Packer's Knowing God in the Preface he wrote in 1973. It may be my favorite opening sentence to any theology book I've ever read. And I can happily assure you - J.I. Packer is no clown, and this treatise is no joke. Knowing God is one of those books in evangelicalism with a weighty reputation. As someone in ministry, it registers as one of those books I’d sheepishly admit to other pastors that I haven’t read yet. But now, having finally made the climb, I can honestly say that this is one of the best works of theology I’ve read. Packer is both a teacher and a shepherd. He knows how to pastor his readers with the pen.
The book is divided into three parts.
In Part One (Know the Lord), Packer reflects on the nature of studying God and what it means to actually know him. He warns us in no uncertain terms that failure to study God is to endanger your soul. Christians who think of “knowing God” as a box checked upon reading a verse-of-the-day or stumbling methodically and half-consciously through the Lord’s Prayer each morning are missing the nature of who God is and what it means to know him.
Yet Packer also warns those who of us are…well…Bible nerds - we who get excited about tracing themes of biblical theology or deep diving into the nature of Melchizedek. We can so easily and tragically chase a kind of knowledge that puffs up rather than a knowledge that deepens our love for God. Packer early on forces us to confront an important question:
“We need to ask ourselves: What is my ultimate aim and object in occupying my mind with these things? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God, once I have it? For the fact that we have to face is this: If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of our interest in it and grasp of it…”1
The point of the study of God is always to increase our love and reverence for God, and it will necessarily result in us becoming a different kind of person. The true knowledge of God is always transformative, says Packer - it affects the mind, the heart, and our character.
In Part Two (Behold Your God!), Packer discusses the attributes of God - his love, his grace, his majesty, etc. Packer presses in deeply and biblically into each aspect of who God is, not flinching for a second at some of the more culturally unacceptable attributes of God like his wrath and jealousy (for instance, on page 150 - “Clearly, the theme of God’s wrath is one about which the biblical writers feel no inhibitions whatever. Why, then, should we?”). For a text written in 1973, I found each of these chapters fresh, insightful, and often convicting in the best possible sense.
I particularly enjoyed chapter nine, in which he beautifully frames God’s wisdom: “Wisdom without power would be pathetic, a broken reed; power without wisdom would be merely frightening; but in God boundless wisdom and endless power are united, and this makes him utterly worthy of our fullest trust.”2 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! (Romans 11:33)
Finally, in Part Three (If God Be For Us…), Packer digs into the gospel itself and its wondrous implications for our lives as sons and daughters of God. His chapter on adoption (chapter nineteen) was soul-stirring for me. “What is a Christian?” Packer asks at the beginning of the chapter. “The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.”3 I fear the doctrine of our adoption is nearly as neglected now in 2025 as it was in 1973. And in neglecting it, we are missing one of the most powerful realities of the Christian life:
“[T]he stress of the New Testament is not on the difficulty and danger of drawing near to the holy God, but on the boldness and confidence with which believers may approach him…To those who are Christ’s, the holy God is a loving Father; they belong to his family; they may approach him without fear and always be sure of his fatherly concern and care. This is the heart of the New Testament message.”4
Now having read it, I can easily understand why this book is a classic of evangelical theology. Packer’s prose is a bit “wordy” by today’s standards. I actually found it quite beautiful, but be aware that stylistically a John Mark Comer book this is not. In Knowing God, I expect you to get a potent sense of the weight of God’s glory and be challenged to devote yourself to the unrivaled pursuit of knowing and loving God.
There’s been some good writing in the SubStack world. Here are some of my favorite pieces of late:
has an excellent piece on the importance of worship directors/pastors letting their church sing.
What do you do when you miss a day in your Bible reading plan?
has some wisdom for how to respond. over at Better Books just wrapped up his deep dive on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Having just read the Harry Potter series for the first time last year, I greatly enjoyed his reflections.
And lastly,
offers some wisdom on caring a little less.
1 J.I. Packer, Knowing God (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, IL), 2021, pg. 21.
2 Packer, Knowing God, pg. 91.
3 Packer, Knowing God, pg. 200.
4 Packer, Knowing God, pg. 203.
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