The Book Corner
God Has Spoken. By J. I. Packer. Downers Grove, Ill.: Varsity Press.
Anyone who has read J. I. Packer’s earlier Book, Knowing God, will appreciate the lucid and forceful style in which the author presents his material.
The premise upon which this book rests, stated simply is, “What Scripture says, God says.” Broadened somewhat, Packer insists that since God has spoken, the Bible speaks.
Professor J. I. Packer is an Anglican and does not attempt to hide his affiliation, but as an author he has a wider horizon before him, and he says, “My aim throughout is to prepare the minds of thinking Christian people to read and study their Bibles as Christians should. That aim determines both the contents and the spirit of what I now write.”
His method of treatment is not complicated; it is very adequate: I. God’s Word Spoken, II. God’s Word Written, and III. God’s Word Heard. Consequently, the author claims that the Bible is the link between the revelatory events of the past and the knowledge of God in the present. He ascribes full authority and honour to the written Word of God.
Packer writes to be understood and carefully defines some of the important terms he uses; for example, on page 150, he writes:
“Infallible signifies the quality of neither misleading nor being misled and so safeguards in categorial terms the truth that Holy Scripture is a sure, safe and reliable rule and guide in all matters.
“Similarly, inerrant signifies the quality of being free from all falsehood or mistake and so safeguards the truth that Holy Scripture is entirely true and trustworthy in all its assertions.
“We affirm that canonical Scripture should always be interpreted on the basis that it is infallible and inerrant.”
He further writes on page 117: “Holy Scripture, interpreted from within itself in the manner which we have described, by means of grammatico-historical exegesis and the analogy of faith, constitutes a clear, definite, and obligatory rule of faith and life, by which all belief and behaviour, corporate and private, must be directed.”
In spite of the denominational slant, this book is highly recommended. It is an excellent companion to the other volume by the same author mentioned above, Knowing God.
—James Gunn