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Overview
Growing in Christ explains just that—how to grow in Christ. As this book shows, we mature spiritually by carefully learning and thoughtfully living the essentials of the Christian faith that are too often taken for granted or overlooked in our daily lives.
These essentials—so beautifully summarized in the Apostle's Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments—provide the heart of the book, which Dr. Packer explores and applies to daily life in a clear and refreshing way. Study questions and Bible passages follow each chapter for further individual or group study.
Speaking to Christians of all backgrounds and denominations, the newly converted as well as the lifelong believer, Dr. Packer reminds us that Christianity is not instinctive. Ours is a faith that must be learned, and we must never stop striving to mature.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781433520358 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Crossway |
| Publication date: | 03/01/1994 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
J. I. Packer (1926–2020) served as the Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College. He authored numerous books, including the classic bestseller Knowing God. Packer also served as general editor for the English Standard Version Bible and as theological editor for the ESV Study Bible.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
I Believe in God
When people are asked what they believe in, they give, not merely different answers, but different sorts of answers. Someone might say, "I believe in UFOs" — that means, I think UFOs are real. "I believe in democracy" — that means, I think democratic principles are just and beneficial. But what does it mean when Christian congregations stand and say: "I believe in God"? Far more than when the object of belief is UFOs or democracy.
I can believe in UFOs without ever looking for one, and in democracy without ever voting. In cases like these, belief is a matter of the intellect only. But the Creed's opening words, "I believe in God," render a Greek phrase coined by the writers of the New Testament, meaning literally: "I am believing into God." That is to say, over and above believing certain truths about God, I am living in a relation of commitment to God in trust and union. When I say "I believe in God," I am professing my conviction that God has invited me to this commitment, and declaring that I have accepted his invitation.
Faith
The word "faith," which is English for a Greek noun (pistis) formed from the verb in the phrase "believe into" (pisteuo), gets the idea of trustful commitment and reliance better than "belief " does. Whereas "belief" suggests bare opinion, "faith," whether in a car, a patent medicine, a protégé, a doctor, a marriage partner, or what have you, is a matter of treating the person or thing as trustworthy and committing yourself accordingly. The same is true of faith in God, and in a more far-reaching way.
It is the offer and demand of the object that determines in each case what a faith-commitment involves. Thus, I show faith in my car by relying on it to get me places, and in my doctor by submitting to his treatment. And I show faith in God by bowing to his claim to rule and manage me; by receiving Jesus Christ, his Son, as my own Lord and Savior; and by relying on his promise to bless me here and hereafter. This is the meaning of response to the offer and demand of the God of the Creed.
Sometimes faith is equated with that awareness of "one above" (or "beyond," or "at the heart of things") which from time to time, through the impact of nature, conscience, great art, being in love, or whatever, touches the hearts of the hardest-boiled. (Whether they take it seriously is another question, but it comes to all — God sees to that.) But Christian faith only begins when we attend to God's self-disclosure in Christ and in Scripture, where we meet him as the Creator who "commands all men everywhere to repent" and to "believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ ... as he has commanded us" (Acts 17:30; 1 John 3:23; cf. John 6:28 ff.). Christian faith means hearing, noting, and doing what God says.
Doubt
I write as if God's revelation in the Bible has self-evident truth and authority, and I think that in the last analysis it has; but I know, as you do, that uncriticized preconceptions and prejudices create problems for us all, and many have deep doubts and perplexities about elements of the biblical message. How do these doubts relate to faith?
Well, what is doubt? It is a state of divided mind — "double-mindedness" is James' concept (James 1:6-8) — and it is found both within faith and without it. In the former case, it is faith infected, sick, and out of sorts; in the latter, it belongs to a struggle either toward faith or away from a God felt to be invading and making claims one does not want to meet. In C. S. Lewis' spiritual autobiography, Surprised by Joy, you can observe both these motivations successively.
In our doubts, we think we are honest, and certainly try to be; but perfect honesty is beyond us in this world, and an unacknowledged unwillingness to take God's word about things, whether from deference to supposed scholarship or fear of ridicule or of deep involvement or from some other motive, often underlies a person's doubt about this or that item of faith. Repeatedly this becomes clear in retrospect, though we could not see it at the time.
How can one help doubters? First, by explaining the problem area (for doubts often arise from misunderstanding); second, by exhibiting the reasonableness of Christian belief at that point, and the grounds for embracing it (for Christian beliefs, though above reason, are not against it); third, by exploring what prompts the doubts (for doubts are never rationally compelling, and hesitations about Christianity usually have more to do with likes and dislikes, hurt feelings, and social, intellectual, and cultural snobbery than the doubters are aware).
Personal
In worship, the Creed is said in unison, but the opening words are "I believe"— not "we": each worshiper speaks for himself. Thus he proclaims his philosophy of life, and at the same time testifies to his happiness: he has come into the hands of the Christian God where he is glad to be, and when he says "I believe," it is an act of praise and thanksgiving on his part. It is in truth a great thing to be able to say the Creed.
Further Bible Study
Faith in action:
* Romans 4
* Hebrews 11
* Mark 5:25-34
Questions for Thought and Discussion
* What is the essential meaning of "faith" (Greek pistis)?
* What is the importance of the word "I" in the Creed's opening phrase?
* What doubts about Christianity have you had to deal with in yourself and others?
* How can the approach outlined in this chapter help address doubts and questions we may have?
CHAPTER 2The God I Believe In
What should it mean when we stand in church and say, "I believe in God"? Are we at this point just allying ourselves with Jews, Moslems, Hindus, and others against atheism, and declaring that there is some God as distinct from none? No; we are doing far more than this. We are professing faith in the God of the Creed itself, the Christian God, the God of the Bible — the Sovereign Creator whose "Christian name," as Karl Barth put it, is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If this is not the God in whom we believe, we have no business saying the Creed at all.
Idols
We must be clear here. Today's idea is that the great divide is between those who say "I believe in God" in some sense, and those who cannot say it in any sense. Atheism is seen as an enemy, paganism is not, and it is assumed that the difference between one faith and another is quite secondary. But in the Bible the great divide is between those who believe in the Christian God and those who serve idols — "gods," that is, whose images, whether metal or mental, do not square with the self-disclosure of the Creator. One wishes that some who recite "I believe in God" in church each Sunday would see that what they actually mean is "I do not believe in God — not this God, anyhow!"
His Name
The Bible tells us that God has revealed himself, establishing his identity, so to speak, by telling us his "name." This "name" appears in three connections.
First, God gave his "proper name," JEHOVAH (or Yahweh, as modern scholars prefer), to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13ff.; see also 6:3). The name means "I am who I am," or "I will be what I will be" (RSV, text and margin). It declares God's almightiness: he cannot be hindered from being what he is, and doing what he wills. Well did the AV translators render this name as "the LORD." The Creed echoes this emphasis when it speaks of God the Father almighty.
Second, God "proclaimed the name of the LORD" to Moses by delineating his moral character — "a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity ... but who will by no means clear the guilty ..." (Exodus 34:5-7). This "name" — you could call it a revealed description — discloses both God's nature and his role. It is a declaration whose echoes reverberate throughout the Bible (see Exodus 20:5 ff.; Numbers 14:18; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Nehemiah 1:5; 9:17, 32; Psalm 86:5, 15; 103:8-18; 111:4-9; 112:4; 116:5; 145:8 ff., 17, 20; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Romans 2:26), and all God's acts which Scripture records confirm and illustrate its truth. It is noteworthy that when John focuses the two sides of God's character by saying that he is both light and love (1 John 1:5; 4:8) — not love without righteousness and purity, nor rectitude without kindness and compassion, but holy love, and loving holiness, and each quality to the highest degree — he offers each statement as summarizing what we learn from Jesus about God.
Three in One
Third, the Son of God told his disciples to baptize "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). "Name," note, not "names": the three persons together constitute the one God. Here we face the most dizzying and unfathomable truth of all, the truth of the Trinity, to which the three paragraphs of the Creed (" the Father ... his only Son ... the Holy Spirit") also bear witness.
What should we make of it? In itself, the divine tri-unity is a mystery, a transcendent fact which passes our understanding. (The same is true of such realities as God's eternity, infinity, omniscience, and providential control of our free actions; indeed, all truths about God exceed our comprehension, more or less.) How the one eternal God is eternally both singular and plural, how Father, Son, and Spirit are personally distinct yet essentially one (so that tritheism, belief in three gods who are not one, and Unitarianism, belief in one God who is not three, are both wrong), is more than we can know, and any attempt to "explain" it — to dispel the mystery by reasoning, as distinct from confessing it from Scripture — is bound to falsify it. Here, as elsewhere, our God is too big for his creatures' little minds.
Yet the historical foundation-facts of Christian faith — a man who was God, praying to his Father and promising that he and his father would send "another Comforter" to continue his divine ministry — and equally the universally experienced facts of Christian devotion — worshipping God the Father above you and knowing the fellowship of God the Son beside you, both through the prompting of God the Holy Spirit within you — point inescapably to God's essential three-in-oneness. So does the cooperative activity of the Three in saving us — the Father planning, the Son procuring, and the Spirit applying redemption. Many Scriptures witness to this: see, for instance, Romans 8:1-17; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13 ff.; 1 Peter 1:2. When the gospel of Christ is analyzed, the truth of the Trinity proves to be its foundation and framework.
It was only through the work of grace which centers on the Incarnation that the one God was seen to be plural. No wonder, then, if those who do not believe in the work of grace doubt the truth of the Trinity too.
But this is the God of the Creed. Is this, now, the God whom we worship? Or have we too fallen victims to idolatry?
Further Bible Study
God revealed:
l John 1:1-18
Questions for Thought and Discussion
* What does it mean to say: "In the Bible the great divide is between those who believe in the Christian God and those who serve idols"? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
* What is the basic meaning of God's name JEHOVAH? What does it tell us about him?
* Why did Christ direct his disciples to baptize "in the name (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"?
CHAPTER 3The Father Almighty
In any church where saying the Creed is part of the worship service it is likely that God's fatherhood will have been celebrated in song ("Glory be to the Father ...") before the Creed is said, for it is a theme which with a sure instinct hymn writers have always highlighted. But how should we understand it?
Creation
Clearly, when the Creed speaks of "God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth," it has in immediate view the fact that we and all things besides depend on God as Creator for our existence, every moment. Now to call creatorship fatherhood is not unscriptural: it echoes both the Old Testament — Malachi 2:10, "Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?" and the New Testament — Acts 17:28, where Paul preaching at Athens quotes with approval a Greek poet's statement: "we are his offspring." Nonetheless, both these quotations come from passages threatening divine judgment, and Paul's evangelistic sermon at Athens makes it very clear that though the offspring relationship implies an obligation to seek, worship, and obey God, and makes one answerable to him at the end of the day, it does not imply his favor and acceptance where repentance for past sins and faith in Christ are lacking (see the whole speech, verses 22-31).
Some who stress the universal fatherhood of God treat it as implying that all men are and always will be in a state of salvation, but that is not the biblical view. Paul speaks of persons to whom "the word of the cross is folly" as "perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18), and warns the "impenitent" that "you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath" (Romans 2:5), however much they are God's offspring.
Father and Son
In fact, when the New Testament speaks of God's fatherhood it is not with reference to creation, but in two further connections. The first is the inner life of the Godhead. Within the eternal Trinity is a family relation of Father and Son. On earth, the Son called the One whom he served "my Father" and prayed to him as Abba — the Aramaic equivalent of a respectful Dad.
What this relationship meant Jesus himself declared. On the one hand, the Son loves the Father (John 14:31) and always does what pleases the Father (8:29). He takes no initiatives, depending instead every moment on the Father for a lead (5:19ff., 30), but he is tenacity itself in cleaving to the Father's known will. "My Father ... not as I will, but as thou wilt ... thy will be done" (Matthew 26:39, 42). "Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?" (John 18:11).
On the other hand, the Father loves the Son (John 3:35; 5:20) and makes him great by giving him glory and great things to do (5:20-30; 10:17ff.; 17:23-26). Giving life and executing judgment are twin tasks which have been wholly committed to him, "that all may honor the Son" (5:23).
God's loving fatherhood of his eternal Son is both the archetype of his gracious relationship with his own redeemed people and the model from which derives the parenthood that God has created in human families. Paul spoke of "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" as "the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Ephesians 1:3; 3:14ff.). Human families, by their very constitution, reflect the Father-Son relationship in heaven, and parent-child relationships should express a love that corresponds to the mutual love of Father and Son in the Godhead.
Adoption
The second connection in which the New Testament speaks of God as Father has to do with the believing sinner's adoption into the life of God's family. This is a supernatural gift of grace, linked with justification and new birth, given freely by God and received humbly by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. "To all who received him [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born ... of God ..." (John 1:12ff.). The message Jesus sent to his disciples on rising from the dead was: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God" (John 20:17). As disciples, they belonged to the family; indeed, in that very sentence Jesus called them "my brethren." All whom he has saved are his brothers.
When the Christian says the first clause of the Creed, he will put all this together and confess his Creator as both the Father of his Savior and his own Father through Christ — a Father who now loves him no less than he loves his only begotten Son. That is a marvelous confession to be able to make.
Almighty
And God the Father is "almighty" — which means that he can and will do all that he intends. What does he intend for his sons? Answer: that they should share all that their elder Brother enjoys now. Believers are "heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him" (Romans 8:17). Suffer we shall, but we shall not miss the glory: the Father almighty will see to that. Praise his name.
Further Bible Study
On our adoption in Christ:
* Ephesians 1:3-14
* Galatians 4:1-7
Questions for Thought and Discussion
* What does the statement "we are his offspring" say about God's fatherhood? What does it leave out?
* How is God's fatherhood seen within the Trinity?
* Why can Jesus call Christians his "brethren"?
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Growing in Christ"
by .
Copyright © 1994 J. I. Packer.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
PART ONE: AFFIRMING THE ESSENTIALS: THE APOSTLES' CREED,
Preface,
1 I Believe in God,
2 The God I Believe In,
3 The Father Almighty,
4 Almighty,
5 Maker of Heaven and Earth,
6 And in Jesus Christ,
7 His Only Son,
8 Born of the Virgin Mary,
9 Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
10 He Descended into Hell,
11 The Third Day,
12 He Ascended into Heaven,
13 He Shall Come,
14 I Believe in the Holy Spirit,
15 The Holy Catholic Church,
16 Forgiveness of Sins,
17 Resurrection of the Body,
18 The Life Everlasting,
PART TWO ENTERING IN: BAPTISM AND CONVERSION,
Preface,
1 The Lord's Command,
2 What the Sign Says,
3 A Sacrament of Good News,
4 Conversion and Baptism,
5 Baptized in Jesus' Name,
6 Washing,
7 United with Christ,
8 Baptism and the Holy Spirit,
9 Basic Christianity,
10 Baptism and Infants,
11 Baptism, Confirmation, Confession,
12 Baptism and Body life,
13 Baptism Improved,
14 Third Birthday,
PART THREE: LEARNING TO PRAY: THE LORD'S PRAYER,
Preface,
1 When You Pray,
2 Pray Then Like This,
3 Our Father,
4 Which Art in Heaven,
5 Hallowed Be Thy Name,
6 Thy Kingdom Come,
7 Thy Will Be Done,
8 On Earth As It Is in Heaven,
9 Our Daily Bread,
10 Forgive Us,
11 Not into Temptation,
12 Deliver Us,
13 From Evil,
14 The Kingdom and the Power,
15 And the Glory,
16 Amen,
PART FOUR: DESIGN FOR LIFE: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS,
Preface,
1 Blueprint for Behavior,
2 I and You,
3 Law and Love,
4 The Lord Your God,
5 Who Comes First?,
6 Imagination,
7 Are You Serious?,
8 Take My Time,
9 God and the Family,
10 Life Is Sacred,
11 Sex Is Sacred,
12 Stop, Thief!,
13 Truth Is Sacred,
14 Be Content,
15 Learning from the Law,
16 The Cement of Society,
What People are Saying About This
“Growing in Christ is a classic from the pen of the late J. I. Packer. I am happy to see this concise introduction to the Christian faith republished for a new generation. In 64 short readings of about 1,000 words each, Dr. Packer delivers a popular-level overview of the Apostles’ Creed, baptism, conversion, prayer, and the Ten Commandments. The brief readings include biblical references for further study and good questions to awaken personal meditations and to inspire group discussions (as originally intended). Highly commended.”—Tony Reinke, author, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You and Newton on the Christian Life
“J. I. Packer was first and foremost a catechist, someone who teaches Christians everything they need to know in order to grow in Christ and become good citizens of the gospel. Packer is here in fine form, ‘packing’ a lot into unpacking the three formulas that have historically been central in making disciples: the Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Ten Commandments. As he shrewdly points out, no one is a Christian by instinct; one has to learn faith in Christ. It is only fitting, then, that he includes a study of baptism, the practice that goes hand in glove with becoming a Christian. For dying and rising with Christ, which baptism enacts, is the way we live and grow in Christ.”—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; author, The Drama of Doctrine
“For the follower of Jesus who desires to grow in Christ, there is perhaps no better place to begin than thorough understanding and prayerful application of core Christian doctrines: the Apostles’ Creed, the sacrament of baptism, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. J. I. Packer walks the new and growing believer through these ‘building blocks’ of the faith with clarity, accessibility, and thorough explanation. What a wonderful tool for your own growth as a Christian, or for your discipleship and encouragement of other growing believers in Jesus!”—Jon Nielson, Senior Pastor, Christ Presbyterian Church; author, Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry
“Over the decades, J. I. Packer’s work guided me to know God better and then to faithfully tell others the good news. Now we have this treasure of a book for a post-Christian world: fresh, instructive, classically Packer. Read this book to grow, but don’t keep it to yourself; be sure to pass it around.”—J. Mack Stiles, Director, Messenger Ministries Inc.