Rediscovering Holiness: Know the Fullness of Life with God
Overview
“There was a time,” writes renowned theologian J. I. Packer in this classic book on biblical holiness, “when all Christians laid great emphasis on God’s call to holiness. But how different it is today! To listen to our sermons and to read the books we write, and then to watch the zany, worldly, quarrelsome way we behave, you would never imagine that once the highway of holiness was clearly marked out for Bible-believers.” In this revised and updated edition of Rediscovering Holiness, the highway is once more clearly marked out for a new generation of readers, pointing to true freedom and joy, both now and in eternity.
Top Highlights
“Holiness is in fact commanded: God wills it, Christ requires it, and all the Scriptures—the law, the gospel, the prophets, the wisdom writings, the epistles, the history books that tell of judgments past and the book of Revelation that tells of judgment to come—call for it.” (Page 33)
“Holiness, like prayer (which is indeed part of it), is something that, though Christians have an instinct for it through their new birth, as we shall see, they have to learn in and through experience. As Jesus ‘learned obedience from what he suffered’ (Heb. 5:8)—learned what obedience requires, costs and involves through the experience of actually doing His Father’s will up to and in His passion—so Christians must, and do, learn prayer from their struggles to pray and holiness from their battles for purity of heart and righteousness of life.” (Pages 14–15)
“Christians, says Paul, are to be moved and stirred to consecrated living by their knowledge of God’s love, grace, and mercy—the mercy of sovereign salvation, whereby God pardons, accepts, and exalts the undeserving and wretched, at fearsome cost to Himself. Insofar as there is a difference of nuance between the terms ‘love,’ ‘grace,’ and ‘mercy’ of God, ‘love’ means His outgoing to bless those whom He sees as having no claim on Him; ‘grace’ means His outgoing to bless those whom He sees as meriting His rejection; and ‘mercy’ means His outgoing to bless those whose state He sees to be miserable. Love expresses God’s self-determining freedom, grace His self-generated favor, and mercy His compassionate kindness.” (Page 72)
- Title: Rediscovering Holiness: Know the Fullness of Life with God
- Author: J. I. Packer
- Edition: Second Edition
- Publisher: Regal
- Print Publication Date: 2009
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Holiness › Christianity
- ISBNs: 9781441228123, 9780830751068, 9780801018138, 9781596447578, 1441228128, 0830751068, 0801018137, 1596447575
- Resource ID: LLS:RDSCVRNGHLNSS2D
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:37:49Z
J. I. Packer (1926–2020) is regarded as one of the most influential evangelicals in North America. He was Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, and his writings include books such as Knowing God, A Quest for Godliness, Growing in Christ (Crossway) and Rediscovering Holiness. He preached and lectured widely in Great Britain and North America and served as general editor of the English Standard Version of the Bible published in 2001, and theological editor of the Study Bible version. In 2014, Packer was named Author of the Year by the Association of Logos Bookstores. He was a frequent contributor to and an executive editor of Christianity Today and wrote numerous articles published in journals such as Churchman, SouthWestern Journal, Reformation Revival Journal and Touchstone. He received a BA, MA and PhD from Oxford University.