Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.



I was reading J. I. Packer's book Concise Theology and he wrote something that really hit home with me. It was in the chapter Humanness (page 71) which dealt with what it means to be human and man's role as the image bearer of God:

"The statement at the start of the Bible (Gen. 1:26-27, echoed in 5:1; 1 Cor. 11:7; James 3:9) that God made man in his own image, so that humans are like God as no other earthly creatures are, tells us that the special dignity of being human is that, as humans, we may reflect and reproduce at our own creaturely level the holy ways of God., and thus act as his direct representatives on earth. This is what humans are made to do, and in one sense we are human only to the extent that are doing it."

It made me think, "How well am I being "human" in the sense that Dr. Packer is speaking of?" The answer is I am not doing very well. I unceasingly fail to reproduce the holy ways of God.

May God grant me the ability to reproduce His holy ways.

RC

Take Heed Theological Student

"The very greatness of the subject matter (The Study of Theology) will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above the other Christians because of our interest in it and grasp of it; and we shall look down on those whose theological ideas seem to us crude and inadequate and dismiss them as very poor specimens."

J.I. Packer in the preface to 'Knowing God'

Packer warns students of theology to take heed lest they become conceited like the Corinthians.

J.I. Packer on God's Providence

Providence - God Governs This World
J.I. Packer (from Concise Theology)
"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Pro. 16:33).

"God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions" (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.11). If Creation was a unique exercise of divine energy causing the world to be, providence is a continued exercise of that same energy whereby the Creator, according to his own will, (a) keeps all creatures in being, (b) involves himself in all events, and (c) directs all things to their appointed end. The model is of purposive personal management with total "hands-on" control: God is completely in charge of his world. His hand may be hidden, but his rule is absolute.

Some have restricted God's providence to foreknowledge without control, or upholding without intervention, or general oversight without concern for details, but the testimony to providence as formulated above is overwhelming.

The Bible clearly teaches God's providential control (1) over the universe at large, Ps. 103:19; Dan. 4:35; Eph. 1:11; (2) over the physical world, Job 37; Pss. 104:14; 135:6; Matt. 5:45; (3) over the brute creation, Ps. 104:21, 28; Matt. 6:26; 10:29; (4) over the affairs of nations, Job 12:23; Pss. 22:28; 66:7; Acts 17:26; (5) over man's birth and lot in life, 1 Sam. 16:1; Ps. 139:16; Isa. 45:5; Gal. 1:15-16; (6) over the outward successes and failures of men's lives, Ps. 75:6, 7; Luke 1:52; (7) over things seemingly accidental or insignificant, Prov. 16:33; Matt. 10:30; (8) in the protection of the righteous, Pss. 4:8; 5:12; 63:8; 121:3; Rom. 8:28; (9) in supplying the wants of God's people, Gen. 22:8, 14; Deut. 8:3; Phil. 4:19; (10) in giving answers to prayer, 1 Sam. 1:19; Isa. 20:5, 6; 2 Chron. 33:13; Ps. 65:2; Matt. 7:7; Luke 18:7, 8; and (11) in the exposure and punishment of the wicked, Pss. 7:12-13; 11:6. (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 4th ed.)

Clear thinking about God's involvement in the world-process and in the acts of rational creatures requires complementary sets of statements, thus: a person takes action, or an event is triggered by natural causes, or Satan shows his hand - yet God overrules. This is the message of the book of Esther, where God's name nowhere appears. Again: things that are done contravene God's will of command - yet they fulfill his will of events (Eph. 1:11). Again: humans mean what they do for evil - yet God who overrules uses their actions for good (Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23). Again: humans, under God's overruling, sin - yet God is not the author of sin (James 1:13-17); rather, he is its judge.

The nature of God's "concurrent" or "confluent" involvement in all that occurs in his world, as - without violating the nature of things, the ongoing causal processes, or human free agency - he makes his will of events come to pass, is mystery to us, but the consistent biblical teaching about God's involvement is as stated above.

Of the evils that infect God's world (moral and spiritual perversity, waste of good, and the physical disorders and disruptions of a spoiled cosmos), it can summarily be said: God permits evil (Acts 14:16); he punishes evil with evil (Ps. 81:11-12; Rom. 1:26-32); he brings good out of evil (Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; 13:27; 1 Cor. 2:7-8); he uses evil to test and discipline those he loves (Matt. 4:1-11; Heb. 12:4-14); and one day he will redeem his people from the power and presence of evil altogether (Rev. 21:27; 22:14-15).

The doctrine of providence teaches Christians that they are never in the grip of blind forces (fortune, chance, luck, fate); all that happens to them is divinely planned, and each event comes as a new summons to trust, obey, and rejoice, knowing that all is for one's spiritual and eternal good (Rom. 8:28).

(Via Monergism)

Do It For Posterity - An Excerpt From The Reformed Pastor

The Reformed Pastor, one of Richard Baxter's more famous works, has had a great influence on my Christian life. I highly recommend it to all Christians.

J.I. Packer describes how the book came about in the introduction to a Study Guide which can be found at The Banner of Truth:

"To upgrade the practice of personal catechizing from a preliminary discipline for children to a permanent ingredient in pastoral care for all ages was Baxter's main contribution to the development of Puritan ideals for the ministry; and it was his concern for catechizing that brought The Reformed Pastor to birth."

Baxter was concerned about private instruction and catechizing and he wrote the book as an address to the ministers of Worcester County who were gathered for a "Day of Humiliation" on December 4, 1655. Baxter originally meant to deliver the work as and address to the gathered ministers, but due to illness he sent a copy of the material with friends to be read aloud. Thus The Reformed Pastor was born.

One short excerpt from the book struck me as especially poignant for Christians today. The excerpt is found in Chapter 3, Section 2, Article 1: Motives From the Benefits of the Work. Work being the duty of personally catechizing and instructing the members of the church.

"10. It will exceedingly facilitate the ministerial work in succeeding generations. Custom, as I said before, is the thing that sways much with the multitude; and they who first break a destructive custom, must bear the brunt of their indignation. Now, somebody must do this. If we do it not, it will lie upon our successors; and how can we expect that they will be more hardy, and resolute, and faithful than we? It is we that have seen the heavy judgments of the Lord, and heard him pleading by fire and sword with the land. It is we that have been ourselves in the furnace, and should be the most refined. It is we that are most deeply obliged by oaths and covenants, by wonderful deliverances, experiences, and mercies of all sorts. And if we yet flinch and turn our backs, and prove false-hearted, why should we expect better from them, that have not been driven by such scourges as we, nor drawn by such cords? But, if they do prove better than we, the same odium and opposition must befall them which we avoid, and that with some increase, because of our neglect; for the people will tell them that we, their predecessors did no such things. But if we would now break the ice for them that follow us, their souls will bless us, and our names will be dear to them, and they will feel the happy fruits of our labor every day of their ministry; when the people shall willingly submit to their private instructions and examinations, yea, and to discipline too, because we have acquainted them with it, and removed the prejudice, and broken the evil custom which our predecessors had been the cause of. Thus we may do much to the saving of many thousand souls, in all ages to come, as well as in the present age in which we live."

We, as Christians, need to decide what we should do. Should we allow historic Christianity to erode due to expediency? Will we wilt due to criticism we face when defending basic Christian doctrine? If we do cower down to criticism from within and from without the church how much worse are we making it for the next generation of Christians? If the next generation of Christians prove to be more up to the task than we how much better will it be if we have already broken the ice for them? The next generation will feel the joyous fruits of our labor when people willingly listen to sound doctrine, because we have acquainted them with it.

“Thus we may do much to the saving of many souls, in all ages to come, as well as in the present age in which we live.”

I say we should accept the challenge and redouble our efforts to discern and disseminate Biblical Truth to the ends of the earth.

May God bless our efforts.

RC