We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about God whose world it is and who runs it. In his book Knowing God J.I. Packer explains both who God is and how a human being can relate to him.

The book is divided into three sections: The first directs the reader’s attention to the hows and whys of knowing God, the second to the attributes of God, the third to some primary benefits enjoyed by a person who is God’s child.

The book is a rich, profound, delightful, and transforming discussion of the Christian understanding of God.

The basic truths and foundation principles of the knowledge about God addressed by the book are as follows:

• God has spoken to man, and the Bible is his Word, given to us to make us wise unto salvation.

• God is Lord and King over his world; he rules all things for his own glory, displaying his perfections in all that he does.

• God is Savior, active in sovereign love through the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue believers from the guilt and power of sin, to adopt them as his children, and to bless them accordingly.

• God is triune; there are within the Godhead three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

• Godliness means responding to God's revelation in trust and obedience, faith and worship, prayer and praise, submission, and service.

Deborah Lynn Smith