A Quest for Godliness by J.I. Packer (Part I)

My first book review is not actually one by a Puritan but rather one about the Puritans. A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life is the culmination of over thirty years of study and research on the part of famed theologian J.I. Packer. Packer credits the Puritans with convincing him of the nature of sin and the need of its mortification, the ubiquity of God's sovereignty in Scripture, the need for meditation, a vision of pastoral ministry, the transitory nature of life on Earth, the essence of renewal in the church, and the link between theology and spirituality. This was the book that truly lit the fire of my interest in the Puritans and I will briefly summarize some of the key points I gleaned from Dr. Packer.

Why We Need the Puritans

1. They were mature about their faith in a way that is lacking in our day and age.
2. Puritanism was a spiritual movement that was profoundly God-centered.
3. Puritans demanded a theological, and not pragmatic, justification for everything that they did.
4. Packer elaborates on three groups of Christians that could particularly benefit from practical Puritan theology. Packer labels these three groups as restless experientialists (seekers of experiences rather than rationality) , entrenched intellectualists (zealots with little warmth or grace), and disaffected deviationists (those who feel disillusioned, let down, or left-behind).

The Puritans and Scripture

1. Puritanism was a Bible movement at its core.
2. The Puritans were competent exegetes of Scripture and they exegeted for applicative purposes.
3. Puritan approaches to accurate Scriptural interpretations: they sought to interpret Scripture...
•  literally and grammatically
• consistently and harmonistically
• The plain must be used to interpret the obscure
• "Peripheral ambiguities must be interpreted in harmony with fundamental certainties."
• doctrinally and theocentrically
• Scripture is doctrine
• Scripture is God, not man, centered
• christologically and evangelically
• Christ is the sum of the whole Bible
• experimentally and practically
• with a faithful and realistic application
• The six questions to ask when interpreting Scripture in the Puritan method:
• What do these words actually mean?
• What light do other Scriptures throw on the text? How does it fit in the biblical revelation?
• What truths does it teach about God and man's relationship to Him?
• How are these truths related to the saving work of Christ?
• For what practical purpose does this text stand in Scripture?
• How do these truths apply to me and others? What are they telling us to believe and do?

To be continued...