Packer on the Christian Life Quotes

“One way of judging the quality of theologies,” he explains, “is to see what sort of devotion they produce.”32”
― Sam Storms, Packer on the Christian Life: Knowing God in Christ, Walking by the Spirit

“When the world tells us, as it does, that everyone has a right to a life that is easy, comfortable, and relatively pain-free, a life that enables us to discover, display, and deploy all the strengths that are latent within us, the world twists the truth right out of shape. That was not the quality of life to which Christ’s call led him, nor was it Paul’s calling, nor is it what we are called to in the twenty-first century. For all Christians, the likelihood is rather that as our discipleship continues, God will make us increasingly weakness-conscious and pain-aware, so that we may learn with Paul that when we are conscious of being weak, then—and only then—may we become truly strong in the Lord. And should we want it any other way?”
― Sam Storms, Packer on the Christian Life: Knowing God in Christ, Walking by the Spirit

“Whatever greatness there is in him (and it is there), whatever constructive influence he has exerted on the Christian church (and it has been incalculable), he himself would attribute to the sovereign grace of God working through yet another “clay jar” (2 Cor. 4:7).”
― Sam Storms, Packer on the Christian Life: Knowing God in Christ, Walking by the Spirit

“Packer often reminds us that the Christian life is more than merely a physical journey from the cradle to the grave. It is also, and more importantly, an inner spiritual journey into the knowledge of God and Christ. Moreover, it is a journey that requires we steer a careful course “between two opposite extremes of disaster. On the one hand, there is the legalistic hypocrisy of pharisaism (God-serving outward actions proceeding from self-serving inward motives), and on the other hand, there is the antinomian idiocy that rattles on about love and liberty, forgetting that the God-given law remains the standard of the God-honoring life.”2”
― Sam Storms, Packer on the Christian Life: Knowing God in Christ, Walking by the Spirit

“He quotes a statement often attributed to Luther (here slightly paraphrased): If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point that the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages is where the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.6”
― Sam Storms, Packer on the Christian Life: Knowing God in Christ, Walking by the Spirit

“Retributive justice is thus somewhat synonymous with punishment. This is a necessary expression of God’s reaction to sin and evil. Retributive justice is not something God may or may not exercise, as is the case with mercy, love, and grace. Retributive justice, that is, punishment for sin, is a matter of debt. It is something God cannot refrain from doing lest he violate the rectitude and righteousness of his nature and will. Sin must be punished. It is a serious misunderstanding of Christianity and the nature of forgiveness to say that believers are those whose guilt is rescinded and whose sins are not punished.”
― Sam Storms, Packer on the Christian Life: Knowing God in Christ, Walking by the Spirit