Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "Goodness and Severity" (Chapter 16)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer
“Goodness and Severity” (Chapter 16)

Romans 11:22 NKJV
²² Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

Santa Claus and Giant Despair

Modern Confusion about God

• Private religious feelings instead of God’s Word
• Mistaken notion that all religions are equal - so ideas about God are confused by pagan influence
• Failing to recognize our own sinfulness, which distorts our view of God and our attitude towards him
• The tendency to divide God’s attributes from one another - to disassociate God’s goodness from his severity

“To reject all ideas of divine wrath and judgment, and to assume that God’s character, misrepresented (forsooth!) in many parts of the Bible, is really one of indulgent benevolence without any severity, is the rule rather than the exception among ordinary folk today.” - J. I. Packer

“Santa Claus Theology”

• No judgment or severity in God
• A generic benevolence to all regardless of obedience to God
  
  • Problem: no need for the atonement of Christ
    
    • Liberal solution: the cross of Christ isn’t about substitutionary atonement
  • Problem: "the problem of evil”
    
    • Liberal solution: God is not omnipotent and omniscient, so can’t do anything about evil

“Thus he is left with a kind God who means well but cannot always insulate his children from trouble and grief. When trouble comes, therefore, there is nothing to do but grin and bear it. In this way, by an ironic paradox, faith in a God who is all goodness and no severity tends to confirm men in a fatalistic and pessimistic attitude to life.” - J. I. Packer

• True solution: Associating God’s goodness and severity from the truth of Scripture

God’s Goodness

        Goodness

• The moral qualities of God such as his perfection, generosity, mercy, grace, and love.

Exodus 33:19 NIV
¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Exodus 34:6–7 NIV
⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

“God’s truthfulness and trustworthiness, his unfailing justice and wisdom, his tenderness, forbearance and entire adequacy to all who penitently seek his help, his noble kindness in offering believers the exalted destiny of fellowship with him in holiness and love—these things together make up God’s goodness in the overall sense of the sum total of his revealed excellences.” - J. I. Packer

God’s Goodness as Generosity

• “A disposition to give to others in a way which has no mercenary motive and is not limited by what the recipients deserve but consistently goes beyond it.”
• The focal point of God’s moral perfection
• Grace - every act of divine generosity, of whatever kind
  
  • Common - “creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life”

Psalm 145:9 NIV
⁹ The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

Psalm 145:15–16 NIV
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. ¹⁶ You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

Acts 14:17 NIV
¹⁷ Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”

◦ Special - manifested in the economy of salvation

Psalm 106:1–2 NIV
¹ Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. ² Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord or fully declare his praise?

Psalm 86:5 NIV
⁵ You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.

Psalm 107:1–3 NIV
¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. ² Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, ³ those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

God’s Severity

The Severity of God

• God’s “cutting off” of the disobedient (Rom 11:22)
• God’s decisive withdrawal of his goodness from those who have spurned it
• He is “abounding in love” but he “does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Ex 34:6-7).

“The principle which Paul is applying here is that behind every display of divine goodness stands a threat of severity in judgment if that goodness is scorned. If we do not let it draw us to God in gratitude and responsive love, we have only ourselves to blame when God turns against us.” - J. I. Packer

• God is patient in his severity - “slow to anger” and “longsuffering.”

1 Peter 3:20 NIV
²⁰ to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

2 Peter 3:9 NIV
⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Our Response

1. Appreciate the goodness of God.

• Count your blessings
• Don’t take God’s gifts for granted

2. Appreciate the patience of God.

• Learn to marvel at his patience with you
• Seek grace to imitate it in your dealings with others

3. Appreciate the discipline of God.

• Thorns which may awaken you from the sleep of spiritual death and lead you to repentance
• As a believer, the discipline of a loving father guiding you to holiness and to “continue in his goodness”

Hebrews 12:5 NIV
⁵ And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,