Survey of 1 John - 7 Tests of Biblical Christianity

The essence of true biblical Christianity is knowing God… and the proof that we know Him is that we have fellowship with Him…

In his book Knowing God, J. I. Packer says: ‘What are we talking about when we use the phrase, ‘knowing God’?” he asks. “A special sort of emotion? Shivers down the back? A dreamy, off-the-ground, floating feeling? Tingling thrills and exhilaration, such as drug takers seek? Or is knowing God a special sort of intellectual experience? Does one hear a voice? see a vision? find strange trains of thought coursing through one’s mind? or what?” (Knowing God, p. 30)

“What, then, does the activity of knowing God involve? We must say that knowing God involves, first, listening to God’s word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself; second, noting God’s nature and character, as His word and works reveal it; third, accepting His invitations, and doing what he commands; fourth, recognizing, and rejoicing in, the love that He has shown in thus approaching one and drawing one into this divine fellowship.’ (p. 32)

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