J.I. Packer on Our Communion with God

I found this post from Justin Taylor to be helpful, especially as I've been reading Donald Fairbairn's book, Life in the Trinity, which is about the very subject of our communion with God, and its central importance.  Here is J.I. Packer writing about the subject. 

J. I. Packer:

. . . whereas to the Puritans communion with God was a great thing, to evangelicals today it is a comparatively small thing.

The Puritans were concerned about communion with God in a way that we are not.

The measure of our unconcern is the little that we say about it.

When Christians meet, they talk to each other about their Christian work and Christian interests, their Christian acquaintances, the state of the churches, and the problems of theology—but rarely of their daily experience of God.

Modern Christian books and magazines contain much about Christian doctrine, Christian standards, problems of Christian conduct, techniques of Christian service—but little about the inner realities of fellowship with God.

Our sermons contain much sound doctrine—but little relating to the converse between the soul and the Saviour.

We do not spend much time, alone or together, in dwelling on the wonder of the fact that God and sinners have communion at all; no, we just take that for granted, and give our minds to other matters.

Thus we make it plain that communion with God is a small thing to us.

But how different were the Puritans! The whole aim of their ‘practical and experimental’ preaching and writing was to explore the reaches of the doctrine and practice of man’s communion with God.

—J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (reprint ed., Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), p. 215 (chapter 12).

Our Significance

"Significance does not lie in what one can accomplish on one's own. It does depend on the one to whom one is connected. But everyone possesses true significance, because all are created in the image of God. There is no one else one could attach oneself to who could give a person greater significance than that person already possesses, by virtue of this connection to God. Furthermore, this significance is linked to creation, not to whether a person follows Christ. It is not just Christians who are inherently significant in God's eyes. All people bear the image of God in a way that unites them to one another and distinguishes them from the rest  of the beings in the universe. We do not have to be on the celebrity chasing carousel. We do not need fame or even a connection to famous ones. We already have something more, a direct connection to God, and this connection is the source of real significance. As we grasp the fact that this connection brings with it the opportunity to share in and reflect God's intratrinitarian relationship, then all of life begins to appear in a new light. The work we do, the human relationships we try to develop, the success we try to attain-these things need not be attempts to gain significance for ourselves. Rather, we can see them for what they are- opportunities to work out the implications of the significance we already have as people created in the image of God, people meant to share in his glorious presence."

Donald Fairbairn, Life in Trinity, 68. 

And, I would add: Jesus is the only way to restore us to this beautiful significance. Jesus is the way God has provided in order that we may fully share in life as it was meant to be lived, in connection to God. Without trusting in Jesus for our sense of significance, we will always be living on a carousel, trying to earn significance. Without Jesus, we will constantly be looking for significance, but will be doing so disconnected from the One from whom our significance actually comes. 

The Christian Life and the Trinity

"This doctrine of the Trinity is not an abstraction whose connection with Christian life is tenuous or even nonexistent. Rather, the doctrine of the Trinity is the gateway to understanding Christian life. A God who was completely alone would have had nothing relational to offer us in salvation; he could have offered only a right status before him or something of that sort. But because God has eternally existed as a fellowship of three persons, there is fellowship within God which we can also share."

Donald Fairbairn, Life in Trinity, 50.

These are marvelous truths with incredible implications. At the heart of the Christian faith is not simply an abstract change of status. More so, it is a completely new relationship with God. The heart of the Christian life is a sharing in the life of the Trinity. We receive new life in Christ because we are brought into this relational fellowship with God. As Christians, we can now be confident in all the benefits of salvation because they are rooted in Christ's relationship to his Father. We aren't merely forgiven of our sins as a simple declaration. Rather, we are seen as perfectly righteous. We are beloved children whom God 100% delights in. This is all because we share in the relationship that Christ has with the Father. The Father now sees us as he sees his only Son. Being a Christian is being brought into this relationship. It is sharing in this life. This is the source of the Christian life. 

Basil the Great on the Holy Spirit

One of the most important Church Fathers, Basil the Great, writing about the Holy Spirit:

"If we ponder the meaning of His name, and the greatness of His deeds, and the multitude of blessings He has showered on us and on all creation, it is possible for us to understand at least partially the greatness of His nature and unapproachable power. He is named Spirit: "God is Spirit," and "the Spirit of our nostrils, the Lord's Anointed," He is called holy, as the Father is holy, and the Son is holy. For creatures, holiness comes from without; for the Spirit, holiness fills His very nature. He is not sanctified, but sanctifies. He is called good, as the Father is good; the essence of the Spirit embraces the goodness of the Father. He is called upright- the Lord my God is upright- but because he is truth and righteousness personified...The Spirit shares titles held in common by the Father and the Son; He receives these titles due to his natural and intimate relationship with them."


On HS, paragraph 48 (Anderson, 76). 

Sharing in Christ's Sonship

"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, 

but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, 

by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'"

Romans 8:15

At the heart of our relationship with God is our being adopted as true children. I sometimes wonder how this is possible and what this actually means. Becoming an adopted son of God is more often an abstract concept rather than the concrete reality in my life. So, how does this happen? And what does it mean?

The answer in our adoption does not lie in us. We were made to be sons and daughters of God, but we broke the relationship beyond human repair. Our hope is not in our ability to remake ourselves as sons and daughters. Rather, our adoption is rooted in the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Christ has perfect sonship with the Father. Our only hope of ever again becoming true children of God lies in our sharing in Christ's sonship that he already has with the Father. This is the good news of the gospel: that the Son of God became the Son of Man, so that he could unite men and women with God. He is able to do this because he is fully God and fully man, thus being able to mediate between the two and unite us to God. This is the foundation to our relationship with God. 

But, what does this mean on a day to day basis? Being united to Christ, and thus being made a son or daughter of God means that we are adopted into the same relationship the Son of God has with the Father.  In our adoption, we don't so much receive something from Christ, as much as we receive Christ himself. Jesus gives us his very self, and this is the heart of what we receive in adoption. Everything that is true of the Jesus Christ is now true of us. Jesus was God's beloved son, with whom God was well pleased. This is now true of us. Jesus and the Father were one. In Christ, we are now one with God. Jesus was sinless and incorruptible. We are now seen as sinless.  Jesus conquered death, resurrecting from the grave. Likewise, we will also be raised to life on the last day. 

One quick note on some of the things I just said. As those who have been adopted, we now share in the life of Christ and possess the many benefits of salvation. However, we do not share in the same substance that God has. We are still human. We are not divine. Yet, we are being restored to what it means to be made in God's image and what it means to be truly human. 

The Covenant of Redemption

"Thus in a marvelous way the doctrine of the covenant maintains God's sovereignty in the entire work of salvation. It far surpasses the covenant of works to the degree that Christ exceeds Adam. God's threefold being is manifest much more clearly in re-creation than in creation. It is the Father who conceives, plans and wills the works of salvation; it is the Son who guarantees it and effectively acquires it; it is the Spirit who implements and applies it. This entire work of salvation is God's work exclusively; nothing derives from humans, it is all pure grace and undeserved favor."

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume., page 402.