What Is Doctrine?

What is "doctrine"?  And, specifically, what is Christian doctrine? What follows are some orienting definitions from two of the most influential theologians in my life. And you'll no doubt note some tensions here. And that's okay. Working this out is the task of theologizing for the sake of doctrinal understanding.

First, Packer (since he's the senior theologian): Doctrine is "theology as taught."

And, now, Vanhoozer: Doctrine is "lived understanding," involving "not only concepts but also the church's whole way of life: beliefs, values, and everyday practices."

—J. I. Packer, "Doctrine" (lecture, Regent College, Vancouver, BC, Spring, 2015), 41; Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014), 170.

He Won for Us Forgiveness, Adoption, and Glory

Packer:

The notion which the phrase "penal substitution" expresses is that Jesus Christ our Lord, moved by a love that was determined to do everything necessary to save us, endured and exhausted the destructive divine judgement for which we were otherwise inescapably destined, and so won us forgiveness, adoption, and glory.

—James I. Packer, "What Did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution," in Celebrating the Saving Work of God: The Collected Shorter Writings of J. I. Packer Volume 1 (Carlisle, Cumbria: Paternoster), 105.

Theologizing

In his course notes for a lecture on systematic theology that J. I. Packer gave in 2009 at Regent College, he says that "theology as an activity is prior to theology as a set of tenets which the activity produces."

He calls this activity theologizing.

He further defines what theologizing is by asking and answering the question: "What is theologizing?" Packer answer: "Asking and answering questions about God and his relation to created realities."

Then he asks: "Why theologize?" Answer: "Because faith both needs and seeks understanding."

Vintage Packer.

—J. I. Packer, "The World of Systematic Theology," in Class Notes, Systematic Theology Overview, from Regent College, Vancouver, B.C., Winter, 2009.

The Sassiness of Theology

Packer on the "sassiness" of theology:

"I define the sassiness of theology as an unwillingness to keep quiet when God is misrepresented and revealed truth is put in jeopardy."

—J. I. Packer, Honouring the Written Word of God: Collected Shorter Writings on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 54–55.

Not So Fast

J. I. Packer:

"The conclusions supposed to have been established by last-century biblical criticism were really the presuppositions on which it was based. Therefore they cannot be held to have been proved by biblical criticism at all."

—J. I. Packer, Honouring the Written Word of God: Collected Shorter Writings on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 54–55.

The Pastoral Function of Theology

J. I. Packer:

"It is vital to realize that truth is for people, and therefore, the pastoral function of theology is ultimately primary."

—Donald J. Payne, "J. I. Packer's Theological Method," in J. I. Packer and the Evangelical Future: The Impact of His Life and Thought (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009), 64.

God Saves Sinners

Packer on the Calvinistic salvation of Scripture:

God saves sinners. God—the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father's will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of the Father and Son by renewing. Saves—does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves, and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies. Sinners—men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, blind, unable to lift a finger to do God's will or better their spiritual lot. God saves sinners—and the force of this confession may not be weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man and making the decisive part man's own, or by soft-pedalling the sinner's inability so as to allow him to share the praise of his salvation with his Saviour. This is the one point of Calvinistic soteriology which the 'five points' are concerned to establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely, that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but that salvation, first to last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen!

—J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 1990), 130.

A Successful Hermeneutic: Confirmed by Scripture Itself

"A successful hermeneutic is a consistent interpretative procedure yielding a consistent understanding of Scripture that in turn confirms the propriety of the procedure itself."

—Packer, J. I., Celebrating the Saving Work of God: The Collected Shorter Writings of J. I. Packer (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1998), 9–10.

Calvin's Faith Facing Death

From Calvin's will, made on his deathbead:

I give thanks to God who had mercy on me. . . . He delivered me out of the deep darkness of idolatry in which I was plunged, that he might bring me into the light of the gospel. . . . I have no other defense or refuge for salvation than his free adoption, on which alone my salvation depends. With all my soul I embrace the mercy that he has exercised towards me through Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins with the merits of his death and passion, that in this way he might satisfy for all my offences and faults and blot them out form his remembrance. I testify also and declare that I earnestly beg him to be pleased so to wash and purify me in the blood that my Sovereign Redeemer has shed for the sins of mankind, that under his shadow I may be able to stand at the judgment-seat. . . . 

I also testify and declare that in all the battles and disputations in which I have been engaged with the enemies of the gospel, I have used no falsehood, no wicked and sophistical devices, but have acted straightforwardly and sincerely in defending the truth.  

Yet, alas, my ardour and zeal (if indeed worthy of the name) have been so slack and languid that I confess I have failed countless times to execute my office properly, and had not he, of his boundless goodness, assisted me . . . those mental powers that the Lord gave me would at his judgment-seat prove me more and more guilty of sin and sloth. 

For these reasons I testify and declare that I trust to no other security for my salvation than this alone, that as God is the Father of mercy, so he will show himself such a Father to me, who acknowledge myself to be a miserable sinner.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 16.

What is Typology?

Here are a few answers.

J. I. Packer succinctly gives us the standard stuff:

Typology . . . looks into Old Testament patterns of divine action, agency, and instruction that [find] final fulfillment in Christ. . . .[1]

Peter J. Leithart says it in his own way:

 “Typology” is a loaded word. . . . I use the word not only to highlight the principle that the Old Testament points ahead to Christ, but also to describe the structure of the Old Testament itself. The Old Testament is composed according to a rhythm of “repetition with difference” that is a microcosm of New Testament typology. David is a “type” of Jesus, but he is also an “antitype” of Adam. When I speak of a “typological” understanding of the Old Testament I am further calling attention to the literary devices that the Bible uses to communicate its message. These are “typological” in the sense that they are the means by which the Bible presents the rhythms of history, as well as the means by which the Old Testament in particular points to Christ. . . .[2]

And D. L. Baker perhaps puts it most helpfully:

The fundamental conviction that underlies typology is that God is consistently active in the history of this world (especially in the history of his chosen people) and that as a consequence the events in this history tend to follow a consistent pattern. One event may thus be chosen as typical of another or of many others. 

A type is a biblical event, person, or institution that serves as an example or pattern for other events, person, or institutions; typology is the study of types and the historical and theological correspondences between them; the basis of typology is God’s consistent activity in the history of his chosen people.[3]

---

[1] J. I. Packer, From the Forward of The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament (Phillipsburg: P&R, 1988), 8.

[2] Peter Leithart, A House for My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament (Moscow: Canon Press, 2000), 27-28.

[3] Quoted in Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 45. 

Authentic Biblical Interpretation

Packer on inauthentic interpretation versus the real deal:

Historical exegesis is only the preliminary part of interpretation; application is its essence. Exegesis without application should not be called interpretation at all (27).

And further on,

This is biblical interpretation: seeing first what the text meant and then what it means—that is, how what it says touches our lives (45).

And even further on,

Historical exegesis becomes interpretation only when the application is truly made (45).

—J. I. Packer, Honouring the Written Word of God: Collected Shorter Writings on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999).

Packer on Revivals

What are revivals? Here's one way J. I. Packer puts it:

Revivals are "animatings and deepenings of the awareness of God, of the sense of sin, of the knowledge of Christ, and of the evangelical responses of faith, repentance, righteousness, prayer and praise. . . ."

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 56.

Benjamin Franklin's Love and Respect for George Whitefield

In a chapter on "The Reformational Revivalism of George Whitefield," J. I. Packer records these sentiments by Benjamin Franklin about Whitefield:

In 1747, he wrote: "He is a good man and I love him."

And, after Whitfield's death, Franklin said: "I knew him intimately upwards of 30 years. His integrity, disinterestedness and indefatigable zeal in prosecuting every good work, I have never seen equalled, I shall never see excelled."

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 48-49.

The Living Hope of New Testament Spirituality

In a chapter titled "Richard Baxter on Heaven, Hope, and Holiness," J. I. Packer expresses three convictions:

The first is that rejoicing in the "living hope" of "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power"; and "set[ting] your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Pet. 1:4-5,13) are integral elements in New Testament spirituality. And I see New Testament spirituality as the norm for all subsequent Christian belief. 

My second conviction is that a good deal of what is involved in being "alive to God" in this or in any age depends directly on having this "living hope" vivid in one's heart. I think here of the qualities of zeal, enterprise, energy, and persistence in well-doing for God; of loving, adoring worship as a daily habit; of meekness, sweetness, and selflessness under pain and disappointment; of a sense of proportion, a due appreciation of pleasure, and a realism about death.  

My third conviction is that we Western Christians, by and large, . . . are to our shame a sluggish, earthbound lot compared with our Puritan predecessors, and that lack of long, strong thinking about our promised hope of glory is a major cause of our plodding, lacklustre lifestyle. 

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 263-264.

The Best Doctrine

"That is the best doctrine and study which maketh men better and tendeth to make them happy."

—Richard Baxter, culled from J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 29.

A Total View of Christianity

Packer on the essence of Puritanism:

Puritanism . . . was a total view of Christianity, Bible-based, church-centered, God-honouring, literate, orthodox, pastoral, and Reformational, that saw personal, domestic, professional, political, churchly, and economic existence as aspects of a single whole, and that called on everybody to order every department and every relationship of their life according to the Word of God, so that all would be sanctified and become "holiness to the Lord."  

Puritanism's spearhead activity was pastoral evangelism and nurture through preaching, catechizing, and counselling (which Puritans themselves called casuistry), and Puritan teaching harped constantly on the themes of self-knowledge, self-humbling, and repentance; faith in, and love for, Jesus Christ the Saviour; the necessity of regeneration, and of sanctification (holy living, by God's power) as proof of it; the need for conscientious conformity to all God's law, and for a disciplined use of the means of grace; and the blessedness of the assurance and joy from the Holy Spirit that all faithful believers under ordinary circumstances may know. Puritans saw themselves as God's pilgrims, travelling home; God's warriors, battling against the world, the flesh, and the devil; and God's servants, under orders to do all the good they could as they went along.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 24-25

A Sinner Pressed and Perplexed with a Sense of Guilt for Sin

What does the doctrine of justification primarily or fundamentally address? This question is important. If we answer that it addresses first and foremost the horizontal question of human relationships, the doctrine derails, the gospel aborts. But if we answer that it first and foremost addresses the vertical dimension of our existence, that is, our relationship with a holy and righteous God, the doctrine holds, the center stays. Then, and only then, certain horizontal entailments follow and function as they ought.

In volume 4 of his collected shorter writings, J. I. Packer says this:

The Augsburg Confession of 1531 states: "this whole doctrine [of justification] must be related to the conflict of an alarmed conscience, and without that conflict it cannot be grasped. So persons lacking this experience, and profane men, are bad judges of the matter." Calvin makes the same point in Institutio III.xii, a chapter on the theme that justification must be studied in the solemnising light of God's judgment seat (Honoring the People of God, 223). 

Packer then points out that "John Owen preserves this perspective when at the start of his classic treatise The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (1677) he writes":

The first inquiry . . . is after the proper relief of the conscience of a sinner pressed and perplexed with a sense of the guilt of sin. For justification is the way and means whereby such a person doth obtain acceptance before God, with a right and title unto a heavenly inheritance. And nothing is pleadable in this cause but what a man would speak unto his own conscience in that state, or unto the conscience of another, when he is anxious under that inquiry (The Doctrine of Justification by Faith, 7). 

So if in our formulation of the doctrine of justification we move too quickly to discussions of what justification has to say about man's relationship with fellow man, we step in the wrong direction. And this is what has happened with the so-called New Perspective on Paul (which is now old, by the way), valuable as some of its insights may be. It has a hard time addressing the distressed sinner (for that is not what it's for, they say, lambasting Luther for being so psychologically sensitive); its gospel lacks the potency and effect of the biblical gospel. Without adequately addressing the distressed conscience before a holy and just God, the doctrine falls flat and fails to liberate for love. And I believe it also makes a man-centered age even more man-centered. However, it works the other way too. It's no coincidence, to my mind, that a fundamentally horizontal understanding of justification has arisen in a period of history marked by profound man-centeredness. Sure, Luther had a context. But so do we.

Preaching Thunder and Lightning

Speaking of the "God-given liveliness and authority" that used to be called unction, J. I. Packer gives this tribute to Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

There was in the Doctor's preaching thunder and lightning that no tape or transcription ever did or could capture—power, I mean, to mediate a realization of God's presence. . . . Nearly forty years on, it still seems to me that all I have ever known about preaching was given me in the winter of 1948-49, when I worshipped at Westminster Chapel with some regularity. Through the thunder and lightning, I felt and saw as never before the glory of Christ and of his gospel as modern man's only lifeline and learned by experience why historic Protestantism looks on preaching as the supreme means of grace and of communion with God. Preaching, thus viewed and valued, was the centre of the Doctor's life: into it he poured himself unstintingly; for it he pleaded untiringly. Rightly, he believed that preachers are born rather than made, and that preaching is caught more than it is taught, and that the best way to vindicate preaching is to preach. . . . 

I have never known anyone whose speech communicated such a sense of the reality of God as did the Doctor in those occasional moments of emphasis and doxology. Most of the time, however, it was clear, steady analysis, reflection, correction and instruction, based on simple thoughts culled from the text, set out in good order with the minimum of extraneous illustration or decoration. 

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 84-85.

The Christmas Spirit

From J. I. Packer's classic Knowing God (pp. 63-64):

We talk glibly of the "Christmas spirit," rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But . . . the phrase should in fact carry a tremendous weight of meaning. It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of him who for our sake became poor at the first Christmas. And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all year round.

It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christians—I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians—go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord's parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet those needs) averting their eyes and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians—alas, they are many—whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the submiddle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves.  

The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christmas snob. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor—spending and being spent—to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others—and not just their own friends—in whatever way there seems need. 

There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things he will do will be to work more of this spirit in our hearts and lives. If we desire spiritual quickening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5).

May the Spirit of this spirit be given to all who love the real Christmas, not the cultural accretions that have accumulated in our tidy little Middle American culture. May God be pleased to revive his churches to bear the likeness of the incarnate Christ who gave away his glory to give us glory, who became poor to make many rich.

Two Giants on Faith

Packer on faith: "Faith is . . . an empty hand stretched out to receive Christ, grasping him and holding him fast."

Luther on faith: "Faith taketh hold of Christ, hath him present, and holdeth him enclosed, as the ring doth the precious stone."

—J. I. Packer, Honouring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians, vol. 4, p. 8.