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Product Description:
Noted scholar and writer J.I. Packer shows that a right understanding of God's sovereignty is a powerful incentive for evangelism.
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Amazon.com Review:
The mystery and seeming paradox between evangelism and God's sovereignty has been causing disagreements and confusion among Christians since the beginning of the 20th century. In Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer reveals that a faulty understanding of the Bible leads to the assessment that these doctrines are foes rather than friends. By debunking the erroneous view that "robust faith in the absolute sovereignty of God is bound to undermine any adequate sense of human responsibility" toward evangelism, the author adeptly moves through the obstacle course of tricky theology with ease and grace, allowing the reader a more complete understanding of the mystery of salvation. Packer manages to tackle an overwhelming piece of doctrinal truth and contain it within the subject of evangelism by concisely determining what evangelism is and what it is not. "It is our widespread and persistent habit of defining evangelism in terms, not of a message delivered, but of an effect produced in our hearers." This error is corrected when one is renewed in his or her knowledge of the sovereignty of God. Of course, fault is found on the other side as well, with those who so heavily rely on God's sovereignty to save the lost that they are lazy in obeying God's command to share the Gospel. Packer insists that love for God, at the very least, should draw one out of this stagnation and that the coupling of these seemingly diabolical doctrines will make one bold in speech, patient in God's timing, and prayerful for the salvation of others. --Jill Heatherly
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Average Rating : 
Rating :  - Read it and Share the Gospel!
I had read J.I. Packer's classic Knowing God soon after I had become a Christian. Knowing God has been a foundational book in understanding the character and attributes of God. An attribute that is particularly clear throughout Scripture is God's absolute sovereignty. God is sovereign over all activity under heaven, and He is sovereign in the salvation of sinners. Equally clear throughout Scripture, believers are commanded to be evangelizing, i.e. sharing the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. What is the relationship between both of these imperatives? If God is sovereign in salvation (and He is), how does that impact a Christian understanding of evangelism? If there are some that are chosen to salvation, does it matter whether or not we share the gospel since it is already foreordained?
Packer's objective in writing this book: "The aim of the discourse is to dispel the suspicion...that faith in the absolute sovereignty of God hinders a full recognition and acceptance of evangelistic responsibility, and to show that, on the contrary, only this faith can give Christians the strength that they need to fulfill their evangelistic task." (page 8)
How should we view evangelism in light of God's sovereignty?
- Recognize that we are not responsible for the securing of converts. Only God can accomplish this. "Only by letting our knowledge of God's sovereignty control the way in which we plan and pray, and work in His service, can we avoid becoming guilty in the fault [of thinking we are the agents of the new birth]." (page 29)
- View divine sovereignty and human sovereignty as working together. We may not understand, but our lack of understanding makes neither any less true. We should not "over-simplify the Bible by cutting out the mysteries..." or "subject scripture to the supposed demands of human logic." (page 16)
-- Christ both came to specifically save those whom the Father had given Him, but also offers Himself freely to all men as Savior, and guarantees to bring to glory everyone who trusts in Him as such (John 6:8) (page 102-103)
- Do not define evangelism in terms of achieved results. Instead, it is the faithful preaching of the Gospel. The results are God's responsibility (page 41). We are steward's of the message (page 42)
- Understand that evangelism is not just a matter of informing sinners, but also inviting them. It is an attempt to gain, win, or catch our fellow man for Christ (as fishermen's work) (page 50).
- Present the Gospel as a summoning for faith and repentance. It is a Command by God to repent and believe the Gospel (Acts 17:30) (page 70). Our goal in presenting the Gospel is "to lead sinners to abandon all confidence in themselves and to trust wholly in Christ and the power of His redeeming blood to give them acceptance with God." (page 71)
- In sharing the Gospel, we should "ask for grace to be truly ashamed of ourselves, and to pray that we may so overflow in love to God that we shall overflow in love to our fellow-men, and so find it an easy and natural and joyful thing to share with them the good news of Christ." (page 78)
- Test new "methods" of evangelism by this: will it in fact serve the word? Does it clarify the meaning of the message? Or rather, does it overlay and obscure the realities of the message, or blunt the edge of the application? (more tests of methods on page 87-90)
This week, I was discussing the reality of God's sovereignty with a man who had left our church fellowship over this issue. Among other arguments, he expressed that a complete acceptance of God's sovereignty in salvation would diminish the need to evangelize. Oh, how I wish I could convince this man otherwise! As this book so persuasively argues, faithful, Biblical evangelism is nothing but buttressed by a complete acceptance of our God's sovereign hand.
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