God Has Spoken by J.I. Packer 

A re-issue of the bestselling sequel to Knowing God

God Has Spoken
by J.I. Packer
Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN: 978-1-473-63709-2
Reviewer: Pieter J. Lalleman

Professor Packer argues that the Bible is the very word of God, a reliable record of his revelation to humankind and indispensable for our salvation.

I agree with all that, as should all evangelicals. The more controversial elements of Packer's book are the discussion of inerrancy on pages 102-106 and the long appendix which reproduces the entire 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

This book first appeared in 1965 and has hardly changed since then, although other editions appeared in 1993 and 2005. It fights the modernist 'Battle for the Bible' of the Fundamentalists against the Liberals.

Packer (born Gloucester, 1926) wrote this book as a proud Anglican, often referring to Anglican documents and confessions, interacting with scholars of previous generations. When the text says 'this century' it means the 20th, 'the last century' being the 19th. There is no inclusive language yet, the bibliography is dated and there is no guidance on how to actually read the Bible. It's a shame that the publisher expects almost £9 for a dated book.

Readers of this review would be better off if they bought the 2014 edition of Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for all its Worth, which is far more practical. Those interested in the 'Battle for the Bible' can now read Andrew T.B. McGowan, The Divine Spiration of Scripture (2007) and/or Craig Blomberg, Can We Still Believe the Bible? (2014).
 

The Revd Dr Pieter J. Lalleman teaches Bible at Spurgeon's College