Book Review: 18 Words

The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know by J. I. Packer.

Did you know someone gave Carl Trueman a copy of 18 Words (first published as God’s Words) when he started university, and he read it and came to faith? I was halfway through this gem of a book when I heard this interview in which Trueman mentions J. I. Packer and God’s Words as pivotal in his early Christian faith.

So what is 18 Words? How does it work? It’s a collection of essays on keywords from the Bible, words like scripture, the devil, reconciliation, and holiness. That descriptions makes it sound like a book of word studies, but it isn’t quite, at least not in the way we usually think of word studies. Rather, 18 Words looks at biblical words not as mere words, but as pointers to biblical themes with the purpose of “spelling out the gospel which is the Bible’s central message.” It’s one way, and an effective one, to get at the core of true Christianity. 

I’d not heard of this book, not as God’s Words or 18 Words, before I saw it at Amazon and decided to order it.1 It isn’t as well-known as Packer’s classic Knowing God and that’s too bad, because it’s similar in quality, style and value, full of sentences and paragraphs to underline, or quotes and clever phrases to remember. Now that I think about it, I’d say it would make a perfect companion for Knowing God, with Knowing God expounding who God is, and 18 Words explaining the biblical themes that ultimately point us to Christ. Together they’d make an excellent two volume Christian Doctrine 101. 

J. I. Packer is the Board of Governor’s Professor of Theology at Regent College, Vancouver, BC, Canada. You’ll find a list of some of his books and articles here.

If you haven’t read 18 Words, you should. I’ve already posted several quotes to give you a glimpse of how delightful this book is and how much it can teach you.

• Made to Rule Creation
• Walking on a Knife Edge
• Only He, As the God-Man
• A Steady Blaze
• Safeguarding the Glory of Christ
• Safeguarding the Genuineness of Faith Itself
• Counted as Righteous
• Regeneration in the Old Testament? Oh Yes!
• The Salutary Tendency of the Doctrine of Election
• Somewhat Unnerving Company
• One Bosom Friend

What’s more, you can read the introduction here (pdf). And while you’re ordering one for yourself, why not buy a copy for your favorite college student, pairing it, perhaps, with Knowing God? Who knows what might happen? 

---

1Something I did twice, as it turns out. My daughter’s dog chewed my first copy to bits when I left him in the car alone for ten minutes. I like him anyway and he’s a good skijorer.

Comments

[persis]

Thank you for the review, Rebecca, Adding this to the list for myself and the church library.

[Jen]

I did know that - from the same interview! :) It was the weekend we were most homesick thus far while in the UK. We were so sad to miss the conference. Been thinking of you as I read "Union with Christ" by Robert Letham. I think you would love it.