Week 2: Knowing and Being Known — Chapter 3

1.Packer makes the striking point that in Scripture the phrase "knowing God" often has to be understood in reverse — it is God who knows us first, and our knowing Him is a response to that. How does this reframe what it means to pursue knowledge of God? Does it feel more humbling, more comforting, or both?

2.Packer highlights the intimacy implied when God "knows" a person in the biblical sense — citing examples like God knowing Moses by name (Exodus 33) and Jesus knowing His sheep (John 10). What does this kind of knowing involve that mere factual awareness does not?

3.Paul's contrast in 1 Corinthians 8:3 — "if anyone loves God, he is known by God" — puts love at the center of knowing. Why do you think the relational and affective dimension of knowing God is so easy to lose in the context of formal theological study or church routine?