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James Innell Packer, known to friends as Jim and to millions as J.I. Packer, died July 17 at the age of 93. A highly respected theologian and prolific writer, he authored more than 165 works, including one of the all-time bestselling Christian books, Knowing God (1973). To Marcus Avery, he was a gift used by the Holy Spirit to salvage his life. For over 15 years, Avery read daily in select books about the doctrine of God, books by A.W. Tozer, Arthur Pink, Stephen Charnock, and, of course, Packer. A once “wayward son without Christ as first love,” he said,...

James Innell Packer, better known to many as J. I. Packer, was one of the most famous and influential evangelical leaders of our time. He died Friday, July 17, at age 93. J. I. Packer was born in a village outside of Gloucester, England, on July 22, 1926. He came from humble stock, being born into a family that he called lower middle class. The religious climate at home and church was that of nominal Anglicanism rather than evangelical belief in Christ as Savior (something that Packer was not taught in his home church). Packer’s life-changing childhood experience came at...