If the modern world can be characterised by one thing it is probably the enormous increase in the number of words around - but that increase has also been accompanied by a seemingly corresponding decrease in understanding. It is the irony of the information age that instead of bringing clarity it has raised uninformed opinion to the same level as truth.

The church has also not been faultless. Rather than discuss ideas in order to come to some settled agreement, the church has been characterised as trying to make words mean different things in order to accommodate differences.

But the church should be a beacon of light to the world. The church has the words of eternal life.

J. I. Packer is a master wordsmith. He is also gifted with the ability of showing where truth lies in complicated reasoning. These skills combine to make Words from God a fascinating read – and a life-changing one.

The 18 words are Death, Devil, Election, Faith, Fellowship, Grace, Holiness, Justification, Lord, Mediator, Mortification, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Revelation, Sanctification, Scripture, Sin & World.

Jim Packer is named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals alive. He is the Board of Governor’s Professor of Theology at Regent College, Vancouver, BC, Canada.