history, human agency and the will of God

knowing and doing are one and the same, and knowing the will of God is doing the will of God. so how do we discern (know and do) the will of God?

charles swindoll labels it a mystery, while john macarthur expounds that God's will is that you be saved, Spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive, and suffering - then do whatever you want! both of them are right - swindoll gestures at our incomplete understanding of what is yet to be revealed, while macarthur refers to God's complete and revealed Word.

history and the will of God

we discern the will of God as we witness history unfold. the past, the present (which will eventually become the past) and the future (which will eventually become the present, and then the past) are all in accordance with the will of God. indeed, God acts from eternity and is not bound by time or space.

as john gardner muses, 'history never looks like history when you're living through it. it always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable'. nevertheless, our incomplete understanding of what is yet to be revealed does not detract from God's complete and revealed Word.

counterfactual history is imaginative and even entertaining, but too many "what if" questions spoil the broth. asking whether man could have not sinned is only a step away from asking whether God could omnipotently destroy His omnipotence. what if God created a rock so big that He couldn't move it? this doesn't prove anything.

history and the will of God are not about "what ifs", but about "what is". it is true, as Scripture says, that 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' (Romans 3:23, NIV). it is true, as Scripture says, that 'the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord' (Romans 6:23, NIV). it is true, as Scripture says, that 'God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16, NIV).

one will in two senses

There is no inconsistency or contrariety between the decretive and preceptive will of God. It is very consistent to suppose that God may hate the thing itself, and yet will that it should come to pass.

Yea, I do not fear to assert that the thing itself may be contrary to God's will, and yet that it may be agreeable to His will that it should come to pass, because His will, in the one case, has not the same object with His will in the other case.

To suppose God to have contrary wills towards the same object, is a contradiction; but it is not so, to suppose Him to have contrary wills about different objects. The thing itself, and that the thing should come to pass, are different, as is evident; because it is possible that the one may be good and the other may be evil. The thing itself may be evil, and yet it may be a good thing that it should come to pass. It may be a good thing that an evil thing should come to pass; and oftentimes it most certainly and undeniably is so, and proves so.

- Jonathan Edwards, Decrees and Election

human agency and the will of God

calvinism vs arminianism. predestination vs free will. divine sovereignty vs human responsibility. for the record, i am not a calvinist any more than i am an arminian. i believe in predestination and free will, as well as divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

it is not contradictory to simultaneously hold that God 'will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth' (1 Timothy 2:4, KJV) and that God does not predestine to save all men. on the contrary, it is contradictory to simultaneously hold that God 'will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth' (1 Timothy 2:4, KJV) and that God does not desire to save all men. indeed, God 'desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth' (1 Timothy 2:4, NKJV).

God wills (desires) to save all men, but God does not will (predestine) to save all men. God predestines that those who will choose Him will thereby be saved, and God predestines that those who will not choose Him will thereby not be saved (true). this does not mean that God predestines those who will choose Him and will thereby be saved, and God predestines those who will not choose Him and will thereby not be saved (false).

the question of faith

faith is not the gift of God. faith is the means by which we receive the gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. at the risk of belabouring the point, the gift of God is not faith. the gift of God is salvation by grace through faith. God does not predestine to save all men not because God does not offer all men salvation by grace through faith, but because not all men receive salvation by grace through faith.

God does offer all men salvation by grace through faith, as well as the ability to respond in faith which accompanies it. this is why all men are without excuse, 'for since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made' (Romans 1:20, NIV).

discernment in christian liberty

discernment in christian liberty is really about proving the will of God with our free will - more precisely, our God-given capacity for exercising our free will within our God-given capability of accomplishing all that our free will desires. discernment in christian liberty - proving the will of God with our free will - is from justification (by faith), through sanctification, to glorification.

we may not have the God-given capability of accomplishing all that our free will desires. for example, God in His sovereignty may not give us certain spiritual gifts which we ourselves desire to have. however, this is not the same as saying that we do not have the God-given capacity for exercising our free will. while we may not have the God-given capability of accomplishing all that our free will desires (the gifts we want), we always have the God-given capacity for exercising our free will within the God-given capability of accomplishing all that our free will desires (how we use the gifts we have).

note: the spiritual gift of faith to believers (mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12) is not the gift of faith to non-believers (there is no such thing).

furthermore, while we may not have the God-given capability of accomplishing all that our free will desires, it is never to the extent that we are unable, by the work of the Holy Spirit, to believe and be saved. we are called to exercise the God-given capacity to believe and be saved because we always have the God-given capability to believe and be saved, regardless if we are capable or incapable of anything else.

of course, as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, emotion and reason will eventually converge and centre on the paths He has prepared for us in advance. we will have the freedom from choice, which comes from our freedom in Christ. like Christ, all that our free will desires will be knowing and doing the will of God.

chosen and free

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." - Romans 8:28-30 (NIV)

we are chosen because God knows what the future holds, and we are free to choose because we do not know what the future holds.

"You will certainly carry out God's purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John." - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain