God's Will, Part 8
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Herman Bavinck gives the Biblical position: “God’s will is identical with his being, his wisdom, his goodness, and with all his attributes. And it is for this reason that man’s heart and mind can rest in that will, for it is the will not of blind fate, incalculable fortune, or dark energy of nature, but of an omnipotent God and merciful Father” (Doctrine of God, 235).
We get the groundwork for our study of God’s Will from The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised in the article by J.R. Michaels. “The Greek terminology is more uniform (than the nine Hebrew words for will, it only has seven). By far the most common Greek noun for “will” in the LXX and NT is thélēma (“will” or “desire”) from the verb thélō.
Thélēma can be used objectively for what is willed or desired (e.g., Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” ) or subjectively for the act of willing or desiring (e.g., 1 Peter 3:17 “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”;
Compare to thélēsis in Hebrews 2:4 “while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”).
Thélēma in the sense of “desire” must be carefully distinguished from epithymía. Both terms can refer to either good or evil desires, but epithymía is never used in the NT for the will of God (although in Luke 22:15 “And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” referring to Jesus’ desire for the Passover meal).
Other Greek terms for “will” are:
Boulḗ (e.g., Acts 2:23 “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” Acts 4:28 “to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”)
Boúlēma (e.g., Romans 9:19 “You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?””), both in the sense of “plan” or “intention,” with the corresponding verb boúlomai (“wish,” “want,” or “decide”; e.g., 1 Corinthians 12:11 “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”).
Eudokía (“good will” or “favor”; e.g., Matthew 11:25–26 “At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”)
Its verb eudokéō (“be pleased,” “delight in”; e.g., Galatians 1:16 “was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;”),
Próthesis (“purpose,” e.g., Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”),
Arestós” (e.g., “what pleases,” 1 John 3:22 “and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.”)
Its compound euárestos (e.g., “pleasing,” Ephesians 5:10 “and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”),
Euprósdektos (e.g., “acceptable,” 1 Peter 2:5 “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”).
Now that we have gone through a brief overview. Let’s begin looking at the Greek word “thélēma” with one of the three persons of the Trinity as the direct object or the subject.
The Lord’s Prayer is the first occurence we will look at this evening, in Matthew 6:9-13.
Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV)
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Here we see Jesus teaching us to to align with God’s will in a prayer of surrender.
Matthew 7:21 is the next occurrence of “thélēma”.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Here we see that it takes more than words to live out God’s will. It takes the action of doing. This doing comes from a transformed life through and in the power of Holy Spirit, made possible through Jesus’ death and resurrection, all according to the will of God (Romans 6; Ephesians 1). 1 John 3:18-24 lays this out clearly for us.
18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Matthew 12:46-50 is the next occurence of “thélēma”.
Matthew 12:46–50 (ESV)
46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.
48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”
49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus, here, is establishing the precedent for belonging to the family of God, which supersedes our earthly identities and ties. This bond is expressed through doing God’s will, which we learned from 1 John is to believe in Jesus and love each other. All other obedience flows from these relationally formative commands.
Matthew 18:10-14 is the next occurence of “thélēma”.
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?
13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.
14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Here we see God’s heart expressed toward children. He would see that none should perish. This passage makes a strong case for children, especially the unborn, being in heaven. Not that they are not sinners, but that the work of Christ has covered them, and it is God’s will that they do not perish.
The last occurrence of “thélēma” we are going to look at in this session is Matthew 26:38-42.
38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
Here we see Jesus modeling a will submitted to God’s will. There are two observation I would like to make concerning this.
First, submitting one’s will to God is not easy, and can be quite emotional.
Second, submitting one’s will to God is a choice and not dependent on our emotions, though it is often an emotional process.
Okay, let’s recap the observations we have made.
We align with God’s will through a prayer of surrender (Matt. 6:10).
Those who do God’s will enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 7:21).
For one to do God’s will he must believe in Jesus and love all others (1 John 3:23).
God’s will is that children do not perish. (Matthew 18:14).
We are to submit our will to God’s will by choice even though it is difficult emotionally (Matt. 26:39, 42).