The Wills of God

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. – Matthew 6:10

A few days ago I was reading a book by a fairly well-known modern evangelical minister.  The book has been around for nearly thirty years and widely read, if not taken too seriously.  It is not one I would recommend – which is why I’m not naming either it or its author – since it is merely a warmed-over rehash of better works from authors like C.S. Lewis, William Law, and, especially, the great American thinker, Jonathan Edwards.  Since he mentioned Edwards and his Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections so frequently, it occurred to me that I might better spend my time reading Edwards myself.  I don’t mean to imply that the contemporary author’s work is without value.  For some it may be a good starting point.  I found myself underlining phrases and writing in the margins, but the author sometimes seemed miss his own obvious points in favor of putting forth a homogenized, pasteurized version of the truth more in keeping with what is acceptable in modern Christianity.

Edwards’ original version of Religious Affections is heavier going than I have the time for at the moment, but, fortunately, I have an abridgement from an old Multnomah Press Classics version republished in 1996 by Bethany House.  This is one of those books that really can benefit by some thoughtful editing.  Edwards was a genius whose mind so overflowed with understanding and insight that he has a tendency to overwhelm the reader.  Even the abridgement deserves to be read slowly – which I’m doing. 

“Affections” are feelings (wo-oh-oh, feelings) in one sense, but they are intertwined with the will.  Edwards explained that we have the rational faculty which perceives and judges.  We also have the faculty of the soul by which it is inclined to one thing or another.  As he says, “The soul, because of this faculty, does not want to see things as an indifferent, unaffected spectator.”  We like things or we dislike them.  When our affective inclination governs and determines our choices and our courses of action, we call that inclination “the will”.  It may also be called “the heart” when our mind is involved in consciously making the choice. 

I may put up some thoughts on the relationship of affections and religion as I work my way through the book.  I believe Edwards is correct in his assessment and gives a thorough, accurate treatment of the subject. 

Right now, though, I’m going off on a somewhat related subject regarding the sovereign will of God.  For a long time, I recited the Lord’s Prayer without giving too much thought to it.  Then one day, I realized that I was asking for God’s will to be done everywhere in the material universe as it was being done already in heaven.  In Matthew 18:18, echoing what He said in another context in Matthew 16:19, Jesus tells His disciples about their authority as believers, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  Other translations or marginal readings give the idea a slightly different twist, saying, in effect, that we are able to bind on earth what is already bound in heaven and to loose what has already been loosed – in other words, to manifest the heavenly reality in the earthly realm.   It’s pretty heavy stuff in any case. 

The question I asked, though, is, if God is sovereign upon earth, why is His will not done on earth as it is in heaven?  Why would that even be an issue?  Is God in control or not? 

There is no power equal to God, not even a viable competing power:   

I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.  I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:5-7)   

There is not much room for questioning such a statement.  I see little in Scripture that would offer an alternative view and much that reinforces this concept.  The devil looks more like a tool.  It is Milton more than the Bible that makes him look powerful -- God’s nemesis in a dark realm.  Satan’s kingdom and his influence are circumscribed and limited by the Lord.  The devil might be our nemesis, but he is not in God’s class. 

Consider that Jesus was betrayed by Judas and crucified in accordance with the Father’s will.  Jesus is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”.  Every lamb offered from the Exodus the death of Christ prefigured, foreshadowed, and typified that crucifixion.  Yet there is no question that the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus was an evil act, and those involved who did not repent of their part in it were held responsible and judged as guilty.  The will of man to do evil became a part of God’s overall plan to accomplish a good end. 

Edwards addresses the problem by saying that God has a “will of command” or a revealed will as well as a “will of decree” or His secret will.  Though worthwhile, this can be a little boggy:

When a distinction is made between God’s revealed will and his secret will, or his will of command and decree, will is certainly in that distinction taken in two senses. His will of decree, is not his will in the same sense as his will of command is. Therefore, it is no difficulty at all to suppose, that the one may be otherwise than the other: his will in both senses is his inclination. But when we say he wills virtue, or loves virtue, or the happiness of his creature; thereby is intended, that virtue, or the creature’s happiness, absolutely and simply considered, is agreeable to the inclination of his nature.

His will of decree is, his inclination to a thing, not as to that thing absolutely and simply, but with respect to the universality of things, that have been, are, or shall be. So God, though he hates a thing as it is simply, may incline to it with reference to the universality of things. Though he hates sin in itself, yet he may will to permit it, for the greater promotion of holiness in this universality, including all things, and at all times. So, though he has no inclination to a creature’s misery, considered absolutely, yet he may will it, for the greater promotion of happiness in this universality.

Easy for you to say.  (Read more of this HERE, if so inclined.)  Sometimes people will refer to God’s “permissive will” – even those who are not as committed to the sovereignty of God as was Edwards.  Most Christians still believe that God is ultimately in control, and He will allow us to suffer temporally for a greater eternal purpose.  Thus you might look at the division as God’s eternal will – which is secret – versus His temporal will – which is revealed, or as absolute versus relative. 

For the Christian, suffering in this world makes sense only if there is another world.  As my grandmother used to say, “Just this world and one more.”  Or, as Paul said, “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”