Communicable Traits Part 3

God’s will is that attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation. Scripture frequently indicates God’s will as the final or most ultimate reason for everything that happens.

More specifically, all things were created by God’s will: “For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created”.

Revelation 4:11 (ESV)

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Paul says that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God”.

Romans 13:1 (ESV)

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

James encourages us to see all the events of our lives as subject to God’s will. To those who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit,” James says, “you do not know what tomorrow will bring.… Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’ ”

James 4:13–15 (ESV)

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—

14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

To attribute so many events, even evil events, to the will of God often causes misunderstanding and difficulty for Christians. Some of the difficulties connected with this subject will be treated here and others will be dealt with in chapter 16 on God’s providence.

Some distinctions made in the past may help us understand various aspects of God’s will. Just as we can will or choose something eagerly or reluctantly, happily or with regret, secretly or publicly, so also God in the infinite greatness of his personality is able to will different things in different ways.

God’s free will includes all things that God decided to will but DID NOT HAVE TO according to his nature. Here we must put God’s decision to create the universe and all the decisions relating to the details of that creation. We must also place all God’s acts of redemption here. There was nothing in God’s nature that required him to decide to create the universe or to redeem out of sinful mankind a people for himself. However, God did decide to create and to redeem, and these were totally free choices on his part. Though within the members of the Trinity love and fellowship and glory exist in infinite measure for all eternity, nonetheless God decided to create the universe and to redeem us for his own glory. It would be wrong for us ever to try to find a necessary cause for creation or redemption in the being of God himself, for that would rob God of his total independence. It would be to say that without us God could not truly be God. God’s decisions to create and to redeem were totally free decisions.

A second helpful distinction applied to different aspects of God’s will is the distinction between God’s secret will and his revealed will. Even in our experience we know that we are able to will some things secretly and then only later make this will known to others.

Deuteronomy 29:29 (ESV)

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Because God’s revealed will usually contains his commands or “precepts” for our moral conduct, God’s revealed will is sometimes also called God’s will of precept or will of command. This revealed will of God is God’s declared will concerning what we should do or what God commands us to do.

On the other hand, God’s secret will includes most of his hidden decrees by which he governs the universe and determines everything that will happen. He does not ordinarily reveal these decrees to us (except in prophecies of the future), so these decrees really are God’s “secret” will. We find out what God has decreed when events actually happen. Because this secret will of God has to do with his decreeing of events in the world, this aspect of God’s will is sometimes also called God’s will of decree.

Both the revealing of the good news of the gospel to some and its hiding from others are said to be according to God’s will. Jesus says, “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; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will”

Matthew 11:25–26 (ESV)

25 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.

Hidden Will

1 Timothy 2:4 (ESV)

4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Revealed Will

There is danger in speaking about evil events as happening according to the will of God, even though we sometimes see Scripture speaking of them in this way. One danger is that we might begin to think that God takes pleasure in evil, which he does not do, though he can use it for his good purposes. Another danger is that we might begin to blame God rather than ourselves for sin or to think that we are not responsible for our evil actions. Scripture, however, does not hesitate to couple statements of God’s sovereign will with statements of human responsibility for evil. Peter could say in the same sentence that Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,” and also that “this Jesus … you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men”. Both God’s hidden will of decree and the culpable wickedness of “lawless men” in carrying it out are affirmed in the same statement. However we understand the secret workings of God’s hidden will, we must never understand it to imply that we are freed from responsibility for evil or that God is ever to be blamed for sin. Scripture never speaks that way, and we may not either, even though how this can be so may remain a mystery for us in this age.

Freedom

What is the definition of God’s freedom?

God’s freedom is that attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases.

Implies that nothing in all creation can hinder God from doing his will. This attribute of God is therefore closely related to his will and his power. Yet this aspect of freedom focuses on the fact that God is not constrained by anything external to himself and that he is free to do whatever he wishes to do. There is no person or force that can ever dictate to God what he should do. He is under no authority or external restraint.

Psalm 115:3 (ESV)

3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Because God is free, we should not try to seek any more ultimate answer for God’s actions in creation than the fact that he willed to do something and that his will has perfect freedom (so long as the actions he takes are consistent with his own moral character). Sometimes people try to discover the reason why God had to do one or another action (such as create the world or save us). It is better simply to say that it was God’s totally free will (working in a way consistent with his character) that was the final reason why he chose to create the world and to save sinners.

Omnipotence

What is the definition of omnipotence?

God’s omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will.

The word omnipotence is derived from two Latin words, omni, “all,” and potens, “powerful,” and means “all-powerful.” Whereas God’s freedom referred to the fact that there are no external constraints on God’s decisions, God’s omnipotence has reference to his own power to do what he decides to do.

Jeremiah 32:27 ESV

27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

God’s power is infinite and that he is therefore not limited to doing only what he actually has done.

However, there are some things that God cannot do. God cannot will or do anything that would deny his own character. This is why the definition of omnipotence is stated in terms of God’s ability to do “all his holy will.” It is not absolutely everything that God is able to do but everything that is consistent with his character. For example, God cannot lie, He cannot deny himself, God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. He cannot act any way inconsistent with ANY of His attributes.

So, God can only do anything he wills to do or anything that is consistent with his character.

God’s exercise of power over his creation is also called God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty is his exercise of rule (as “sovereign” or “king”) over his creation.

What attributes has God given us that reflect His attributes?

Free Will

Choice and Decision Making

Relative Freedom

Intuitive Sense

God has made us as creatures with a will. We exercise choice and make real decisions regarding the events of our lives. Although our will is not absolutely free in the way God’s is, God has nonetheless given us relative freedom within our spheres of activity in the universe he has created.

In fact, we have an intuitive sense that it is our ability to exercise our wills and make choices, and to do so in a relatively free way, that is one of the most significant marks of God-likeness in our existence. Of course our desire to exercise our wills and our desire to be free from restraint can show themselves in sinful ways. People can become proud and can desire a kind of freedom that involves rebellion against God’s authority and a refusal to obey his will. Nonetheless, when we use our will and our freedom to make choices that are pleasing to God, we reflect his character and bring glory to him. When human beings are deprived of their ability to make free choices by evil governments or by other circumstances, a significant part of their God-likeness is suppressed. It is not surprising that they will pay almost any price to regain their freedom. American revolutionary Patrick Henry’s cry, “Give me liberty or give me death!” finds an echo deep within every soul created in the image of God.

We do not of course have infinite power or omnipotence any more than we have infinite freedom or any of God’s other attributes to an infinite degree. But even though we do not have omnipotence, God has given us power to bring about results, both physical power and other kinds of power: mental power, spiritual power, persuasive power, and power in various kinds of authority structures (family, church, civil government, and so forth). In all of these areas, the use of power in ways pleasing to God and consistent with his will is again something that brings him glory as it reflects his character.

Next week, finishing up with summary attributes. Perfection, blessedness, beauty, glory.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Second Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020. Print.

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