Does God have two wills?
Posted: November 22, 2009 Filed under: Series, Theology | Tags: Christ, Christianity, election, faith, God, Jesus, predestination, salvation 5 Comments »
My intention is to answer the questions:
- Does God ordain wicked actions that are against His laws in order to accomplish His purpose?
- Does God elect and predestine some to salvation but not others even though Scripture states that it is His will for all to be saved? If so, why?
When reading Scripture, it is hard to nail down God’s will at times. In one passage He will harden someone in order to destroy them or not allow men to understand His teachings, and in another part of Scripture He shows mercy and wishes for all men to be saved. Sometimes God allows, and even wills, sinful acts to happen (we’ll see that later in the crucifixion) and sometimes He intervenes before sin can be committed (Abimelech and Sarah in Genesis 20:4-6).
Let’s be honest, God seems a little bipolar.
What I want to do is look at Scripture and try to answer some questions. Does God have two wills? Also, I want to examine how or why God saves some but not others, even though He wishes none to perish.
As a former Arminian, I know how hard it is to accept or even entertain the idea of predestined election of salvation. However, my intention is to show that God does in fact have a commanding will that is used in not saving all men into the following of His moral will. I also realize that this will probably not make a dent in any Arminian’s belief against it. Regardless, whether you agree or disagree, I implore you to open your heart and read on.
The Arminian Rebuttal
It is deeply engrained in Arminian theology that God reduces His own sovereign power in order to allow men the free will to choose/reject Him. Election, therefore, is God going into the future and seeing our choices of faith. Then, He travels back into time and predestines the salvation and life for men based on what they decide. It is said that the word “foreknowledge” means that God knew before time because He saw from the future, but this is a blatant twist of the definition. The definition is much more simple and clear in the Dictionary: “Foreknowledge: knowledge or awareness of something before (NOT after, then before) its existence or occurrence.”
My one massive problem with this idea: You are limiting God’s work to be inside of the very time that He created. God does not have to work inside of time, as our finite minds may perceive.
Arminians have essentially three main passages that form their argument for the possible salvation of all (although there are others, these are the most common): Ezekial 18:23, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, and 2 Peter 3:9.
In Ezekial, you see God’s compassion towards the wicked saying, “‘Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’ declares the Sovereign LORD. ‘Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?’” Also, Paul tells Timothy to pray for authorities because He “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Peter, likewise, states that God is patient in bringing about the Last Days because He is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
It is rather easy to go back to original Greek text and interpret that in Timothy, the text is not literally speaking of all men but parts of all kinds of men (i.e. not prejudice to specific genders, races, nationalities, etc.). Also, I believe it is very clear by his introduction that Peter is speaking solely to the elect.
This argument aside, we will still see that God is active in not saving all men.
God’s Two Wills Examined: Law and Purpose
To get an idea of how this is possible, we must examine how the Scriptures show God’s two wills. First, we see that the will of God is synonymous with following His moral code of laws and refraining from sin. Second, we see that the will of God is related to His determinant purpose. You will see that there are times when God wills (purposely acts) against His will (following His laws).
We are to follow the will of God by following His laws, but He also wills that not all can follow this. This is an idea seen in passages such as Matthew 7:21, where men try to follow His laws but aren’t able to know Him and 1 John 2:16-17, where the world is passing away and but not all follow His desires. God commands that men do His will by following His moral commands. However, it doesn’t mean that He wills for everyone to follow them.
Let us look at instances in which God allows events that are against His moral law in order to accomplish His purpose.
What stands out to me the most is the crucifixion of Christ. In Acts 2:23, Luke states that “This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s set (predestined) purpose and foreknowledge” and the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 53 says that ”it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer.” At the same time, Luke 22:3 states that it was Satan who carried out Judas’ betrayal, leading to the sinful murder of Jesus. Also, see Acts 4:25-28 to see where God’s will was for Pilate and the Jews to murder Jesus. So, God planned the death of Christ but it took the allowance of sinful acts contrary to His laws to accomplish it.
The wars against Jesus in Revelation were done by the will of God through sinful actions of men. Revelation 17:17 is clear that “God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule.” Obviously, it is against the will of God to attack Jesus, yet He wills the Antichrist and his minions to do so.
There are instances in which God does not allow men to hear the Word or understand it. This one blew me away the first time I stumbled across it. There are two major times that you see God essentially acting against evangelism.
In Mark 4:10-12, Jesus uses the words of Isaiah to explain that He uses parables so that the perishing “may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding.” Why? “Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.” Wow! Jesus Himself even affirms that He does not intend for all to receive Him.
Another interesting passage is Acts 16:6-8. It states that Paul and his missionary team were not allowed to preach the Gospel in Bithynia because “the Spirit of Jesus (Holy Spirit) would not allow them to.” Again, Jesus withheld His words from certain people.
So although God may wish for none to perish, it is obvious that He wills some not to be saved.
God hardens hearts in order to bless His children. Throughout the Old Testament, God puts it into the hearts of men to reject Him or His people so that those wicked men will be destroyed. Argue all you want, but the text does not say that God “knew their free will choices of rejection in the future.” Rather, it shows that God flat out goes in and doesn’t give them the choice.
The most common example is Pharoah in Egypt. Now, you do see Pharoah harden his own heart, but that doesn’t change the fact that God hardened him. It was not because of his constant rejection of God; Romans 9:17-18 plainly says that God gave Pharoah his position of authority in order to flex His muscles when He hardens him. Furthermore, it says that He ”hardens whom He wants to harden,” which means that He does what He wants, not what He thinks or knows that you will do.
Also, Moses and Joshua both have battles in which God hardens the hearts of leaders so that His chosen people can destroy them. In Deuteronomy 2:26-31, Moses sends a peace offering to Sihon but “the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands.” God wouldn’t allow Sihon to surrender.
The kings of Canaan experienced a similar fate at the hands of God through Joshua. Joshua 11:18-20 shows that the kings did not make treaties with the Israelites because God wanted to “exterminate them without mercy.” Here we see, again, God working against His will of wanting all men to be saved.
*For further study, see the stories of Eli’s sons, Joseph and his brothers, and Jacob and Esau.
Free Will or Predestined Purpose?
We have seen numerous examples in which God works against the statements in 1 Timothy and 2 Peter that He wants none to perish. We can only conclude one of two things:
- God is a schizophrenic liar. (Hint: wrong answer)
- There is a will in God that supersedes His will for all men to be saved.
Of course, we must come to the conclusion that God chooses not to save all. If God’s only will was for His commands to be followed by everyone, certainly He would make it so.
Arminians will believe that God’s purposeful will restrains Him from saving all by allowing free choice. Calvinists will believe that God predestines some to be saved without giving us an explanation of how He chooses.
To follow the Arminian point, you must rely on the man-made philosophical assumption that God gives us free will to choose although He apparently and often works against that free will in Scripture.
To follow the Calvinist point, you can read Scripture for what it is and accept the hard truth that we do not need an answer for God’s actions (Romans 9:11-23).
Well Said, and very thorough. I would add that the “wages of sin is death.” God owes us nothing by way of choice or anything else, except what His righteousness and justice demands. The fact that He saves ANY of us is amazing. Also, part of the reason for the “all” passages in the NT is that the apostles didn’t know who was and was not elect … nor do we. We are to approach allmankind as though they may be saved. To witness, love, serve and point to Jesus, all the while praying that, if it be His will, the gospel would shine in their hearts, even unto Salvation.
Actually, the Arminian point of view is really nothing more than Egocentric, humanistic self exaultation. I know that is rough … maybe too much so, but anything that is elevated above the Sovereignty of God removes that Sovereignty and debases the character of God. Salvation is no longer of God, but of Man, and God agrees with US and predestines us according to US, not Himself. This is simply not taught in scripture, I do not believe.
Also, God does not exist in time. He exists outside of it. Yes, He created it, but it was created at the dawning of this world .. “and the evening and the morning were the first day.” Until then, there was no time… only eternity. And God is eternal. These things were predetermined “before the foundations of the world” which is to say, before time …Therefore even philisophically even, the looking ahead theory is mutually exclusive to a decision which was made before that timeline even existed. Put that in your late night brain mush and rattle that around a bit and you will be sure to find confusion somewhere!
I am glad to see you embracing the teachings of scripture. yes, it is a difficult road. Mainly because it challenges EVERY notion you had about God. it will, in the end, however, make you a greatful and awe stricken disciple of Jesus.
Matt
Good word, Matt. And thanks for the compliment, I had hoped to make it concise and coherent at the same time.
I had a lot more written on predestination and the Arminian side but felt as if I’d make this post into a novel!
I like your point that the apostles didn’t know who was and wasn’t elect, very good point.
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