Does God Have Two Wills?

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

1 view

0 comments

00:03
Hello, welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist.
00:07
This is a daily conversation about scripture, culture and media from a Reformed perspective.
00:15
Get your Bible and coffee ready and prepare to engage today's topic.
00:21
Here's your host, Pastor Keith Foskey.
00:24
Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist, my name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.
00:30
Does God have two wills? This was a topic of discussion at a recent class at Sovereign Grace Academy.
00:39
Today we're going to listen in to that recording and understand what we mean when we talk about the prescriptive will of God and the purposeful will of God.
00:49
Enjoy the lesson today.
00:52
Looking at the will of God, when we talk about the will of God, if you read the book, which I hope most of you have, if you haven't, make sure you go back and try to get that done.
01:03
When R.C.
01:04
talked about the will of God in the book, he made a good point that as a pastor I know I've dealt with before.
01:09
People will come to the pastor and say, I have a choice between option A and option B and I don't know what to do.
01:20
What is the will of God for me? And my answer typically is, I don't know, as long as both of them are equally righteous.
01:33
Obviously, if somebody says, should I cheat on my wife or should I go home to my wife, the will of God is that you go home to your wife.
01:41
Because that is given in the prescription of God's law, don't commit adultery.
01:47
But if the person says, well, I have a job in Kentucky and I have a job in Maine, both of them would benefit my family, I don't have a good one way or the other, you don't always know what the answer is in regard to the will of God.
02:03
My answer has been somewhat simplistic and some people get upset with me for it.
02:07
I say, do what you want.
02:10
And they say, what do you mean? They say, I want to know what God wants.
02:13
I say, well, in this regard you might not know what God wants, but do what you want because if you have delighted yourself in the Lord, the Bible says he will give you the desire of your heart.
02:22
That does not mean he's going to give you everything you want.
02:24
What it does mean, though, is that God will in tune your desires to his.
02:29
Therefore, if you have a desire of one over the other, it's probably something that God is moving on your heart.
02:35
So do what you want.
02:36
If both of them are right and neither one is sinful, do what you want to do.
02:42
Is that too simple? It's just, you know, if all things being equal, neither one are sin, do what you want to do because ultimately God's going to work it out for his purpose anyway.
02:57
If you start to head to Kentucky and everything falls apart and they call you and say the job got given to somebody else and blah, blah, blah, then you'll know God closed that door pretty tight.
03:07
And you say, well, what if I go to Kentucky and it all falls apart and the next year I realize I'm miserable? I said, well, God's got a lesson in that, too.
03:15
You didn't go there for no reason.
03:20
Now we're getting not only to the will of God, we're getting to the sovereignty and the providence of God.
03:25
God has a purpose for you where you are, even if what got you there is terrible.
03:31
Joseph teaches us that at the end of his life, he looks at his brothers and says what you meant for evil, God meant for good to save many people alive.
03:41
Same verb, what you meant for evil, God meant for good.
03:45
What you did was wrong, but God did right in the same.
03:52
Yeah, absolutely.
03:54
Absolutely.
03:55
Funny thing about Job is at the end of Job, there's Job is asking all these questions and the answer is I am God and that's it.
04:08
I mean, the simple answer at the end of Job is, were you there when I formed the world? Can you put a hook in the nose of Leviathan? Can you tame the behemoth? No, I'm God and well, I said, yeah, but it's simplifying it is who are you, old man? Answer back to God, Romans nine sort of, you know, elaborated.
04:35
But when we talk about the will of God, most people want to know the will of God for them.
04:43
But when we talk about the will of God, we have to take a step back and say, OK, wait a minute.
04:49
What are we referring to when we talk about the will of God? What is a will? The will is is the expression of one's desires or choices, right? If I desire to go somewhere, I will and do right.
05:06
What are we talking about when we talk about the will of God? The same thing.
05:09
Psalm 135, six, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps.
05:22
That's again Psalm 135 or six.
05:25
God does what he pleases.
05:26
That's his will.
05:30
Now, the question becomes, does God have one will or two wills? Because God is not double minded.
05:49
But at the same time, we could say that everything that happens happens by the will of God.
05:59
Yeah, Romans 8, 28 and other passages.
06:03
But everything that happens happens by the will of God.
06:07
Because it wouldn't happen if God didn't choose for it to happen.
06:12
And yet those things often violate what he has prescribed to us in Scripture.
06:19
So give you what we mean when we say, does God have two wills? I think that we can describe God's will in two ways.
06:26
His prescriptive will is the will that he has given by revelation.
06:34
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
06:37
That's God's prescriptive will.
06:39
He tells you not to do it.
06:42
He says this is not the way.
06:48
However, do men commit adultery? Every day.
06:55
So God has a and forgive the wording, because as a Calvinist, I rarely use this phrase, but I'm going to qualify it a thousand times in just a moment.
07:05
But I'm going to say it anyway.
07:07
God has a permissive will.
07:12
The perfect or rather, excuse me, the the prescriptive will is the will that says thou shalt not.
07:19
And the permissive will is the will that allows men and women to break his commands or break his prescription.
07:28
What's that? Well, we haven't gotten to grace yet.
07:31
We're just dealing with God's allowing of or permitting men to break his law.
07:41
Now, I don't like the word permissive.
07:45
And I'm not just using it because it starts with a P and I like alliteration.
07:51
But when we talk about God's will, we talk about his prescriptive will.
07:56
He says, don't do X, but X happens.
08:01
All right, things happen that he prescribes ought not happen, that he commands must not happen, yet they still happen.
08:10
Therefore, in some sense, he has permitted those things to happen.
08:14
But scripture clearly tells us that God does not permit anything with which or for which he does not have a purpose.
08:23
When God permits something, he has a purpose for permitting it.
08:29
Even if it's something heinous.
08:32
There is no such thing as purposeless evil.
08:38
God has a purpose for everything.
08:43
We might not know what it is.
08:45
So I choose rather than using the word permissive will because I think permissive makes God.
08:53
Because when I think of permissive, I think like me, right? I permit my kids to do some things because I just ain't got the time to fight that battle today.
09:04
You know, hey, call me a bad father if you want to.
09:08
I make mistakes and there are times when I permit things that I have prescribed and I should have just stood my ground.
09:16
But I didn't because I was tired or they were being obsessively obnoxious that day.
09:23
I love my children.
09:26
But I permitted it, even though I didn't want it to happen.
09:30
Because I really, in that moment, didn't have the strength or the time to fix it.
09:39
Is that how we see God's permissive will? That he's up there going, oh, man.
09:44
Oh, I just I would do something, but I'm just I just don't got the energy.
09:50
I mean, you see, that's that's when I use the word permissive.
09:54
That's the picture people get.
09:55
And that's the wrong picture.
09:57
I forget the picture.
10:01
But still, it's as if God is passive in it.
10:05
God permits it because he has a purpose for it.
10:08
That's the point I'm making, Brother Frank.
10:11
If God has permitted it, he has a reason for it.
10:18
That's the thing that's hard to get.
10:20
So I call it God's purposeful will rather than permissive.
10:24
God has a purpose.
10:27
And permissive will, if God permits, allows us to sin, we still have the consequences to deal with.
10:33
It's not like, well, God...
10:58
You get all upset about that.
11:01
That was God exercising his will that it ain't going to happen no more.
11:08
Right? And people get all bent out of shape over God bringing his punishment on the Sodomites.
11:16
God bringing his punishment on the people of Noah's generation.
11:20
God bringing his punishment on the Canaanites.
11:23
People get all bent out of shape.
11:25
And you say, wait a minute, didn't you say it wouldn't be great if God stopped all the sinning? Well, that's how it happens.
11:33
Okay, go ahead, Bob.
11:35
I was going to say, that's an example of this is...
11:41
Exactly.
11:42
Because he had a purpose.
11:43
And in the end, Joseph could see it.
11:45
And he could see that the will of God is compatible with these things because God is bringing about his perfect purpose.
11:55
In your book, it's called Correspondence, that God's will corresponds to what's happening because he's bringing about his will.
12:02
The theological term, another theological term is called Compatibilism.
12:07
That God is making it compatible with his perfect will.
12:11
How can any God say, all things will work together for the good of those who love me? If he's not working all things out for the good of those who love him, right? So, when we talk about the will of God, I prefer the word purposeful or, if you want to get a little more specific, Decretive, his will of decree.
12:44
God has a will of command, don't do this.
12:48
But God has also decreed that certain things will happen.
12:52
For instance, was it a sin to kill Jesus? Yes, it was a sin to kill Jesus.
12:56
It was the worst sin in history.
12:58
Killing the only innocent man in all of history was put to death.
13:03
But what does the Bible say? And it was done according to God's purpose.
13:11
He had a purpose in the cross.
13:13
As heinous, as the worst sin that ever was committed against a man was when Jesus was put on the cross.
13:19
And the Bible says it was by the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God.
13:28
So, I want to read to you two quotes on this subject.
13:32
The first one is a paragraph, so hang with me because it's a little long.
13:38
But this is from the Abstract of Systematic Theology.
13:42
This was written by James Pettigrew Boyce.
13:44
He, if you don't know who James Pettigrew Boyce is, James Pettigrew Boyce was the first president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which is the flagship seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention.
13:57
He was a theologian par excellence.
14:02
Pettigrew Boyce's Systematic Theology is still on my shelf to this day.
14:07
And it is a, it is, honestly, this book is great.
14:13
But this is shallow water.
14:16
If you pick up Pettigrew Boyce.
14:19
And again, it's meant to be.
14:20
This is an introduction to Systematic Theology.
14:23
And Boyce's Systematic Theology isn't much bigger, but it is very weighty.
14:29
James Pettigrew Boyce.
14:33
Pettigrew, just put P, period.
14:38
I think it's P-E-D-R-U-E, Pettigrew.
14:43
No, P-E-D-I-G-R-U-E, I think.
14:46
Boyce, B-O-Y-C-E, B-O-Y-C-E.
14:50
But listen to what he says.
14:51
He's talking about the decree of God because some people take issue with that.
14:55
God decrees all things? Does God decree everything? Does that mean God decrees every single thing that happens? This is his answer.
15:05
The term decree is liable to some misapprehension and objection because it conveys the idea of an edict or of some compulsory determination.
15:15
Purpose has been suggested as a better word.
15:18
That was the word I used.
15:20
Plan will sometimes still be more suitable.
15:24
The mere use of these words will remove from many some difficulties and prejudices which make them unwilling to accept this doctrine.
15:32
They perceive that in the creation, preservation, and government of the world, God must have a plan and that that plan must have been just, wise, and holy, tending both to his own glory and the happiness of his creatures.
15:46
They recognize that a man who has no purpose, no aim, especially in important matters, and who cannot or does not devise the means by which to carry out his purpose is without wisdom and capacity and unworthy of his nature.
15:58
Consequently, they readily believe and admit that the more comprehensive and at the same time the more definite is the plan of God, the more worthy it is of infinite wisdom.
16:10
Indeed, they are compelled to the conclusion that God cannot be what he is without forming such a purpose or plan.
16:19
So what is he saying? If God didn't have a plan for all this, he wouldn't be God.
16:25
If God wasn't working out his plan in the minute things of this world, he would not be God.
16:33
As R.C.
16:33
Sproul said, if there was one rogue molecule in the entire universe that was not at the command of Almighty God, it could be that one rogue molecule that threw the whole plan into disarray.
16:47
One nail in the shoe of the horse causes the horse to fall.
16:53
One horse in the battle causes the battle to be lost.
16:57
One battle causes the war to be lost.
17:01
And one war can cause a nation to crumble.
17:04
One nail in the shoe of one horse can cause the nation to crumble.
17:15
I didn't know that.
17:16
But you understand the point.
17:18
God's plan must include all things because if there's anything it didn't include, then it would be that thing that could overturn his plan.
17:27
The book touches on it, and I've heard it charismatic, trying to twist that like God permits you to sin.
17:35
As if he could say, yeah, I want you to sin so I can use it for my purpose.
17:40
He doesn't permit you.
17:42
I'm not wording it quite right, but he doesn't permit you like I purpose you to sin, but when you do, it can be used.
17:52
He uses it.
17:53
He knows you're going to sin, but it's not like he's going, I want you to go out and do this so I can make something good of it.
18:00
It touches on it in the book.
18:01
I couldn't find the section.
18:04
It says something to the effect that if God did that, then he would be permitting you to do evil.
18:09
God does not tempt us to evil.
18:13
That's an important biblical principle.
18:16
The Westminster Confession of Faith says, God has from eternity decreed all things which come to pass, but that does not make him the author of sin.
18:26
I'm paraphrasing a little bit the confession, but the confession makes the point that God's decree of all things does not eliminate the impact of secondary causation.
18:37
Secondary causation is sometimes a difficult subject, and I admit I don't have it completely figured out, but I will explain how I understand it.
18:47
Secondary causation is the idea that how something takes place is distinguished from that it will take place.
18:56
For instance, if there's a bowl of water sitting in a room and God determines that that bowl of water would be emptied, he could, by divine miracle, simply cause the water to evaporate.
19:10
Or he could, by his divine hand, knock the bowl over.
19:15
Or he could ensure that a room full of very thirsty basketball players are going to come in that room and drink the water.
19:24
And those would be secondary causes to bring about his will.
19:30
And so when we talk about causation, we talk about God as the primary cause of all things.
19:36
He has decreed all things from eternity.
19:38
But the secondary causes, while still a part of his decree, are different than the primary cause.
19:46
And our choices to sin are in there.
19:51
And they are our choices.
19:52
We make legitimate choices to sin, and our desires are displayed in our choices.
19:59
Yes, sir, Brian.
20:01
From the beginning, right? Yes.
20:06
Well, actually, he determines the end from the beginning, according to Scripture, because he has a purpose.
20:23
Yes.
20:26
He has a purpose.
20:28
You're here for a purpose.
20:31
Yes, I see you, Frank.
20:32
What you got? Is God given to us by revelation in the Bible? His prescriptive will.
20:44
Yes.
20:45
Given to us by revelation in the Bible.
20:47
Yes.
20:48
But his purposeful will is not.
20:51
That is the secret things you mentioned earlier, secret things belonging to the Lord.
20:54
We don't know what God's permissive or purposeful will will be in a given situation, but we do know what his prescriptive will is, because that is given to us in the Bible.
21:03
So, yes, Frank, you are correct.
21:04
The prescriptive will is given to us in the commandments, in the call to love our neighbors ourself.
21:10
That's the prescriptive will, right? That's God's command.
21:20
This, to me, is more difficult to understand than the Trinity.
21:24
But I'm just saying, where in this discussion does free will fall? Well, it's not in this discussion, except to say that God is the only being in the universe that has a completely free will.
21:44
Yes, because our will, as we'll see when we get to anthropology, our will is a will that is not free.
21:52
Our will is bound to our nature.
21:55
So if, like for instance, if I said, I want you, Frank, right now to stop being a sinner, you would say, I can't, my nature is sinful, and therefore, while I can battle sin, I can struggle with sin, I can't change my nature, right? The Bible says that.
22:17
Yes, exactly.
22:18
Therefore, this is why when people say they have a free will, I say, well, slow down.
22:21
You have a free will to do what? Yeah, you're free to sin.
22:26
And the Bible tells us that we are slaves to righteousness, or we are slaves to sin, but it never says we're free.
22:34
But the Bible does say God is free.
22:37
And I'll add one other thought to that.
22:40
R.C.
22:42
said this, it wasn't in the book, but he said this.
22:44
He said, when we think of the freedom of man, man does have a certain freedom, but God is more free.
22:50
And when my freedom runs into God's freedom, he wins every time.
22:53
God has the freedom, he's doing what he chooses in the heavens and on the earth, and when my freedom runs into his, he wins.
23:00
I'm going to read you one last quote.
23:02
This is Jonathan Edwards.
23:03
If you don't know who Jonathan Edwards is, the Encyclopedia Britannica defined Jonathan Edwards as the greatest theologian ever born in the United States of America.
23:12
Jonathan Edwards has been considered by many to be the absolute highest example of 19th century theology, even though he was, of course, a Presbyterian.
23:28
We'll give him that one.
23:32
I love this quote.
23:33
This is a shorter quote, but listen to it in regard to the decree of God.
23:37
Whether God has decreed all things that ever come to pass or not, all that own the being of a God own that he knows all things beforehand.
23:45
Now it is self-evident that if he knows all things beforehand, he either does approve of them or does not approve of them.
23:51
That is, he either is willing they should be or willing they should not be, but to will that they should be is to decree them.
23:59
Thank you for listening to this recent clip from Sovereign Grace Academy.
24:05
If you're interested in learning more about how to join Sovereign Grace Academy, you can go to our website at sgfcjax.org slash academy, or you can send an email to our program.
24:18
Remember, we have an email, calvinistpodcast at gmail.com, and you can send me a question, and I'll be happy to answer it.
24:27
Thank you for listening to Coffee with a Calvinist.
24:29
My name is Keith Foskey, and I have been your Calvinist.
24:33
May God bless you.
24:34
Thank you for listening to today's episode of Coffee with a Calvinist.
24:39
If you enjoyed the program, please take a moment to subscribe and provide us feedback.
24:45
We love to receive your comments and questions and may even engage with them in a future episode.
24:52
As you go about your day, remember this.
24:55
Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
24:58
All who come to Him in repentance and faith will find Him to be a perfect Savior.
25:04
He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
25:11
May God be with you.