This morning at Bible study, we began talking about the different meanings of the term “God’s will”, especially as it relates to Acts 4. The following message by John Piper is very helpful in understanding these “two wills.” He said,
“There are two clear and very different meanings for the term “will of God” in the Bible. We need to know them and decide which one is being used here in Romans 12:2. In fact, knowing the difference between these two meanings of “the will of God” is crucial to understanding one of the biggest and most perplexing things in all the Bible, namely, that God is sovereign over all things and yet disapproves of many things. Which means that God disapproves of some of what he ordains to happen. That is, he forbids some of the things he brings about. And he commands some of the things he hinders. Or to put it most paradoxically: God wills some events in one sense that he does not will in another sense.
Filed under: Knowing & Trusting God, Theology | Tagged: Bible Study, Desiring God, God, John Piper, Trusting God, Two Wills of God
I will try to shed a some light on what Piper refers to as paradoxical, the apparent 2 Wills of God.
As you know, the Will of God is revealed in His word. It is the Will of God that all be saved (1 Tim 2:4 & 2 Peter 3:9) and yet we know that most will not be saved. So why doesn’t an All Mighty, All Knowing, All Seeing God get His way (Will)?
Jesus explains it in his parable of the evil vinedresser in Mark 12. In this familiar story the landowner builds a beautiful vineyard. leases it to a farmer (vinedresser) and then leaves for a far country. Then the story talks about how the owner at harvest time sends a servant to receive some of the fruit and how they beat him and eventually when the owner sends his son to collect they killed him. Then what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the evil farmer.
A more modern example could be put like this. You own a piece of property and know that you will be gone for a significant period of time. So, you lease it to an acquaintance for 5 years and then leave the country. While you are gone the renters paint the house with pink and blue stripes, inside and out. In addition they cut the trees down and ruin the landscaping. You hear of these things happening, but the terms of this particular lease have not been broken and you are powerless to stop the carnage. What will you do when the 5 years are up? You’re gonna kick them out for sure.
It wasn’t the owners ‘will’ that the bad things happened but they had given-up control (leased) and could not stop the destruction until the lease was up. Another good example of this is the movie “Pacific Heights” with Michale Keaton being the evil tenant.
The point I’m trying to make here is that when in Gen 1:28 God gave dominion on earth to Adam He in actuality granted an ‘earth lease’ to him. (This was illustrated by Jesus in the above example)Then, when he ate of the forbidden fruit, Adam transfered the rights of the ‘earth lease’ over to satan who then became ruler of this world. At that point Jesus had to come down to earth as a man, live a sin-free life and then claim the earth lease back for mankind. He did not do this as God, but as a man, the second Adam.
When God gave dominion to Adam he made Adam ruler of this world. God gave Adam free-will, his earth to do with as he pleased. God could not cancel the lease (go back on his Word) just because Adam relinquished it to satan. God will not violate His Word. Man was not capable of living a sin-free life once his flesh became carnal, but Jesus, the second Adam, came here and redeemed us. Jesus purchased the earth lease back by his perfect life, death and resurrection.
We have now been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We have been restored to our proper dominion here on earth. “It is finished”. Jesus’ work on the cross was a complete work. It was an over-payment! The devil has already been defeated. By his stripes we were healed. He has given us power over poverty, sickness and even death, we have dominion as Adam did.
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge…)
So, to revert back to the example that Piper used, a child who is abused. Was it God’s Will? Of course not. Could God do anything about it? Not without violating His Word (the earth lease). For now, man has dominion on earth and until the earth lease is up it is up to man to right these wrongs, exercise our dominion. When the earth lease is up God will return and wreck His vengence on the evil vinedresser.
You seem to be saying that there are things that God cannot do. We need to be careful we do not put the Almighty Sovereign God in a box and say He can’t so anything about certain events or circumstances. You may enjoy a longer Piper article on this topic that goes into more detail on the two wills of God…http://www.desiringgod.org/Search/?search=two+wills&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit
[...] is God’s Will? I came across this blog by Pam and read her link to John Piper. It started me thinking how it could be better illustrated using [...]