God’s will vs. the will of man

“I dropped that pencil. I did that” cried a desperate seminary student named John Piper as he confronted his professor of Systematic Theology in the hall after class. John Piper’s action (and his desperation) was in response to the professor’s assertion that man has no freedom of the will, a doctrine that was supported by Martin Luther, John Calvin and others.

Did John Piper really drop his pencil by his own volition, or was that act — indeed, the entire encounter with the professor — predetermined by God? Was it his decision, or not? Could he have done otherwise, or not? Do people really have free will or is the concept of human free will a “blasphemous doctrine” as claimed by R. C. Sproul and other theologians, mostly of the Reformed persuasion?

Before we can understand what freedoms of choice God has granted to us (if any), it is necessary, I believe, to first understand some basics about God’s will. I must advise, if you’re seeking profound theological insight into the mysteries of God and human volition, this brief treatment will disappoint, but if you want some simple, biblical clarity into the will of God and the freedoms of humans, I hope this will be helpful.

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In reading through the pages of Scripture, we find two inclinations of God which could be defined as His will: 1. what God desires, and 2. what God decrees. Both, I believe, are manifestations of the nature of God.

The decree of God

This is easy; God declares something he wants to happen, and it happens. It happens simply because a sovereign, omnipotent God makes it come to pass. I believe this is how God knows the end from the beginning. God uses his divine power to ensure an outcome that conforms with his divine purposes.

For example, few theologians would deny that virtually everything along the path of redemption has been decreed by God. This includes the unconditional choice of his servants throughout redemptive history, the sending of the Christ, and all actions related to the crucifixion. I propose that all of these acts were according to the “predetermined plan and foreknowledge” of God (Acts 2:23) — that is, they were decreed by God.

Within God’s decretive will, some scholars speak of a “secret will” of God. This is the notion that God has secretly determined outcomes that have not been revealed in His Word and are often contrary to his revealed will. While the Bible certainly supports the truth that there are “the secret things of God” (Deut 29:29), I dispute that there is any “secret will” of God.

Although we might not always understand every action of the hand of God, we certainly know every intention of the heart of God. He has graciously revealed his nature to us and, fortunately for us, God, by his own decree, cannot act contrary to His nature. God is righteous and just, compassionate and merciful, patient and loving. We can trust that God’s decrees will always reflect those unchanging qualities.

The desire of God

Throughout the Bible we see many things that God desires, but has not decreed — things He wants, but doesn’t sovereignly bring about. Most often, this expression of God’s will (sometimes referred to as his “permissive will”) is in the form of commands or divine counsel.

“You shall not murder” (Exo 20:13 ESV).

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality” (1Th 4:3 ESV).

While God’s decrees are determinative, His desires are not. It is this aspect of the “will” of God that opens the door for our ability to either comply or resist God’s will for us.

Human will

In Romans, Chapter 9, Paul famously asks the following rhetorical challenge, “… who has resisted [God’s] will” (Rom 9:19 NKJV)? Well, if he’s referring to God’s decrees, the answer is a resounding, “Nobody!” But if he’s referring to what God desires for us, the answer is, “Everybody!”

God desires that we are just, we are not. God desires that we are merciful, we are not. God desires that we are faithful, we are not (Mat 23:23). Like God’s will, our wills are tethered to our nature, and most theologians would agree that we have a natural bent toward sin. But unlike God, it seems that we have been given the ability to act contrary to our nature, that is, we can choose to do things that are against our natural inclinations. We can choose to be just and merciful and faithful.

The apostle Paul says that when we behold the glory of Christ “[we] are being transformed into [His] image from one degree of glory to another” (2Co 3:18 ESV). This describes a transformation that, upon submitting to the lordship of Christ, can begin to tip the scales, changing our wills to conform with His — that is, less human nature, more divine nature; less of self, more of others. In short, we become more and more glorified.

In his book, The Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther contends that without God, a man’s will is in bondage. He cannot choose between good and evil. He will always do evil. Without God, that may be true. Fortunately, the Bible agrees with John Calvin who concedes that there is no such thing as a completely godless man.  

“Men of sound judgment will always be sure that a sense of divinity which can never be effaced, is engraved upon men’s minds … there is some God … naturally inborn in all, and is fixed deep within, as if it were the very marrow” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, i.3.3).

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jhn 17:3 ESV).Since no one is without God’s divine influence, it seems that God has simply granted to all people sufficient grace to know God and to choose life, but the freedom of the will to choose otherwise.