Christianity Oasis Forum

[Netchaplain]

The intent of this article is not a presumption to know or understand God’s will for mankind, but rather to speculate concerning His control within the entirety of all of His creation. In my opinion, His will must involve complete control (acting according to foreknowledge, e.g. He always knew but not always acted upon creation until His time of choosing to create); otherwise I believe it could be concluded as confusion. Also, please forgive me if this article seems to be disruptive to you in any way.

From Eternity Past

Was man supposed to enter into sin (could God say, “They weren’t supposed to do that)? Since God foreknew man would sin and allowed it to transpire, could this be part of His foreknown plans; esp. considering nothing happens without His foreknowledge and the fact that He could have preplanned to disallow it? The issue isn’t that man chose to sin, but rather the fact of God’s foreknowledge of it.

I believe since God is omniscient, every occurrence in this life that He allows to transpire is not only foreknown by Him, but is also taken into consideration as part of His plan, which was foreknown prior to creation—from eternity past. The only alternative is being bereft of the impossibility that God is not omniscient and does not foreknow everything; or He chooses not to know certain things, which would be an even greater impossibility, considering omniscience means “all knowing” (God never had to learn anything but has always foreknown everything—a very comforting thought for the saved).

To address the above concept, two prominent and unavoidable elements must be examined and if done rightly, it may serve as a base. These are; God’s will and God’s desire. In a general sense these two terms can intend identical definitions, depending upon the context, as all words do; but their specific sense varies according to usage.

The specific intention of “God’s will” concerns His “ways,” which are “past finding out” (Rom 11:33). Even though He is “not willing (desirous) that any should perish” (2 Pet 3:9), and “Who will have (wills or desires to have) all men to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4), He foreknew the generality of mankind would perish (Matt 7:13, 14). For “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). This passage has direct reference to the Jews but may also be applied indirectly to the rest of the world when considering “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (1 Cor 10:26, 28).

For example, the “will of God” is that all who receive His Son inherit eternal life (John 1:12). Now, if He chooses not to grant the same for those who do not want to believe, this cannot be attributed as being partial (Rom 2:11; Eph 6:9). Partiality can only be attributed if He broke His will for the unbelieving and granted them eternal life, which would disregard His will.

Therefore concerning the controlling-factor of God (the crux of this article), everyone is an active subject of His will, but not an active subject of His desire!

-NC