Page 24 - Bible Doctrines II w videos short

[CSB]). It is clear here that John wanted his audience to know that all things were created by God and
that they exist by the will of God the Father. The events linked with the death of Christ were also in
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accordance with the will of God. This is confirmed by the prayer of the church in Jerusalem: “ “For, in
fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled
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together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your will
had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:27-28 [CSB]).
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Sometimes, it is the will of God that we should suffer as seen in 1 Peter 3:17: “ For it is better to suffer
for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil” (CSB). In the same book, apostle Peter
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says that “ So then, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator
while doing what is good” (CSB). On the other hand, James encourages us to see all the events
happening now and those to happen in the future as products of the will of God (Jas. 4:13-15).

Distinctions in Aspects of God’s Will
There are two aspects of God’s will, necessary will and free will. The necessary will of God includes
everything that He must will according to His own nature. “God wills to be, or wants to be, who He is
and what He is.” In Exodus, the writer says, “ God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what
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you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you” (CSB]. God’s free will consists of all things that
God decided to do but did not necessarily require that He does them in accordance with His nature. It
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is wrong to try to find the necessary cause for creation or redemption in the being of God Himself
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because that would rob Him of His total independence.

The secret and revealed will. In most cases, human beings would will secretly and later on, make that
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will known. On the secrete will of God, Moses notes that “ The hidden things belong to the Lord our
God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words
of this law” (CSB). He emphatically states that there is the secret will of God which we should not even
dare searching to know. However, the revealed will is for us which we should at all cost identify,
interpret, apply, and communicate to everyone.

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On His revealed will, Jesus says that “ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21 [CSB]). We
are being encouraged here to not say with our mouths ‘Lord, Lord’ but to obey God’s laws in order that
we would be able to follow His principles for life so that we can repent of sin and trust in Christ as
Savior. Paul commands his audience in the churches in Ephesus to understand what the will of the Lord
is (Eph. 5:17; cf. Rom. 2:18).

In other passages, the authors speak of God’s secret will. For example, James says that “ Instead, you
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should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (Jas. 4:15). I do not think James is
discussing the revealed will of God. If he is writing about the secret will of God (I think he does), he is
encouraging his audience to trust in the secret will of God. By doing so, they would be able to humble
themselves by overcoming their pride and begin to depend on the sovereign control of God the Father.
In speaking of the secret will of God, Paul encourages his audience in the church in Corinth that he
would come to them “ if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk, but the power of those who are
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arrogant” (1 Cor. 4:19 [CSB]). Further, both the revelation of the good news of the Gospel to some and
its hiding to others are said to be in accordance with the will of God. “ At that time Jesus said, “I praise
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you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and
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intelligent and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure” (Matt.
11:25-26 [CSB]).

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