The Will Of God
There are two senses in which the phrase heading this paper may be understood, viz: (1) The will of God entertained (2) The will of God expressed. By the "will of God entertained" I mean the wishes, which are entertained in the mind of God, with reference to man — "the things of God (which) none knoweth save the Spirit of God." (1 Cor. 2:11.) Just as no man can know what is in the mind of another man except as the other expresses it, so that which is in the mind of God cannot be known except as it is expressed. The second sense is the one which will be dealt with in this study. It is in this sense that we speak of the Bible as the will of God — it is the will of God expressed; the portion of it known as the New Testament being the expression of the will of God for this age. Assurance that the New Testament is the complete, "expressed" will of God, plus knowledge of that will expressed therein, are necessary prerequisites to doing the will of God — we need to know the New Testament and know that it is God's will for us. Primarily the word which is translated "will" means "wish." A moments thought will enable us to see how the ideas of purpose, choice, intention, etc. reside in the word.
The Law Of God
The law of God is the will of God "expressed" or "impressed"; hence this study of the will of God is concerned with the law of God. If this be "legalistic" then let us have more of it! They are mistaken who think that they can "know the things of God" in some way other than by His will expressed, which is His law; or that they can do the will of God other than by obeying the law of God. The apostle writes "even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given us of God. Which things also we speak ...." (1 Cor. 2:11, 12.) Here the apostle asserts the inability of man to know the will of God except as the things of His will are spoken (expressed) by the Spirit guided apostles.
Impressed Or Expressed Law
The law of God is either "impressed" or "expressed." In the material realm it is impressed — this impressed will we know as the law of Nature. This is not the case of God's will with reference to the soul of man; for in this area the will of God is expressed — His law is revealed.
The knowledge of the laws of our material existence is gained through the avenue of human reason. Human experience provides the facts from which human reason forms conclusions which make up our knowledge of the material universe. But no so our knowledge of the will of God relative to the soul, for this knowledge man is dependent upon God's word. By words God has expressed His will to man — "Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words." (1 Cor. 2:13.)
The Bible Necessary
Man's need for the Bible is a strong argument in favor of the divine origin of the Bible. Moral certainty of the fact of such a need can be established. If it be granted that there is design in human existence — that human life has its purpose — it follows that the purpose or design must be made known in order that behaviour may be made to conform to the design. How can the will of God be done, if it is not known? The will of the Maker must be expressed unless man be regarded as of no higher order than the brute creation where instinct would provide the pattern of behaviour. In this case the will of the designer would be "impressed" as is true with the laws of nature which govern the material realm.
The above considerations lead to the conclusion that God's will for man must be "expressed"; but do not necessarily limit that expression to the Bible. Most "modernists" would probably go along with us this far but at this point they would balk and offer their view that God has not limited the expression of His will to the Bible but that He continues to speak to man through his experiences. A brief but conclusive answer to this is to cite changing and contradictory interpretations of human experiences which are held. Whose interpretations are we to accept as the "will" of God? The need of a fixed, authoritative expression of God's will is readily seen by those who are humble and thoughtful. The fact that the New Testament has been accepted, by millions, for nearly two thousand years, as the fixed authoritative expression of God's will to man is strong evidence in favor of the validity of its claims to be such.
Man can realize his fullest development and experience his greatest happiness only as he brings his life into line with the divine design, by doing the will of God. But knowledge of the will of God must precede doing the will of God; hence, the need of the Bible. This truth is a matter of revelation — "things that are revealed belong unto us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29b.) When the things of God are revealed they belong unto man; they are within his reach, thus making it possible for man to "do" the words of God's law.
God has always expressed His will to man. Never in the history of mankind has it been the will of God that man reason "from nature to nature's God." "God having of old times spoken unto the fathers .... hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his son." (Heb. 1:1, 2.)
Faith And Knowledge
We have seen that the laws of nature are impressed while the laws governing man in the moral and spiritual areas are expressed — revealed. We come to know the laws of nature by reason. Man's knowledge of the laws of nature is gained by observation and experimentation; but this is not the case with his knowledge of the will of God with reference to his soul. God's wisdom dictated that man not be left to human wisdom in this vital area. "For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God ...." (1 Cor. 1:21.)
'The disposition of some to exalt human wisdom and disparage faith in religious matters is much in evidence, even in those whom we least expect it. A little reflection on the nature of faith and knowledge will aid us in seeing the relative value of the two. Strictly speaking, all human knowledge is based upon experience. But the knowledge, gained by pan individual through his own experience is but a small part of the knowledge which he possesses. Most of what we regard and act upon as knowledge has been acquired through the experience of others; belief must be exercised even in this area. Belief is exercised in the material realm without exciting scorn and ridicule, why then the reluctance to exercise and encourage others to exercise faith in the area which is exclusively a faith area. In the spiritual realm. "we walk by faith and not by appearance." And, that faith, by which we walk, comes by hearing the word of God. (Rom. 10:17.)
Faith is always based upon evidence. The belief that the Bible is the expressed will of God is based on competent and sufficient evidence. Inordinate infatuation with the wisdom of the world is the main obstacle to belief in the Bible as the expressed will of God.
The fulfillment of prophecy proves the Bible claim that "no prophecy ever came by the will of man; but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:21.) The fact that the Bible has been regarded for centuries as the expressed will of God is strong evidence in favor of its claims to be such. These along with many other evidences can be produced to prove that the Bible is from heaven and not from men — hence is the will of God. The will of God as it relates to the spiritual being of man can be learned by studying the word of God.
Calvinism And Neo-Orthodoxy
Neo-orthodoxy (New orthodoxy) with its claims that human experience is the means of knowing the will of God, has undermined the faith of many in the authority of the scriptures. Those who embrace neo-orthodoxy regard the Bible, not as the expressed will of God, but only as that conception of the will of God which was formed, from their experiences, by the writers of the Bible. Neo-orthodoxy does not grant any supernatural aid to those writers which is not available to men today. The claim is that God continues to reveal His will to men today through human experiences.
Neo-orthodoxy is a near relative of Calvinism. The Calvinistic theory of the will of God was that the Bible was the expressed will of God, but that man could not know and do the will of God without "enabling grace." This theory held that the "depraved nature" of man rendered him incapable of understanding the Bible until the Holy Spirit operated upon his heart. A direct operation of the Spirit in addition to the expressed will of God was contended for by the Calvinist. The "direct operation" theory is held by the new as well as the old, the difference being that "enabling grace" is granted to the modernist to enable him to interpret the will of God as revealed in his experience; while the "enabling grace" is granted to the "elect" of Calvinism to enable him to understand the will of 'God as revealed in the Bible.
Both of these theories are false in their claims of "direct operation." The falseness of the Calvinistic claims is exposed by the requirement of the scripture that man understand the will of the Lord. The falseness of the other is exposed by the requirement of the scriptures that man conform his "experiences" to the expressed statements of the scriptures. The falseness of both is seen when we realize that man is an intelligent being capable of understanding an intelligent expression of the will of God and that God has undertaken to express (put in words) His will to man. To reject this conclusion is to reflect on God's ability to create man with the capacity to understand — and/or His ability to express His will intelligibly. Ponder these questions: Is man, as he is created, able to understand the will of God expressed? Is God able to express His will so that man can understand?
In some articles to follow on the theme "the will of God" I plan to deal with such subjects as: "The Completeness and Adequacy of the Will of God"; "The Revelation of the Will of God"; and "Doing the Will of God." The doubts and indecision with reference to the authority of the Bible point up the need for a serious re-study of these old themes.