Chapter 8

God’s Will and Ours

 God Working in Us

 Beginning with a Command

Philippians 2:12-13 presents some helpful material concerning the relationship that God bears to the volition of the believer. The believers here are ordered to “work out your salvation.” The Greek word for work out is one that means to perform, to accomplish, and to achieve. When one achieves, it is because he knows where he is going; it strongly implies a goal. Thus, Paul is saying, “Carry your salvation through to its end.”

Philippians 2:13 follows as an encouragement to do this. We are to act in such a manner because of the activity of God. When we read that “it is God who is at work in you,” we have a grammatical construction that means “God—the one working in you.” The word working means to energize. God is in us, activating us. God does not work to have passive, indecisive, vacillating children.

The Dual Purpose of God’s Working

God is working in us “to will and to work….” Both of these infinitives are in the present tense and thus express the continuing purpose of God. The first points to His involvement with our volition, the second to His involvement with our conduct. The text does not say He is working in us to replace our will. He is working in us so that our will may come into line with His will. God wants His children to make quality choices. Notice that the willing precedes the doing. We must make right choices before we can have right action. In fact, without good choices, there is simply no growth at all. God is in us, urging us to use our volition for Him.

 Perfect and Complete in All the Will of God

Getting to Know God’s Will – Agony or Ecstasy?

To many, coming to a degree of certainty of the will of God is a hand-wringing experience. For some, the very idea of decisiveness and certainty is foreign to the concept of the will of God. Here is where we should beware of the idea that “I don’t make any decisions; God makes them all.” That the believer should be committed to the will of God is undebatable. That the believer should therefore not be increasingly decisive is a violation of the teaching of the Word concerning volition.

Colossians 4:12 is a passage that links the idea of certainty to the will of God. Paul informs the Colossian believers of the fervent desire of Epaphras for them. He is said to be “laboring earnestly for you in his prayers.” The term involved here is the Greek word from which our word agony comes. It means to enter a contest and thus to struggle and endeavor. The struggle takes the form of prayer in two things.

The Double Desire of Epaphras

First of all, he desires that these believers will “stand perfect.” Here is a common New Testament word that means to reach a goal and thus be mature. The words “in the will of God” connect to the words mature and complete. The word for will should be taken as an active noun. Thus, we would translate, “in every willed thing of God.” Second, the expression stand complete is a perfect tense of a word meaning to be fully assured and is in the passive voice, to be convinced. Thus, we have the desire of Epaphras that “you may be mature and fully convinced in every willed thing of God.” Here is the relationship we should bear to the will of God. God works in all of His children, and the mature believer is keenly aware of this. Maturity does not agonize over the will of God because it is convinced that God is personally involved in the course of life of all His children.

God’s Commands and God’s Prohibitions

An obvious argument for the believer’s responsibility to make choices, determine actions, and respond in prescribed ways is found in the abundant imperative mood verbs of the Scriptures. The imperative mood is an appeal to our will. It recognizes that our choices need to be mandated by God.

These commands also recognize the fundamental concept studied earlier. The God of the Scriptures allows Himself to be challenged—a challenge always to the detriment of the one who issues it but nonetheless permitted by God.