We often hear people talking about God’s will, but what does the bible reveal concerning the will of God? Is it something that can be ascertained and identified by mere humans? The answer is simple but requires first an acknowledgment that the scriptures speak of the will of God in two separate ways. This is where so many have strayed; I often hear people mincing the two together, making no distinction in form, this results in a twisted and erroneous doctrine of the will of God. So, we will examine the scriptures concerning this matter, then may we understand the whole truth concerning God’s will.

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17).

We see from Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians that the will of the Lord is something that is understandable to us. We have no right to say that we can’t understand it, nor do we have the right to misunderstand it. In the word of God, in its harmony and in its context, we can find God revealing His will to his creation using simple, plain language. The resource for understanding the will of God is right before our eyes, we mustn’t neglect it, nor misunderstand it. Notice what Jesus said concerning this:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Recognize the power and authority backing these words of the Lord, for this is He that is the judge of all men (“for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” -2 Cor. 5:10). The Judge, Himself, explained that “many will say to Me” that they have done the will of God on earth, one may say that they prophesied, another that they cast out demons by the name of Jesus, another may boast that they did many wonders in the name of Christ, but Jesus “will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Jesus doesn’t know these people, they are not of His flock, He has no relationship or fellowship with them; they call Him “Lord, Lord” but cannot enter the kingdom because they “practice lawlessness”. This is the key to understand what Jesus is saying. Many who call themselves Christians and call Jesus their Lord will not inherit eternal life because they practice lawlessness, that is, they do the things that are not found in the law of God. Sure, they are all very religious, or even zealous, as they prophesy and do wonders for God, but Jesus plainly teaches that any and all who do not follow the law of God must depart from Him for eternity. Notice how He began this discussion: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven”. What does it mean to do the will of God? Jesus illustrates this when He speaks of those who practice lawlessness. Therefore, it is absolute, the will of God is found in the revealed law of God. His law is His will; His word is His will for us to follow. In another place, Jesus said,

“My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” (John 7:16-17)

Again, Jesus points out that anyone who wills to do the will of God must acknowledge the “doctrine” which Jesus teaches. There is no other way to do the will of God, only to trust and obey the doctrine of Christ.

            But then the bible speaks of the will of God in a completely separate way than what we just discussed, and it is critical not to mix the two. Consider the following scripture:

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15).

See that James referred to the will of God as something that is unknown to us. He said, “you do not know what will happen”, so “you ought to say, ‘if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” James said that we do not know what God’s will is, so we should live day by day saying “if the Lord wills.” At first, this appears to be saying the opposite of what we have learned so far in this discussion, but in reality, it is in perfect harmony, because the context, the topic, and the words are different. We have been looking as scriptures that teach us that the will of God is something concrete, learnable, understandable, and practicable. But James spoke of a will that is unknowable. Let’s first look at the distinction of words. In scriptures like Ephesians 5:17 and Matthew 7:21, the word “will” in Greek is thelēma, which is defined as “what God wishes to be done by us, His commands, precepts. However, in James 4:15, the word translated “will” in English is actually a different Greek word. It is ethelō, and it means “to have something in mind, to intend to do something.” These words cannot be further from each other in meaning, but they are both translated “will” in English. This shouldn’t be an issue for us in understanding the scriptures because the context properly guides our understanding of a word’s meaning.

In conclusion, the two different forms which the will of God is referred to are simple to understand and should not be used interchangeably. Today, many like to say that they are doing the will of God when they make their own rules or obey their own ideas that are not found in God’s word (which is the actual will of God!), but the scriptures present God’s will in these two forms:

1. To do the will of God means to do that which has been commanded in God’s Word.

2. For God’s will to be done, means to recognize that the next moment is unknown to us, but fully decided by the intentions of God’s mind.

Article by Tanner Campbell