Broadlands Bible Church
September 20, 2023
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Thesis: "Will" as volitional capacity is revealed by Scripture as rooted in "desire" and facilitated by "power".
Introduction: In our initial study, we considered a definition of "the will" as an inherent attribute of God as well as created persons: our "definition" is, "the ability to make decisions that, when acted upon, determine a 'new' future reality". Because we live in a cause-and-effect universe that has, at its roots, the declared fact that if we sow, we shall reap what we have sown (
Galatians 6:7), the exercise of the "will" as the making of a decision that is typically followed by the actions taken by the choice made brings the cause-and-effect reality into play. In that study, we also considered the amount of "slop in the gears" that exists because of the infinity of God in respect to which of His "options" He decides to act upon: His infinite knowledge and wisdom make "infinite options" available to Him. We used the enormous number of "quarks" that exist in every created, material entity as our illustration: it is possible to destroy trillions of "quarks" without substantially altering the created entity.
Then, in our subsequent study last week, we considered the "always attending characteristic of the exercise of the will": the presence of options. In that study we began with the observable fact that created persons make choices and act upon them throughout all of their days. No action is taken without the exercise of the will, but a great host of the actions we take are already pre-programmed by previous exercises of the will. The point of this is to allow us to understand how we function in respect to the "will" in harmony with the reality of "progress into our experiences of life". If we never learned from a given "option/choice/action", we would be almost immediately stymied by the myriad of situations that require that we "choose among options" and "take actions according to our choices". An illustration of this is the "learning" of a small child in respect to "walking". In the beginning, the child has to concentrate upon taking a step while maintaining one's balance. This is "action according to concentrated choice". However, once the choice/action is repeated over and over, the level of concentration goes down and the "learned" process takes over until, finally, the child can run without "thinking". This does not mean that "choice" has been eliminated, but it does mean that the process did not start without the "necessary choices" having been made. The "choice" to run is often maintained so that we decide whether to stand still, walk, or run, but even in these cases there are overriding issues of previous choices. We may suddenly find ourselves "running" because of some development in our circumstances that has suddenly come upon us, but handling that developed circumstance is a learned response of immediate, and thoughtless, "choice". Thus, we face "options", "make choices", "take action" and "learn to repeat without the need for conscious thought". However, Jesus' declaration in Matthew 12:36 indicates that, no matter how the entire process works, men are responsible for every word they speak and will be given the opportunity to explain why they chose the words they chose when called to account.
This brings us to the study for this evening: the "will" is revealed by Scripture to be rooted, first, in the "love" of the person exercising the will, and second, in the actual "power" available to the person to take the actions that appear to be suitable to the "love". This means that the "will" is subject to the constraints of the "love", the "faith" of the person making the choice, and the "power" of the person seeking to accomplish what is "willed".
- I. To Understand This "Thesis" Of "Roots", We Must Consider The Primacy Of Prior Factors.
- A. The Bible reveals that the ultimate root of all "choices" is "Love": 1 Corinthians 13:11-13.
- 1. The context of this text has to do with how "choices" are made in respect to dealing with the responsibilities that have been placed upon us by God (1 Corinthians 12), and for which we will be examined by God -- "to give an answer for the deeds done in the body" (2 Corinthians 5:10).
- 2. In this context, Paul gives instruction regarding the variety of gifts that have been given to us by which we are to act as stewards of God (1 Peter 4:10).
- 3. In this context, 1 Corinthians 12:31 reveals "a still more excellent way" (to make our choices and take our actions).
- 4. That "more excellent way" is the way of "Love" in contrast to "Faith" and "Hope".
- 5. Thus, we conclude that our "wills" are to be subjected to "Love" in contrast to the "already-in-place loves" that are declared in 1 John 2:15-17.
- B. The Bible also reveals that another root of "choices" is the "faith" of the person making the choices as "faith" is the "guiding method of pursuit" for the "beloved object".
- 1. The Bible teaches everywhere that "faith" is a person's confidence in a particular "method" for the pursuit of the things "loved" and, thus, "chosen" (Hebrews 11).
- 2. The issues of "method" are very complex by reason of the entire process of how a person comes to "believe" that a certain course of action will be effective, and whether, or not, that "faith" is actually accurate.
- B. The Bible also reveals that a third root of "choices", in respect to carrying them out, is "power".
- 1. In the Bible, there is a distinction between the "will" that is rooted in "desire" and the "will" that is rooted in "intention".
- a. In respect to God, this distinction is clearly illustrated by the declaration of 1 Timothy 2:4, which exists within the context of the declared fact that most people will not be saved (Matt. 7:13-14), and of 2 Peter 3:9, which has 2 Peter 1:1 as a controlling concept.
- b. In respect to men, this distinction is most aptly revealed by the "desire" and "intention" that was driving the men in Acts 23:12-14.
- 2. In every case of "desire", "intention" and "pursuit by action", there is the issue of whether, or not the person involved actually has the ability to achieve his/her objective by the method chosen.
