Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 1 Study # 8
October 6, 2019
Humble, Texas
(016)
1769 Translation:
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [
is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
1901 ASV Translation:
2 And be not fashioned according to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is
the good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.
- I. The Identity and Characterization of The Objective.
- A. What is "The Objective"?
- 1. Paul wants his readers to have a certain attitude (the "infinitive" part of the goal-statement) toward "the will of The God" to be imparted to them so that this gracious provision of the right attitude will reach "even unto them" (the "accusative part" of the goal-statement).
- 2. This means that, first of all, an awareness of the "what?" issue in the phrase "what [is] the will of The God" must be developed.
- a. This "will of The God" has all manner of ramifications.
- 1) The noun Paul used is "thelema", a term that typically refers to a "desire" that may, or may not, be fulfilled based upon the amount of opposition that that fulfillment faces in the outworking of desires and upon the amount of power that is applied to the pursuit of the desire itself.
- a) If the opposition is sufficiently powerful to dissuade a workable pursuit, the desire will not be fulfilled.
- b) But if the opposition is overwhelmed by enough power applied to the pursuit, the desire will come to pass.
- c) The critical issue, then, besides the "will" itself, is the question of how much power will be applied to the pursuit by the one with the desire.
- d) Since the "will" under consideration is God's, the issue is whether God will overwhelm the opposition, or not. He could, in every case, because He is omnipotent, but He does not, in some cases, because He is also omni-wise and has an intricate, long-term objective.
- 2) In Romans, this "will of The God" is addressed directly (by the use of the noun "will") in four places.
- a) The first and last references (1:10 and 15:32) both refer to whether, or not, Paul will get to fulfill his desire to come to Rome to see the people to whom he is writing.
- b) The second reference (2:18) has to do with what people know about "His will" from the revelation that exists in "The Law". This is a very broad category of many specifics ("What is 'the will of the God' regarding how He wishes the people to offer sacrifices?", or "What is 'the will of the God' regarding how He wishes people to act in regard to their neighbor's goods -- do not steal them --?", etc.).
- c) The third reference is the one before us in this study and seems to be another form of a broad category of many "desires" because of many "circumstances". What is 'the will of The God' regarding how He wishes for us to think about this, or that? In the prior chapter, Paul explained 'the will of The God' in respect to His desire to extend the Gospel to the Gentiles. In chapter nine, Paul explained that "the will of the God" included the demonstration of His wrath and power. This, he explained, involved not saving "vessels of wrath" so that He would have them in place to show what His wrath and power means. In the specific text under our consideration, His desire is that people would not only know "what [is] the will of The God" in certain specific circumstances, but also how they will view that "will" under those circumstances.
- b. Because of the manifold ramifications, Paul expresses his own "wish" that God would extend a knowledge of His will even as far as the Roman believers in respect to His "desire" in the details of their lives and the choices they must make.
- B. What is the characterization of God's will?
- 1. It is "good".
- a. The adjective used by Paul is found in 19 texts in this letter. Some of them have indications of what he meant and some of them simply assume that the readers will understand.
- b. Some of the uses that have built-in indications of what he meant.
- 1) Romans 3:8, following 3:7, identifies a "good" thing: "...the truth of God ...[abounding]... unto His glory...". It is a "good" thing for God's "glory" to be made known.
- 2) Romans 7:13 identifies the revelation of the Law, regarding God, His will, plans, etc., as a "good" thing even though the adversary uses it to produce "death" (a "bad" thing).
- 3) There are multiple texts in Romans in which Paul places "good" in juxtaposition to "evil". This makes it easier for us to understand that "good" is the opposite of "evil" in terms of "evil's" capacity to bring about a calamity (a destruction of "Life"). Romans 12:9 is one of these texts.
- 4) Romans 13:3-4 says the regulations of government are "good". This, obviously, does not include all of those regulations because some are actively evil, but, in general, the laws of the land promote harmony and benefit ("good" things).
- 5) And Romans 15:2 identifies another "good" thing: positive actions that "edify" believers.
- c. Thus, Paul is declaring that "the will of The God" is productive in the pursuit of things that are of eternal benefit to human beings. According to Romans 8:28, this includes "all things" because God is of sufficient wisdom to make even evil things produce benefit for those who are "the called" (Note Genesis 50:20).
- 2. It is "well-pleasing".
- a. This word is also an adjective that characterizes "the will of the God".
- b. Paul only used this adjective in three texts in Romans (12:1; 12:2; and 14:18). In all three the idea is that someone "accepts" something as compatible with his/her evaluation of what things are "pleasure-producing". We must be aware, however, that this "evaluation" is not always immediate; sometimes it is an evaluation that develops by looking back over the longer-term developments (like a woman who bears a child in pain but later is glad she bore the child through the pain).
- 3. It is "objective-accomplishing".
- a. This adjective is only used by Paul in Romans in this one text.
- b. Other New Testament references to this word in Paul's writings make it clear that he is saying that "the will of The God" should be viewed as actually bringing about its "goals". The adjective is "teleion" and is an offshoot of "telos", the "goal".
- 4. Summary: "the will of The God" does not always immediately reveal its true characteristics because many of its parts can only be seen in the light of the true characteristics after some time has passed. Example: the painful experience of surgery is not seen as "good", "well-pleasing" or "objective-accomplishing" until the healing is accomplished.