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"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15


The Will of God

J. L. Dagg

From Manual of Theology: A Treatise on Christian Doctrine, 1859

The term will, which always imports desire, is variously applied, according to the object of that desire.


1. It denotes intention or purpose to act. It is said of Apollos "His will was not at all to come at this time,"(1 Cor. 16:12) i.e., he had no formed the intention or purpose to come. In this sense, the will of God is spoken of: "According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." (Eph. 1:11) Purpose or intention may exist before the time of action arrives. When it has arrived, the mind puts forth an act termed volition, to produce the desired effect.


In human beings, purposes may be fickle, and may undergo change before the time for action comes, but God's purpose or intention is never changed, and when the time for producing the purposed effect arrives, we are not to conceive that a new volition arises in the mind of God, but the effect follows, according to the will of God, without any new effort on his part.


2. It denotes a desire to act, restrained by stronger opposing desires, or other counteracting influences. Pilate was "willing" to release Jesus” (Luke 23:20), but other considerations, present to his mind, overruled this desire, and determined his action. We are compelled to conceive of the divine mind, from the knowledge which we possess of our own, and the Scriptures adapt their language to our conceptions. In this way, a desire to act is sometimes attributed to God, when opposing considerations prevent his action. I would scatter them, “were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy." (Deut. 32:27) "How often would I have gathered, &c., and ye would not." (Matt. 8:37)


3. It is used with reference to an external object that is desired, or an action which it is desired that another should perform. "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not." (Heb. 10:5) "Be it unto thee as thou wilt." (Matt. 15:28) "Ask what ye will." (John 15:7) "What will ye, that I should do." (Mark 15:12) In this sense, as expressing simply what is in itself desirable to God, will is attributed to him. "Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Pet. 3:9) "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, &c." (Ezek. 33:11) "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." (1 Thess. 4:3)


4. Closely allied to the last signification, and perhaps included in it, is that use of the term will, in which it denotes command, requirement. When the person, whose desire or pleasure it is that an action should be performed by another, has authority over that other, the desire expressed assumes the character of precept. The expressed will of a suppliant, is petition; the expressed will of a ruler, is command. What we know that it is the pleasure of God we should do, it is our duty to do, and his pleasure made known to us becomes a law.


Will of Command


It is specially important to distinguish between the first and last of the significations which have been enumerated. In the first, the will of God refers exclusively to his own action, and imports his fixed determination as to what be will do. It is called his will of purpose, and always takes effect. In the last sense, it refers to the actions of his creatures, and expresses what it would be pleasing to him that they should do. This is called his will of precept, and it always fails to take effect when the actions of his creatures do not please him, i. e., when they are in violation of his commands.


The will of purpose is intended, when it is said, "According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will," (Eph. 1:11) and, "He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." (Dan. 4:35) The will of precept is intended, when it is said, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10) Let it be noted that, in the former case, God only is the agent, and the effect is certain; in the latter, his creatures are the agents, and the effect is not an object of certain expectation, but of petition.


GOD'S WILL OF COMMAND, HOWEVER MADE KNOWN TO US, IS OUR RULE OF DUTY. (Ps. 40:8; 143:10; Matt. 6:10; Rom. 22:18; Ex. 20; Rom. 2:12-15)


The Scriptures make the will of God the rule of duty, both to those who have the means of clear knowledge, and those who have not. The disobedience of the former will be punished with many stripes, that of the latter with few. No man will be held account-able, except for the means of knowledge that are within his reach, but these, even in the case of the benighted heathen, are sufficient to render them inexcusable.


We have no right to dictate to God in what manner he shall make his will known to us, but we are bound to avail ourselves of all possible means for obtaining the knowledge of it, and, when known, we are bound to obey it perfectly, and from the heart.


Various terms are used to denote the will of God, as made known in the Holy Scriptures, statutes, judgments, laws, precepts, ordinances, &c. The two great precepts, which lie at the foundation of all the laws, are, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The first of these is expanded into the four commandments, which constitute the first table of the Decalogue; the second into the six commandments, which constitute the second table. The Decalogue was given for a law to the children of Israel, as is apparent from its introduction. "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (Ex. 20:2)


It was, however, distinguished from the other laws given to that nation, by being pronounced audibly from Sinai with the voice of God, and by being engraved with the finger of God on the tables of stone. When we examine its precepts, we discover that they respect the relations of men, as men, to God and to one another, and we find, in the New Testament, that their obligation is regarded as extending to Gentiles under the gospel dispensation. (Rom. 13:8, 9; Eph. 6:2) We infer, therefore, that the Decalogue, though given to the Israelites, respected them as men, and not as a peculiar people, and is equally obligatory on all men.


The ceremonial law respected the children of Israel as a worshipping congregation, called "the Congregation of the Lord." It commenced with the institution of the Passover, and ended when Christ our passover was sacrificed for us, and when the hand-writing of ordinances was nailed to the cross. Then its obligation ceased. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ceremonies of the Christian dispensation, obligatory on the disciples of Christ, to the end of the world.


The judicial law was given to the Israelites as a nation, and is not obligatory on any other people. The principles of justice on which it was based, are universal, and should be incorporated into every civil code.


Will of Purpose


GOD WILLS WHATEVER HE DOES. (Job 23:13; Dan. 4:35; Eph. 1:11)


God is a voluntary agent. There are many powers in nature which operate without volition. Fire consumes the fuel, steam moves the engine, and poison takes away life, but these have no will. Even beings that possess will, sometimes act involuntarily, and sometimes against their will, or by compulsion from a superior power. God acts voluntarily in everything that he does — not by physical necessity, not by compulsion from any superior power, not by mistake, or oversight, or power unintentionally exerted.


Men may plead in apology for their acts that they were done in thoughtlessness, or through inadvertence, but God has never any such apology to make. Known unto him are all his works from the beginning of the world,(Acts 15:18) and therefore they have been duly considered.


GOD DOES WHATEVER HE WILLS TO DO. (Isa. 46:10)


God is not omnipotent if he absolutely wills or desires to do anything, and fails to accomplish it.


WHATEVER GOD DOES IS ACCORDING TO A PURPOSE THAT IS ETERNAL, UNCHANGEABLE, PERFECTLY FREE, AND INFINITELY WISE (Isa. 40:14; Jer. 51:29; Rom. 8:28; Eph. 3:11; 2 Tim. 1:9)


That God has a purpose, none can deny, who attribute wisdom to him. To act without purpose is the part of a child, or an idiot. A wise man does not act without purpose; much less can the only wise God. Besides, the Scriptures speak so expressly of his purpose, that no one, who admits the authority of revelation, can reject the doctrine, however much he may misinterpret or abuse it. The term implies that God has an end in view in whatever he does, and that he has a plan according to which he acts.


The purpose of God is eternal and unchangeable. A wise man in executing a purpose may have many separate volitions which are momentary actings of his mind, but his purpose is more durable, continuing from its first formation in the mind to its complete execution. The term will, as applied to the act of the divine mind, does not, in itself, imply duration, but the purpose of God, from the very import of the phrase, must have duration.


God must have had a purpose when he created the world, and the Scriptures speak of his purpose before the world began. But the duration of it is still more explicitly declared in the phrase, "the eternal purpose." (Eph. 3:11) The term is never used in the plural number by the inspired writers as if God had many plans or a succession of plans. It is one entire, glorious scheme, and the date of it is from everlasting. Its eternity implies its unchangeableness, and its unchangeableness implies its eternity, and its oneness accords with both these properties.


The purpose of God is perfectly free. It is not forced upon him from without, for nothing existed to restrict the infinite mind of him who was before all. It is the purpose which he hath "purposed in himself." (Eph. 1:9) It is his will, and must, therefore, be voluntary. The term purpose and will apply to the same thing in different aspects of it, or according to different modes of conceiving it. If purpose more naturally suggests the idea of duration, will suggests its freeness. It is not the fate believed in by the ancient heathens by which they considered the gods to be bound as truly as men.


The purpose of God is infinitely wise. We have argued that God must have a purpose because he is wise, and therefore, his wisdom must be concerned in his purpose. It is not an arbitrary or capricious scheme, but one devised by infinite wisdom, having the best possible end to accomplish, and adopting the best possible means for its accomplishment.


Writers on theology have employed the term Decrees, to denote the purpose of God. It is an objection to this term, that there is no inspired authority for its use in this sense. When the Scriptures use the term decree, they signify by it a command ordered to be observed by those under authority. It is the will of precept, rather than the will of purpose. And further, its use in the plural number does not accord so well with the oneness of the divine plan.


Scarcely any doctrine of religion has given so much occasion for cavil and stumbling as that of God's decrees. As if men would be wiser than God, they refuse to let him form a plan, or they find fault with it when formed, and very few have so much humility and simplicity of faith as to escape wholly from the embarrassment which the objections to this doctrine have produced. They, therefore, need a careful examination.


Objection 1 — The purpose of God is inconsistent with the free-agency of man.


It is a full answer to this objection that a mere purpose cannot interfere with the freedom of any one. When a tyrant designs to imprison one of his subjects, until the design is carried into execution, the liberty of the subject is not invaded. He roams as free as ever, untouched by the premeditated evil. The infringement of his liberty commences when the purpose begins to be executed, and not before.


So, in the divine government, the purpose of the Supreme Ruler interferes not at all with the liberty of his subjects, so long as it remains a mere purpose. The objection, which we are considering, is wholly inapplicable to the doctrine of God's purpose. Its proper place, if it has any, is against the doctrine of God's providence, and, under that head, it will be proper to meet it.


It was God's purpose to create man a free-agent, and he did so create him. Thus far, neither the purpose, nor the execution of it, can be charged with infringing man's moral freedom, but they unite to establish it. It was God's purpose to govern man as a free-agent; and has he not done so? If every man feels that the providence of God, while it presides in the affairs of men, leaves him perfectly free to act from choice in everything that he does, what ground is there for the complaint, that the purpose of God interferes with man's free-agency ? If the evil complained of is not in the execution of the purpose, it is certainly not in the purpose itself.


This objection often comes before us practically. When we are called upon for action to which we are averse, the argument presents itself; if God has fore-ordained whatever comes to pass, the event is certain, and what is to be, will be -without our effort. It is worthy of remark, that this argument never induces us to deviate from a course to which we are inclined. If some pleasure invites, we never excuse ourselves from the indulgence, on the plea, that, if we are to enjoy it, we shall enjoy it.


The fact is sufficient to teach us the insincerity of the plea when admitted in other cases It prevails with us only through the deceitfulness of sin ; and, however specious the argument may appear, when it coincides with our inclinations, we never trust it in any other case. No man in his senses remains at ease in a burning dwelling, on the plea, that, if he is to escape from the flames, he will escape.


The providence of God establishes the relation between cause and effect, and gives full scope for the influence of the human will. To argue that effects will be produced without their appropriate causes, is to deny the known arrangement of Providence. He who expects from the purpose of God that which the providence of God denies him, expects the purpose to be inconsistent with its own development. He charges the plan of the Most Wise, with inconsistency and folly, that he may find a subterfuge for criminal indulgence.


Objection 2 — If God purposed the fall of angels or men, he is the author of their sin.


Before we proceed to answer this objection, it is necessary to examine the terms in which it is expressed. In what sense did God purpose the fall of angels or men, or any sinful action? There is a sense, familiar to the pious, in which any event that takes place, under the overruling providence of God, is attributed to him, whatever subordinate agents may have been concerned in effecting it.


The wind, the lightning, the Chaldeans, the Sabeans, were all concerned in the afflictions that fell on the patriarch Job ; but he recognized the overruling hand of God in every event, and piously exclaimed: " The Lord gave, and the Lord path taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21) So Joseph, when sold by his brethren in Egypt, saw the band of God in the event, and explained the design of his providence: "For God did send me before you to preserve life." (Gen. 45:5) In precisely the same sense in which God's providence is concerned with such events, his purpose is concerned with them and in no other.


With this explanation, let us proceed to consider the objection. Did Joseph design to charge on God the authorship of his brethren’s sin? Nothing was further from his mind. They had been truly guilty of their brother's blood and their own consciences charged them with it. They felt that they were responsible for the sin, and Joseph knew the same, and nothing that he said was designed to transfer the responsibility from them to God. Yet he saw and delighted to contemplate the purpose of God in the event. That purpose was, "to save much people alive." (Gen. 50:20) This purpose was executed, and God was the author, both of the purpose and the beneficial result.


So, in every case, the good which he educes out of moral evil, and not the moral evil itself, is the proper object of his purpose. It should ever be remembered that his purpose is his intention to act, and that, strictly speaking, it relates to his own action exclusively. It does, indeed, extend to everything that is done under the sun, just as the omnipresence of God extends to everything, but it extends to everything, no otherwise than as he is concerned with everything, and what God does, and nothing else, is the proper object of his purpose.





It cannot be too carefully noticed, that the purpose of God relates strictly and properly to his own actions. Now, God is not the actor of sin, and therefore his purpose can never make him the author of it.


The objection, though it may appear to have greater force when applied to the first sin of man, is not, in reality, more applicable to this, than to every sin which has been since committed. God made Adam, and all his descendants, moral and accountable agents, preserved them in being, and sustained their moral powers; he permitted their sin; and he overrules the evil, from the beginning throughout to effect a most glorious result. In all this, what God has done, and is doing, he purposed to do. In all, his action is most righteous, wise, and holy, and, therefore, his purpose is so. He is the author, not of the moral evil which he permits, but of the good of which he makes it the occasion.


The distinction between the permission and the authorship of sin some have denied, but in so doing, they have not the countenance of God's Word. The whole tenor of the inspired volume leads us to regard God as the author of holiness, but not of sin. We are taught that in him is no sin that:





In such language we are taught to consider God as the author and source of holiness and it is as contrary to the doctrine of the holy word to attribute sin to him, as darkness to the sun. Yet this same word teaches his permission of evil. "He suffered all nations to walk in their own way." (Acts 14:16) His longsuffering, of which the Scriptures speak so much, implies the permission of sin. But of that which is highly displeasing to him, even when he bears with it, he cannot be the author.


Objection 3 — If God purposed the final condemnation of the wicked, he made them on purpose to damn them.


This objection, which impiety loves to present in the most repulsive form, becomes us to approach with profound reverence for him whose character and motives it impugns. Let us imagine ourselves present at the proceedings of the Last Day. The righteous Judge sits on his great white throne, and all nations are gathered before him. The books are opened, and every man is impartially judged according to the deeds done in the body. The award is made up, and the sentence pronounced. The wicked are commanded to "depart…into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels;" (Matt. 25:41) and the righteous are welcomed into "the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world." (Matt. 25:34)


The scene is past, and the mysterious economy of God's forbearance and grace is now finally closed. Is there anything in the transactions of that day which is unworthy of God? Is there anything which the holy inhabitants of heaven, throughout their immortal existence, can ever remember with disapprobation?


Not so. The Judge, while he punishes the wicked with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power, is glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe; (2 Thess. 1: 9, 10) and he will ever appear glorious in the decisions of that day. If God's action on that day will be so glorious to him, will it be any dishonor to him that he has purposed so to act?


The idea, were any one disposed seriously to entertain it, that God will be taken by surprise at the last judgment, and compelled to pass an unpremeditated sentence, is forever set aside by the fact that, as early as the days of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, the great day, and especially the fearful doom of the ungodly, were foretold.


"Behold the Lord cometh, with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all; and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds." (Jude 14, 15) This fact also demonstrates that the Lord will not punish for the mere pleasure of punishing.


Why does he give warning of that day? Why are his messengers sent to warn men to flee from the wrath to come? Why are these messages delivered with so earnest entreaty and expostulation, so that his servants say, "As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." (2 Cor. 5:20)


As creatures formed by his hand, he has not, and cannot have, any pleasure in rendering them unhappy, but, as rebels against his authority, enemies to his character and government, and the good order of his universal empire, and obstinate rejecters of his scheme of mercy and reconciliation, he will take pleasure in inflicting on them the punishment which his justice requires. The reward of the righteous is a kingdom prepared for them from before the foundation of the world ; but the fire into which the wicked will be driven, is said to be prepared, not for them, but for the devil and his angels. (Matt. 25: 34, 41)


In this significant manner, God has been pleased to teach us that his punishments are prepared, not for his creatures, as such, but only for sinners, and in view of sins already committed. Must he, to secure himself from disgrace and reproach, be able to plead that he has been taken by surprise, and that, from the beginning of the world, he had never expected the fearful result? If the proceedings of this great day will be so glorious to God that he will regard them with pleasure through all future eternity, why may he not have regarded them with pleasure through all eternity past?


The objection, originating in dislike of God's justice, wholly misrepresents the character of his righteous judgment. It leaps from the creation of man to the final doom of the wicked, and wholly overlooks the intermediate cause of that doom. It proceeds as if sin were a very inconsiderable matter, and as if it must have been so regarded by God, and, therefore, it represents the punishment inflicted for it as if inflicted for its own sake.


The sentence pronounced will be, in the judgment of God, for just and sufficient cause, and, in all the purpose of God respecting that sentence, the cause has been contemplated. What God does and why he does it are equally included in the divine purpose, and this connection the objection wholly overlooks.


God did not regard sin as a trifling thing when on account of it, he destroyed the old world with the flood; and, as if to answer the very objection now before us, and convince men that he did not make them for the pleasure of destroying them, it is recorded: "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth; and it grieved him at his heart." (Gen. 6:6, 7)


Our best judgment decides that the world ought not to have been made without a purpose, and that for its mighty movements now to proceed without any purpose is infinitely undesirable. The best work of human hands that we contemplate with any pleasure has been formed with some purpose; and no intelligent being can view the works of God with satisfaction, if he can imagine them to have been undertaken and executed without design. Who would not grieve to think that this vast machinery is moving to accomplish no end?


That the planets are hurled through space wildly guided in their course and controlled in their velocity by no wise counsel; that the sun shines, that animals exist; that immortal man lives, moves, and has his being without purpose? In this view, what an enigma is our life? Our understandings may consent not to comprehend the purpose for which the world was made, but to consent that it was made for no purpose, they cannot. Our intelligent natures wholly reject the thought.

The doctrine of God's purpose, while it recommends itself to our understandings, applies a test to the moral principles of our hearts. If God has a purpose, we should delight to study it, and rejoice in the accomplishment of it, and our hearts and lives should be regulated in harmony with it. When we prefer that God should have no purpose, or that it should be different from what it is, our hearts cannot be right in his sight.


If we loved him as we ought, we should rejoice in the accomplishment of his will, and view with pleasure the unfolding of his grand designs. Holy angels study the mystery of redeeming love, and learn, from the dispensations toward the Church, the manifold wisdom of God. (Eph. 3:10)


If right principles prevailed in our hearts, we would not presume to dictate to the Infinitely Wise, nor find fault with his plans, but wait with pleasure on the development of his will. And when we cannot see the wisdom and goodness of his works, we should in the simplicity of faith rest assured that his plan when fully unfolded will be found most righteous and most wise.






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