Discerning God's Will: A Look at Romans 12:2, the Renewed Mind, and the Categories of God's Will

Digging Deeper

Live God’s Will

God’s will is described in Scripture as having two expressions – His sovereign control over all things and His declared will through His commandments.  Theologians term His hidden sovereign control as His decretive will and His revealed will as His preceptive will.  Both emanate from His very nature and character.  God’s specific will for you is revealed in your response to the circumstances He allows, the guidance of His Word, and the leading of the Holy Spirit with His goal of conforming you into the likeness of Christ.

God’s decretive will is sovereign and comprehensive.  Ephesians 1:11 declares that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.”  Isaiah 46:9-10 records: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”  Nothing falls outside the scope of His will as He actively governs all events according to His eternal purposes. 

God’s will reflects His character and nature.  It is eternal, unchanging, purposeful, wise, compassionate and just.  Romans 12:2 describes it as “that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Ephesians 1:8-9 describes “the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure … to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”   As hinted here, His wise and purposeful acts are often shrouded in mystery.  Romans 11:33-34 exclaims: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”  This requires humble recognition of your “created” status before your Creator, placing complete trust in His loving and just care.

The moral or preceptive will of God is described throughout Scripture and is the pathway Christ modelled for His transformative power to work within us.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 declares: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”  Here God has made His will clearly known, leaving you with the free-will responsibility to obey.

Christ came to reconcile you to God, bearing the Father’s wrath for your sin.  John 6:38 quotes Jesus: ”For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me … that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life.”   Ephesians 1:11 confirms “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” 

1 Peter 1:15-16 commands: “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”   Such obedience can only be achieved through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Yet again, in God’s economy He provides the power to accomplish what He commands.  “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  Philippians 2:12-13  Divine sovereignty and your active responsibility coexist without contradiction.  1 Timothy 2:3-4 reinforces God’s compassion as He “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

God’s will is as beautifully complex and multifaceted as His creation.  While our limited understanding of an infinite God can deem some truths as seemingly contradictory, in fact, they are held in perfectly balanced tension.  Viewed in their interwoven pairing, they are harmonious while being both simple and complex.  Here are but a few to consider: 

□   God’s Sovereignty yet Personal Freedom;

□   Justice yet Mercy;

□   Law yet Grace;

□   Wrath yet Love;

□   Predestination yet Invitation;

□   Hidden yet Revealed;

□   Unapproachable yet Indwelling;

□   Unchangeable yet Responsive;

□   Goodness yet Suffering;

□   Perfect Timing yet Waiting;

□   Living yet Dying

While some of these dichotomies are unresolved in this age, they will be resolved in the age to come.  For believers, mercy and grace triumph over judgement.  Life swallows up death.   Love wins.  Yet, in the administration of all His truths, God never compromises His Holiness nor His desire to make you holy in His sight through Christ Jesus. 

The teachings of Jesus, imbued by the Holy Spirit, describe how you are to live out God’s will for your life:

□   Go humbly, valuing others above yourself;

□   Love one another as He has loved you;

□   Forgive as you have been forgiven;

□   Ask that you may have, knock that the door may be opened, seek that you may find;

□   Give that you may receive;

□   Know He uses all things for good;

□   Know He will complete the work started in you;

□   Surrender your will to His care and control, trusting always in the Lord;

□   Prays always with thanksgiving, rejoicing and praising His Name.

God’s will is not a complex puzzle to be solved as much as it is a mystery to be inhabited and enjoyed in the fullness of His nature.  Embrace the “Why” and “What for” for your life. Remember, His grace is sufficient for you!