have been trained to regard God's will as a fiat, fixed and firm and
final; something inevitable and inflexible, ineludible and ineluctable.
`And there are some who would tell us that everything which happens is
God's will, even things which God does not want.
`Let us, then, test this doctrine, as the matter is of vast importance.
`If there is but one thing in the world that is not of God, then it
does not require much proof that all things are not of God.
`If but one thing is not God's will, then there may be other things which
are likewise.
`Matthew tells us (18:14), in very simple language, that "it is not a will
(e.g. something willed or wanted) in front of your Father -- Him in
heavens, that there may be lost one of these little ones". Can we aver,
however, that no children are ever lost? God declares that He does not
want this to happen. Or has He willed or purposed that this shall never
happen?
`So far in this discussion the pregnant and profound facts set forth in
most categorical language by James in chapter 1:12-15 do not appear to
have been honestly faced. The pernicious doctrine that everything comes
out from God blasts itself against this solid rock. Because this brief
passage has been more or less ignored, Scripture has been set against
Scripture, with very baneful results. Passages have been made to state
far more than they mean, while these verses in James have been shunned.
*
*
*
*
*
`Here is a question I would like to ask you. If everything is according
to God's will, why should it be necessary for us to test what that will
is? Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 not to configure to this eon, but to be
transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that we may test (dokimazein)
what is the will of God -- that which
is good, and well-able-to-please (euareston) and mature. The obvious
implication is that there are some things which are not God's will, some
things which He does not want. Why does not Paul state here that God
wants or wills also that which is evil and displeasing and immature? Here
the R.V. margin reads, "the will of God, even the thing which is good and
acceptable and perfect". Young's rendering is, "what is the will of God
-- the good, and acceptable and perfect". The following versions read
similarly, Weymouth, 20th Century, Dewes, Moffatt, Goodspeed, Alford,
Bloomfield, Cunnington, Challis, Godwin and Lutterworth.
*
*
*
*
*
`Various friends of mine have sought to pass judgment upon me for not
believing those verses which appear to state that "all things are out of
God". I have been told that "God's Word says so", as though this was
final. Some have echoed the charge that not to accept these statements as
they wish them understood, is apostacy'.
Note the words already quoted in this extract:
`No one hitherto, it would appear, has had the temerity to suggest that
the real meaning is merely what God wants. We have been trained to regard
God's will as a fiat, fixed and firm and final: something inevitable and
inflexible, ineludible* and ineluctable**'.
*Ineludible=that cannot be eluded or escaped.
**Ineluctable=from which one cannot escape by struggling.
It is this attitude of mind that we seek to avoid. Let
no one think by thus surrendering the Calvinistic interpretation of the will of
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