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servant of God must fear Him. The statement of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself would
seem conclusive:
"Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear
Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10: 28).
Where there is a conflict of submission, then the submission must be to the Greater,
God Himself. Submit . . . . . for so is the desire of God.
God's desire is that each one of us should live moment by moment "as unto the Lord,
and not unto men": He desires that in everything we should give thanks, knowing that
everything works together for our good: He desires that we should submit to earthly
authorities who hold their position from Him, only withholding submission to them,
when their ordinance conflicts with His.
No.4.
Human Freewill.
pp. 170 - 175
In any study of the Will of God, sooner or later we must consider the response of man.
Often this is referred to as `free-will' by theologians and Christian writers. It is taken as
axiomatic that man's will is free.
It must, however, be borne in mind that the expression `free-will' is not a Scriptural
term; nor, for that matter, is the alternative `freedom of choice'. Both terms represent
human attempts to express a fundamental aspect of the human situation. Whether either
is accurate remains to be seen.
We can make no progress in our consideration of this subject without first seeking to
discover whether man's will is free. Paul, in Gal. 4: 3 tells the believers to whom he is
writing that at one stage in their experience "we . . . . . were in bondage under the
elements of the world": we were enslaved. A little further light is shed on the subject by
Rom. 6: 17-18: "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made
free from sin, ye became the servant of righteousness". Ye were the slaves of sin . . . . .
ye became enslaved to righteousness. Dr. Bullinger's Critical Lexicon defines doulos
(slave) in the following terms: "a slave, one bound to serve . . . . . one whose will and
capacities are wholly at the service of another . . . . . doulos is use of the lowest scale of
servitude . . . . ." (The italics are ours). Your wills and capacities were wholly at the
service of sin! Where is either freedom of will, or freedom of choice? Ye became those
whose wills and capacities are wholly at the service of righteousness. Where is either
freedom of will, or freedom of choice? Bound to serve sin, or bound to serve
righteousness! (The believer's experience is that, in the latter case he does not always
fulfil his bond. This point will be discussed later.)