Function of Our Will – Part 1

Romans 2:14-15 “for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, (15) who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.”

So what is the function of the will of man? Someone once said that our will is our “decider”, and that term is very descriptive of what our will is, for it is the will of man that decides what course of action man will take. For example, as an act of our free will we decide whether to accept the gospel of salvation or not. Nevertheless even though our will makes the ultimate decision as to which course of action we will take, the other parts of man all play a role in influencing the decisions we make. And so in the light of that truth the first part of man we will discuss is how our conscience influences our will. Before men are saved it is mainly their conscience that convicts them to do good and reject evil. Nevertheless even though their conscience convicts them to do the right thing, it is still as an act of their free will, that they choose to either obey their conscience or not. After people are saved however, it is no longer just their conscience that convicts them, for now the nature of their spirit has changed, and so it is both the conscience and spirit of the believer that together, convict them to do good and reject evil. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us that both the conscience and spirit of the believer, either accuse them when they do wrong or excuse them when they do right. But even though both the believers’ spirit and conscience want to do the right thing, it is still the will of the believer that decides what they will do. And because their will is still free, they can choose to ignore both their spirits and their conscience and do that which is wrong i.e. committing sin. So how does the conscience communicate to our will what course of action we should take? In this passage the apostle Paul gives us the answer, for he tells us that the thoughts of the individual communicate the desire of the conscience. Thoughts originate in our minds. And so we see a very important truth in this passage, which is that the mind acts as the intermediary between the conscience and the will. We also saw earlier that our consciences can either be strengthened or weakened over time, depending on whether we obey or override the counsel of our conscience. And so obviously an individual who has a strong conscience will be far more likely to obey their conscience, as those thoughts are communicated loud and clear to their will. While an individual who has a weak conscience will very easily override their conscience, as those thoughts become more and more indistinct and are drowned out by opposing thoughts in the individual’s mind.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.  (2)  I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; (3) for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”

The second part of man we will discuss is how our spirit influences our will. As we have already mentioned, under the New Covenant our spirits are able to grow. When we come into the kingdom however our spirits are babes, because of which all new born believers are spiritually weak. In the previous passage of scripture we saw that, just like our conscience, our spirits also communicate with our wills through the thoughts they place into our minds. And so initially because their spirits’ are weak, the spirit of the believer is unable to exert a strong influence on their wills, for the thoughts produced by the spirit will be indistinct and can easily be drowned out by opposing thoughts arising in the mind of the believer. Nevertheless as believers begin to mature, their spirits become stronger and the thoughts they communicate to their minds become that much louder and that much clearer, and thus they are able to exert more influence on their wills in the decisions that they make. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul contrasts the baby believer with one who is spiritual or mature, and he tells us that baby believers behave like the world does. As we have already seen it is always as an act of our wills that we choose to behave in a certain manner. And so the reason that baby believers behave in that manner is because their spirits are still weak, because of which they are unable to exert a strong influence on their wills. By contrasting the spiritual believer with the baby believer, Paul is implying that the spiritual believer no longer behaves as the world does. The reason for that is obvious, for it is because their spirits have become stronger and are thus able to exert a greater influence on the decisions of their wills.

Romans 7:14-25 “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.  (15)  For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  (16)  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  (17)  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  (18)  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  (19)  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  (20)  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  (21)  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.  (22)  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  (23)  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  (24)  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  (25)  I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” 

 The third part of man we will discuss is how our physical body influences our will. It may sound strange to some but nevertheless our physical bodies do have a voice and can exert a strong influence on our wills. In the previous section we have seen that God created mankind with an inward and an outward man, and we have stated that our outward man is our physical body. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul introduces us to the biblical concept of the flesh, and the reason he does that is to explain to us that sin originates in the flesh of believers. So why does sin originate in our bodies? The answer to that question is that unlike our spirits which come directly from God, our physical bodies are inherited from Adam, for God uses his blood to make the bodies of all mankind (Acts 17:26). And so when Adam committed sin in the Garden of Eden the sin virus entered his blood stream, thus contaminating every earthly body with that same sin virus ever since. Because our bodies are contaminated with the sin virus their only desire is to commit sin. Sin in the flesh is extremely powerful and is thus able to exert strong influence over the will of the believer. From this passage of scripture we can see that as a new believer Paul struggled with sin, for his born-again spirit wanted to serve God but the sin in his flesh proved to be the stronger force, thus exerting its influence over his will and forcing him into sin. All new born believers experience this same problem, which is one of the reasons why it is so vital for believers to grow strong in spirit so that they can eventually overcome the sin virus that resides in their flesh. So how do Christians who are strong in spirit overcome sin in their flesh? One of the fruit of the born-again spirit is the fruit of self control (Galatians 5:23). That fruit is specifically designed by God to keep our flesh under control, thus making no provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts. However until the believer matures sufficiently in spirit thus producing strong fruit of self control, an interim solution is required, for in this passage the apostle Paul teaches us that on its own, the will of man is not strong enough to overcome sin in the flesh. And so when Paul cried out to God for a solution to his problem the Lord revealed to him that through faith in the power of Christ he could well overcome sin in the flesh, which he subsequently did. Nevertheless because Paul also grew strong in spirit and the fruit of self control, he could confidently state later in his life that he disciplined his body and brought it into subjection (1 Corinthians 9:27). In other words through the fruit of self control Paul made sure that his flesh could no longer influence his will to fulfil its desires of sin.

Michael E.B. Maher

The Will of Man

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