God’s permissible will is our free will

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Although this series is about the will of man nevertheless we will see that man’s will is completely interlinked with the will of God. And so it is for that reason that it is impossible to understand how the will of man functions unless we have some insight into the will of God as well, which is why I have allocated the first section of this series to discussing the will of God. In the above passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that there are two aspects to God’s will, i.e. God’s acceptable will and His perfect will. The word translated “acceptable” also carries the meaning “permissible”. So what is the difference between God’s permissible will and His perfect will? Simply put, God has His perfect will for each one of our lives, but because He has given mankind a free will of their own He permits men to take their own course of action, even if that course of action falls outside of His perfect will. And so we see that all who choose not to walk in God’s perfect will for their lives automatically then walk in His permissible will, and thus walk outside of His perfect blessing for their lives.

1 Samuel 8:4-7 “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, (5) and said to him, "Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." (6) But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." So, Samuel prayed to the Lord. (7) And the Lord said to Samuel, "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.”

In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that after He redeemed them from bondage in Egypt, that God’s perfect will for the nation of Israel was that He would reign over them as their King. Nevertheless in this passage we see that the time came when Israel rejected God’s perfect will for the nation, and demanded that they should rather have an earthly king like the other nations around them. And so we see that because God will not override the free will of mankind in this life He permitted Israel to have a king, and He raised up Saul to be their king. Nevertheless we can clearly see from this example that when Israel demanded an earthly king that they stepped outside of God’s perfect will for the nation, and into His permissible will. If you read the rest of the account in scripture you will see that God warned Israel of the negative consequences of choosing to reject His will and that eventually they would regret their decision, nevertheless they remained adamant that they wanted their own way to prevail rather than submit to God’s will, and so God permitted them to have their way.

Mark 7:9-13 “He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. (10) For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' (11) But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban"--' (that is, a gift to God), (12) then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, (13) making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

In the above quoted passage of scripture we see an account of one of the discourses that the Lord had with the Jewish scribes and Pharisees, in which the Lord accused them of rejecting God’s commandments in favour of their own manmade traditions. Clearly God’s commandments were an expression of His perfect will for the nation of Israel. Nevertheless the Jews had chosen to reject God’s perfect will in favour of their own manmade traditions, and God let them do that. And so the reason God allowed them to reject His will is because in this life God will not override the free will of men, even if it means allowing them to disobey His commandments. Obviously the Lord held the Jews accountable for their actions by eventually judging them as a nation, but even though God had warned them of the consequences of their actions, they still rejected His will as an act of their free will and God permitted them to do that. In other words Israel chose not to walk in God’s perfect will but rather in His permissive will. And so from the passages of scripture that we have looked at in this section, we can see the clear biblical truth that God has His perfect will for mankind but that He also has His permissible will, in that He allows mankind to walk outside of His perfect will if that is what they desire to do.

Michael E.B. Maher

The Will of Man

Buy Now