Wednesday: God’s Ideal and Remedial Wills
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 19th of February 2025
Read Ephesians 1:9-11. What is this text saying about predestination? Are some people predestined to be saved and others to be lost?
The Greek term translated “predestination” here and elsewhere in Scripture (prohorizo) does not itself teach that God causally determines history. Rather, the Greek term simply means “to decide beforehand.”
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
Of course, one can decide something beforehand unilaterally, or one can decide something beforehand in a way that takes into account the free decisions of others. Scripture teaches that God does the latter.
Here and elsewhere (for example, Romans 8:29-30), the term translated “predestined” refers to what God plans for the future after taking into account what God foreknows about the free decisions of creatures. Thus, God can providentially guide history to His desired good ends for all, even while respecting the kind of creaturely freedom that is required for a genuine love relationship.
Ephesians 1:11 proclaims that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (NKJV). Does this mean that God determines everything to happen just as He desires? Read in isolation, Ephesians 1:9-11 might seem to affirm this view. However, this interpretation would contradict the many texts we saw earlier that show that people sometimes reject “the will of God” (Luke 7:30, NKJV; compare with Luke 13:34, Psalms 81:11-14). If the Bible does not contradict itself, how can these passages be understood in a way that is consistent with one another?
This passage makes perfect sense if one simply recognizes a distinction between what we might call God’s “ideal will” and God’s “remedial will.” God’s “ideal will” is what God actually prefers to occur and which would occur if everyone always did exactly what God desires. God’s “remedial will,” on the other hand, is God’s will that has already taken into account every other factor, including the free decisions of creatures, which sometimes depart from what God prefers. Ephesians 1:11 appears to be referring to God’s “remedial will.”
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So powerful is God’s foreknowledge of the future that, even knowing all the choices, including the bad choices, that people will make, He can still work “all things together for good” (Romans 8:28, CEB). What comfort can you draw from this truth? |
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How do human free will and God’s sovereignty interact with salvation and predestination? In this Quarter’s Study, we have encountered challenging discussions. Today is yet another one, predestination. I want to attempt to share my little understanding.
1. Free will – This is God’s given ability to human beings to choose between right and wrong. To obey and disobey. To belief and disbelief. Life and death. (Deuteronomy 30:19, Genesis 2:16-17, Joshua 24:15, John 3:16, Revelation 3:20). Free will form the basis for establishing true love between humanity and God. True love must be chosen and not coerced.
2. God’s Ideal Will – God has a desire or a wish for all mankind. Before sin, it was God’s original plan to have all mankind to do His perfect will – to be holy, loving, and obedient. God did not intend anyone of His creation to be lost. This was God’s original position. (1 Timothy 2:4, Ezekiel 33:11, 2 Peter 3:9)
3. God’s Remedial Will – Even though humans make wrong choices, God is not helpless in bringing His divine plan to fruition. God has the power to intervene in wrong choices for his divine purpose. God allows certain things that are not his ideal will, but He works through them to accomplish his ultimate plan. (Genesis 50:20, Romans 5:8, Luke 19:10, Hebrews 12:6-7, 2 Chronicles 7:14). God actively, works through our failures to redeem us.
4. Predestination – This is a view that God uses his sovereign will (power) to determine who will be saved and who will be lost. This view states that God chooses individuals who will be saved in advance. Salvation is not based on human choice or faith but on God’s sovereign will. This view contradicts the very nature of God; God is love. It sounds extremely cruel for God to choose to save some individuals and to choose others to be lost. The sovereign will of God is not arbitrary to his nature. Therefore, it is not correct to hold a view that God has rejected some people, and they are beyond the hope of salvation. For instance, the Calvinist’s standpoint is contrary to Biblical teaching.
5. Foreknowledge – God is omniscient. He knows all things before they take place, past present, and future (Isaiah 46:9-10, Psalm 139:4, Acts 2:23). God knows all our choices in advance. However, He does not cause those choices. Since God knows all choices in advance, He predestines accordingly (1 Peter 1:2).
What is the interaction between free will and God’s sovereign will? God is sovereign above all things, but He allows free will within his divine plan. No matter our theological persuasion, grace is central to our salvation. It is God who draws us to Himself and His mercies work in our hearts to make the right choices.
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” - Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)