Theological Term of the Week

 

decretive will
“[T]hat will of God by which He purposes or decrees whatever shall come to pass, whether He wills to accomplish it effectively (causatively), or to permit it to occur through the unrestrained agency of His rational creatures1; the plan of God which contains everything he has determined to bring to pass. Also called sovereign will, secret will, or will of God’s good pleasure.

• From scripture:

  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15 ESV)

  [F]or truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:27-28 ESV)

• From The London Baptist Confession, 1689:

  1._____ God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree.
  

  2._____ Although God knoweth whatsoever may or can come to pass, upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed anything, because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem:

  God’s secret will includes his hidden decrees by which he governs the universe and determines everything that will happen. He does not ordinarily reveal these decrees to us (except in prophecies of the future), so these decrees really are God’s “secret” will. We find out what God has decreed when events actually happen. Because this secret will of God has to do with his decreeing of events in the world, this aspect of God’s will is sometimes also called God’s will of decree.
  
  …[M]any passages speak of God’s secret will. When James tells us to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that” (James 4:15), he cannot be talking about God’s revealed will or will of precept, for with regard to many of our actions we know that it is according to God’s command that we do one or another activity that we we have planned. Rather, to trust in the secret will of God overcomes pride and expresses humble dependence on God’s sovereign control over the events of our lives.

Learn more:

1. R. C. Sproul: Comprehending the Decretive Will of God
   
2. Sam Storms: Are There Two Wills in God?
3. James Petigru Boyce: The Will of God
4. Tim Keller: God’s Secret and Revealed Will (mp3)
5. S. Lewis Johnson: The Will of God (audio and transcript)

Related terms: 

• decree(s) of God
• preceptive will 

1From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof.  

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

Theological Term of the Week

 

sovereignty (of God)
God’s dominion over the whole universe that he has created; his rule over all things so as to “secure the accomplishment of the divine purposes.”1

• From scripture:

  Our God is in the heavens;
  he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3 ESV)

  …[H]is dominion is an everlasting dominion,
  and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
   all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
  and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
  and among the inhabitants of the earth;
  and none can stay his hand
  or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34b-35 ESV)

  In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will…. (Ephesians 1:11 ESV)
  

• From The Belgic Confession, Article 13:

  We believe that this good God, after he created all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will, in such a way that nothing happens in this world without his orderly arrangement.

  …This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort since it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by the arrangement of our gracious heavenly Father. He watches over us with fatherly care, keeping all creatures under his control, so that not one of the hairs on our heads (for they are all numbered) nor even a little bird can fall to the ground without the will of our Father.

  In this thought we rest, knowing that he holds in check the devils and all our enemies, who cannot hurt us without his permission and will.

  For that reason we reject the damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God involves himself in nothing and leaves everything to chance.

• From The Absolute Sovereignty of God by Rev. D. H. Kuiper:

  We tread on holy ground when we take up the tremendous truth of divine sovereignty, and we ought to be reminded that there are aspects to this truth that we cannot understand.  Nevertheless, Scripture clearly and carefully sets this truth forth!  The sovereignty of God is the exercise of His supremacy.  God is the high and lofty One; no one is greater than He, equal to him, or any where near to Him.  And when this great God acts, when He goes about His divine business, then he does so in perfect freedom!  Sovereignty implies authority, and authority is the right to rule.  It is the right to do what one wishes, to decide what is good and evil, to impose one’s will on others and demand conformance;  authority is the right to reward obedience and to punish disobedience!  In close connection with this, soveriegnty is the freedom to do what one pleases without being answerable to anyone.  No one may question God as to what He is doing! The Scripture drives this lesson home hard in such passages as Daniel 4:35, “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doest according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand, or say to Him, What doest Thou?”;  Job 9:12, “Behold, He taketh away, who can hinder Him?  Who will say unto Him, What doest Thou?’;  Romans 9:20, “Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God?  shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?”. (See also the parable of our Lord in Matt. 20:1-16)
  
  Only one can be sovereign.  You can never have two sovereign beings.  How could that ever be? Two that had all power and authority?  Two that were the highest?  Two that are perfectly free to do as they pleased?  Impossible.  there is One that is eternal, independent, sovereignly free, and that is GOD!  Nor can any limits be placed upon God’s sovereignty.  There are many who would make restrictions or exceptions to divine sovereignty.  They are willing to admit to sovereignty in respect to weather and climate, sickness and health, wars and other disasters.  But they want to draw the line when it comes to man!  They try to exclude human thoughts, words, deeds, and destinies from the sovereignty of God!  But this would destroy God’s sovereignty.  We will show that there cannot be a single exception of any kind!

• From Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware:

  …God rules the world he has made … by guiding and directing it to accomplish or bring about everything that he has planned for it. … Paul writes, “In him [Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him [the Father] who works all things according to the counsel of his will” Ephesians 1:11).  God has a plan for the world he has made. He didn’t create the world and then leave it alone to run by itself. Rather, God created the world with a very complete plan for how the world would develop and what would be accomplished through it …. We can be sure that all of God’s purposes and plans will be brought to pass since the God who made the world also rules the world he has made.

Learn more:

1. Don Stewart: In What Sense Is God In Control of Things?
2. Sam Storms: The Sovereignty of God
3. Charles Woodruff: What Jesus Said About God’s Sovereignty
   
4. John Murray: The Sovereignty of God
   
5. S. Lewis Johnson: Providence (God’s Hand Over Nature, Individuals and Nations of the World)(mp3 with transcript)
6. John Reisenger: Five sermons on the Sovereignty of God

1From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

Theological Term of the Week

mediator
One who intervenes in order to make peace between alienated parties; “[t]he role that Jesus played in coming between God and us, enabling us to come into the presence of God.“1

• From scripture:

  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 1:5 ESV)

• From The London Baptist Confession 1689, Chapter 8:

  9. This office of mediator between God and man is proper only to Christ, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the church of God; and may not be either in whole, or any part thereof, transferred from him to any other. (1 Tim 2:5).

  10. This number and order of offices is necessary; for in respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of his prophetical office; and in respect of our alienation from God, and imperfection of the best of our services, we need his priestly office to reconcile us and present us acceptable unto God; and in respect to our averseness and utter inability to return to God, and for our rescue and security from our spiritual adversaries, we need his kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, uphold, deliver, and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom. (Joh 1:18; Col 1:21; Gal 5:17; Joh 16:8; Psa 110:3; Luk 1:74, 75)

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