God's Will is not Lost or Reckless Faith, Chapter 7 (Looking for Truth in All the Wrong Places)

Author: John MacArthur, Jr.
Publisher: Wheaton: Victor Books, 1973
Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1994
View: Wisdom View in Traditional Vocabulary

In Reckless Faith MacArthur summarizes the objective guidelines of God's will. It is God's will that: (1) we be saved (1 Tim. 2:3-4), (2) we be Spirit-filled (Eph. 5:17-18), (3) we be sanctified (1 Thess. 4:3), (4) we be submissive (1 Peter 2:13-15), (5) we suffer (1 Peter 4:19; Phil 1:29; 2 Tim 3:12). (190 RF).

"If all those objective aspects of God's will are realities in you life, you needn't fret over the other decisions you must make. As long as the options you face do not involve issues directly forbidden or commanded in Scripture, you are free to do whatever you choose." (190 RF).

In his booklet he said the same thing. "If you are doing all five of the basic things .... Do whatever you want! If those five elements of God's will are operating in your life, who is running your wants? God is! (God's will, 31).

He supports this idea of freedom and doing what you want from Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." God will put the right desires in your heart when you are obeying the five objective guidelines of God's will. "God does not say He will fulfill all the desires that there. He says He will put the desires there! If you are living a godly life, He will give you the right desires, His desires (God's will, 31)."

MacArthur says, "I reject modern revelatory prophecy because the New Testament canon is closed and Scripture is sufficient." (181, RF). He then refutes subjective impressions as a form of God's revelation. Included are arguments against Grudem's view of revelation as "something God brings to mind." Those following Grudem do not equate their impressions with the authority of Scripture. But in some way these impressions are God speaking to us in what Grudem calls a new concept of prophecy.

MacArthur quotes and agrees with Decision Making on the issue of subjective impressions. They are not revelation and thus do not have authority to give us God's guidance. He concludes "Surely this is the true path of biblical wisdom (192, RF)."

MacArthur quotes from Jonathan Edwards against the equating of impressions and revelation. Delusions come by giving too much weight "on impulses and impressions, as if they were immediate revelations from God, to signify something future, or to direct them where to go, and what to do." (187, RF).

MacArthur seems to agree that there is an individual will of God in addition to His sovereign and moral wills. "Most of us acknowledge that God has a plan for the life of every believer (God's Will, 3). " This plan includes individual decisions more detailed than Scripture. "Can you know what job to seek, what school to attend, what girl or guy to love, what decision to make in any given situation? YES. (God's Will, 4)" God communicates this in the Bible. "Therefore, I believe that what one needs to know about the will of God is clearly revealed in the pages of the Word of God (God's Will, 4).

These two statements about God's will seem to contradict each other. (1) God's will includes what school to attend and (2) all we need to know about God's will is communicated in the Bible. Yet MacArthur does not say the Bible will tell you what school to attend. They can be harmonized in MacArthur's presentation. The key is what "we need to know." MacArthur says that all you need to know is God's will in Scripture and do it. Then your desires will be in harmony with His. Thus, what you desire is by definition what He desires in specific decisions. With one verse (Ps 37:4) he solves the knowledge problem of the traditional view. We don't need to search for or know God's individual will for certain before a decision. If you obey His revealed will (Scripture) you can do what you want and your desires will automatically lead you safely into His individual will.

In my opinion this is not simply an adjustment to the traditional view, but it is really the wisdom view in disguise. He teaches everything that the wisdom view teaches. He disagrees at every major point with the traditional view. In theory he still holds to an individual will of God, but it is in name only. His teaches that you only need to know and obey the moral will of God. Then you are free to make the decision you desire. Wisdom is not excluded since it is part of being Spirit filled. He then calls your decision God's specific will by definition.

MacArthur's discussion is short so he does not cover all issues. If he did it would be necessary to prove that Scripture uses the term "God's will" of an individual will for each believer. He would need to explain why Scripture uses the term "free" for decisions within the moral will of God. He would need to explain to the traditional view why we don't need to know God's individual will ahead of time. They supply Scripture that says we need to know it.

For some who are really comforted by the concept of God's individual will, this presentation will be easier to swallow. They will then be making godly wise and free decisions and calling the result "finding God's individual will." The better term for such decisions would be godly wise and free decisions, but the end result will be practically the same.