Right Words

Texts: Eph. 1:9-11; Col. 1:9-11

The first will (Eph. 1:9-11) we’re entitled and expected to know in this age is God’s purpose for the church in time and eternity. You might call this the positional will of God. The second will (Col. 1:9-11) that we should know, considering Paul’s earnest prayer, is how to live in light of that purpose. You might call this the practical will of God. Knowing both wills takes “spiritual understanding” (Eph. 1:18, Col. 1:9), one to see the “big picture” for this age and beyond, the other how to walk in alignment with it (Eph. 4:1, Col. 1:10).

A third passage that might accompany these is Col. 4:12, where Epaphras prays for other believers to “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God,” i.e., the attainment of performing God’s will with increasing maturity and completeness. There are numerous facets to the practical will of God, and the Lord’s will is for us to apprehend and fulfill those facets more completely over time. By doing so, we bring the positional and practical wills together, or unify our standing and our state.

There’s much more that could be said here dispensationally, but my main goal was to show that the will of God has different levels and that we need his grace to see and fulfill them.

Sweet will of God, still fold me closer,/Till I am wholly lost in thee. — C.H. Morris