# Two wills of God placed upon Adam?



## Darryl Le Roux (Jul 8, 2016)

Hi all. 

So I have been wrestling with the issue of the above, the two wills of God. 

I have heard Sproul and the like mention that Satan and Adam were the only ones that had libertarian free will. Therefore, their choice to sin, was not by the Lord's hand in the sense of ordination. It was solely on the two as their responsibility. Now, this can go down a rabbit whole in terms of responsibility of an individual, but this is not my issue at the moment.

The issue that I am trying to grapple with is this, how does the verse in say Genesis 2:17 describe libertarian free will, and not merely the issue of God's two wills? How does this apply to Adam, and not to us? I am fully aware that we are unable to choose God in our state as fallen individuals, however, how does one marry the "choice" that Adam and Satan made with being solely on their accord, and not predestined and ordained from the Lord for them to choose otherwise? Should the latter be true, would this not mean that sin entered into the world by the Lord's hand? 

I just cannot apply Deut. 29:29 to this. If this is the case, then the two wills of God seem to be a fallacy. To my knowledge of course.


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## RamistThomist (Jul 8, 2016)

Strictly speaking, God only has one will in the divine essence.


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## earl40 (Jul 8, 2016)

ReformedReidian said:


> Strictly speaking, God only has one will in the divine essence.



I have read that God has only one volitional will according to what pleases Him. There is a will of what man _should do_ which is His prescriptive will, and a will what men _shall do_ which is His decretive will. 

Both of these wills are in the divine essence.


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## RamistThomist (Jul 8, 2016)

earl40 said:


> ReformedReidian said:
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> 
> > Strictly speaking, God only has one will in the divine essence.
> ...



How many wills are a faculty of the divine essence, one or two?


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## Afterthought (Jul 8, 2016)

Earl, focus on the "Strictly speaking" of Jacob's statement. The preceptive will is improperly denoted "will" since "will," properly speaking, requires volition.


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## earl40 (Jul 8, 2016)

ReformedReidian said:


> earl40 said:
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> > ReformedReidian said:
> ...



God in His essence has one decretive will and one prescriptive will. God "always" had in "mind" what men out to do and what they would do even "before" He created them.


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## earl40 (Jul 8, 2016)

Afterthought said:


> Earl, focus on the "Strictly speaking" of Jacob's statement. The preceptive will is improperly denoted "will" since "will," properly speaking, requires volition.



It is only "proper" to assign volition to His decretive will. It also is "proper" to assign the word will to His perceptive will.


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## RamistThomist (Jul 8, 2016)

So there are two wills within the one divine essence? The church fathers called that polytheism, for it would also imply two minds.

Essence: one mind, will, and energy of operation.


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## timfost (Jul 8, 2016)

Calvin:



> Since, on account of the dullness of our sense, the wisdom of God *seems* manifold, (or, as an old interpreter rendered it, multiform,) are we, therefore, to dream of some variation in God, as if he either changed his counsel, or disagreed with himself? Nay, when we cannot comprehend how God can will that to be done which he forbids us to do, *let us call to mind our imbecility, and remember that the light in which he dwells is not without cause termed inaccessible, (1Ti 6: 16) because shrouded in darkness*.


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## OPC'n (Jul 8, 2016)

I'm not sure that Sproul believes this. It certainly doesn't sound like anything I've heard him teach. If you have a link to him teaching this I would appreciate having it.


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## py3ak (Jul 8, 2016)

God's commands are the rule of our conduct. Our failure to comply with those commands is part of God's plan, but is nonetheless our fault.

God has only one will, though it is variously distinguished according to its objects. The decree of God includes that certain things are made binding upon us (the will of precept).


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## timfost (Jul 8, 2016)

It may also be helpful to distinguish between the will (voluntas) and free choice (liberum arbitrium).


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## earl40 (Jul 8, 2016)

ReformedReidian said:


> So there are two wills within the one divine essence? The church fathers called that polytheism, for it would also imply two minds.
> 
> Essence: one mind, will, and energy of operation.



I can see where you are coming from and can say God only has one will that is volitional.  So if I may ask what is the perceptive will of God? Is this something He has and revealed to mankind? Also is the preceptive will volitional so far as what men_ought_ to do? As Ruben has said God has one will which can be distinguished according to its objects. What is informative is that the volitional or decretive will also determines, or controls by grace, if men will comply with His preceptive will.


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## RamistThomist (Jul 8, 2016)

earl40 said:


> ReformedReidian said:
> 
> 
> > So there are two wills within the one divine essence? The church fathers called that polytheism, for it would also imply two minds.
> ...



Reformed scholastics would speak of a two-fold or multifold single will of God. Once we say multiple wills then we have polytheism.


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## earl40 (Jul 8, 2016)

ReformedReidian said:


> earl40 said:
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> > ReformedReidian said:
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Yes I can see this and use this terminology when appropriate in that I agree with it....as long as you can say it is not "improper" to say God has a proper preceptive will to what men _should_ do.


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## MW (Jul 8, 2016)

earl40 said:


> as long as you can say it is not "improper" to say God has a proper preceptive will to what men _should_ do.



I think I see what you are driving at. The preceptive will is "willed" by God in the proper sense of the term. Yes? If so, that would be correct; but at that point the term "will" is referring to what God has decreed. Even the preceptive will as such falls under the exhaustive decree of God. But the preceptive will itself is also called the will of "sign," because it only signifies God's will; it is not God's will in the proper and literal sense of the term as an act of volition. To speak properly, as well as piously, "If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."


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## MW (Jul 8, 2016)

Darryl Le Roux said:


> I just cannot apply Deut. 29:29 to this. If this is the case, then the two wills of God seem to be a fallacy. To my knowledge of course.



The difficulty might be in the attached phrase, "placed upon Adam." God's decree was not placed upon Adam as a conscious consideration in what he chose. Adam did not know the hidden purpose of God. He willed and acted without any knowledge of what God had foreordained. As the event was unknown to him we cannot say that God's decree was "placed upon Adam." The decree would be performed "concerning Adam," but it did not come into his reckoning as he made his choice. He only knew what God had commanded him. The command alone was "placed upon Adam" as a conscious consideration in the choice he would make.


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## earl40 (Jul 8, 2016)

MW said:


> earl40 said:
> 
> 
> > as long as you can say it is not "improper" to say God has a proper preceptive will to what men _should_ do.
> ...



Of course, that is why I did qualify all my posts on the proper and valid use of saying God has 2 wills with the words "should do" and "shall do".


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## Parakaleo (Jul 9, 2016)

Scripture speaks of God's will in different manners.

(1) God’s preceptive (“revealed”) will: the expression of God’s perfect moral character.
Examples: Ezek. 33:11 “…takes no _pleasure_ in the death of the wicked”; Matt. 7:21; 1 Thess. 4:3-6; 1 John 2:17, God expresses a desire people to be holy and live lives of peace and enter heaven.

(2) God’s decretive (“secret”) will: the expression of God’s perfect sovereign plan that does come to pass.
Examples: 1 Sam. 2:25 “…it was _the will_ of the Lord to put them to death.” Same verb (will) as Ezek. 33:11, thus the two cannot be the _same sense_ of God’s will; Job 42:2; Acts 4:28; Eph. 1:11; James 4:15.

One will, with different facets or glimpses of God's perfections given to us in Scripture.


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## earl40 (Jul 9, 2016)

Parakaleo said:


> Scripture speaks of God's will in different manners.
> 
> (1) God’s preceptive (“revealed”) will: the expression of God’s perfect moral character.
> Examples: Ezek. 33:11 “…takes no _pleasure_ in the death of the wicked”; Matt. 7:21; 1 Thess. 4:3-6; 1 John 2:17, God expresses a desire people to be holy and live lives of peace and enter heaven.



Not to side track too much but how do you square the above which includes the death of the wicked according to His will which is always good?

I. God the great Creator of all things does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.

BTW. Here is the answer from an article that in my opinion clears the faulty view God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked "if the repent".
http://www.fpcr.org/blue_banner_articles/murray-free-offer-review.htm


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