# C Hodge and God's Will



## KMK (Oct 1, 2007)

From C Hodge "Systematic Theology", Vol I, Pg 403



> The decretive will of God concerns his purposes, and relates to the futurition fo events. The preceptive will relates to the rule of duty for his rational creatures.



Does this statement encapsulate the reformed view?


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## Rev. Todd Ruddell (Oct 1, 2007)

Dear Ken, 

I think you meant to type "Preceptive" not "Perceptive". The Reformed have historically distinguished between the decretive or "secret" will of God (encompassing whatsoever comes to pass) and the Preceptive or "revealed" will of God, encompassing what He has revealed in Scripture as our duty, i.e., the Moral Law and its application. (see Deuteronomy 29.29)


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## KMK (Oct 1, 2007)

Rev. Todd Ruddell said:


> Dear Ken,
> 
> I think you meant to type "Preceptive" not "Perceptive". The Reformed have historically distinguished between the decretive or "secret" will of God (encompassing whatsoever comes to pass) and the Preceptive or "revealed" will of God, encompassing what He has revealed in Scripture as our duty, i.e., the Moral Law and its application. (see Deuteronomy 29.29)



Thank you. I corrected the quote.


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## KMK (Oct 2, 2007)

I went back to look at Hodge and he does refer to it as 'perceptive' will, not 'preceptive' will. So does my Baker's Theological Dictionary. And so does Rev McMahon.

Which is it? 'Preceptive' or 'perceptive'????????


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## AV1611 (Oct 3, 2007)

I would have thought that it is standard Reformed theology to differentiate between God's will of decree and God's will of command although they are in fact one will.


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## toddpedlar (Oct 3, 2007)

KMK said:


> I went back to look at Hodge and he does refer to it as 'perceptive' will, not 'preceptive' will. So does my Baker's Theological Dictionary. And so does Rev McMahon.
> 
> Which is it? 'Preceptive' or 'perceptive'????????



Preceptive is the only word that makes sense; perceptive cannot be correct.

My Hodge is the Eerdmans edition, and it has preceptive where you've quoted perceptive from Hodge. 

As far as the Baker Dictionary and that McMahon guy  I don't know what to say about those.


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## Jimmy the Greek (Oct 3, 2007)

"Preceptive will," as it indicates, has to do with God's precepts. "Perceptive" would suggest something foreign to the issue. Confusing the terms, or merely misspelling, is unfortunately a common error.


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## KMK (Oct 3, 2007)

In light of the confusion, I will use the terms suggested by Rev Ruddell: 'secret' and 'revealed'


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## KMK (Oct 7, 2007)

I just discovered that the Microsoft Word autocorrect function automatically changes the word 'preceptive' to the word 'perceptive'. Perhaps that accounts for the confusion from different sources.


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Oct 7, 2007)

Preceptive vs. Perceptive.

Not, this is not confusing the issue. It does not add something foreign. These are two manner of looking at two various aspects of the will ACTED.

Decreetive vs. Preceptive. (i.e. God's eternal counsel vs. God's Word as stated.)

Decreetive vs. Perceptive. (i.e. God's actions as a result of His eternal counsel after the fact, vs. what we see )i.e. perceive) as a result of day to day living.)

Two different strata in the line of thinking on the Word based information and the practical side of seeing those things worked out.

See how easy it is to dismiss things as "foreign" without thinking through it!
Careful careful!

Both these sets of ideas are extremely important in understanding the continuum of God's decree and actions.


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## bookslover (Oct 7, 2007)

C. Matthew McMahon said:


> Decreetive vs. Preceptive...



Of course, "decretive" has only two "e"s in it...(*cough*)


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Oct 7, 2007)

I'm starting my own theological dictionary.

Decreetive
Imputative
Preceptivation
Theologistical
Hermeniceptive
Doctrilological
and more...


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