Salvation & God's Will

Do you aspire to be obedient to God's will of desire? The first step is to be saved. Salvation is the foundation of God’s will. He wills (commands) that men be saved.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

In the original Greek, the word translated “willing” mean purpose or intend. It conveys that God’s intention for mankind is a relationship with Him. God wants all men to be saved, so much so that he stays His judgment.

1 Timothy 2:3-4
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Here we also see that God desires that all people to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. This is an aspect of God’s will of desire and not His sovereign will. We can deduce this because we know that the gate to life is narrow and few enter in (Mtt 7:13-14). God’s will of decree is immutable and cannot be thwarted. His will of desire, however, can be (and very often is) ignored, disregarded and disobeyed.

John 6:37-40
37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

This passage illustrates an intersection between God’s will of decree and His will of desire. On one hand, God sovereignly chooses and draws some to salvation in Christ (John 6:44, Rom. 8:30). At the same time, He commands men to believe. This is the juxtaposition of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. God decrees the salvation of the elect, and He desires and commands all people to be saved.