In my last entry, I discussed the idea of
God’s Personal Will and found no explicit biblical support for it. In
this entry, I’ll look at the decision-making process of the apostles to
see if there is any implicit scriptural support for the idea of God’s
Personal Will. The first such example of the apostle’s decision-making
is found in the first chapter of Acts.
So
they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus)
and Matthias. Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show
us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic
ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." Then they cast
lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven
apostles.
Acts 1:23-26 (NIV)
Some
have argued that this was a bad decision all around, that God actually
intended Paul to be the 12th apostle to replace Judas. For the purposes
of this discussion, however, we will set aside this argument and focus
on the decision itself. What we see here is that the apostles found two
men that fit their criteria (specified in verses 21-22),
but found it difficult to choose between the two of them. The primary
decision of choosing Barsabbas and Matthias was made using human
criteria and judgment. The final choice between the two was made by
casting lots (a first century version of flipping a coin) only after
they had chosen these two, apparently without relying on direct divine
revelation to select the two candidates. While the phrase “show us” may
seem to imply otherwise, the apostles did not ask God to reveal His
will to them as much as they simply left the “tie breaker” in His
hands. I’ll discuss “casting lots” further in a future post.
In
those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian
Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their
widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the
Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be
right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to
wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known
to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility
over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of
the word." This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a
man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus,
Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to
Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid
their hands on them.
Acts 6:1-6 (NIV)
Here
we find the church at one of its first major crisis points. Yet again,
we do not see the apostles appealing to divine revelation to determine
what should be done. They made a reasoned, wise decision to delegate
authority and responsibility over the distribution of food. They
specified important criteria, but allowed the church to choose the men
they desired to serve in this capacity. Surprisingly enough, we don’t
even see the church being instructed to “go pray about it.” Apparently,
the apostles trusted the God-given wisdom within the church to make a
good decision regarding the first-ever deacons. Only Stephen and Philip
are described further in scripture, but based solely on those two men I
think we can agree they made a good decision.
We
have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and
disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed
to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas
and Paul—men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of
mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us
not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You
are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat
of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to
avoid these things. Farewell.
Acts 15:24-29 (NIV)
Again
we find the church in the midst of a major crisis and in need to a
decision, and again we see primarily democratic decision-making
employed. Both in verse 22 and in verse 25 we see corporate decision-making by the church without an appeal to divine revelation. Only in verse 28
we see the addition of the Holy Spirit to the phrase, but even here the
phrase “it seemed good” (emphasis mine) seems to soften the intent.
Certainly the apostles considered the Holy Spirit a part of their
decision-making process. The question, however, is what form that
involvement took. Acts is not explicit, but verse 28 does not necessarily imply direct divine revelation.
So
when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by
ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's
fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and
encourage you in your faith,
1 Thessalonians 3:1-2 (NIV)
Then,
when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you
approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems
advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
1 Corinthians 16:3-4 (NIV)
In
both these passages Paul clearly expresses that his decisions were
based on his own judgment. There’s no hint of direct divine revelation
at all. That’s not to say that God isn’t involved in Paul’s
decision-making. God’s sovereignty was central to Paul’s theology and
he recognized God’s involvement in his decisions (see 1 Thessalonians 3:11), but Paul didn’t seem to ask or expect God to reveal His sovereign will before he made a decision.
So
when we look to scripture for a definition of God’s will, we see two
distinct concepts. God’s Moral Will which consists of His commands
revealed in scripture and His Sovereign Will, His redemptive plan for
creation that is generally not revealed before it comes to pass. The
idea of a Personal Will, a “wonderful plan for our lives” that God
reveals to us so we can make decisions has no clear support in
scripture. But that leaves us with the $64,000 question: If there is no
“Magic 8 Ball” to help us, how should we make decisions? Are we
completely on our own? Not at all. God has given us everything we need to live a life pleasing to Him. In the next installment, we’ll begin to build a framework for Godly decision-making.
The rest of the series: