Can anyone else define these terms as they are used in the Bible?

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Johann

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Apr 12, 2022
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#41
certainly all creatures desire things, and exercise their will to accomplish these things. i wouldn't say God's will is bound in any way, though.

i did not say our will is part of our nature, though. it's bound to it.

tell me, can a bad tree bear good fruit?
Maybe this will help-

θέλημα
thélēma; gen. thelḗmatos, neut. noun from thélō (G2309), to will. The suffix -ma indicates that it is the result of the will. Will, not to be conceived as a demand, but as an expression or inclination of pleasure towards that which is liked, that which pleases and creates joy. When it denotes God's will, it signifies His gracious disposition toward something. Used to designate what God Himself does of His own good pleasure.


(I) Will, active volition, wish, good pleasure (Mat_26:42; Act_21:14; 1Co_16:12; Eph_5:17; 1Pe_2:15; 1Pe_4:2-3, 1Pe_4:19; 1Jn_5:14); the will of the flesh, carnal desire (Joh_1:13; Sept.: Psa_1:2; Dan_8:4; Dan_11:3).

(II) By metonymy, will, what one wills to do or have done (Mat_7:21; Mat_12:50; Mat_21:31; Mar_3:35; Joh_5:30; Joh_6:38; Act_13:22; Rom_12:2; Eph_6:6; Heb_13:21); the desires of the flesh (Eph_2:3; Sept.: 1Ki_5:8-9; Psa_103:21; Psa_143:10). By implication, will, i.e., purpose, counsel, decree, law (Mat_18:14; Joh_6:39-40; Act_22:14; Heb_10:7, Heb_10:9-10, Heb_10:36). The will of God means the counsels or eternal purposes of God (Mat_6:10; Luk_11:2).


(III) By metonymy, will, the faculty of willing, free will (Luk_23:25; 1Co_7:37; 2Pe_1:21); of God (Eph_1:5, Eph_1:11; 1Pe_3:17).
(IV) In the NT there are two principal verbs indicative of will: thélō (G2309), to will, wish, implying volition and purpose, frequently a determination or execution of that which is desired; and boúlomai (G1014), to wish or will deliberately which expresses more strongly than thélō the deliberate exercise of the will but not necessarily the execution of it. Among the nouns derived from thélō, thélēma refers almost entirely to God, with exceptions in Eph_2:3 (cf. Eph_1:11); 2Pe_1:21. The word is generally sing., but the pl. occurs in Act_13:22; Eph_2:3. In Heb_2:4, thélēsis (G2308) is the act of the will or the process used. The thélēma is that which results from the process of determination. What God determines to do is the result of His thélēsis and it is His thélēma.


There are two corresponding nouns derived from boúlomai (G1014) which means to will deliberately but not necessarily to execute that will. They are boúlēma (G1013), a resolve or purpose, and boulḗ (G1012), a counsel, determination. In both, there is the initiation of one's purpose. In thélēma, however, there is the finalization and the execution of that purpose. The differentiation in the meaning of the two nouns thélēma and boúlēma indicates why the first is used primarily of God and the second is always used of man. When God purposes something, He always has the power to bring it to execution, but man, not necessarily. There is a finality about God's thélēma, but there is not finality in regard to man's boúlēma. Man may determine to do what he may never fulfill.
(V) The only exceptions to the above are in Eph_2:3 where it is in the pl., thelḗmata, referring to the desires of the flesh and of the mind which clearly indicates the sinful desires from which Christ liberates a believer. An unbeliever, on the other hand, is free to consider and accomplish sin.


The same phrase, thélēma sarkós (sárx [G4561], flesh) "the will of the flesh" (a.t.) that we find in Eph_2:3 relating thélēma to the flesh is found in Joh_1:13, which should also be taken as referring to the physical desire of the flesh for the reproductive act. The meaning of this expression induces us to believe that Joh_1:13 should not be linked directly to Joh_1:12 which refers to those who receive Jesus Christ and to whom He gives the right to become the children of God. Observe there is no kaí (G2532), "and," as a connective between verses twelve and thirteen. Joh_1:13 should rather be connected to the Lógos (G3056), the Word of verse one, which is the basic and general subject of this passage, the Word becoming flesh.

The main subject of this entire passage is that the "Word [Lógos {G3056}] . . . became flesh [sárx {G4561}]" (Joh_1:1, Joh_1:14) The flesh of Jesus, however, was different from any other flesh in that it was sinless (Heb_4:15). It was hósios (G3741), sacred, pure, without the inherited sin of Adam (Rom_5:12; Heb_4:15), subject to natural growth (Luk_2:40, Luk_2:52), but not to decomposition and corruption at death (Psa_16:8-11; Act_2:27, Act_2:31; Act_13:35). Jesus therefore took upon Himself a body, fully human (Php_2:6-8), capable of dying and yet incorruptible.

The manner in which this Lógos became flesh must be different than the ordinary manner in which all of us were conceived. Jesus Christ as the God-Man was not conceived out of an ordinary human desire of the flesh (ek [G1537] of, thelḗmatos sarkós [G4561], flesh) but of God. Tertullian was the first to propose that the hós (G3739) who, the relative pron. in the sing. referring to the Lógos, Word (which is also in the sing.), was changed to hoi in the pl. to correspond to hósoi ([G3745], pl.), "as many as" of verse twelve. Because of the proximity of the two verses, it seems quite possible that the scribes who were copying the text changed the hós, who, (referring to ho Lógos, the Word of Joh_1:1) to hoi, which, in the pl. referring to "as many" (hósoi). Therefore they had to change egennḗthē (aor. pass. of gennáō [G1080]) "was born," from the 3d person sing. to egennḗthēsan, the 3d person pl. "were born" to refer to hósoi rather than to the Lógos. If verse thirteen is taken with hós referring to the Word and the verb is egennḗthē, "who [in the sing. referring to the Lógos] was born" (a.t.), then what it states in the body of the verse fully applies to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ who was born not as a result of the interaction of a man with a woman (Mat_1:20, Mat_1:23, Mat_1:25; Luk_1:30, Luk_1:34-35). Jesus was not conceived out of the fleshly desire of a man, resulting in corruption. In Joh_1:13, the expression oudé ek thelḗmatos andrós (oudé [G3761], nor; ek [G1537], of; thélēma, desire; andrós, gen. sing. of anḗr [G435], husband, man) should be translated, "nor of the desire of a husband" (a.t.). The declaration is that the Lógos, Jesus Christ in His preexistence as the Son (Joh_1:12, Joh_1:14, Joh_1:18), became flesh, not because of the desire of the flesh, nor the desire of a husband (since it is usually the husband who initiates the act of reproduction), but of God. Here the word "husband" is used to impress the legitimacy of marriage and human reproduction. The meaning of the previous expression thélēma sarkós, "the will of the flesh," is exactly the same in Eph_2:3, this being one of the exceptions of the use of thélēma, referring not to the will of God but the desire of the flesh of man.


(VI) Another exception to the word thélēma referring especially to man is found in 2Pe_1:21, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." This verse declares that the true and trustworthy prophecy of 2Pe_1:19 was neither initiated nor brought forth by man. Any such prophecy initiated in the mind of and expounded by man must be considered false prophecy. True prophecy, conceived in the mind of God, was brought forth or executed, not by man, but by the Holy Spirit who prompted holy men of God to speak. It is interesting indeed to realize that the word for "spoke" in Gr. is elálēsan, the aor. of the verb laléō (G2980), to speak. They faithfully reiterated that which was declared to them. See laléō (G2980) as it contrasts with légō (G3004), to speak or express one's thought.


(VII) The word thélēma, with the meaning of fatherly desire for the good of his daughter, is used in 1Co_7:37, "Nevertheless he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will (thélēma), and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well." This verse speaks of the determination of a virgin's father for her to stay at home without marrying because it is his will to protect her against an undesirable marriage.
(VIII) In Act_13:22, the word thélēma is used in the pl., thelḗmata, as in Eph_2:3, but in this instance it is used in regard to God and His precepts.


(IX) The corresponding noun boúlēma (G1013), resolve, purpose, is used only in three instances.
(A) First it is used in Act_27:43, where both the verb boúlomai and the subst. boúlēma are found: "But the centurion, willing (boulómenos) to save Paul, kept them from their purpose (boulḗmatos); and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land." This concerned Paul in regard to the shipwrecked boat in which he and others were sailing. The verb expresses the centurion's desire to rescue Paul, and the subst. relates to the determination of the soldiers to kill the prisoners on board. Both the verb and the noun refer to the will or purpose of human beings.














Lengthy eh?
J.
 

Johann

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#42
THE WILL (THELĒMA) OF GOD
The "will" of God involves several categories.
JOHN'S GOSPEL
• Jesus came to do the Father's will (cf. John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38)
• to raise up on the last day all whom the Father gave the Son (cf. John 6:39)
• that all believe in the Son (cf. John 6:29,40)
• answered prayer related to doing God's will (cf. John 9:31 and 1 John 5:14)

THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
• doing God's will is crucial (cf. Matt. 7:21)
• doing God's will makes one brother and sister with Jesus (cf. Matt. 12:50; Mark 3:35)
• it is not God's will for any to perish (cf. Matt. 18:14; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9)
• Calvary was the Father's will for Jesus (cf. Matt. 26:42; Luke 22:42)

PAUL'S LETTERS
• the maturity and service of all believers (cf. Rom. 12:1-2)
• believers delivered from this evil age (cf. Gal. 1:4)
• God's will was His redemptive plan (cf. Eph. 1:5,9,11)
• believers experiencing and living the Spirit-filled life (cf. Eph. 5:17-18)
• believers filled with the knowledge of God (cf. Col. 1:9)
• believers made perfect and complete (cf. Col. 4:12)
• believers sanctified (cf. 1 Thess. 4:3)
• believers giving thanks in all things (cf. 1 Thess. 5:18)

PETER'S LETTERS
• believers doing right (i.e., submitting to civil authorities) and, thereby silencing foolish men, thus providing an opportunity for evangelism (cf. 1 Pet. 2:15)
• believers suffering (cf. 1 Pet. 3:17; 4:19)
• believers not living self-centered lives (cf. 1 Pet. 4:2)

JOHN'S LETTERS
• believers abiding forever (cf. 1 John 2:17)
• believers key to answered prayer (cf. 1 John 5:14)
 

Johann

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#44
but it doesn't answer my question, that i can see. can a bad tree bear good fruit?
Absolutely, positively triple negative! A double negative would make it a positive..
Shalom @notmyown -peace to you and family.
Johann.
 

PaulThomson

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#45
certainly all creatures desire things, and exercise their will to accomplish these things. i wouldn't say God's will is bound in any way, though.

i did not say our will is part of our nature, though. it's bound to it.

tell me, can a bad tree bear good fruit?
You still haven't defined will. And yet you are making assertions about what it can do. A creature's desire are its will. It uses its other attributes (strength, intellect, hearing, speech etc.) to achieve those desires or to subjugate those desires to other competing desires.

How do you derive from scripture your belief that will is not a part of our nature?
 

notmyown

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#46
How do you derive from scripture your belief that will is not a part of our nature?
didn't say it's not my belief, Paul. just said it wasn't what i had asserted. :)
 

Johann

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#48
lol of a certainty! thank you for the lesson, Sly. :)

but it doesn't answer my question, that i can see. can a bad tree bear good fruit?
You don't find this to your satisfaction?

theló G2309 [to wish, desire]
theléma G2307 [will],
thelésis G2308 [will]

thelo. On the relation to boulomai, see boulomai above. In secular Greek and the LXX the word thelo has such varied meanings as "to purpose," "to be ready," "to resolve," "to desire," "to wish," "to prefer," and negatively "to refuse." It may be used for the divine will or the royal will. It is common in the OT in the negative.

A. The Common Greek Meaning of (e)thelo .

1. A first sense is "to be ready" (with a nuance "to consent") or "to like."

2. We then find "to want," sometimes in an erotic sense leading to "to come together" and even "to conceive," but also, with no erotic sense, "to like," "to take pleasure in," primarily, in the LXX, with a human subject.

3. Expressing intention, the word may then denote "to wish," "to be about to do something," "to be used to doing something," "to intend."

4. The word also expresses resolve as free or weighed decision, sometimes with the idea of choice or preference, and religiously with the nuance of resolute willingness (considered or stubborn refusal in the negative).

5. thelein may also denote the will that commands, e.g., God's rule and purpose in creation and history, or the rule, decrees, or orders of rulers, officials, and military leaders.

B. Significant Features in the NT Use of thelein from the Standpoint of Biblical Theology.

1. The thelein of God. God's thelein is characterized by definiteness, assurance, and efficacy. In Mat_27:43 (quoting Psa_22:8) it expresses divine desire or delight, but elsewhere it refers to God's sovereign will in creation (1Co_12:18) or salvation (Joh_3:8; 1Ti_2:4). In the parable in Mat_20:14-15 God's freedom of disposal is the point. Paul shows how this works out in salvation and judgment in Rom_9:18; Rom_9:22. The saving will of God is declared to the Gentiles in Col_1:27. In contrast stands the pseudoclaim of the devil in Luk_4:6. God's thelein also expresses his demands upon his people, especially mercy rather than sacrifice (Mat_9:13; Heb_10:5; Heb_10:8). It further denotes God's direction in the lives of his people; thus we are to suffer for doing right if that is God's will (1Pe_3:17).

2. The thelein of Jesus.
a. The disciples accept the power of Jesus' will, as in the request of Luk_9:54, or the readiness to follow in Mar_14:12. This will initiates the miracle of Mat_15:32 ff. It may be seen in his choice of the disciples in Mar_3:13 and his healing work in Mar_1:40-41; Mat_8:2-3. It extends to raising the dead in Joh_5:21, or (in prayer) to granting the disciples a vision of his glory in Joh_17:23. The whole future of the disciples rests upon this omnipotent will of the Son (21:21).

b. Yet the will of Jesus in his earthly calling bears witness to his sharing our humanity. Thus his will may be thwarted in Mar_7:24. Indeed, human rejection can frustrate his saving purpose (Mat_23:37; Luk_12:49). The prayer in Gethsemane implies the possibility of an independent human will that is set aside in voluntary submission to the divine will (Mar_14:36; Mat_26:39).
3. The thelein of Paul in His Authoritative Apostolic Dealings with the Churches. Paul is fond of thelein either when stressing points of teaching (1Th_4:13; 1Co_10:1; 1Co_12:1; Rom_11:25), making personal statements (Rom_1:3), expressing intention in controversy (Gal_3:2), or giving pastoral direction (1Co_7:32) .

4. Religious thelein and Its Opposite in the NT,

a. In the Synoptists thelein may express religious striving, e.g., that of Jewish piety in Mat_19:17, or the will for discipleship in Mar_8:34. Α misguided wish is at issue in Mar_10:35 and Gal_4:21. On the other hand, the wish of Mat_15:28 implies faith with its orientation to Christ's power (cf. Mar_10:51). In Joh_7:17 we have a readiness to do God's will which becomes effective prayer in 15:7, a will for sanctification in Heb_13:18, and a will for true life in 1Pe_3:10 (cf. the determinative role of thelein in Mat_7:12). In Rev_22:17 the desire for the water of life may be met by coming to Christ, i.e., by faith.

b. In Paul religious thelein is linked with verbs of doing. God himself wills and does in Php_2:3. Giving follows a ready will in 2Co_8:10-11. Desires and doing interact in Gal_5:17. In Rom_7:1-25, however, thelein under the law, apart from faith and the Spirit, cannot be put into action. What is willed is not done; what is not willed is done. This impotent thelein consents to the law and even delights in it (vv. 16, 22), but cannot get beyond the intention to do it. A cleavage is at issue here which is a matter, not merely of keeping specific commands, but of life and death. Yet the perversion of being in legalism also involves concrete transgression. Only the Spirit, not the law itself, can give force to the will and enable it to meet the law's just demand (8:4). In attempts at self-righteousness, the will is enslaved to sarx ; in Christ it is liberated by the Spirit. Parallels to Rom_7:1-25 may be seen in Epictetus, who argues that there is something in life that does not conform to what is desired, and that while we will to be free, we are bound by the body. But in Epictetus the first problem is mostly one of ignorance, while the body, being a secondary matter, need not be the serious obstacle that sarx is in Paul, for whom true freedom of the will comes only as the spiritual will replaces the legal will through the ministry of Christ and the Spirit. As Rom_9:16 puts it, will and effort are to no effect without the divine will and mercy (cf. vv. 18, 22).
c. Refusal as the opposite of religious willingness may be seen in the parable of Mat_21:30, the resistance of Jerusalem in Mat_23:37, the blunt rejection of Luk_19:14, the refusal to come to Jesus in Joh_5:40, the disobedience of Act_7:39, and the refusal to repent in Rev_2:21. A resolute will to do evil is denoted in Joh_8:44 and an orientation to mistaken values in Mar_8:35.
thelema .

A. thelema in the Greek World, in Hellenism, and in the Synagogue.

1. A first use of thelema is for "wish" or "purpose," then "desire" (also sexual).

2. In the LXX it occurs for the divine "will" and "pleasure," then for human "desire," the royal "will," and "self-will."

3. In the Hermetic writings there is considerable use for the will of God as good, sovereign, creative, and all-determinative.

4. In rabbinic writings the will of God, often linked with his name and rule (as in the Lord's Prayer), is that which is to be done.

B. thelema in the NT. The plural form (common in the LXX) occurs in the NT only in LXX quotations (Act_13:22) and for carnal desires (Eph_2:3). God's will is a unity and is thus put in the singular (apart from the variant reading in Mar_3:35).

1. thelema as God's Will.
a. Christ as Doer of the Divine Will.
(i) The third petition of the Lord's Prayer expresses a consent to God's will that Christ himself exemplifies in Mat_26:42. It is because he lives by the divine will that he calls the one who does this will his brother, sister, and mother (Mar_3:35).
(ii) John makes the same point with christological depth. Jesus does the will of the divine Sender, executing and thereby mediating it (4:34; 5:30, etc.). The essential union of Son and Father comes to ethical expression. Jesus is the eternal Son (7:28) who is one with the Father (1:18 etc.) and hears his words (5:20). He demonstrates this by his constant openness to the Father's will. His very life is to do this will (4:34).

The content of this will is to lead believers in him to eternal life (6:39-40). Obedience, however, is neither a natural process nor a miracle. It entails a willing subjection of his own will which enables him to claim that his mission, word, and work are all from God (7:28 etc.). This guarantees that his judgment is just (5:30), and it insures his power in virtue of the divine hearing (9:31). Yet it also involves his self-giving (cf. 12:25) in fulfilment of his saving mission.
(iii) In Heb_10:7; Heb_10:9 the whole life of Christ, in contrast to animal sacrifices, is a self-offering to God's will whereby believers in him are sanctified.




C. thelema in the Early Church. In the apostolic fathers thelema is used biblically for the will of God which underlies salvation (Ignatius Smyrneans 11.1), gives direction for service (Ignatius Eph 20.1), and is the power that begets Christ (Ignatius Smyrneans 1.1 etc., taking Joh_1:13 in the singular). The term is important in the Monothelite controversy, but with a non-NT stress on the thelema as an organ of volition instead of its content.
thelesis. This is a late Koine word related to thelema but less common. It occurs in the LXX for the divine will or good pleasure, for human desire, for the royal will, and in a special usage for "delight" or "sweetness." The only NT instance is in Heb_2:4 : Along with the attestation of the Lord's hearers, God also gave testimony by signs etc. and gifts distributed according to his own will.
[G. SCHRENK]

J.
 

Johann

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#51

Johann

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#52
that's not what Jesus said. Mt 7:18, Lk 6:43
Some cross references-

cannot. Luk_6:43, Joh_3:6, Rom_8:7-8, Gal_5:17, Eph_4:29, Php_1:11, Heb_12:15, 1Jn_1:6; 1Jn_2:29; *1Jn_3:6-10; *1Jn_3:19.
neither can. *Job_14:4, Pro_5:22; Pro_10:16, *Jer_13:23, Mat_12:33, Rom_8:7.
 

PaulThomson

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Oct 29, 2023
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#53
You don't find this to your satisfaction?

theló G2309 [to wish, desire]
theléma G2307 [will],
thelésis G2308 [will]

thelo. On the relation to boulomai, see boulomai above. In secular Greek and the LXX the word thelo has such varied meanings as "to purpose," "to be ready," "to resolve," "to desire," "to wish," "to prefer," and negatively "to refuse." It may be used for the divine will or the royal will. It is common in the OT in the negative.

A. The Common Greek Meaning of (e)thelo .

1. A first sense is "to be ready" (with a nuance "to consent") or "to like."

2. We then find "to want," sometimes in an erotic sense leading to "to come together" and even "to conceive," but also, with no erotic sense, "to like," "to take pleasure in," primarily, in the LXX, with a human subject.

3. Expressing intention, the word may then denote "to wish," "to be about to do something," "to be used to doing something," "to intend."

4. The word also expresses resolve as free or weighed decision, sometimes with the idea of choice or preference, and religiously with the nuance of resolute willingness (considered or stubborn refusal in the negative).

5. thelein may also denote the will that commands, e.g., God's rule and purpose in creation and history, or the rule, decrees, or orders of rulers, officials, and military leaders.

B. Significant Features in the NT Use of thelein from the Standpoint of Biblical Theology.

1. The thelein of God. God's thelein is characterized by definiteness, assurance, and efficacy. In Mat_27:43 (quoting Psa_22:8) it expresses divine desire or delight, but elsewhere it refers to God's sovereign will in creation (1Co_12:18) or salvation (Joh_3:8; 1Ti_2:4). In the parable in Mat_20:14-15 God's freedom of disposal is the point. Paul shows how this works out in salvation and judgment in Rom_9:18; Rom_9:22. The saving will of God is declared to the Gentiles in Col_1:27. In contrast stands the pseudoclaim of the devil in Luk_4:6. God's thelein also expresses his demands upon his people, especially mercy rather than sacrifice (Mat_9:13; Heb_10:5; Heb_10:8). It further denotes God's direction in the lives of his people; thus we are to suffer for doing right if that is God's will (1Pe_3:17).

2. The thelein of Jesus.
a. The disciples accept the power of Jesus' will, as in the request of Luk_9:54, or the readiness to follow in Mar_14:12. This will initiates the miracle of Mat_15:32 ff. It may be seen in his choice of the disciples in Mar_3:13 and his healing work in Mar_1:40-41; Mat_8:2-3. It extends to raising the dead in Joh_5:21, or (in prayer) to granting the disciples a vision of his glory in Joh_17:23. The whole future of the disciples rests upon this omnipotent will of the Son (21:21).

b. Yet the will of Jesus in his earthly calling bears witness to his sharing our humanity. Thus his will may be thwarted in Mar_7:24. Indeed, human rejection can frustrate his saving purpose (Mat_23:37; Luk_12:49). The prayer in Gethsemane implies the possibility of an independent human will that is set aside in voluntary submission to the divine will (Mar_14:36; Mat_26:39).
3. The thelein of Paul in His Authoritative Apostolic Dealings with the Churches. Paul is fond of thelein either when stressing points of teaching (1Th_4:13; 1Co_10:1; 1Co_12:1; Rom_11:25), making personal statements (Rom_1:3), expressing intention in controversy (Gal_3:2), or giving pastoral direction (1Co_7:32) .

4. Religious thelein and Its Opposite in the NT,

a. In the Synoptists thelein may express religious striving, e.g., that of Jewish piety in Mat_19:17, or the will for discipleship in Mar_8:34. Α misguided wish is at issue in Mar_10:35 and Gal_4:21. On the other hand, the wish of Mat_15:28 implies faith with its orientation to Christ's power (cf. Mar_10:51). In Joh_7:17 we have a readiness to do God's will which becomes effective prayer in 15:7, a will for sanctification in Heb_13:18, and a will for true life in 1Pe_3:10 (cf. the determinative role of thelein in Mat_7:12). In Rev_22:17 the desire for the water of life may be met by coming to Christ, i.e., by faith.

b. In Paul religious thelein is linked with verbs of doing. God himself wills and does in Php_2:3. Giving follows a ready will in 2Co_8:10-11. Desires and doing interact in Gal_5:17. In Rom_7:1-25, however, thelein under the law, apart from faith and the Spirit, cannot be put into action. What is willed is not done; what is not willed is done. This impotent thelein consents to the law and even delights in it (vv. 16, 22), but cannot get beyond the intention to do it. A cleavage is at issue here which is a matter, not merely of keeping specific commands, but of life and death. Yet the perversion of being in legalism also involves concrete transgression. Only the Spirit, not the law itself, can give force to the will and enable it to meet the law's just demand (8:4). In attempts at self-righteousness, the will is enslaved to sarx ; in Christ it is liberated by the Spirit. Parallels to Rom_7:1-25 may be seen in Epictetus, who argues that there is something in life that does not conform to what is desired, and that while we will to be free, we are bound by the body. But in Epictetus the first problem is mostly one of ignorance, while the body, being a secondary matter, need not be the serious obstacle that sarx is in Paul, for whom true freedom of the will comes only as the spiritual will replaces the legal will through the ministry of Christ and the Spirit. As Rom_9:16 puts it, will and effort are to no effect without the divine will and mercy (cf. vv. 18, 22).
c. Refusal as the opposite of religious willingness may be seen in the parable of Mat_21:30, the resistance of Jerusalem in Mat_23:37, the blunt rejection of Luk_19:14, the refusal to come to Jesus in Joh_5:40, the disobedience of Act_7:39, and the refusal to repent in Rev_2:21. A resolute will to do evil is denoted in Joh_8:44 and an orientation to mistaken values in Mar_8:35.
thelema .

A. thelema in the Greek World, in Hellenism, and in the Synagogue.

1. A first use of thelema is for "wish" or "purpose," then "desire" (also sexual).

2. In the LXX it occurs for the divine "will" and "pleasure," then for human "desire," the royal "will," and "self-will."

3. In the Hermetic writings there is considerable use for the will of God as good, sovereign, creative, and all-determinative.

4. In rabbinic writings the will of God, often linked with his name and rule (as in the Lord's Prayer), is that which is to be done.

B. thelema in the NT. The plural form (common in the LXX) occurs in the NT only in LXX quotations (Act_13:22) and for carnal desires (Eph_2:3). God's will is a unity and is thus put in the singular (apart from the variant reading in Mar_3:35).

1. thelema as God's Will.
a. Christ as Doer of the Divine Will.
(i) The third petition of the Lord's Prayer expresses a consent to God's will that Christ himself exemplifies in Mat_26:42. It is because he lives by the divine will that he calls the one who does this will his brother, sister, and mother (Mar_3:35).
(ii) John makes the same point with christological depth. Jesus does the will of the divine Sender, executing and thereby mediating it (4:34; 5:30, etc.). The essential union of Son and Father comes to ethical expression. Jesus is the eternal Son (7:28) who is one with the Father (1:18 etc.) and hears his words (5:20). He demonstrates this by his constant openness to the Father's will. His very life is to do this will (4:34)....

C. thelema in the Early Church. In the apostolic fathers thelema is used biblically for the will of God which underlies salvation (Ignatius Smyrneans 11.1), gives direction for service (Ignatius Eph 20.1), and is the power that begets Christ (Ignatius Smyrneans 1.1 etc., taking Joh_1:13 in the singular). The term is important in the Monothelite controversy, but with a non-NT stress on the thelema as an organ of volition instead of its content.
thelesis. This is a late Koine word related to thelema but less common. It occurs in the LXX for the divine will or good pleasure, for human desire, for the royal will, and in a special usage for "delight" or "sweetness." The only NT instance is in Heb_2:4 : Along with the attestation of the Lord's hearers, God also gave testimony by signs etc. and gifts distributed according to his own will.
[G. SCHRENK]

J.
Did you write this? Or cut and paste someone else's work. If it is not your own work in your own words, you should designate the source.

Your article seems to make a distinction between the will and any actions the willer does to achieve the thing willed. So, in that regard it seems to agree with my own definition I derived from Romans 7. Although it includes a few more synonyms for will, namely "to purpose," "to be ready," "to resolve," "to desire," "to wish," "to prefer," and negatively "to refuse," nevertheless those synonyms all denote behaviour that precedes actions to achieve that which one is ready to do, wants, desires, wishes, prefers, or in the negative refuses to do.

I would still be interested in seeing what you understand "will" to include and exclude, expressed in our own words. Cutting and pasting something is no guarantee that one understands what one has cut and pasted. But perhaps you composed this article yourself, in which case you would seem to agree with me, although there are some theological assertions within the above article that are not necessarily correct, but which do not pertain to the meaning of "will" itself.
 

PaulThomson

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#55
that's not what Jesus said. Mt 7:18, Lk 6:43
Jesus said "A good tree cannot keep on making (poiein: present active infinitive) bad fruit, nor can a bad tree keep on making (poiein: prsent active infinitive) good fruit." In other words, a diseased tree that is producing good fruit, unless healed, will eventually stop producing good fruit.

This does not mean that a bad tree cannot produce any good fruit at any time. And as the article I cited points out, in the real world, diseased trees can nevertheless produce some good edible fruit.
 

PaulThomson

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#56
THE WILL (THELĒMA) OF GOD
The "will" of God involves several categories.
JOHN'S GOSPEL
• Jesus came to do the Father's will (cf. John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38)
• to raise up on the last day all whom the Father gave the Son (cf. John 6:39)
• that all believe in the Son (cf. John 6:29,40)
• answered prayer related to doing God's will (cf. John 9:31 and 1 John 5:14)

THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
• doing God's will is crucial (cf. Matt. 7:21)
• doing God's will makes one brother and sister with Jesus (cf. Matt. 12:50; Mark 3:35)
• it is not God's will for any to perish (cf. Matt. 18:14; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9)
• Calvary was the Father's will for Jesus (cf. Matt. 26:42; Luke 22:42)

PAUL'S LETTERS
• the maturity and service of all believers (cf. Rom. 12:1-2)
• believers delivered from this evil age (cf. Gal. 1:4)
• God's will was His redemptive plan (cf. Eph. 1:5,9,11)
• believers experiencing and living the Spirit-filled life (cf. Eph. 5:17-18)
• believers filled with the knowledge of God (cf. Col. 1:9)
• believers made perfect and complete (cf. Col. 4:12)
• believers sanctified (cf. 1 Thess. 4:3)
• believers giving thanks in all things (cf. 1 Thess. 5:18)

PETER'S LETTERS
• believers doing right (i.e., submitting to civil authorities) and, thereby silencing foolish men, thus providing an opportunity for evangelism (cf. 1 Pet. 2:15)
• believers suffering (cf. 1 Pet. 3:17; 4:19)
• believers not living self-centered lives (cf. 1 Pet. 4:2)

JOHN'S LETTERS
• believers abiding forever (cf. 1 John 2:17)
• believers key to answered prayer (cf. 1 John 5:14)
Johann, you have yet to offer your own definition of will, in your own words. I have no idea if you understand anything you are cutting and pasting.
 

Johann

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#57
I hope you realise that www.thesaurus.com is not a book in the Bible.
Look at the prepositions included in the boule/thelema of YHVH-and Thesaurus is showing you that.


WILL, n. [See the Verb.]
1. That faculty of the mind by which we determine either to do or forbear an action; the faculty which is exercised in deciding, among two or more objects, which we shall embrace or pursue. The will is directed or influenced by the judgment. The understanding or reason compares different objects, which operate as motives; the judgment determines which is preferable, and the will decides which to pursue. In other words, we reason with respect to the value or importance of things; we then judge which is to be preferred; and we will to take the most valuable. These are but different operations of the mind, soul, or intellectual part of man. Great disputes have existed respecting the freedom of the will. Will is often quite a different thing from desire.
A power over a mans subsistence, amounts to a power over his will.
2. Choice; determination. It is my will to prosecute the trespasser.
3. Choice; discretion; pleasure.
Go, then, the guilty at thy will chastise.
4. Command; direction.
Our prayers should be according to the will of God.
5. Disposition; inclination; desire. What is your will, Sir? In this phrase, the word may also signify determination, especially when addressed to a superior.
6. Power; arbitrary disposal.
Deliver me not over to the will of my enemies. Psa 27.
7. Divine determination; moral purpose or counsel.
Thy will be done. Lords Prayer.
8. Testament; the disposition of a mans estate, to take effect after his death. Wills are written, or nuncupative, that is, verbal.
Good will,
1. Favor; kindness.
2. Right intention. Phil 1.
Ill will, enmity; unfriendliness. It expresses less than malice.
To have ones will, to obtain what is desired.
At will. To hold an estate at the will of another, is to enjoy the possession at his pleasure, and be liable to be ousted at any time by the lessor or proprietor.
Will with a wisp, Jack with a lantern; ignis fatuus; a luminous appearance sometimes seen in the air over moist ground, supposed to proceed from hydrogen gas.
WILL, v.t. [G., L., Gr. The sense is to set, or to set forward, to stretch forward. The sense is well expressed by the L.]
1. To determine; to decide int he mind that something shall be done or forborne; implying power to carry the purpose into effect. In this manner God wills whatever comes to pass. So in the style of princes; we will that execution be done.
A man that sits still is said to be at liberty, because he can walk if he will it.
2. To command; to direct.
Tis yours, O queen! To will the work which duty bids me to fulfill.
3. To be inclined or resolved to have.
There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife?
4. To wish; to desire. What will you?
5. To dispose of estate and effects by testament.
6. It is sometimes equivalent to may be. Let the circumstances be what they will; that is, any circumstances, of whatever nature.
7. Will is used as an auxiliary verb, and a sign of the future tense. It has different signification in different persons.
1. I will go, is a present promise to go; and with an emphasis on will, it expresses determination.
2. Thou wilt go, you will go, express foretelling; simply stating an event that is to come.
3. He will go, is also a foretelling. The use of will in the plural, is the same. We will, promises; ye will, they will, foretell.

You really should zero in on the Imperatives, all of them-as recorded in Scriptures-and you want to do it in a two text paragraph.

I read somewhere-"Our WILL is swallowed up IN the sweet WILL of Christ" Meaning our will should NOT be independent from the will of YHVH.

Heb_10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

Heb_10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.



Rom_6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

1Co_2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Gal_2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Gal_5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Gal_6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

The Greek and Hebrew give you so much more information-grammar-Syntax and Morphologies. Sadly-many don't study in this manner.
J.
 

Johann

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Apr 12, 2022
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#59
Johann, you have yet to offer your own definition of will, in your own words. I have no idea if you understand anything you are cutting and pasting.
I really get the impression you just want to pontificate or philosophize as the boule and thelema is already explained to you.
J.