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NASB | Psalm 115:3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Psalm 115:3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. |
Subject: Definition of "Perfect Will of God" |
Bible Note: Hello Lookin..., Let me address the first point due to time. The word for 'perfect' is telios (Gr.)and it is used some 19 times in the NT. Along with "perfect", it's meaning also conveys the idea of 'brought to it's end, finished',and 'wanting nothing neccesary to completeness'. Wuest translates the passage this way: "And stop assuming an outward expression that does not come from within you and is not representative of what you are in your inner being, but is patterned after this age; but change your outward expression to one that comes from within and is representative of your inner being, by the renewing of your mind, resulting in your putting to the test what is the will of God, the good and well-pleasing, and complete will, and having found that it meets specifications, placing your approval upon it." [Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament] Marvin Vincent says of this passage, "That good and acceptable and perfect will. Better to render the three adjectives as appositional. “May prove what is the will of God, what is good,” etc. The other rendering compels us to take well-pleasing in the sense of agreeable to men." [Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament] Finally, the Commentary Critical offers this insight: "and perfect, will of God—We prefer this rendering (with Calvin) to that which many able critics [Tholuck, Meyer, De Wette, Fritzsche, Philippi, Alford, Hodge] adopt—“that ye may prove,” or “discern the will of God, [even] what is good, and acceptable, and perfect.” God’s will is “good,” as it demands only what is essentially and unchangeably good (Ro 7:10); it is “well pleasing,” in contrast with all that is arbitrary, as demanding only what God has eternal complacency in (compare Mic 6:8, with Je 9:24); and it is “perfect,” as it required nothing else than the perfection of God’s reasonable creature, who, in proportion as he attains to it, reflects God’s own perfection. Such then is the great general duty of the redeemed—self-consecration, in our whole spirit and soul and body to Him who hath called us into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ. Next follow specific duties, chiefly social; beginning with Humility, the chiefest of all the graces—but here with special reference to spiritual gifts." [Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, A. R. Fausset et al., A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory] I trust this will add some understanding to your question. BradK |