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NASB | Luke 22:42 saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 22:42 saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup [of divine wrath] from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done." |
Bible Question:
Mark 14:36 (KJV) And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. Luke 22:42 (KJV) Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. Matthew 26:39 (KJV) And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. …” and when he prays that this cup might pass from him, his meaning is, that he might be freed from the present horrors of his mind, be excused the sufferings of death, and be delivered from the curse of the law, and wrath of God; which request was made without sin, though it betrayed the weakness of the human nature under its insupportable load, and its reluctance to sufferings and death, which is natural;”… …”That there are two wills in Christ, human and divine, is certain; his human will, though in some instances, as in this, may have been different from the divine will, yet not contrary to it; and his divine will is always the same with his Father's. “– John Gills Exposition of the Entire Bible John 4:34 (KJV) Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. “The Ethiopic version reads, "of my Father that sent me", and who is undoubtedly intended. Now as food is pleasant, and delightful, and refreshing to the body of man, so doing the will of God was as delightful and refreshing to the soul of Christ: he took as much pleasure in it, as an hungry man does in eating and drinking. One part of the will of God was to assume human nature; this he had done, and with delight and pleasure: another part of it was to fulfil the law; and this was in his heart, and was his delight, and he was now doing it: and another branch of it was to suffer and die, in the room and stead of his people; and as disagreeable as this was in itself to the human nature, yet he cheerfully agreed to it; and was sometimes, as it were, impatient till it was accomplished; and he voluntarily became obedient to it: no man could, with greater eagerness, fall to eating, when hungry, than Christ went about his Father's will and work, even that which was most ungrateful to him, as man.” – John Gills Exposition of the Entire Bible Clearly, Christ was of both human and divine natures, coexisting in one. In referencing Matthew 26:39, John Gill points out that Christ’s Human will was in some cases different than His divine, but never contrary to it. In referencing John 4:34, his commentary seems to state that Christ was ever so eager to fulfill the work of which God required, and to which He was obedient in the fullest. I’m not questioning Gill’s commentary. My question concerns the will of man. Unlike Christ, we have only our Human nature and I’m under the impression that our will cannot act outside of that. It seems always to be motivated by that which we desire the most. Since we are given a new nature at conversion, but not fully relieved of our old, our will is able to direct us to act in accordance to God’s. But is our “old nature” will suppressed, or is it simply that our “new nature” will is submissive to God’s? Looking to Christ as our example, I see Him praying in Gethsemane desiring the upcoming horrors to be taken from Him but in never contradicting the will of God, His human will was submissive to the Father’s. Or can we conclude that Christ’s divine will desired the salvation of man more than His human will desired the cup to be taken from Him thus suppressing His human will? My thoughts are along the lines that under the guide of the Holy Spirit, our wills are submissive to God’s and that is truly what the Spirit motivates us to. Enabling us to desire God’s will thereby maintaining a free will given unto us by our Creator. Would truly enjoy thoughts on this. WOS |
Bible Answer: Hi WOS, Concerning the regenerate man, consider that the "old man" is to be reckoned as dead. Colossians 3 goes so far as to say that you have died. We are to reckon our members, lit. body parts, that are on this earth as dead. Meanwhile, we are born again, born spiritually, and alive to Christ. Dead to this world, alive to Christ. Rom 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Our battle against sin is often spoken of as "putting off the old" - the old man, the old manner of life, and so on, and putting on the new: Eph 4:24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. As I understand this, the old man is the one who was born dead, and remains dead, and that we are to reckon dead. The new man is the living spirit which is created in true righteousness and holiness. The new living spirit does not sin, and cannot sin, and when we are "in" (like "dressed in") the new man, we walk in holiness, and do not sin. When we put on the old man, we walk in the flesh, and we sin. So we have a new nature, which does not sin, and an old nature which sins from beginning to end, and between these, that mystery called the "human will". I think of "progressing sanctification" as being the power of the Holy Spirit working through our living spirit to influence and attract us to spend more and more of our lives having "put on" the new man, and walking in the spirit, and less wearing the "old man". Perhaps another way to say this is that the more we are in relationship with God, the less we are deceived by temptation into committing sin. Dead flesh is no match for living spirit, and I believe that the reason a believer sins is because they have allowed themself to think that they can get what they want by their sin. I realize that one could say that what they wanted was sensual gratification, but I think that if we look closely that the true desire goes deeper than that. For some reason, and I share with Doc the lack of a Biblical explaination (as well as the propensity to ramble), God has left us in this inbetween state. I can only imagine that the process of us learning to walk more in the spirit and less in the flesh is good for us. The only way that really make sense to me is that God is training our will, to choose correctly. Somehow, and this seems even more clear as I consider the concept of God's chastening in our lives, it is important to God that we have a will that has learned how to choose right, habituated in choosing correctly, and to be strong in our choices. Following this logic, it seems our choices matter. Struggling to return to your topic, now, I see myself as the as the man who throws the switch between the spirit and the flesh, neither driven entirely by the spirit nor by the flesh. I cannot really say how this compares with Jesus in the days of His flesh, because His was unfallen, being the second Adam. But His temptations must have been as real as mine, and stronger I am certain. Had He simply always resisted the temptations because His divine will overpowered the human will, then I don't know how it could be said that He suffered being tempted. So WOS, I am curious if any of this rambling has any bearing on what you were considering, and what your thoughts might be in return. Love in Christ, Mark |