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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." |
Subject: Submissive or Suppressed Wills |
Bible Note: Dear Doc, I’m surely with you on the complexities on regeneration. Just to reassure you of my intent; I’m not desirous to the point of unraveling a mystery or positively identifying the process, just simply to better understand God’s enacting upon us and our subsequent response. I’ll do well to accept Christ for His words: John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. I think the reality of it all is that we get a new nature, a new heart. God becomes our moral agent of which we either were lacking, or were comprised of the opposite at the moment of being born again. I’m trying to understand God’s initial enacting upon us contrasted to our response. As you pointed out, “Progressive sanctification is, indeed, a work of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, there is a "funny" sort of tension in the Scripture here: it is also a work of our own.” What is it that makes us responsive at the onset? It’s understandable to me, that God first must impose Himself upon our will, our heart, our being, and that prior to, we are essentially void of any motives and desires to act within His will. We gain that at the moment of regeneration. Then, we face the battle of persevering with our new nature battling our old but we make the fight with assistance, because without it, we fail. There has to be an action that sets all of this in motion. I see God momentarily suppressing our will to eradicate resistance, and then once complete, letting our desires be changed by what we now have, the Holy Spirit acting upon our hearts changing our desires, thoughts and motives so we can then freely choose according to God’s will. Becoming submissive to His will while progressing forward. I think Edwards tied all of this together, the heart and the mind with his explanation of moral necessity in conjunction with a moral agent. From the heart, all motives are formed, all desires are determined and all emotions are engaged. From those our thoughts are guided from one course to another. From our thoughts, our mind’s view, we outwardly act demonstrating to all the very essence of our hearts. I believe they all branch together in some manner and therefore have a common root. That common root is the heart and the moral agent acting upon it, God. I don’t see you side-stepping the question. It’s hard to grab hold of and place into a proper perspective. I see myself swaying from thought to thought simply because I am trying to articulate my thoughts into type and the more I ponder this, the harder I find it to explain. Also for my own benefit, I’ll refrain from conversing on topics off the subject on this particular thread, since this does in fact lead to many other aspects, if only for right now, until I can feel my way through comfortably enough to understand fully how I should be seeing it. I hope you and Mark understand and grant me that small concession. But in no respect do I wish to imply for you to not share your thoughts with me or anything of that nature, just don’t be expecting a quick reply as I consider what you express. I think what seems to be the hardest for me right now, is attaching these thoughts with scripture and doing so correctly to see if they work out. Until I can accomplish that, I think I’m debating with myself more than anything. Isn’t that the norm. Bear with me friend. Thanks Brother, WOS |