Earlier reference was made to 2nd Peter 3 and God’s patience with man, patience because He was “not willing that anyone perish but that all should come to repentance.” But, the word for “willing” in 2nd Peter 3:9 is not the word for “will” in 1st Timothy 2:4. It is a word to express “desire or preference” and allows room for man’s volition to align itself with God’s preference. It does not mean that God determined man to be saved, and man had no choice in the matter, but, rather, that God’s desire for man’s salvation takes into account the volition God gave man and man’s freedom to use it. The word for “will” in 2nd Peter 3:9 is the word for “determination”, not desire or preference. In other words, Peter is telling us that it was God’s determination, not merely His desire, that man should be saved. And how did God fulfill that determination? By providing the Sin-bearer as a substitute in the Person of His own Son in order to make all the provision necessary for man to be saved. This was much stronger than God’s desire. It is elevated to God’s determined plan, or God’s insistence, that this provision be made. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and the Son was willing to be sent because He, too, in concert with His Father and the Holy Spirit was not willing that any man should perish but come to repentance in salvation. So, it was not merely God’s desire that man should come to repentance but God’s determination that he do so, and, to effect that, He provided His Son to be the basis for man’s repentance in coming to faith.
The Timothy passage emphasizes God’s desire, or preference, allowing room for man’s volition, but the 2nd Peter 3 passage emphasizes God’s willful determination to make provision for man’s salvation utterly apart from man’s volition. It was God’s volition alone that provided redemption for all of humanity, none excluded. But, having done so, it is man’s volition as to what man would do about it. God was sovereign in providing the remedy. Man is volitional as to what he will do about that provision. Here we have God’s sovereignty taking initiative action in making the original provision to effect man’s salvation, but man is not excluded by that provision being made. God requires a response from man for the provision made for him in order to personalize that provision. When man responded in a positive manner to God’s provision, he become justified before God on the basis of that volitional faith he exercised as an act of his will. It is the human response to the Good News, or the Gospel, of the grace of God. God remains sovereign in His determination; man remains responsible with his volition.
CC 10-09
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