The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum willful sin

What needs to be remembered, first of all, is that "God's will" is to be seen from two different perspectives. We can speak of God's decretive will, which is His eternal and immutable decree; i.e., His foreordination of all things for His own glory. Then, we can speak of God's preceptive will, which is His revealed will to which all men are responsible and held accountable to do.

Now, let's deal with your own question which preceded the quote:

Can we be fighting sin as hard as we can, but be actually fighting the will of God?

What appears to be implied in this question is that a man can be wanting to live righteously, but God's will is that he sin. Thus, ironically, the struggle to not sin becomes against God's "will" and therefore sin in itself. [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/dizzy.gif" alt="dizzy" title="dizzy[/img] Although ALL THINGS are foreordained, including the individual thoughts, emotions and acts of all God's creatures, no man is forced against his will to commit sin. All sin is committed by the free actions of man. And, the only reason man doesn't sin is due to God's grace. (cf. Gen. Gen 20:1-6; 31:7; Ex 34:24; 1Sam 25:26, 34; Prov. 21:1; Hos 2:6, 7) Yet, all sin has been ordained and providentially directed by the Lord. (Acts 2:22-24; 3:18; 4:26-28; Isa 46:9, 10; et al). Thus it is the responsibility of man to resist sin and to live a holy life according to God's preceptive will. Should man give in to temptation, even though it was foreordained that he should do so, according to God's decretive will, he is still responsible for sin resides in the heart of man and is never forced upon him; against his will.