{"id":3191,"date":"2012-02-08T21:52:20","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T05:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=3191"},"modified":"2012-02-20T11:51:42","modified_gmt":"2012-02-20T19:51:42","slug":"ephesians-517-gods-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/ephesians-517-gods-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Ephesians 5:17 – God’s Will?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord<\/span><\/strong> is.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Christians need to understand God’s will.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

“Be<\/span>” is translated from ginomai<\/em><\/span>, which primarily means “to begin to be” or “to become.” It implies a change of state from one condition to another.<\/p>\n

Aphr\u014dn<\/em> <\/span>is the Greek word translated “unwise<\/span>.” It is made up of the negative particle a<\/em> <\/span>and a form of phr\u0113n<\/em><\/span>, meaning “understanding.” Thus, the word aphr\u014dn<\/em> <\/span>literally means “without understanding.” It is variously translated as “unwise, foolish, mindless, ignorant, or stupid.”<\/p>\n

The word “understand<\/span>” is from the Greek verb suni\u0113mi<\/em><\/span>, which is made up of sun<\/em><\/span>, meaning “together” and hi\u0113mi<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to send.” The root meaning of suni\u0113mi<\/em><\/span>, therefore, is “to put together,” that is “to understand or comprehend.”<\/p>\n

“Will<\/span>” is translated from thel\u0113ma<\/em><\/span>, which is derived from the verb thel\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to will,” “to purpose,” or “to determine.” There is another word translated “will” in the New Testament. It is boulomai<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to be disposed or to intend.” It does not indicate that action is taken regarding the decision, whereas thel\u0113ma<\/em> <\/span>is resolved and is acted upon. God’s will is almost always referred to as thel\u0113ma<\/em><\/span>, because He always does that which He determines. Man’s will, however, is expressed in the New Testament as boul\u0113ma<\/em><\/span>. Thus, we can think of thel\u0113ma<\/em> <\/span>as determined will and boul\u0113ma<\/em> <\/span>as desirous will.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

We are to be imitators of God, loving others as Christ loved us. We are to avoid the unfruitful works of darkness, forsaking any close fellowship with others who do such things. We are to allow the light of God to shine through us. We are not to allow the comforts of this world and the allure of sin to lull us to sleep. Instead we are to wake up, getting up from among those around us who are spiritually dead and taking a good look at the way we are living our lives. We shouldn’t live like those who are ignorant of God. Instead, we should make the most of every day because the world is full of evil.<\/p>\n

Therefore – we should not be ignorant of God’s will for our lives. Instead, we should learn what God’s will is. How can we know what God’s will is for our lives? Paul told the Christians in Rome to do several things to know God’s will:<\/p>\n

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, <\/span>which <\/em><\/span>is<\/em> your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what <\/span>is<\/em> <\/span>that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. <\/span>(Romans 12:1-2<\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

We need to offer our bodies (our lives) on God’s altar, allowing Him to use us however He wants. We need to resist conformity to the world around us. We need to be mentally transformed by consistently reading and studying His word. If we do these things, then we will know God’s will for our lives.<\/p>\n

Application<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Knowing what God wants from us takes a lot of commitment and dedication. If Jesus was willing to learn and do God’s will, how can we do any less?<\/p>\n

In God's service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright ©<\/span> 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Truth to Learn Christians need to understand God’s will. Behind the Words “Be” is translated from ginomai, which primarily means “to begin to be” or “to become.” It implies a change of state from one condition to another. Aphr\u014dn is the Greek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[2397,2328,1126,721,1745,1782,841,2398,525],"class_list":["post-3191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aphron","tag-be","tag-boulema","tag-ginomai","tag-suniemi","tag-thelema","tag-understand","tag-unwise","tag-will"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-Pt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3375,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191\/revisions\/3375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}