A few words suffice to describe this book:
Life-changing, liberating, controversial, and completely Biblical.
The "Will of God" is often the center of mystery. Growing up, I was told to seek it, find it, live right in the dot in the center of it, and that my life wouldn't be happy or good or productive if I was outside of it. However, for all the preaching on it, the only way I knew to find this "Will of God" was to pray and hope for some inner feeling or a sign from my circumstances. Problem was, I had a really hard time knowing when of if the feelings were God, and what exactly the circumstances were supposed to mean. At times, I made choices according to those feelings that did not seem to yield the blessing of God, while other times I simply made a choice based on what I wanted, and the result seemed blessed. Needless to say, this was confusing. Also needless to say, I'm not the only one to struggle with that.
At the time he was penning the book, Dr. Friesen was on staff at Multnomah Bible College, where, as at many other Bible colleges, he was bombarded with questions regarding God's leading for student's lives. Marriage, which ministry position to take, and whether they should be in ministry at all, were all subjects that students were desperately asking about.
Thankfully, this book, (the 25th anniversary edition) has the answers.
The book is, if anything, detailed. It's 526 pages leave few stones unturned. Lengthy endnotes add additional detail at the end of chapters, while graphs, figures, and Scripture references are littered liberally throughout. One benefit of this updated edition is the inclusion of "Frequently Asked Questions" where he addresses the questions most asked of him since the first edition released regarding those particular concepts.
The first of the four major sections does a marvelous job explaining and elaborating on what he dubs the "Traditional View." This is the view that proclaims "For each of our decisions, God has an ideal plan that he will make known to the attentive believer." (Page 28) He clarifies the difference between the oft confused "Moral Will" "Sovereign Will" and "Individual Will" of God. Briefly, the first is God's commands, the second is the unknowable "behind the scenes" working of God, and the third is said to be the perfect plan God has for each individual person that he will reveal step by step if they seek it.
Friesen masterfully explains the reasoning behind the "Traditional View" and details how preachers have defended it, how it is said to work, and how Christians are to know they have found that "individual will."
Part 2 of the book, covering chapters 3-7, critique the "Traditional View." Chapter 3 begins with the bombshell question "Does God have three wills?" and opens with a warning that this critique may be unsettling to those who are used to the "Traditional View." He is right. Over the next 60 pages, he draws readers to the logical and Scriptural holes that pepper the "Traditional View," showing how proper exegesis brings the entire idea to it's knees. In a statement near the end of this section he writes: "Not only is the individual will of God not found in Scripture, but the suggested process for finding it is absent as well."
This will doubtlessly shake your world. About this time in reading the book, I began a personal study of, not only every single use of the phrase "Will of God" in the Bible in the effort to verify Dr. Freisen's findings. The study did not tare down his conclusions, as some might expect, but rather, strengthened them.
If this were the end of the book, it would be a dreary end. The normal paradigm of many genuine Christians would be destroyed with nothing put back in it's place. However, the book is only getting started. The final two sections again draw readers back to Scripture, the logical interpretation of it, and the principles exegetically refined from it to build a new view;
The "Wisdom View."
The vast majority of the book is then dedicated to first explaining this view (Part 3) and applying this view. (Part 4) His premises for this view are as follows:
1. Where God commands, we must obey (chapter 8)
2. Where there is no command, God gives us freedom (and responsibility) to choose. (Chapter 9)
3. Where there is no command, God gives us wisdom to choose (chapters 10-11)
4. When we have chosen what is moral and wise, we must trust the sovereign God to work out all the details for God (Chapters 12-13)
Following after, Part 3 continues to detail the way God guides, how the "Wisdom View" repairs the weakness and even improves the strengths of the "Traditional View," and how this affects the way we think and live.
Part 4 dives into applying this new view in everyday life, not only looking at ministry, marriage, jobs, and the so-called big decisions of life, but also the smaller ones. This section ends with two chapters on how to interact with those that disagree with the "Wisdom View" wrapping up with a chapter devoted to the limits placed on this freedom to chose imposed by Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8-10.
Capping the book are numerous resources, indexes, and even brief reviews of other books on the "Will of God" from all sides of the debate.
Some would say this "Wisdom View" minimizes God, hence the very controversial nature of this book in certain circles, yet it does the opposite. It maximizes not only the application of his Word, but also the sufficiency and surety of his Word. II Timothy 6:16-17 reads: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." If those words are as true as we say they are, we should be ashamed for trying to divine the meaning of inward feelings or the ambiguity of outside circumstances to find completion in our Christian lives. It is found in God's Word alone, the sure, steady, unfailing word that is promoted and magnified by this book.
While the sheer thickness and academic weight of this book may overwhelm some, I firmly believe this, or some other book espousing the same views, should in the library of every single Christian, especially teenagers who are near graduation and about to face many of life's biggest and most challenging decisions. Some books you read, set down, and hardly think about. However, my own copy of this book has highlighting, underlining, and comments on nearly every page, showing the mental engagement it demands and the depths of wisdom it displays.
Notable Quotables:
Chapter 5: More Doubts About the Dot, Page 86: "If I was married to the wrong person, then my wife would also be living outside of God's will. Furthermore, the woman I was supposed to marry would also wed the wrong spouse since I was not available. And my (wrongly chosen) wife would create the same problem for the man God destined for her. It was not hard to see how one wrong date could eventually mess up the whole universe!"
Chapter 6: Impressions are Impressions, Page 90: "In the area of decision making and the will of God, the lack of such an objective source of knowledge constitutes the greatest applicational weakness of the traditional view."
Chapter 16: The Wisdom View Explained, Page 252: "In the wisdom view, there is no individual will of God that must be discovered and no ambiguous system for sorting it out. Christian decision making is grounded on the objective truth of God's moral will."
Chapter 21: The Ministry and Wisdom, Page 323: "It is ironic, however, that while Scripture emphasizes qualifications that many ordaining councils overlook, those councils stress a requirement (his call to the ministry) not mentioned by Scripture."
5/5
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