Ephesians 5:17
Ephesians 5:15-17 (see also Matthew 6:10)
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
The call to “understand what the Lord’s will is” is potent enough to destroy Calvinism since it tells me:
- God has a will.
- One needs to be wise and understand God’s will.
- Through foolishness, one can forfeit and miss God’s will for their life, and hence the warning.
However, if we have no free will and automatically end up fulfilling Calvinism’s “decreed will” no matter what we do, then why should the Scriptures instruct us to seek God’s will and try to please Him in all aspects when it is otherwise impossible to avoid doing the “decreed will”?
Second, if God’s will alone exists, having decreed all things, including the meticulous determination of all other wills, then why should we be instructed to seek God’s will and do it?
Thirdly, the implication of the text is that it means that God’s will is not always done here on earth as it is in Heaven, though one day it will be when Jesus returns.
