GOD’S WILL: PERFECT OR PERMISSIVE?

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and PERFECT WILL OF GOD – Romans 12:2

The notion of Perfect in contrast to Permissive Will describes the degree to which a person or activity relates to God’s Will. In a sense, being in God’s Will can be viewed as a continuum: ranging from being totally out of God’s Will, being in a permissive or allowable state, to walking in His Perfect Will. But, to speak of the “permissive” Will of God is really a matter of semantics, because the Will of God cannot be anything else but perfect. Our text refers to the “good, acceptable and perfect will of God” – there is no mention of “permissive”! From God’s perspective therefore, something is either His Perfect Will or not His will at all. But humanity is imperfect, hence the notion of “permissive” – that which God allows in the interim, while His Mercy is working to bring to pass His Perfect Will.

With respect to redemption for example, the unbeliever is outside of God’s Will: “dead in trespasses and sins”, walking “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Eph.2:1-2). Titus, reflecting on his past wrote: “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared…according to His mercy He saved us…” (Tit.3:3-5).

Even some believers can be grossly out of God’s Will or in a permissive state. This could be due to a number of reasons:

1. Wrong choices: Abraham tried to accelerate the divine promise and ended up with an imperfect option – Ishmael. People, who make choices such as being unequally yoked with unbelievers automatically forgo God’s perfect will.
2. Disobedience to God’s revealed will, instruction or order could perpetuate one in a permissive state.
3. Getting involved in certain activities that are contrary to God’s moral codes of conduct is detrimental to destiny.

Rather than being conformed to this present world system, God wants the totality of our lives to conform to His perfect will: “For whom He foreknew, He also did predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom.8:29). Yet, the Lord knows our naturally frail frame: “for He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Psa.103:14). Hence, He temporarily accommodates our imperfections and inadequacies, nurturing us to outgrow them and learn to walk in uprightness, integrity, and righteousness. We must by His grace, refuse to settle on the plateau of the permissive, but rather, press on into God’s Perfect Will, Plan, and Purpose.