Tlie fact, however, which is perliaps of most significance for us is that all words of this class, without material exception, even those which have the most decidedly phj-sical associa- tions, or which are used frequently in a bad sense, are applied to God no less than to men in the Hebrew OT. Thus pan to cleave in love to (used of sexual passion, Gn 34*), tliough also more gener- ally for what tlie mind desires (1 K !)"), is used of"(!od's love to Israel (Dt 7' lO"), and also of man's love to God (Ps 9V*) ; while icri to covet (Ex 20", and Mic 2'-) describes God's feeling for Zion, Ps 68" ("). It is used also of a spiritual desire in man, Ps ig'"!"]. Some words, such as pri to favour, and its subst. [n favour, grace, nj-i and jiin, with much the same meaning, and inp to choose, have, esp. through their Greek repre- sentatives, come to be more particularly con- nected in our minds with the mysteries of saving grace ; but their early history was not dissimilar to the rest, i.e. their transference to God was at first somewhat crudely anthropomorphic. The instance of ihk to lore, to which further reference will be made, should especially bring this home to us.
In the LXX several of these Heb. words are most commonly rendered by ,3oi'Xe<rSoi, BiXau, and eiSoKctv, which more simply express the act of willing : — all three are used for nzij and ijn, oii povXeailai and oO S^Xetv for [xp, BiXem and eu5oKe7t> for n>"! ; for n;N, BeXeiv, and also inBvfieh ; for n;n, j3oi/Xfff^ai, evSoKuv, and iTriBvfif'tv. A feeling is, however, manifested in the LXX that some dif- ference of language is advisable in speaking of God ; iTTiBv^ciu is avoided in connexion with Him. 3ns also, in the case both of God's love for men and men's love for God, is translated not by (piXeh but by d7a7r^>', though it is to be added that this is, on the whole, the commoner rendering of the word in all contexts, and that <pi\(Tp is used for the love of wisdom (Pr 8" 29^ Wis 8°).
The non-classical word B^Xii/ia is many times used both for fsn and psi, and for the latter sometimes also eiSoicla..
Tlie usage of NT is based upon, and in the main conforms to, that of LXX. In regard to 6^\riij.a, in particular, we maj- observe that alike in LXX and NT it frequently denotes an individual wish or desire, and hence is used in pi. (Ps 102 (103) '• ", Ac 13--, Eph 2'). But it may also describe such a permanent inclination as shows the bent of the character (Sir 32", cf. SATjffit in 2 Ch 15", and /SouXtj/xo in 1 P 4'). Other noteworthy uses are to be found in Jn T^, 2 P 1". In Rev 4" the ordated universe is said to proceed from an act of the Divine will, for in accordance with biblical usage we must understand 0{\ri/ia to denote an act here rather than a faculty.
ii. The human will. — In considering the con- ception of the human will and its present con- dition, as well as of the Divine will, to be derived from the Bible, grave subjects which have been treated in other articles (Fall, Grace, Pre- destination, and Election) come before us again ; but they are to be regarded here, as it were, on their psychological, moral, and meta- phj^sical side, and such a Wew of them ma^ assist us in rightly apprehending them. At the same time, we may expect that some light will be thrown by the study in which we are engaged on questions which have been debated in the philosophical schools. It is true that little, if any, trace is to
be found in any part of the Bible of direct specu- lation on the nature and prerogatives either of tha human or the Divine will. Nevertheless, through the vivid presentation in Scripture of moral and spiritual truth in its practical bearing on man, imjiortant elements in the problems relating both to the will in man and to God's will are brought into relief, and this may contribute to the right solution of those ]iroblenis.
1. The proposition that the will is free is com- monly understood, alike by those who asisert and those who deny it, to mean that man has, at least within certain limits, the power of self-determina^ tion, of yielding to or resisting motives, — those which arise within him as well as those which plainly have their origin without him, — and of modifying his own character in some degree. The notion of moral freedom, however, which meets us in Scripture is something dilierent from this. It appears there simjily as the opposite of the bondage of sin. From this point of view, ' to be free ' is to have the power of acting according to one's true nature as God designed it ; and those whom we cannot imagine to be an}' longer capable of doing wrong, like the perfected saints, because no tendency to evil remains in them and they are thoroughly established in holiness, would yet in this sense be free, indeed the only true freemen (Jn 8f^-3«, Ro 6"--- 8'8--' ; cf. also Ja 1== 2'=). There is evidently profound truth in this conception : such must be the freedom of God Himself.