iiriev/iia., on the other hand, denotes an eager longing or craving, which may pass out of control and become irdflos, an overmastering passion. The
WILL
WILL
67'J
verb iniBviiiu is used only of iivjin. It occurs out- side the Gosiuls six times in a bad sense, twice in a good sense, and twice neutral ; in tlie Ciosjiels, however, out of six instances only one is bad. Tlio noun is generally used in a bad sense, often with reference to bodily desires (note Jn 8"). Like the verb, it is never used of God. irdtfos suggests an ungovernable passion in the three places where it occurs (Ko l-», Cul 3», 1 Th 4'). A decji and overmastering longing for a good object is ex- pressed by ivnro$iu {e.g. Ko 1", 2 Co U'S Ph 1",
1 P 2^ ; it also meets us in the obscure passage in Ja 4').
Hence, out of the simple material of desires and aversions are developed overpowering cravings or settled purposes ; when the latter become tliought of as entirely fixed, they are connected exclusively with God. At the same time, NT language shrinks from the idea that God could actually deliberate. Tlius the main distinction recognized by the language is religious rather than psychological ; it is drawn between the will as manifested in man and in God rather than between the greater and less identilication with the self.
But further questions arise at once. (1) What is the relation of a man's will to God ? Is a clash, as of two independent wills, really possible, until a point is reached where man says ' Not as I will but as thou wilt ' ? (2) Is man's will equally inde- pendent as regards evil? Here too w-e shall lind no system ; but we must ask whether by anything in the apostolic expressions an intelligible system is implied. We shall begin with the second point. Several expressions imply an influence exercised by evil, as itself an independent power, over tlie will — e.g. Ac 5^: 'Why hath Satan hlled thy heart?' (but note v.° : ' How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord ? ') ;
2 Co 2" : 'that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan ' ; 2 Co 4^ ; Ja l" : ' Each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed ' (the words used suggest the metaphor of an angler). Ac 8'-^ 13'° hint at the same idea, and perhaps Gal 3' ; cf. also Ro 7'^ '", where sin itself is spoken of as the agent of deception and death (cf. Ro 8*°). This does not, however, destroy the responsibility of the sinner (Ro l^-^s 2'- ''•'', and Ac 28-"f- quoted from Is 6"- ">). The last passages imply a state ; the evil will is a matter not of acts but of habits, or, as Aristotle would call them, f|€is (cf. Nic. Eth. iv. 2, 1122" 1). This state is called death, the absence of all will, or power, i.e. of all will to do good (Eph 2', 2 Co 4^). Very similar language is used by St. Paul about the race as a whole — 'death passed unto all men, for that all sinned' (Ro 5'^). On the other hand, a man so dead can be m^de alive (Eph 2*, Col 2'^) ; cf. also 1 Jn 3" : ' We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.' Life, however, means death to sin and to the Law which enslaved to sin (Ro 7", Col 2-" ??■ * : ' Ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God . . . Christ, who is our life '). To this state the term death (to sin) is applied, since here the will is regarded, at least by implication, as being ' dead ' to evil impulses, as before to good ones. Yet it is note- worthy that the activity of the will is still called for — ' Let not sin reign in your mortal body ' (Ro 6"- '- '") ; and that this activity is essential is shown very clearly by the appeals to moral conduct which occur regularly at the close of St. Paul's Epistles, as well as elsew here in the NT.
A delinite cycle seems thus to be contemplated, whether as regards the race, the ' heathen ' (Ro 1), or individuals : first, there is the active will to evil ; then, evil becomes inevitable ; the agent is practically powerless, ' sold under sin ' (Ro 7") ; then, after his rescue from this state, the will is
again called for, but this time it points habitually in the opjiosite direction. That is to say, choice is a real thing, but it exists in a worhl which con- tains both certain delinite uniform sequences and an enticing and enslaving power of sin and ' lusts ' (Ja l"). This is sometimes but not always con- nected with the discarnate personality called Satan (see artt. Devil, Sin).
But what of the rescue itself? Is it independent of man's will ? Does it simply depend on God's decision to ellect it, in some cases, but evidently not in others? Man's will appears to be clearly calleil for in such passages as 2 Co 5-", ' Be ye reconciled to God,' but against them Ro 9" may lie quoted, and perhaps, though it is not dogmatic or doctrinal in tone, Ac '2-' (seeCoNVEHSlON, Kkekuum OF Tilt; Will). However this antinomy is recon- ciled, there is no doubt that St. Paul regards grace and faith as vital to the change (Eph 2'- " : ' God . . . quickened us together with Christ — by grace have ye been saved — . . . for by grace have ye been saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God ' ; cf. also Ro 4", Gal 1"). By itself the reference to grace might imply that man was merely passive ; but the call for faith (as we shall see below, faith is an act of the will) shows that this is very far from being the case ; indeed, faith is in general emphasized considerably more than grace as the agent in conversion. A still more fundamental connexion between the activi- ties of God and man is expressed in what at first seem wilful contradictions in terms, in Ph 2'-- '^ and Gal 2-" ('Work out your own salvation . . . for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to work' ; and ' I live ; and yet no longer 1, but Christ livetli in me'). In Gal S-' we read of faith as 'coming,' with the result that we are 'no longer under a tutor,' but 'sons of God through faith ' (cf. 1 P 1'^ ' the grace that is being brought unto you,' RVm). But even in this new sphere of life through faith the will reappears, as a per- sistent endeavour after progress (Ph 3'-, 2 P 1'"). The new life is marked by special gifts — x"P'<'/'"»''i — but they must be strenuously cultivated (Ro 12, 1 Co 12). The whole Church may receive an illumination from the Holy Spirit, yet it will use language that implies co-operation rather than passivity (Ac 15-"). The new condition can there- fore be rightly called one of freedom (cf. Gal 5'^), and as such it is characterized by the confidence of open speech, as of equal with equal {irapprjcta, Eph 3'^ He 3«, 1 Jn 3-')-