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Does Jesus have one or two wills?

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
Jesus Christ as Almighty God, is ALWAYS in complete agreement with the Father and Holy Spirit. There is and can never be any conflict between their "wills".

When Jesus prays in the garden, "not My will", He is not here saying that His Divine Will is in any way not "agreeing" with the Father, but rather His prayer is as the Son of Man, where He struggles in His Human Nature, and not in His Divine Nature/Will
 

37818

Well-Known Member
complete RUBBISH!!!

you don't really understand what you are saying here!
The written word of God solely refers to Jesus' will in the singular.
John 5:30, . . . mine own will, . . .
John 6:38, . . . mine own will, . . .
Matthew 26:39, . . . I will, . . .
Mark 14:36, . . . I will, . . .
Luke 22:42, . . . my will, . . .

The contexts are well known, and disallow the necessity of any kind of second will.
 

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
The written word of God solely refers to Jesus' will in the singular.
John 5:30, . . . mine own will, . . .
John 6:38, . . . mine own will, . . .
Matthew 26:39, . . . I will, . . .
Mark 14:36, . . . I will, . . .
Luke 22:42, . . . my will, . . .

The contexts are well known, and disallow the necessity of any kind of second will.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ post Incarnation is God-Man? Or, did He leave His Deity in Heaven as some believe?
 

atpollard

Well-Known Member
Jesus Christ post Incarnation has TWO Natures, the Divine and the Human, in totality, with the exception of any sin attached to His Human Nature, which He actually derived from the Virgin Mary, thereby become Consubstantial with us.

As Almighty God, Jesus always has a Divine Will.

For His "Human Nature" to be complete and real, like ours, He would have to have had the "human will"

As I have already said, this was a huge Christological problem in the early Church, when Monothelitism was condemned as heresy, and Dyothelitism accepted as what the Bible Teaches

There is zero doubt in my mind that this as defined in the early Church is the ONLY Teaching of the Bible, and cannot be refuted!
Non-sequitur.

Try rereading my post. It had nothing to do with JESUS. I was asking about OUR will and whether it came from our “nature” or our “person” [based on the personal inner conflict that Paul reported in Romans].
 

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
Non-sequitur.

Try rereading my post. It had nothing to do with JESUS. I was asking about OUR will and whether it came from our “nature” or our “person” [based on the personal inner conflict that Paul reported in Romans].

for your info, the title of this thread is about Jesus Christ. Comparing this with us humans is a non starter!
 

37818

Well-Known Member
My many threads on BB will answer this
You didn't even offer the following:
Jesus Christ post Incarnation has TWO Natures, the Divine and the Human, in totality, with the exception of any sin attached to His Human Nature, which He actually derived from the Virgin Mary, thereby become Consubstantial with us.

As Almighty God, Jesus always has a Divine Will.

For His "Human Nature" to be complete and real, like ours, He would have to have had the "human will"

As I have already said, this was a huge Christological problem in the early Church, when Monothelitism was condemned as heresy, and Dyothelitism accepted as what the Bible Teaches

There is zero doubt in my mind that this as defined in the early Church is the ONLY Teaching of the Bible, and cannot be refuted!

Your opinion.

The simple truth, only Jesus' one will exists.
 

tyndale1946

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Did Jesus have two wills?... Well lets see!

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.


Matthew 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

Good thing Jesus Christ submitted himself to his Fathers will and not his own, if not when we gave up the ghost... We would ALL be toast... Brother Glen:eek:

 

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
Did Jesus have two wills?... Well lets see!

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

Matthew 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

Good thing Jesus Christ submitted himself to his Fathers will and not his own, if not when we gave up the ghost... We would ALL be toast... Brother Glen:eek:

Jesus Christ is as much as YHWH as the Father and the Holy Spirit are

The Three Persons in the Trinity are 100% in agreement on every single thing!

There is no way that Jesus could not agree with the Father, and vice versa
 

JonC

Moderator
Moderator
To answer the OP.....it depends on what you mean by "will".

For example, God willed (desired) that Israel would have repented and turned to Him, but they didn't. And this also worked towards God's will (his desire or plan for humanity).

Jesus desired to save man, but at the same time Jesus did not desire to suffer and die....but He was willing.

I desire cheesecake. But I also desire not to be 400 lbs. So I don't eat cheesecake....all the time. :Wink


We all have different levels of desire.


Now, if you mean "will" as the direction our mind is focused, then Jesus had one will and submitted the desires of the flesh to the will to please the Father.

How are you defining will?
 

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
Agreement, always, yes. Knowing, maybe not.
Genesis 22:12.
Mark 13:32.
Acts of the Apostles 1:7.

Jesus Christ in His absolute Deity as YHWH, can not know ALL THINGS, or else He cannot be YHWH!

After The Incarnation, when He took upon Himself the very Nature on humans, while He remained YHWH, He became θεάνθρωπος (deus homo). During this time Jesus Christ submitted to the Father, as He had Come as The Servant, Who He said, is not "greater" than the Master. This is purely functional, as the θεάνθρωπος.

While on earth, Jesus could say "the Father is greater than I" (John 14:28), as in His "Human Nature"

At the same, Jesus also says, "so that all people will Honor the Son just as they Honor the Father. Anyone who does not Honor the Son does not Honor the Father Who sent Him" (John 5:23)

Here Jesus says that He has completely equal Honor/Glory, as the Father does, while on earth, as YHWH

You quote Genesis 22:12, which is not a problem, as it is for the benefit of Abraham that Jesus says this, and not stating that He was not sure!

Like when we read of the purpose of the Rainbow, where God says, "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Genesis 9:6). Are we to conclude from this, that God actually "forgets", and needs to be "reminded"? Of course not! It is there for OUR purpose.

If, as you are arguing, that Jesus Christ is "limited" as YHWH in His knowledge, then He cannot truly be YHWH! This is an impossibility.

Jesus’ own words in John 17:5, helps us to understand this more:

“Now, Father, Glorify Me with Your own Self with the Glory which I had with You before the world existed”

Jesus is here saying to the Father, to “Glorify” Him “along with (pará)” Himself, with the same “Glory” that He always had (hēi eichon, imperfect) with the Father, “pro tou ton kosmon einai”, “before the world ever existed”. It is clear from Jesus’ own words, that He has from eternity past, had the same “Glory (dóxa, honour, glory, repute, praise), with the Father, but at the time of His Incarnation (at His Conception in Mary), He divested Himself of this “equality” with the Father, and became “hupēkoos (literally, a hearer, subject to, obeying, Philippians 2:8, “obedient”)” to the time of His Death. In the Book of Isaiah, we read of Yahweh saying, “I am Yahweh. That is My Name. I will not give My Glory to another, nor My Praise to engraved images” (42:8). For Jesus to say that He has from all eternity, the same “Glory” as the Father, is conclusive that He is saying, that He is EQUAL to the Father, and is GOD.

We read in Hebrews 2:9, “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death”.

“lower” is in the Greek, “elattoō”, which means, “to be inferior to”, also, “reduce the power of”, which was by taking on Himself “real human nature”. It is clear that “for a little while”, Jesus was “subject to”, the Father. This is from the time of His Incarnation, till the end of this present world., when He Comes back.
 

SavedByGrace

Well-Known Member
You have the problem:
Genesis 22:12. . . . now I know . . . .
Mark 13:32.
Acts of the Apostles 1:7.

I would translate the Hebrew "yā·ḏa‘·tî ‘at·tāh" in Genesis 22:12, as "it is certain"

"CERTAINLY I KNOW that you fear God"

In Psalm 2:6, David says, "Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven With the saving strength of His right hand"

We cannot take this to mean, that only now, David knew this! He had been saved by the Lord many times before this time!

"CERTAINLY I KNOW that the Lord saves His anointed"

Likewise in Genesis 12:11, Abraham says of Sarah, "It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "See now I know that you are a beautiful woman"

it can hardly mean that after all these years of being married to Sarah, that Abraham suddenly discovered that his wife Sarah was a beautiful woman!

"CERTAINLY I KNOW that you are a beautiful woman"
 

Van

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Debate over our understanding of the "mind of Christ" should not be discouraged or belittled. I do not know why some think that Christ had two wills, as opposed to being impaled on the horns of a dilemma or "of two minds." I am pretty sure scripture only refers to Christ's will in the singular.

Let me offer my view, for what it is worth. :)

Say I should get a shot (like a senior flu shot) but do not want to go to the trouble to get one. Do I have two wills? Nope. So we must define "will" as governing the overriding decision, I willed to behave prudently rather than giving in to an imprudent desire. Jesus never sinned, so clearly in this respect He had one will (to obey His Father). But that does not mean He did not desire to avoid suffering (think "let this cup pass from Me).
 
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