Some directives are role-specific. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, and wives are to submit to their husbands’ loving spiritual leadership and show them respect (Eph 5:22, 25, 33; 1 Pet 3:1-2). Children are to obey and honor their parents (Eph 6:1-4). Employees are to serve their supervisors with sincerity (Eph 6:5-8; Col 3:23-24), and supervisors are to treat their workers with fairness and integrity (Eph 6:9; Col 4:1; Jam 5:4). Older women are to teach younger women to love their husbands and children, and to be pure and sensible (Tit 2:3-5), while older men are to be dignified, temperate, and sound in faith (Tit 2:2). Younger men are to be self-controlled, an example of good deeds, and sound in doctrine (Tit 2:6-8). Church members are instructed to support their pastors materially and respectfully (Gal 6:6; 1 Tim 5:17-18), and to use their spiritual gifts for the edification of the body (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Pet 4:10). We are to sing with thankfulness (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16), care for orphans and widows (Jam 1:27; 1 Tim 5:3-16), pray for all people—including leaders (1 Tim 2:1-2), and carry out church discipline when needed, with love and humility (1 Cor 5:1-13). Finally, Paul urges believers to flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with a pure heart (2 Tim 2:22).

Third, there is God’s permissive will, which refers to what He permits us to do, either for or against His directive will. All sin falls under this category, for He permits us to resist His directives in some instances. This is also true for fallen angels who are granted a measure of freedom to sin. The fall of Adam and Eve provides a good example of God’s permissive will, for after He’d directed them not to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:16-19), He permitted them to disobey and to follow Satan’s leading (Gen 3:1-7). Laney writes, “God’s permissive will refers to what the Lord permits even when it is not in conformity with His revealed or prescribed will. God may permit sin, though it is not in keeping with what He prefers.”[1]

Concerning the permission of divorce, Jesus said the Pharisees, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way” (Matt 19:8). God’s permissive will can be observed on a national level, as Paul said, “In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways” (Acts 14:16). This explains much of the poor behavior we see among the nations as we study world history. Though God desires righteousness among the nations (Prov 14:34), He allows them to pursue their own values and priorities. Yet He never relinquishes His sovereignty, and in time, He will hold every nation accountable for its actions (Ps 9:17; Rev 20:12-13).

Steven R. Cook, D.Min., M.Div.

[1] J. Carl Laney, eds. Charles R. Swindoll and Roy B. Zuck, “God’s Decree and Individual Free Will” in Understanding Christian Theology (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003), 215.