Pages

Monday, May 4, 2015

Not My Will, But Thy Will: How Many Wills Does G-d Have (Mark 14:36)?



"And he said, 'Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will,'" Mark 14:36

Question:

If Yeshua is the "Word made flesh" which represents the embodiment of the Will of G-d...why did He pray "not what I will, but what you will"?

8 comments:

  1. Hebrews 2:18
    For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

    I think it goes without saying, he had the human experience, thus he would have to have a personal will, just a like all of mankind.

    Luke 22:42
    saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."

    Evidenced here, clearly he delt with the same struggles of humanity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Satan said, "I will"

    “How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Lucifer, son of the morning!
    How you are cut down to the ground,
    You who weakened the nations!
    For you have said in your heart:
    ‘I will ascend into heaven,
    I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
    I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
    On the farthest sides of the north;
    I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
    I will be like the Most High.’
    Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
    To the lowest depths of the Pit.

    As opposed to Jesus:

    "...Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

    “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
    But a body You have prepared for Me.
    In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
    You had no pleasure.
    Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
    In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
    To do Your will, O God.’”

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are some folks who refer to this passage as proof that Yeshua is not Adonai. They say that having a will distinct from Adonai clearly proves that Yeshua is not Adonai.

    Zion, I think you're on the right track because to be "tempted" doesn't mean He was not G-d but rather is evidence that He "emptied" Himself to a mysterious extent so that He could take on human form. The things that appear to be weakness and inner conflict must be an effect of this self-emptying.

    And the danger in thinking that the effects of the self-emptying are evidences of non-Divinity is that the sacrifice is no longer infinite in that it is no longer G-d's blood:

    "28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood," Acts 20:28

    If Yeshua wasn't G-d; then we must confess that we do not have the blood of G-d.

    For the record, I do believe Yeshua is G-d. I'm just discussing this because of a recent conversation with someone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hebrews 2:9
      But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

      If Yeshua, is not divine, then the story of salvation, is man saving man, of course we could say, well God sent the man, but instead, it is God saving man, that is the end result. Not just a side agent, if man could save themselves, we wouldn't need a Messiah, and definitely not a man who has fallen short of the glory of God. Both in the Tanach and in the book of Hebrews, we see the penalty of not listening to Moses, but then we see a much higher penalty for not listening to Yeshua, they simply are not the same, one is just a man who failed in many ways and another is divinity, come in the form of a man, but was perfect.

      Delete
  4. By the way, Mckee did an excellent article on the Divinity of Yeshua:

    http://www.tnnonline.net/god-salvation/Answering_the_Frequently_Avoided_Questions_About_the_Divinity_of_Yeshua_CII.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  5. To Zion & Peter,

    Are you two implying Yeshua had two natures? If yes, I'm curious as to how you were drawn to that conclusion scripturally or non scripturally.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, brother, I'm just trying to understand Mark 14:36. I'll be puzzling over this one for the rest of my life. And, by the way, I'm okay with that.

      Delete