Keathley on the Salvific Will of God…

July 29, 2005 | 3:33 PM

I e-mailed Dr. Ken Keathley of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary yesterday, asking for a paper he presented to the Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry entitled “Salvation and the Sovereignty of God: The Great Commission as the Expression of the Divine Will.” He presented it this past Spring 2005. He graciously sent it to me. In it, he overviews four major paradigms of God’s salvific will.

First, universalism-despite present appearances eventually everyone will be saved, either in this life or the next. Second, double predestination-God does not desire nor has he ever desired the salvation of the reprobate. Third, God has two wills-the revealed will and the hidden will. The Scriptures, in passages such as the Great Commission texts, reveal God’s universal salvific will. But God also has a secret will in which, for reasons known only to him, he has decreed to pass by many. And fourth, God indeed has two wills-an antecedent will and a consequent will. God antecedently desires that all be saved, but he consequently wills that faith is a condition to salvation. Only those who believe will be saved.

He concludes with the following:

This paper has considered the four options concerning God’s salvific will: God has one will that all are saved, God has one will that certain ones are saved, God has two wills-one hidden and the other revealed, and God has two wills-an antecedent will for the salvation of all and a consequent will that faith is the condition to salvation. None of the four positions is without difficulties. However, the antecedent/consequent wills paradigm seems to have the fewest theological problems and be closest to the testimony of Scripture.

I have asked him if I may e-mail it to others, or post it online. I’m currently waiting for his reply. He did say in his e-mail that he and Dr. Stan Norman are working on a book due out November 1, 2005 that takes an “incarnational approach to the mystery of election.” So there you go.