If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. Jesus, The Lord – John 7:17
Note that Jesus said, ‘If anyone…”. Not some special elect group as some Calvinist would have us believe but ‘anyone’. He was speaking to the multitude of lost Jews, rabbis and Pharisees in the Temple on that day. The offer was to ‘anyone’ in that group. Some of them would be involved in his murder later.
Today, the same principle applies to all people who wish to know the teaching of the true God.
Anyone!
J. C. Ryle, the first evangelical Anglican Bishop in Liverpool England in 1880, commented as follows concerning John 7:17:
The English language here fails to give the full force of the Greek. It is literally, “If any man is willing to do –has a mind and desire and an inclination to do God’s will….” It should never be forgotten that God deals with us as moral beings, and not as beasts or stones.
Do you need some “knowing” concerning God’s teaching about Himself and His Son Jesus? His purpose for and desire to redeem lost mankind.
God has made lost mankind competent to act for himself. He is the only one who can. Give mental attention to divine truth expressed in the Bible and express your desire to God to do His will once it is revealed to you. It is okay to seek Him from motives of self-interest.
For it is in your present and eternal best interest to know the living God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Tell Him you are “willing to do His will.”
God Bless – Carl
Psalm 119: 38 