I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”
Parallel Translations
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I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”
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I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
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(40-9) I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is in my inmost parts.'
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Psalms 40:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 7:22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,
- John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
- Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, Yahweh, God of Armies.
- Psalms 119:16 I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.
- Psalms 119:24 Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counselors.
- Psalms 37:30-31 The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom. His tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
- Psalms 119:47 I will delight myself in your commandments, because I love them.
- Psalms 119:92 Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
- Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- Psalms 112:1 Praise Yah! Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who delights greatly in his commandments.
- Proverbs 3:1 My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
- 2 Corinthians 3:3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
- Job 23:12 I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
- Romans 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O…
Psa 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart.
Ver. 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God] To Christ it was his meat and drink, Joh 4:34, he set his face to do it, and to suffer it, Luk 9:51; yea, he was straitened, pained, till it was done, Luk 12:50. And the same mind is also in the saints that was in Christ Jesus, Php 2:5. They delight in the law of God after the inward man, Rom 7:22, they prefer it before their necessary food, Job 23:12.
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Yea, thy law is within my heart] Heb. in the midst of my bowels; there is the counterpane, the duplicate of the law written, yea, printed, Jer 31:33 2Co 3:3. Rip up my heart (said Queen Mary) when I am dead, and there shall you find Calais, the loss whereof (it is thought) killed her. Rip up the most men’s hearts, and there you shall find written, The god of this present world. But God’s law is in good men’s hearts, to live and to die with it: O beata Apocalypsis (said that martyr, catching up that revelation cast into the same fire with him to be burnt), O blessed revelation, how happy am I to be burned with thee in my hands!
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I delight to do thy will. This, though in…
I delight to do thy will. This, though in a general sense it may be true of David and of all God’s people, yet if it be compared with the foregoing verse, and with the explication thereof in the New Testament, (in which those mysteries which were darkly and doubtfully expressed in the Old Testament are fully and clearly revealed,) must be appropriated to Christ, of whom it is eminently true, and is here observed as an act of heroical obedience, that he not only resolved to do, but delighted in doing, the will of God, or what God had commanded him and he had promised to do, which was to die, and that a most shameful, and painful, and cursed death. See Luk 12:50; Joh 10:18; Heb 10:9,10.
Thy law is within my heart, i.e. I do not only hear and understand it, but I receive it with heartiest love and affection, delighting both to meditate of it, and to yield obedience to it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I delight to do thy will, O my God,....…
I delight to do thy will, O my God,.... This he came down from heaven to do, and this he did do, by preaching the Gospel, and working miracles; and above all by obtaining eternal redemption for his people, which he effected by fulfilling the law, becoming a sacrifice, and suffering and dying in their room; all which were the will of God, and grateful to him, and in doing which Christ took the utmost delight and pleasure, Joh 4:34;
yea, thy law is within my heart; either the whole moral law, under which he was, as man, and the surety of his people; and which was written upon his heart, and which he perfectly obeyed; or that particular law, injunction, and command laid upon him by his Father, to offer himself a sacrifice, and lay down his life for men; which he agreed to, had it in his mind, his heart was set upon it, and he cheerfully complied with it, Joh 10:18.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I delight - This is eminently true, of Christ,…
I delight - This is eminently true, of Christ, and is here observed as an act of heroic obedience, that he not only resolved to do, but delighted in doing the will of God, or what God had commanded him, which was to die, and that a most shameful, and painful, and cursed death. My heart - I do not only understand it, but receive it with heartiest love, delighting both to meditate of it, and to yield obedience to it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. To do thy will] God willed not…
Verse 8. To do thy will] God willed not the sacrifices under the law, but he willed that a human victim of infinite merit should be offered for the redemption of mankind. That there might be such a victim, a body was prepared for the eternal Logos, and in that body he came to do the will of God; that is, to suffer and die for the sins of the world.
1. Hence we see that the sovereign WILL of God is that Jesus should be incarnated; that he should suffer and die; or, in the apostle's words, taste death for every man; that all should believe on him, and be saved from their sins; for this is the WILL of God, our sanctification.
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2. And as the apostle grounds this on the words of the Psalm, we see that it is the WILL of God that that system shall end; for as the essence of it is contained in its sacrifices, and God says he will not have these, and has appointed the Messiah to do his will, i.e., to die for men, hence it necessarily follows, from the psalmist himself, that the introduction of the Messiah into the world is the abolition of the law; and that his sacrifice is that which shall last for ever.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 40:8. I delight to do thy will —…
Psa 40:8. I delight to do thy will — This also, though in a general sense it may be true of David, and of all God’s people, yet, if it be compared with the foregoing verse, and with the explication thereof in the New Testament, (in which those mysteries, which were darkly and doubtfully expressed in the Old Testament, are fully and clearly revealed,) it must be appropriated to Christ, of whom it is eminently true; and it is here observed as an act of heroic obedience, that he not only resolved to do, but delighted in doing the will of God, or what God had commanded him, which was to die, and that a most shameful, and painful, and cursed death. Yea, thy law is within my heart — I do not only understand it, but receive it with heartiest love, delighting both to meditate on it, and to yield obedience to it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I delight to do thy will, O my God…
I delight to do thy will, O my God - To wit, in obeying the law; in submitting to all the trials appointed to me; in making an atonement for the sins of men. See the notes at Heb 10:7. Compare Phi 2:8; Mat 26:39.
Yea, thy law is within my heart - Margin, “In the midst of my bowels.” So the Hebrew. The idea is, that the law of God was within him. His obedience was not external, but proceeded from the heart. How true this was of the Redeemer it is not necessary here to say.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. I delight to do thy will— “Delight” in…
8. I delight to do thy will— “Delight” in God’s will is the true test of a spiritual mind, and of the highest obedience. This was Christ’s profession.
Joh_4:34; Joh_17:4.
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Within my heart—Hebrew, In the midst of my bowels; which, according to the Hebrew psychology means, in my innermost (most spiritual) sympathies, with tender affection implied.
Jer_31:33. This is an intensive repetition of the preceding line.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. I delight] Cp. Psa_40:6. What is God’s delight…
8. I delight] Cp. Psa_40:6. What is God’s delight is his delight. Contrast the delight of the wicked in evil, Psa_40:14.
thy will] Thy good pleasure: what Thou approvest (Pro_15:8; Psa_19:14).
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thy law is within my heart] Lit. in the midst of my body, as though God’s law were itself the heart which gives life to his whole being (Psa_22:14). Such was God’s demand of Israel (Deu_6:6); such is the characteristic of the righteous (Psa_37:31; Isa_51:7): such is to be the universal condition in the Messianic age (Jer_31:33). The law will be graven not on tablets of stone (Exo_32:15 f.), but on the tablet of the heart (Pro_3:3; Pro_7:3).
Psa_40:6-8 a are quoted in Heb_10:5-7 according to the LXX[17], with some slight variations. The writer is contrasting Christ’s perfect obedience with the inefficacy of the sacrifices of the Law, and he puts these words into His mouth as the most fitting expression of the purpose of His life. The willing obedience which the Psalmist of old was taught to recognise as the divine requirement for himself and Israel was carried to its completion, was ‘fulfilled,’ in Christ. The variation of the LXX from the Hebrew may seem to present a serious difficulty. But the appropriateness of the quotation does not depend on this particular clause, and the rendering of the LXX, whatever its origin, has in effect a sense analogous to the sense of the original. As the ear is the instrument for receiving the divine command, so the body is the instrument for fulfilling it. The possession of a body implies the duty of service, in the same way that the possession of hearing implies the duty of obedience. See Bp. Westcott’s note.
[17] The reading of the LXX is σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, a body didst thou Prepare for me. This reading is attested by the Vulgate. Aures in the Gallican Psalter is a correction. καταρτίζεσθαι occurs in the LXX as the rendering of several Hebrew words, and might easily have been chosen to represent the obscure thou hart dug. ‘Body’ for ‘ears’ may then have been a free paraphrase. But the reading may have originated in an ancient corruption of the Greek text. Through a repetition of the final ϲ of the preceding word and the change of ⲰⲧⲓⲀ into ⲰⲘⲀ, ⲎθελⲎⲤⲀⲤωⲦⲓⲁ might easily have become ⲎθελⲎⲤⲀⲤⲤωⲘⲀ.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I delight to do thy will, O my God:…
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy Law is within my heart. The obedience to be rendered will be a true and acceptable obedience,
(1) cheerful, and
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(2) from the heart.
Consciously or unconsciously, David speaks as the type of Christ. (see Heb_10:5-7)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 8. I delight to do thy will, O…
Ver. 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Our blessed Lord alone could completely do the will of God. The law is too broad for such poor creatures as we are to hope to fulfil it to the uttermost: but Jesus not only did the Father's will, but found a delight therein; from old eternity he had desired the work set before him; in his human life he was straitened till he reached the baptism of agony in which he magnified the law, and even in Gethsemane itself he chose the Father's will, and set aside his own. Herein is the essence of obedience, namely, in the soul's cheerful devotion to God: and our Lord's obedience, which is our righteousness, is in no measure lacking in this eminent quality. Notwithstanding his measureless griefs, our Lord found delight in his work, and for "the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame." Yea, thy law is within my heart. No outward, formal devotion was rendered by Christ; his heart was in his work, holiness was his element, the Father's will his meat and drink. We must each of us be like our Lord in this, or we shall lack the evidence of being his disciples. Where there is no heart work, no pleasure, no delight in God's law, there can be no acceptance. Let the devout reader adore the Saviour for the spontaneous and hearty manner in which he undertook the great work of our salvation.
Ver. 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God. The will of God to redeem sinners by the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, was most grateful and pleasing to the very heart of Christ. It is said, Pr 8:31, when he was solacing himself in the sweetest enjoyment of his Father, whilst he lay in that blessed bosom of delights, yet the very prospect of this work gave him pleasure, then his "delights were with the sons of men." And when he was come into the world, and had endured many abuses and injuries, and was even now come to the most difficult part of the work; yet, "how am I straitened, or pained (saith he), till it be accomplished!" Lu 12:50. Two things call our thoughts to stay upon them in this point. First. The decency of itwhy it ought to be so.
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1. It became Christ to go about this work with cheerfulness and delight, that thereby he might give his death the nature and formality of a sacrifice. In all sacrifices you shall find that God had still a regard, a special respect to the will of the offerer. See Ex 35:5, 21 Le 1:3. 2. It ought to be so in view of the unity of Christ's will with the Father's. 3. This was necessary to commend the love of Jesus Christ to us for whom he gave himself. That he came into the world to die for us is a mercy of the first magnitude; but that he came in love to our souls, and underwent all his sufferings with such willingness for our sakes, this heightens it above all apprehension. 4. It was necessary to be so for the regulating of all our obedience to God, according to this pattern; that seeing and setting this great example of obedience before us, we might never grudge nor grumble at any duty of suffering that God should call us to. Secondly. Let us consider and examine whence it came to be so pleasant and acceptable to Jesus Christ, to come into the world and die for poor sinners. 1. That in his sufferings there would be made a glorious display and manifestation of the divine attributes: 2. Another delightful prospect Christ had of the fruit of his sufferings, was the recovery and salvation of all the elect by his death; and though his sufferings were exceedingly bitter, yet such fruit of them as this was exceedingly sweet. 3. Add to this, the glory which would redound to him from his redeemed ones to all eternity, for it will be the everlasting employment of the saints in heaven to be ascribing glory, praise, and honour to the Redeemer. Did Christ find pleasure in abasement and torment, in suffering and dying for me, and can I find no pleasure in praying, hearing, meditating, and enjoying the sweet duties of communion with him? Did he come so cheerfully to die for me, and do I go so dead heartedly to prayers and sacraments to enjoy fellowship with him? Was it a pleasure to him to shed his blood, and is it none to me to apply it, and reap the benefits of it? O let there be no more grumblings, lazy excuses, shiftings of duty, or dead hearted and listless performances of them, after such an example as this. Be ready to do the will of God, be ye also ready to suffer it. And as to sufferings for Christ, they should not be grievous to Christians that know how cheerfully Christ came from the bosom of the Father to die for them. What have we to leave or lose, in comparison with him? What are our sufferings to Christ's? Alas! there is no compare; there was more bitterness in one drop of his sufferings than in a sea of ours. To conclude: your delight and readiness in the paths of obedience is the very measure of your sanctification. Condensed from John Flavel.
Ver. 8. Now, saith Christ, I delight to do thy will, O my God; it is the joy and rejoicing of my heart to be seeking and saving lost sinners. When Christ was an hungry, he went not into a victualling house but into the temple, and taught the people most part of the day, to show how much he delighted in the salvation of sinners, etc. Christ did so much delight, and his heart was so much set upon the conversion and salvation of the Samaritans, that he neglected his own body to save their souls, as you may clearly see in John 4. Thomas Brooks.
Ver. 8. To do. It was Jesus who was the doer of the work. The Father willed it; but he did not do it. It was Jesus who did it, who wrought it out; who brought it in; who carried it within the veil, and laid it as an acceptable and meritorious offering at the feet of his well pleased Father. The work then is done; it is finished. We need not attempt to do it. We cannot do it. We cannot do that which is already done; and we could not do it, though it were yet undone. There is much that man can do, but he cannot make a propitiation. James Frame.
Ver. 8. Thy will. The covenant between the Father and the Son, as elsewhere, so it is most clearly expressed Heb 10:7, from Ps 40:7-8, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God." And what will? Ps 40:10, "The will by which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." The will of God was, that Jesus should be offered; and to this end, that we might be sanctified and saved. It is called "The offering of the body of Jesus Christ, "in answer to what was said before, "A body has thou prepared me, "or a human nature, by a synecdoche. "My will, "says God the Father, "is that thou have a body, and that thy body be offered up; and all to this end, that the children, the elect, might be sanctified." Says the Son to this, "Lo, I come to do thy will; " "I accept of the condition, and give up myself to the performance of thy will." John Owen.
Ver. 8. Thy law is within my heart. The law of God is not to be kept in books, but in the midst of our heart, that we may rightly understand the same, admire it, and observe it. Martin Geier.
Ver. 8. Thy law is within my heart. The will of God in which Christ delighted, was (as appears by the coherence, and the quotation of Heb 10:5) that Christ should make his soul an offering for sin, as more acceptable to God than all other burnt offerings and sin offerings. This law was in his heart, (em Kwtb), in the midst of his bowels. He did as much delight in it as we do in following those inclinations which nature has implanted in our hearts, as we do in eating and drinking. So he expresses it Joh 4:34, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." He was as willing to bleed and die for thee as thou art to eat when hungry. He was delighted as much to be scourged, wounded, crucified, as thou delightest in meat when most delicious. David Clarkson.
Ver. 8. Within my heart, margin, my bowels. The intestines or viscera are here mentioned as the place of the most profound spiritual occupation. Franz Delitzsch.
Ver. 8. To do thy will, O God.
1. The will of God is seen in the fact of salvation. It has its origin in the will of God.
2. The will of God is seen in the plan of salvation. All things have proceeded, are proceeding, and will proceed according to that plan.
3. It is seen in the provision of salvation, in the appointment of his own Son to become the mediator the atoning sacrifice, the law fulfiller, the head of the church, that his plan required.
4. It is seen in the accomplishment of salvation.
Psalms 40:9*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I delight to do Thy will, O my God.
Psa_40:8
I delight to do Thy will, O my God.
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Duty a delight
I delight to do Thy will, O my God. In other words, Gods pleasure is his pleasure. Yea, Thy law is within my heart, the object of choice and love.
I. We instinctively recognize here an expression of the highest type of piety, This marks the psalm as Messianic, since it was fulfilled only in Christ. The piety here breathed is not to be thought of as beyond the imitation of every disciple. Jesus stands as the Divine model and pattern of a believers life. When we look at the believers experience we find it in three stages. First, a sense of danger, when fear rouses him to flee from the wrath to come; then a sense of duty, when conscience urges him to do that which he feels to be right; and last, a sense of delight, when choice impels him to do and bear Gods will. Duty has become delight. This last stage of experience is the highest, and heaven only is higher.
II. To delight in Gods will supplies the noblest motive, The roads of duty and delight never cross each other. Piety is not so much any conformity of outward life, as it is a disposition toward the divine, which, in a growing Christian will become more and more habitual as a law of life, and in a sense unconscious. A young disciple is like the musical pupil, who, in playing his exercises, keeps thinking how he is sitting, holding his hands, and managing his fingers. The mature disciple is more like the master in whom practice and habit have made it possible to lose sight of what is merely mechanical in what is spiritual about music, till he forgets the instrument in the inspiration of musical enthusiasm, and becomes no longer merely a practiser of scales or an imitator of others, but a creator and composer of musical harmonies. He who makes it his habit to aim after true holiness will find more and more that it ceases to be an effort to be good and to do good, as he rises to real and almost unconscious sympathy with goodness.
III. The text expresses also the highest spiritual liberty. In civil government, the nearer we get to a true idea or ideal of liberty, the less does government seem to exist at all, for the highest freedom involves unconsciousness of restraint or constraint. The Christian is the Lords freeman; it is the sinner who is wearing a yoke of bondage; and he who has escaped the obedience of fear and learned the subjection of love enjoys the highest liberty of the sons of God. And we misrepresent Christianity before others whenever we lead them to suppose that it rules by the iron sceptre of duty. He who will surrender himself completely to its sway shall find the Christian experience such a blending of Gods life with mans life as maketh His will our will, and His service perfect freedom!
IV. The text expresses the truest preparation for a life of service to Christ. When duty becomes delight we are fitted for our highest usefulness, for that is inseparable from the highest piety, the noblest motive, and the truest liberty. Those who most win souls are those who delight to do Gods will. If others see that it makes us happy to be disciples of Christ, that we are under no constraint, galled by no fetters of conscience, confined by no severe restrictions; that we are simply walking at liberty because we love to do Gods will, we become to them living epistles. Men may feel little interest in hearing another say what he is forced to utter because he feels that he ought; but no man will lack attentive audience who speaks from a full heart, which would burst if denied expression. Ordinarily a sculptor does not himself work the marble: he fashions the clay model, leaving to the mechanical workman to work out in stone what he has not the imagination to invent, or think out in mind. What a wide difference between them! The workman, for a certain sum, undertakes the task of giving to the creation of the artists genius simply a more enduring form. He feels, perhaps, but little interest in his wearisome work. His aim at most is to be rigidly accurate and correct in copying the model. Everything is done by rule. How different the experience of the sculptor! He finds in his work a rest, a relief. An image is stamped upon his mind, his brain burns, his heart throbs! The Greeks called such a state of mind enthusiasm--an inspiration from God. We are too often only the mechanical workmen when we ought to be sculptors of life.
V. Helps to attaining delight is duty.
1. We must habituate ourselves to think of Gods law in its true light. We do great injustice to Him when we construe the rule of duty as an arbitrary regulation. The more we learn to interpret His commands by His benevolence the more shall we delight to do His will.
2. There must be holy fellowship with God. No unregenerate man can know such experience of delight in duty, for it is born only of the Spirit.
3. There must be a full surrender to God. No man delights to do Gods will whose whole will is not given up to God.
4. Duty will become delight in proportion to our faithful discharge of duty itself. The more complete your obedience, the more positive your happiness. We are reminded of the beautiful myth about the wingless birds, who first took up their wings as burdens to be borne, but found them changing to pinions, which, in the end, bore them. We are the birds without wings. God puts our duties before us to be patiently assumed for His sake. But, though at first they are loads, we shall be able afterwards to say, with Rutherford, The cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bore: such a burden as wings are to the bird, that help it to soar; or, as sails are to the ship, that help it to catch the breeze that wafts it to the desired haven. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)
The will--before, in, and after conversion
The Word of God presents to us the action of the will during three phases of experience: first, during that period in which man asserts his independence, and refuses to submit to the claims and authority of God; secondly, during the period of transition, in which he is abandoning his claims to independence, and is learning to submit to the yoke of Christ; thirdly, during the subsequent period of self-surrender and self-consecration.
I. The will before conversion. God is not in all his thoughts. The mind of the flesh is enmity against God. Man may be unconscious of the enmity, but it surely exists; and there needs only an authoritative assertion of the Divine will to provoke the human will and call it into action.
II. The will in conversion. Hew does a man pass from a state of active or passive antagonism to the will of God into one of holy and willing conformity to that will? It is difficult to answer this question in few words. Whilst every true conversion is one in its essential features, as involving the active turning to God in repentance end faith, conversions vary greatly in the causes which lead to them and in the phases through which they pass. Thus, it is difficult to define with any accuracy the precise action of the will in conversion. It is important, however, to recognize in the process the existence and activity of two forces: that of Divine grace, and that of human effort. It is the magnet of the Cross which draws mens hearts to God; I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. It is the supreme love of Jesus Christ living, labouring, suffering, dying for sinful men, which touches the heart, attracts the affections and expels the old love of the world by introducing a higher and more absorbing love in its place. The heart thus won, the will resumes its rightful authority.
1. The choice now made is free, for it is the choice of the will acting without compulsion, choosing that which it approves as the noblest and the best.
2. The choice is decided, for it recognizes the righteousness of Gods claim upon the unconditional submission and allegiance of man.
3. The choice is lasting, for being made after full consideration and without reserve, it knows no regrets, and has in it all the elements of permanency.
III. The will after conversion. Scripture teaches and experience proves that by reason of the law of sin yet abiding in our members we cannot always do the things that we would; still to will is present; we delight in the law of God after the inward man. The will after conversion, therefore, is no stranger to conflict, for sin yet dwells within; but throughout the struggle with evil it is at one with the will of God; its language is not my will but Thine be done. (Sir Emilius Bayley.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.