Bruce Ware — Blog — Dr. Tim White

Should we pray, “Your will be formed,” or “Your will be done.” Bruce Ware contrasts how God answers prayers according to Open Theism, which teaches God does not know the future in reference to prayer, and Biblical Omniscience, which teaches that God does know the future and answers our prayers according to his will.

“God does not necessarily know exactly what will happen in the future,” wrote Open Theist David Basinger in Models of God and Alternative Ultimate Realities 163.

Jesus commanded, “Do not be like them [Pharisees], for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:8). Because Jesus exhaustively knows the future and what we will be asking before we ask, He can providently prepare to answer our prayers. Open Theism, which teaches that God does not know the future, can only react when He hears our prayers. John Sanders, an Open Theism advocate, wrote, “To a large extent our future is open and we are to determine what it will be in dialogue [prayer] with God” (John Sanders, God Who Risks, 277).

Ware wrote, Jesus does not instruct us to pray, “your will be formed,” but rather, “your will be done.” God has a will that predates our prayers.

Bruce Ware in his book Bruce A. Ware, The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Questions on the Humanity of Christ (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013) teaches the impeccability of Christ, i.e., that Christ in His humanity could not have sinned because of His deity. Bruce A. Ware says Christ could not sin because His divine nature dominated His human nature but Christ did not sin in His humanity totally depended on the Word, the Holy Spirit, and His Father. This is a departure from the way the impeccability has been defended in the past. Before we examine this new defense of Christ’s inability to sin, let’s ask, “What has this theological debate have to do with my struggle with my particular nagging sin?” I mean, you might be saying, “Just yesterday, I lost again the battle with this sin. Today, I am guilt ridden. I need help not a theological discussion of whether Jesus was peccable or impeccable.” Good point. Let’s back up and get a running start on this problem and make it personal.