Deciding with God

 Acts 19:21 (ESV) – Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

  

Long before Zondervan published How to Make Big Decisions Wisely, I started the study of how the Apostle Paul made decisions as recorded in the Bible book called, Acts of the Apostles, or just, Acts, for short. I wanted to discover if all of Paul’s decisions were made in response to supernatural direction. Of course, the writer, Luke, often clearly showed Paul deciding in response to an appearance or vision of Jesus, a dream, or a prophetic word. Yet, I saw that a slight majority of the time Luke used words indicating that Paul decided based on his own reasoning or desires without any obvious divine direction. This discovery freed me from feeling like a second class Christian because, even though I had “heard from God” on several occasions throughout my life, divine direction was not a daily occurrence for me.

 

However, some passages do not clearly show if Paul decided on his own or had been directed by God. Acts 19:21 is one of those. Even Bible translators and commentators disagree on how to interpret this interesting phrase translated, “resolved in the Spirit,” in the English Standard version. The Greek word translated resolved here, etheto, is actually common in the New Testament, occurring over 300 times. It usually means to put, lay, or place something. That meaning developed further in secular Greek even before Jesus’ time to imply establishing or instituting, like our expression, “lay down the law.” Paul is clearly the subject of this verb and his resolution in our verse stresses the magnitude and his ownership of his decision. The second part of this short phrase is less clear. Paul resolved “in the S/spirit.” Most English Bibles capitalize Spirit assuming that the writer Luke was referring to the Holy Spirit. However, the earliest Greek manuscripts used capitals for every letter, so we cannot say for sure Luke meant the Holy Spirit rather than Paul’s internal spirit. The Greek word pneuma often connoted the human soul or life. Luke occasionally used the word this way (see Luke 8:55 & 23:46, and Acts 7:59), but far more often he clearly meant the Holy Spirit.

 

I wrestled with this verse as I tried to decide if it belonged in the human decision column or the divine direction column. The NIV simply translates it. “Paul decided,” but most other translations bring the Holy Spirit into the process. I finally realized that this can be a both/and. Paul is clearly the subject of etheto – the one putting down the decision, but the Holy Spirit was actively at work in the process. We see in Acts 21:13-14 that Paul clearly attributes his return to Jerusalem (first referenced in Acts 19:21) as the will of God.

 

Many of the decisions I have made in my life and ministry have that same sense of both my resolve and the work of the Holy Spirit. Even as I wrote the book, there was a strong sense of Holy Spirit direction to do the writing, but many of the words emerged from study and my own decisions. You may find that to be the case in your own life, as well. I believe God is often at work when we think we are making up our own minds. Whenever possible, let’s do all of our resolving in partnership with the Spirit.