TheosGuy

John Frame writes the following in his book, The Doctrine of God:

If God desires people to repent of sin, then certainly he desires them to be saved, for salvation is the fruit of such repentance. Some Calvinists, however, have denied this conclusion, reasoning that God cannot possibly desire something that never takes place. But I have dealt with that objection already. Scripture often represents God as desiring things that never take place. As we have seen, he wants all people to repent of sin, yet we know that many people never repent. And there are many other examples. God desires all people to turn from false gods and idols, hold his name in reverence, remember the Sabbath, honor their parents, and so on. But those desires are not always fulfilled.^{1 2}

See the cited section of the book for a detailed explanation and analysis of God’s preceptive and decretive will.

1.  John Frame, The Doctrine of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing, 2002), 528-538.
2. A portion of the cited text is available online at the Theological Meditations website.

Tags: John Frame