Three Wills of God?

[Michael V. Frazier]

The following is my response to a question posed to me asking if Romans 12:2 implies three separate wills of God, which, in turn, would imply three separate persons in the Godhead (the Trinity).
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I believe your question focuses primarily on the section of text that reads, "that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

That portion in the Greek reads, "εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον." (There is no difference between the Textus Receptus and the Critical Text, so there is no need to get into those issues, thankfully.)

Let's break it down:
εἰς [FOR] τὸ [THE} δοκιμάζειν [TO PROVE] ὑμᾶς [BY YOU] τί [WHAT] τὸ [THE] θέλημα [WILL] τοῦ [OF] θεοῦ [GOD] τὸ [THE] ἀγαθὸν [GOOD] καὶ [AND] εὐάρεστον [WELL-PLEASING] καὶ [AND] τέλειον [PERFECT]. There is an implied verb [IS].

Take note that will of God precedes the words good and well-pleasing and perfect, and that there is a definite article the which separates the two phrases. This is an example in the Greek language of a Restrictive Use of the Attributive Adjective." Normally, the attributive adjective in Greek takes on an Article-Adjective-Noun format, e.g., the brown dog; the small house; the curious boy. But the Restrictive Use takes on the the form of Article-Noun-Article-Adjective. This form is used to give more emphasis to the noun that the adjective modifies.

A good example of the Restrictive Use of the Attributive Adjective is found in John 10:11 where Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd." In the Greek, the format reads, "I am the shepherd the good" (Article-Noun-Article-Adjective). Notice that the adjective good follows the second definite article the which modifies the noun shepherd. The form is being used to place special emphasis on shepherd. Unfortunately, the English loses this special emphasis when it is translated into our language.

Now, back to Romans 12:2. The will of God is the noun-phrase that is receiving the extra emphasis by the adjectives that follow the second definite article in the text: THE will of God THE good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Since the adjective follows a definite article, the Attribute Adjective form is occasionally regarded as a noun by English speakers. In English, only nouns can be modified by the articles a, an, and the. However, this is not the case with foreign languages such as New Testament Greek.

I hope this answers all your questions, including why some would say these are nouns and others that these are adjectives. The truth is, in Romans 12:2, the words are adjectives being used in a form that reminds English readers of nouns.

Finally, these adjectives are not attempting to describe three separate Wills of God, because θέλημα [WILL] in the original text was singular, not plural.