These distinct realities are also described by two other Greek words denoting God’s will (desire) and God’s overall plan, or blueprint for history.
God’s Will (Thelema) and God’s Plan (Boulema)
The will of God is in a way subordinate to His plan, or the blueprint of history. The Greek words to describe each in the New Testament are thelema (“will”) and boulema (“plan”).
The word thelema is used about 60 times in the New Testament. It is usually translated “will.” It denotes the will in the sense of the desire or wish. However, the word boulema refers to one’s resolve. It goes beyond a mere desire. It denotes the actual plan, the intention, or the outworking of the will. It is only used twice in the New Testament, but in both cases we can note its distinction from thelema.
For example, in Acts 27:43 Paul was being taken prisoner to Rome. A storm had arisen, and the ship was grounded on a reef. The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners in order to prevent them from escaping.
43 But the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention [boulema], and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land.
Fortunately for Paul, the Centurion had more than a willing desire to save Paul. He also had the power to command and to carry out his plan (boulema). This indicated more than a mere desire to save Paul’s life. He carried it out as part of his plan. The second passage where boulema is used is much clearer, for we already quoted it in Romans 9:19, in regard to Pharaoh:
19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will (boulema, 'plan, or intention')?"
You see, the will (desire) of God was expressed in Moses’ statement: “Let My people go.” Pharaoh was able to resist God’s thelema will, or desire. The story of Pharaoh makes that obvious. But there was a boulema plan, or intention, that Pharaoh knew nothing about, and this he could not resist, for this was in the mind of God, not in the will of man. It was bound up in the sovereignty of God, not in the authority of man. And this plan is perfectly expressed in verse 17, where Paul quotes from Exodus 9:16 below:
16 But, indeed, for this cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.
It was God’s will that Pharaoh let Israel go. But it was in God’s plan that Pharaoh should resist God’s will. Thus, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in order to carry out that plan. This may seem like a terrible contradiction. Why would God create His own opposition and harden Pharaoh’s heart, causing him to resist the will of God? It is no more contradictory than with the two covenants. The Abrahamic covenant gave men the inheritance by unconditional promise, while the Mosaic covenant made it conditional. This is not contradictory, but rather a paradox, as we saw in chapter eight.
As a consequence, man is judged only on the level of his obedience to the thelema of God, for this is the level of his authority. God takes full responsibility for that which He does according to His boulema plan. Yet because the boulema of God is a primal force which directly determines man’s ability and desire to obey God’s thelema, God holds himself ultimately responsible and liable for the actions and salvation of His creation. That is one reason why He came to pay the penalty for sin Himself
