One of the cores of Arminian theology is that God wants everyone to be saved. Two passages that teach that are 1 Timothy 2:3-4, and 2 Peter 3:9.
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-4
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
Calvinists on the other hand, believe in limited atonement, that God intends to save some people and not others. But that would seem to contradict the teaching of scripture that God wants everyone to be saved. One way that Calvinists resolve this conundrum is to argue that God has two separate wills. 1) A revealed will, that he wants all to be saved, and 2) A secret will where he predestines some to be saved, but not others.
Calvinist John Piper holds to this view:
Affirming the will of God to save all, while also affirming the unconditional election of some, implies that there are at least “two wills” in God, or two ways of willing. It implies that God decrees one state of affairs while also willing and teaching that a different state of affairs should come to pass.
To support the idea of God’s secret will, Calvinists point to passages such as Deuteronomy 29:29, and Luke 10:21
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Luke 10:21
As an Arminian, I’m okay with expressing the idea that God has more than one will. A good way to say it is that God desires one thing, but permits another thing to happen. Where I disagree with Calvinists is if God’s will can directly contradict itself. So it’s coherent to say that God prefers for one thing to happen, but allows another thing to happen instead. But it’s a contradiction to say that God prefers one thing, but secretly does not prefer that same thing.
CS Lewis gives a good explanation of two wills in the book Mere Christianity.
But anyone who has been in authority knows how a thing can be in accordance with your will in one way and not in another. It may be quite sensible for a mother to say to the children, “I’m not going to go and make you tidy the schoolroom every night. You’ve got to learn to keep it tidy on your own.” Then she goes up one night and finds the Teddy bear and the ink and the French Grammar all lying in the grate. That is against her will. She would prefer the children to be tidy. But on the other hand, it is her will which has left the children free to be untidy. The same thing arises in any regiment, or trade union, or school. You make a thing voluntary and then half the people do not do it. That is not what you willed, but your will has made it possible.
It’s coherent for a mom to tell her 10 year old son to clean the room, and be upset if the son didn’t do as she asked. But it would be incoherent for her to want a clean room and also secretly not want a clean room.
Another principal regarding God’s will is that is what is hidden from us will be consistent with what God has already revealed. God doesn’t lie about his unchanging purpose (Heb 6:17-18), and he can’t deny himself (2 Tim 2:13)
Right now we see things as if in a clouded mirror (1 Cor 13:12). We don’t see everything clearly, but we still see the big picture. If you look into a clouded mirror, some things will be fuzzy, but the mirror still reflects what is actually there. So for example, you might look into the cloudy mirror and see the ocean but miss the surfer. At the same time, you can be fully confident that you’re looking at an image of the ocean, and not the desert. Our understanding of God’s will is like that. We don’t understand everything he wills, but since scripture states that he wants everyone to be saved, we can be confident that other things he wills are consistent with that.
It’s also true that God sometimes hides things from the wise and reveals them to children (Luke 10:21). Sometimes the least educated and most childlike see God most clearly, and best explain him to us, and it pleases God to reveal himself that way. But again, what God reveals about himself to the “least” person will be consistent with what he has already revealed about himself through scripture. So if someone says God told them to go rob a bank, you can be confident that God didn’t really tell them to do that, because it contradicts the principle of “do not steal”, which he has already revealed.
To summarize, it’s a reasonable idea to express that God has more than one will, but inconsistent to say that God’s wills can be in direct contradiction. The Calvinist idea of God’s secret will results in a contradiction.
Wesleyan Arminian 