Divine will is held to be real, eternal and subsisting in the divine essence. It explains how particular created things, forms and times are specified among alternatives.
This entails neither a new temporal state in God, nor the eternity of creatures, nor compulsory production of acts. Will is connected with knowledge, power and takwīn, but not identified conceptually with them.
Three questions organize the debate: Is will a real attribute or merely another description of essence? Is it eternal or originated? And does action proceed through choice or by necessity of essence?