In Romans 8 Paul has been unpacking the doctrine of Life in the Spirit.
Being a Christian is no ordinary life. It is a life of miraculous enablement and intervention. It is a life in which God works in a believer, even against our natural sluggishness, our slowness to believe, our humanistic thoughts and responses. If we are in Christ, Paul points us to the help we receive from the indwelling Holy Spirit as we wrestle against the realities that our flesh (our physical nature) presents. He shows us that we, amid this great battle are wonderfully sustained.
Above all He points us to the future glory that is our inheritance. The best is yet to be. People that feel hopeless need to hear this! Wait a little longer. Your Saviour is near. He asserts that those who love God (and those alone) - who are called according to His purpose, ALL things ultimately work for good (8:28).
And from there he proceeds to connect us to God’s
great, eternal plan of salvation.
28
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For
those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those
whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified,
and those whom he justified he also glorified.
We have a massive statement here. This is truly holy ground. Paul is giving us insight into God’s eternal mind and purpose in terms of His saving purpose for mankind. Here we find the sequence known as the golden chain of salvation. Here is a statement outlining the way in which God saves His people.
- Here we are helped to see that this salvation is all of God, from first to last.
- Here we learn that our salvation begins in the mind of God the Father.
- Here we are reminded that our salvation is accomplished by Christ’s finished work on the cross.
- Our salvation is applied by the Holy Spirit. He helps us to see and believe in the finished work of Jesus.
- Our response to God in repentance is the outcome and proof of our salvation.
- Our love for God is the result of a heart set free.
- We learn that our salvation never came about because we made a decision for God or by being born into a Christian home.
THE FOUNDATION OF ROMANS 8:28 – A SURE SALVATION
The First Link of the Chain: Foreknowledge
“For those whom he foreknew …” The Greek word for "foreknew" [2] literally means to know beforehand. It is more than simply to be aware of a future event – a passive foresight of human actions, like, “God foreknew that Robert Good was going to choose to become a Christian”. That is not it!
God’s foreknowledge is not passive. It is
active. It is loaded with love for His people (see Romans 5:8).
He lovingly foreknows them before they are born (Jer. 1:5; Gal 1:15).
There is an active intimacy in that foreknowledge.
Let’s look at this in another way: In Matthew 7:23 in context of His
future judgement Jesus says to false believers, “I never knew you,
depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Jesus obviously “knew” who these people were
and what they had done. So, when Jesus says, “I never knew you”, He
means, “I have never been in a loving, saving, covenant-love relationship
with you, and you show it by the lawlessness (lack of love for me) of your
lives.”
To foreknow is to fore-love. We shall see this again in Romans
11:2 where Paul mentions God’s eternal, covenant love for Israel: “God
has not rejected his people whom He foreknew” (Rom. 11:2). There is profound substance to God’s
foreknowledge.
The Second Link: Predestination
8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers. Predestination[3]
is not synonymous with foreknowledge. Predestination follows foreknowledge. Foreknowledge is what is in God’s heart
concerning His people right from the very beginning. What is in God’s heart? Love
for His people! Predestination follows
from that. It points to God’s eternal decree to bring something to pass in time.
God’s ultimate purpose is the
establishment of the church – the sum total of His adopted sons and daughters (8:15)
consisting of OT (before the cross) and NT (after the cross) believers.
Predestined to which end? Now, notice how Paul completes that
thought, “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”. The
ultimate purpose of salvation is not just to obtain forgiveness from sins (we
must and we do!), but to be conformed into Christ's likeness. Remember? We are
called to be God’s holy people (1 Pet.2:9,10). That is
what it means to be a Christian! Those
in Matt 7:23, whom Jesus did not know, even though they said that they
acted in His Name, did not actually act like Him! They did not portray family likeness in what
they did. Christians are predestined to become
like Jesus - spiritually, morally, and eventually physically as we inherit a
resurrection body.
This is what it means “to be conformed” to his “image”.
Also note that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers
(and sisters). The term ‘firstborn’
refers to the fact that our Lord Jesus was the first human to have
escaped the bondage of death (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20-23). In that sense He is
the firstborn brother (the new Adam) of the new human race (see also Col.
1:15,18). We are predestined to be
imitators of Christ.
The Third Link: Calling
8:30a “And those whom he predestined he also called…”. This is the “effectual call“. This is
the powerful work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of one that is foreknown and
predestined. It comes in time, and the
drawing power is unmistakable. It some that calling works in an instant; in
others, over time. But the point is that
this call is effective.
There may be two people who sit under the same gospel message:
Both are called, both are invited to come to Christ – one responds and the
other doesn’t. How does that work? In one sense God calls everyone, in that the
gospel is freely and indiscriminately preached to all, BUT in the end only
those who will effectively hear will experience that calling as a strong
drawing to trust in Jesus. In that sense
“Many are called but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). In 1 Thess1:5 we read that the gospel came to the
Thessalonians “not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit
and with full conviction.” The gospel
landed on fruitful soil. They heard the gospel call, they believed and they
became fruitful, but it is all due to the sovereign grace and mercy of God. In Romans
1:6-7, Paul refers to those “called to belong to Jesus Christ”… “loved
by God and called to be saints”
We proclaim the gospel indiscriminately and universally to
all people. That is a general call, but hearts are dead to the truth of the
gospel. Unless God by His Spirit supernaturally calls people from the state to spiritual death to spiritual
life, they will and cannot hear the life giving Word.
The Fourth Link: Justification
8:30b “…and those whom he called he also justified…” We have spent considerable time on this
doctrine in earlier chapters. We will make this point in summary form: When God calls someone, He justifies them,
meaning that He forgives their sins and imparts the righteousness of Jesus to
them, removing all charges against them. Their legal status before God the
Great Judge of all has changed, and we return to Romans 8:1 “There is
therefore now no condemnation…”
The Fifth Link: Glorification
8:30c “…and those whom he justified he also glorified.” We have also deliberated on the subject of
glorification (see 8:17,18,21,23). Glorification is the final step in God’s
saving work. This is the future transformation of believers into the perfect,
sinless likeness of Jesus Christ, both physically and spiritually. It occurs at
Christ's return, resulting in resurrected, immortal bodies, the total
eradication of sin, and eternal communion with God. It is interesting to note
here that Paul uses the past tense to describe our glorification. This is odd,
since our glorification is a future event, but clearly Paul sees this here as
good as done – he speaks of it as having already occurred. This is the so-called cherry on the top of the doctrine of
salvation. When that has happened our salvation is accomplished and fully
applied
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS OF THIS DOCTRINE
Here we have the golden chain of salvation, from eternity past to eternity future.
It leaves us breathless doesn’t it?
1.
8: 29-30
provides the foundation for the promise found in 8:28.
Based on this promise we have confidence that God will truly work in all things
for our ultimate good. Even our strange
providences, those difficult, strange things that happen to Christians along
life’s highway, will ultimately work out for our good. In these experiences,
God sanctifies us, and in that process, He draws even nearer to us. Thank God
that there will be an end to all this testing when He finally calls us home,
frees us from the presence of sin and equips us with bodies fit for heaven and
His presence.
2.
Nothing ultimately will hinder His eternal good purpose for His foreknown,
predestined, called, justified ones. They will all reach glory! God cannot
fail.
3.
He will lose no one in the process! All whom God foreknows
will ultimately be glorified. Your
salvation is utterly secure. The
conclusion of chapter 8 makes that very clear.
4.
Make sure that you are indeed in Christ. Make sure that you know Him and are known by Him (2
Cor.13:5). Again, be reminded that the proof of the life of Christ in the
soul is that you bear fruit. At the heart of this text is the ultimate goal: God
wants you to be conformed to the image of His Son. Right now that may look very different for all
of us.
· Some of you are young Christians. You are barely out of starting
blocks- you are beginning to blossom and look like Jesus.
· Others have walked with Jesus for
many years. Your
godliness is seen, felt and appreciated.
· Some of you may be backslidden or stagnant
or joyless. Get back to your first love. Deal with the idols.
Smash them!
·
A word to the unconverted. Conversion is not mere morality, education, or baptism.
Don’t rely on superficial religion. You must have a
thorough change of heart, mind, and life brought by the Holy Spirit. This is
the heartbeat of Romans 8. The Holy Spirit makes the difference.
[1] "On
the Predestination of the Saints" Book I, Chapter 17. In this work,
written around A.D. 428–429 near the end of his life, Augustine was defending
his doctrine of grace and unconditional election against the teachings of
Pelagius. He cited John 15:16, "You
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you".
[2] προέγνω
(proegnō), - aorist active indicative form of the verb proginōskō.
[3] Proorizō - to determine beforehand, foreordain; There
are six texts in the NT where this verb is used. Two of them are here in Romans
8:29-30. The other four are these: Acts 4:27-28; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Eph.
1:3-6; Eph. 1:11-12
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