More than conquerors: (8:28-39):
We know that in (chap.8) Paul was dealing about the process of Sanctification. In short, the Sanctification starts with Justification and ends with glorification. When God has begun the Sanctification process, a believer go through many experiences. We can give some outlines
All things work for good: (8:28): God works for good to those who love Him. He works in all things, not just isolated incidents. Since evil is present in this world, many things which happen to us are not good, but God will turn every circumstance around for our long range good. It is just not for our good, but to fulfil His purpose. In other words,
- All things work for good for those who love God and walk in obedience.
- All things work together while we are working for God.
- God’s providence is working. Whatever troubles or persecutions may arise, God presses them into their service to contribute to the general good.
- If our calling is according to God’s purpose, then all things work for our good.
- The apostle does not say that all things shall concur to the everlasting happiness of all that are called, but only to those of us who love God.
Certainly for a believer all things work for God, for this reason God called His children. This is clearly ratified in Abraham’s life, when God made a covenant and said: “As for me this is my Covenant with you: You will be father of many nations” (Gen.17:4).
Conforming like Jesus: (29-31): As Habakkuk says: “But the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the world be silent before Him” (Hab.2:20), the Lord is working for us. God’s ultimate purpose is that He will make us like Jesus Christ. This plan he started from eternity past when He chose us in Christ (Eph.1:4-5). He predetermined it. This predetermination or Pre-destination applies only to saved people. Nowhere are we taught that God predestines people to be eternally condemned. If they are condemned, it is because of their refusal to trust Jesus Christ (Jn.3:18-21). Those whom He chose , He called (2 Thess.2:13-14); when they responded to His call, He justified them, and He also glorified them. Paul says: “For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (8:29).
To foreknow and to predestine are two different things. One is an act of foreknowledge or knowing something before it occurs, the other is to decree something. As human beings we have knowledge of the past, but God foresees the future even as He sees the past. He foresees it, not because He has decreed it, but because there are no limitations for His knowledge. Augustine says: “There can be no predestination without foreknowledge; but there can be foreknowledge without predestination.” God foreknew who will love Him. As He looked into the future they were present in His mind. The predestination of those people is not that they should love God nor that they should believe in Him, nor that some people should be saved and others damned, but that those whom He saw beforehand would love God, should be conformed to the image of His Son. The only thing predestined, or foreordained, is that those who love God as revealed in Christ shall become Christ-like in life and in eternity.
Further Apostle says that how this is accomplished. For those He foreknew as the lovers of God, He also called. They are called by the preaching of the gospel (2 Thess.2:14) He called us by the saving knowledge of Gospel and when we trusted Him, He justified us. Our sins are forgiven, He granted us to be His adopted children. The sanctification process has started and we are glorified in Christ. We are made heirs of eternal glory. It means a meaningful relationship is established between God and the person of God’s choice in eternity before creation, “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world” (Eph.1:4). The eternal choice and foreknowledge involves more than establishing a relationship between God and believers, it is something like a goal or end of that relationship. The pre-destination or pre-choice is difficult to comprehend with our human mind, but it best said in the illustration given by H.A. Ironside.
Here is a vast host of people hurrying down the broad road with their minds fixed upon their sins and one stands calling attention to yonder door, the entrance in the narrow way that leads to life eternal. On it is plainly depicted the text, “Whosoever will, let him come.” Every man is invited, no one need hesitate. Some may say, “Well I may not be of the elect, and so it would be useless for me to endeavour to come, for the door will not open for me. But God’s invitation is absolutely sincere; it is addressed to every man. “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely” (Rev.22:17). If men refuse to come, if they pursue their own godless way down to the pit, whom can they blame but themselves for their eternal judgement? The messenger addressed himself to all, the call came to all, the door could be entered by all, but many refused to come and perished in their sins. Such men can never blame God for their eternal destruction. The door was open, the invitation was given, they refused and He says to the sorrowfully, “Ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life.”