Basic Bible Study Series
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Unit 1

Lesson 2 The Plan -- Redemption
Romans 8:28-30

 

With the fall of Adam and Eve the entire human race was separated from God, plunged into depravity, and set on the path to destruction. But the purposes of God were not hindered by disaster at the dawn of human history any more than they are hindered by disaster today. From eternity past, God had a plan for the universe. In Romans 8 the apostle Paul explains the relationship between the eternal plan of God and the everyday life of man.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28)

"We know" is from the Greek oida, which refers to certain knowledge, absolute understanding. In the perfect tense it refers to knowledge held in the present because it was learned in the past. This could be translated, "We have come to know with certainty." Paul is not talking about everyone; he is talking about those who have been taught and who therefore know absolutely that there is a reason they exist and what that reason is.

When Paul writes that "God causes all things to work together for good," he is not saying that God lets only good things happen, but that He weaves both things that are good and things that are bad and makes them together produce something that is good.

"All things work together..."

Romans 8:28 does not say that all things are good but that all things will work together for good in the life of anyone who will trust God. He lets things happen to His children that look bad but in His hands are designed for good. Genesis 37-50 is a textbook case of how Romans 8:28 works in real life.

It was bad that Jacob favored his son Joseph. It was bad that Joseph's brothers hated him, It was bad that they threw him in the pit. It was bad that they sold him to the lshmaelites. It was bad that he was taken to Egypt in slavery. It was bad that after working his way into a position of authority he was thrown into prison for a crime he did not commit.

One bad thing after another assaulted Joseph, but God intended every single thing for good. Joseph was able to keep perspective because at every "calamity" in his life, he trusted the God who stood ready to work the bad things together for the long-term good, not only of Joseph and his family and the nation of Israel, but for everyone who would hear his story.

When Jacob died in Egypt, Joseph's brothers were terrified: 'What if Joseph should bear a grudge against us and pay us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!" (Gen. 50:15). But Joseph had too great an understanding of God's providence and grace to blame his brothers for what he had suffered. "Do not be afraid," he told them, "for am I in God's place? And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:19-20).

"Good" here is agates; it means absolute good, ultimate good. Ultimate good is not always immediate good. God, who is eternal, takes the long view. He is concerned not so much with where we are at this moment, but with the character we are developing over time and with our eternal destiny. Any person who has no concern for eternity, who is focused on time and on what he can get in time, has set himself against the machinery of the universe. Such a person cannot expect this promise to apply in his life.

To whom does God make this promise? The phrase "to those who love God" points to those who are focused on God through the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said unequivocally in John 14:6 that no one could reach God except through Him: " I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." Anyone who talks about God but despises Jesus Christ has a God who is a figment of his imagination. He cannot expect that anything will work for ultimate good in his life.

"Love" here is agape. In the present active participle it refers to a constant, habitual action. This promise is to those who have a lifestyle of loving God. But what does that mean? In John 13:17 Jesus told His disciples, "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." In John 14:15 He said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." "Keep" is from the Greek tereo, which means "to guard" or "to treasure." Reverence for the Word is an expression of love. No one obeys perfectly all the time; everyone fails. But the person who stands up and tries again and again after he fails, who consistently pursues God--this person has such a lifestyle.

The person who hates God or ignores God should not expect anything to work together for good in his life. To hate the Creator of the universe, to despise the Power behind life, to turn away from the Planner behind history and expect everything to go well in life is to be a fool.

"Those who love God" is amplified by the phrase " those who are called according to His purpose." Kletos, literally "the called," is in the dative case here, in what is known as the dative of advantage. Paul is saying that these people have an advantage because they responded to a call. What was the call? An invitation to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. To whom has the call gone out? To the whole world.

"The called" are all who answer the call by faith in Jesus Christ. "According to His purpose" in Greek is kata prothesis. Kata means "according to a norm and a standard." Prothesis is from pro, "beforehand," and tichemi, "to set in place." God has set standards. His standards are absolute and eternal. They will never change, just as He will never change. Before time began, God set the order for the physical functions of the universe and for the spiritual functions of man. He did not wind up the universe like a toy and turn it loose with no idea of what would happen to it. He had a plan before creation, and He has revealed His plan in increasingly greater detail throughout Scripture.

Romans 8:28 sets two conditions on God's promise to work all things together for good in our lives. We must love God and we must be called according to His purpose. That means we must be living according to His purpose, willing to follow His plan. If I buy an automobile and want it to run as it was designed to run, I follow the manufacturer's maintenance instructions. If I build a house and want it to stand, I follow the architect's blueprint. If I am an athlete with my heart set on winning Olympic gold, I follow my coach's training schedule. If I want everything to work for good in my life, I follow the plan of God.

The Call of God

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17)

God wants all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).

Because of this, He has revealed and continues to reveal Himself to man through:

1. Creation (Ps. 19:1-2; Rom. 1:18-20),
2. Human conscience (Rom. 2:14-1 5),
3. His written Word (Matt. 4:4; 2 Tim. 3:16),
4. The Living Word (John 1:1-4, 14-18; Heb. 1:1-2),
5. The spoken word (1 Cor. 2:6-7, 13).

He has set eternity in the hearts of all men (Eccl. 3:11).

 

But God created us truly free and allows us to choose how we will respond to His offer of life. Each of us comes to a point at which we are aware that God exists. This is called "the age of accountability," or the point of "God-consciousness." If at this point, we are positive toward God, if we want to know more about Him, He will see to it that we hear the Gospel.

If, however, we want nothing to do with God, He will give us over-in time and in eternity-to our own desire for separation from Him. God does not send anyone to hell, and hell is not the place where people pay for their sins. All sins were paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. Hell, which was created not for man but for fallen angels, is the eternal destiny which individuals choose when they reject the call of God (Matt. 25:41; John 3:16-18; Rom. 1:24, 26, 28).

Does following the plan mean that we will always only experience good things? Not at all. We will face adversity and suffering, as well as blessing and prosperity. We will face the same things everyone in life faces. But there will be a difference in our lives. We will know that all things--the good things and the bad things--have a purpose. We will know that everything is working toward an ultimate goal: infinite, final, lasting good. What is the ultimate good that God wants to work out in our lives? He wants us to be conformed to His Son.

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Rom. 8:2930)

"Conformed" is summorphoo, from sun, "together," and morphoo, "form, appearance, essence." God wants to take all of His children in form and appearance and essence and bring them together in the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The best possible destiny is not to be rich, to be famous, to be successful. The best is to be like His Son. The highest goal that God could have for our lives is to make us like the greatest man who ever lived.

Paul names five actions undertaken by God in eternity past on behalf of those who would become His children in time.