Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
28. And we knew, &c.] Here appears a fresh assurance of safety. We have seen (1) the certainty of the son-ship of the believer; (2) the fact that his sorrows are only the prelude of glory; (3) the Divine assistance afforded him by the Holy Spirit, especially in prayer. Now, before the final appeal, we have an express statement of the truth that the children of God are the objects on His part of an Eternal Purpose, which must issue in their final blessedness, and must thus turn “all things” at last to good for them. This is stated as a confessed certainty, well known in the Church.
all things ] In the amplest sense. See Rom 8:38-39 for illustration. No doubt St Paul has specially in view the sufferings of the saints, which would often tempt them to say “these things are against me.” But peace and rest, on earth, are perils also; and even such trials therefore need a similar assurance. St Chrysostom’s dying words were, “Glory be to God for all things.”
work together ] As means in the great Worker’s hand. It is instructive to note this expression in a passage where also the Divine Decrees are in view. The eternal Will takes place not arbitrarily, but through means; and those means are immensely various, and mutually adjusted by supreme Wisdom only.
for good ] Chiefly, no doubt, the final Good is meant, the fruition of God in eternal Glory. But all true good by the way is included, as part of the path thither.
that love God ] As His children; in whose hearts His love has been “outpoured by the Holy Ghost” (ch. Rom 5:5). Observe that this note of saintship stands first in this memorable passage; not eternal election, but that conscious love to God in Christ which is its sure fruit, and without which no speculation of mysteries brings the soul near to Him. It is the True God alone who makes this His unalterable demand; “Thou shalt love me.”
to them who are the called ] Identical with “them that love Him.” See on Rom 1:6, for the profound meaning of “the call.” 1Co 1:24; 1Co 1:26-27 is a clear illustration, in contrast with Mat 20:16; Mat 22:14. In the Gospels the word “call” refers to outward hearing; in the Epistles to inward reception, due to a special and sovereign influence from above. See too Rev 17:14.
according to his purpose ] Same word as Rom 9:11; Eph 1:11; Eph 3:11; 2Ti 1:9. See especially the last passage and Eph 1:11, for the sense in which St Paul uses the word here. It is the intention of “Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His will;” and it is absolute and sovereign, in the sense not of arbitrary caprice, (God forbid,) but in that of its being uncaused by anything external to Himself. The gift of life is “ not according to our works, but according to His own purpose.” His “good pleasure” was, “before the world began,” “ purposed in Himself.” (2Ti 1:9; Eph 1:9; Eph 1:11.) In the next verses, St Paul explains his meaning further. (The word “ His ” is not in the Gr., but is certainly right in translation.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And we know – This verse introduces another source of consolation and support, drawn from the fact that all flyings are under the direction of an infinitely wise Being, who has purposed the salvation of the Christian, and who has so appointed all things that they shall contribute to it.
All things – All our afflictions and trials; all the persecutions and calamities to which we are exposed. Though they are numerous and long-continued yet they are among the means that are appointed for our welfare.
Work together for good – They shall cooperate; they shall mutually contribute to our good. They take off our affections from this world; they teach us the truth about our frail, transitory, and lying condition; they lead us to look to God for support, and to heaven for a final home; and they produce a subdued spirit. a humble temper, a patient, tender, and kind disposition. This has been the experience of all saints; and at the end of life they have been able to say it was good for them to be afflicted; Psa 119:67, Psa 119:71; Jer 31:18-19; Heb 12:11.
For good – For our real welfare; for the promotion of true piety, peace, and happiness in our hearts.
To them that love God – This is a characteristic of true piety. To them, afflictions are a blessing. To others, they often prove otherwise. On others they are sent as chastisements; and they produce complaining, instead of peace; rebellion, instead of submission; and anger, impatience, and hatred, instead of calmness, patience, and love. The Christian is made a better man by receiving afflictions as they should be received, and by desiring that they should accomplish the purpose for which they are sent; the sinner is made more hardened by resisting them, and refusing to submit to their obvious intention and design.
To them who are the called – Christians are often represented as called of God. The word kletos is sometimes used to denote an external invitation, offer, or calling; Mat 20:16; Mat 22:14. But excepting in these places, it is used in the New Testament to denote those who had accepted the call, and were true Christians; Rom 1:6-7; 1Co 1:2, 1Co 1:24; Rev 17:14. It is evidently used in this sense here – to denote those who were true Christians. The connection as well as the usual meaning of the word, requires us thus to understand it. Christians are said to be called because God has invited them to be saved, and has sent into their heart such an influence as to make the call effectual to their salvation. In this way their salvation is to be traced entirely to God.
According to his purpose – The word here rendered purpose prothesis means properly a proposition, or a laying down anything in view of others; and is thus applied to the bread that was laid on the table of show-bread; Mat 12:4; Mar 2:26; Luk 6:4. Hence, it means, when applied to the mind, a plan or purpose of mind. It implies that God had a plan, purpose, or intention, in regard to all who became Christians. They are not saved by chance or hap-hazard. God does not convert people without design; and his designs are not new, but are eternal. What he does. he always meant to do. What it is right for him to do, it was right always to intend to do. What God always meant to do, is his purpose or plan. That he has such a purpose in regard to the salvation of his people, is often affirmed; Rom 9:11; Eph 1:11; Eph 3:11; 2Ti 1:9; Jer 51:29. This purpose of saving his people is,
- One over which a creature can have no control; it is according to the counsel of his own will; Eph 1:11.
(2)It is without any merit on the part of the sinner – a purpose to save him by grace; 2Ti 1:9.
(3)It is eternal; Eph 3:11.
(4)It is such as should excite lively gratitude in all who have been inclined by the grace of God to accept the offers of eternal life. They owe it to the mere mercy of God, and they should acknowledge him as the fountain and source of all their hopes of heaven.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rom 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
All things work together for good to them that love God
I. It is abundantly obvious of many a single adversity–that a great and permanent good may come out of it. This is often verified, as when the disease brought on by intemperance has germinated; and the loss by a daring speculation has checked the adventurer, and turned him into the way of safe though moderate prosperity. Apart from Christianity, man has often found that it was good for him to have been afflicted–that, under the severe but salutary discipline, wisdom has been increased, and character strengthened, and the rough independence of human wilfulness tamed, and many asperities of temper have been worn away. And so of many an infliction on the man who is a candidate for the world above. The overthrow of his fortune has given him a strong practical set for eternity; the death of his child has weaned him from all idolatry; the tempests of life have fastened him more steadfastly to the hold of religious principle. He is made perfect by sufferings.
II. These adverse visitations do not always come singly. The apostle supposes the concurrence of two or more events, all verging towards the good of him to whom they have befallen. It has often been said that misfortunes seldom come by themselves; and it is the compounding of one evil thing with another that aggravates so much the distress of each of them. And when we are lost in the bewilderments of a history that we cannot scan, and entangled among the mazes of a labyrinth that we cannot unravel, it is well to be told that all is ordered and that all worketh for good.
III. Important consequences emanate from one event which in itself is insignificant, insomuch that the colour and direction of your whole futurity have turned on what, apart from this mighty bearing, would have been the veriest trifle in the world. It is thus that the great drama of a nations politics may hinge on the veriest bagatelle. The pursuers of Mahomet were turned away from the mouth of the cave in which he had the moment before taken shelter by the flight of a bird from one of the shrubs that grew at its entry. This bird changed the destiny of the world. And therefore it is well that all things are under the control of God who maketh all things work together for good unto those who love Him. Is not the fact that what is most minute often gives rise to what is most momentous, an argument for the doctrine of a providence that reaches even to the least? Should God let go one small ligament in the vast and complicated machinery of the world, it might all run into utter divergency from the purpose of the mind that formed it.
IV. How am i to be assured of my interest in the declaration of the text?
1. The promise here is not unto all in the general, but to those who love God. Now I may not be sure that I love Him. I may desire to love Him; but to desire is one thing and to do is another. Now it does not follow that you are altogether destitute of love to God because it stirs so languidly within you that you are not able very distinctly or decidedly to recognise it. Your very desire to love Him is a good symptom; your very grief that you love Him not bodes favourably for you. Where there is an honest wish for affection, there is in fact the embryo of affection itself, struggling for a growth and an establishment in the aspiring bosom. Meanwhile it is most desirable that the germ should expand. And the question is, How shall this be brought about? Never by looking to oneself, but by looking unto the Saviour.
2. They who love God are described by another characteristic. They are the called–i.e., those who have felt the power of the call upon their hearts, and have complied with it accordingly. It is only upon our entertaining the call of the gospel and consenting thereunto that there ensues a transition of the heart to the love of God. Anterior to this, the thought of God stood associated with feelings of jealousy and insecurity and alarm. A sense of guilt has alienated us from God. It is this which stands as a wall of iron between heaven and earth. And the only way by which this else impregnable barrier can be scaled, and we can draw nigh in affection to the Father, is by accepting the only authentic offer that He ever held out to us of reconciliation. It is by beholding Him in the face of Christ. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)
All things work together for good to them that love God
I. The end to be accomplished The good here spoken of does not apply to our health, ease, or fortune, but to our eternal interest. Who does not see that afflictions have a beneficial tendency? They bring us to reflection; they quicken prayer; they wean us from the world, etc. But even spiritual good is not the highest reference. Good looks to heaven and points to eternity (2Co 4:17).
II. The means which are to accomplish this end. All things, as the subject-matter in hand, and by the context. The apostle is here speaking of afflictions: and of those that will ultimately be beneficial are–
1. The trials of those who are called to bear the cross for Christs sake. Those losses that you may now be called to endure for the sake of religious principle will inevitably enrich the inheritance which grace has prepared for you above all things. If you suffer with Christ, you shall reign with Him.
2. The ordinary calamities which we are all more or less called to endure. The painful sickness, borne with unmurmuring resignation; the loss of property, submitted to with the knowledge that we have a higher treasure the departure of friends, whom we have given up without rebellion to the will of Him who had a better right to them than ourselves–all the trials of life enter within the compass of this delightful expression.
3. But observe the words, work together. The believers history is not an unconnected series of events; they form a perfect scheme. His life, death, infancy, old age, all enter into the one grand scheme which Providence is causing to produce his spiritual benefit. How many influences strive, even in reference to our temporal comforts, to promote our enjoyment in this world. The sun, the moon, the stars, the elements; food, raiment, habitation, etc. And so it is with respect to our spiritual welfare. How many aids, instruments, influences, are perpetually provided to promote our spiritual welfare? The Deity–Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; angels, patriarchs, etc.; the Bible, the Sabbath, the fellowship of the saints–all concurring to promote our spiritual welfare. The believer, looking at the scheme of providence, is not unlike an individual surveying some complicated piece of machinery, where the manufacturer himself stands by holding in his hand the articles which this mechanism has produced, and saying to the spectator, See these apparently contradictory movements; hear this noise and confusion: you cannot tell the design, perhaps, of one of the wheels, much less enter into the combination of the whole; but I can, and here are the results of these various movements. So does God speak to His people, surveying the mechanism of providence, the wheels of which are so varied, and in some of its movements so apparently contradictory.
III. The certainty with which we may calculate upon the production of this end by these means. We know. It is not a mere conjecture; an opinion; it is a declaration of absolute certainty. We have the promise of a God that cannot lie; and we have the power of a God who can do all things that He wills to accomplish His promise.
IV. The inferences from this subject.
1. What is true in reference to the individual Christian must, of course, be true in reference to the Church at large. Christ is exalted to be head over all things to His Church. The rise and fall of empires, the setting up and the pulling down of monarchies, the progress of arms, of commerce, of arts, the collision of human passions and human interests that is perpetually going forward–all these things are working together for good to the Church.
2. The unspeakable value of that sacred volume which contains such a discovery as this. Who could have made it but God Himself? Who that looks abroad upon the chequered scene of human affairs can presume to tell whether good or evil preponderates? And even if they could advance so far as to pronounce a decision, that good now preponderates, yet who, without some infallible oracle to determine the question, can declare whether ultimately good or evil will prevail? But the Bible comes in, and sets the matter at rest, and tells us that all things work together for good, etc. Nay, without the Bible who can tell us what good is, or how it is to be obtained?
3. The necessity of faith, to rise to the standard of our privileges, and receive that abundance of consolation which God has provided for us. (J. Angell James.)
All things working together for good to them that love God
I. The explanation of the text.
1. The nature of the privilege.
(1) The extent–All things, as limited by the context, which speaketh of the afflictions of the saints.
(a) All manner of trials for righteousness sake. Stripes are painful to flesh, but occasion greater joy to the soul (Act 16:1-40.). Spoiling of goods stirreth up serious reflections on a more enduring substance (Heb 10:34). So banishment; every place is alike near to heaven, and the whole earth is the Lords (Rev 1:9). Death doth but hasten our glory (2Co 5:1).
(b) Ordinary afflictions. Many times we are best when we are weakest, and the pains of the body invigorate the inward man (2Co 4:16). In heaven you shall have everlasting ease.
(c) Though prosperity be not formally expressed in this place, yet it is virtually included. For God keepeth off, or bringeth on the cross as it worketh for our good (Son 4:6). It is a threatening to them that do not love God that their prosperity tendeth to their hurt (Psa 69:22). The sanctifying of their prosperity is included in a Christians charter (1Co 3:21-23).
(2) The manner of bringing it about–They work together. Take anything single and apart, and it seemeth to be against us. We cannot understand Gods providence till He hath done His work; He is an impatient spectator that cannot tarry till the last act, wherein all errors are reconciled (Joh 13:6-7). God knoweth what He is a-doing with you, when you know not (Jer 29:11). When we apprehend nothing but ruin, God may be designing to us the choicest mercies (Psa 31:22).
(3) The end and issue–For good.
(a) Sometimes to good temporal, or our better preservation during our service (Gen 50:20). Many of us, whose hearts are set upon some worldly thing, have cause to say we had suffered more if we had suffered less. In the story of Joseph there is a notable scheme of Providence.
(b) Spiritual good. So all affliction is made up and recompensed to the soul; it afflicts the body, but bettereth the heart (Psa 119:71). We lose nothing but our rust by scouring.
(c) Eternal good. Heaven will make us complete amends for all that we suffer here (2Co 4:17).
2. The certainty of this–We know. Not by an uncertain and fallible conjecture, but upon sure grounds. What are they?
(1) The promise of God, by which He hath secured the salvation of His people, notwithstanding their troubles (Heb 6:17-18).
(2) The experiences of the saints, who have found it so (Psa 119:67; Php 1:19).
(3) From the nature of the thing. Two considerations enforce it–
(a) All things are at Gods disposal, and force to serve Him.
(b) His special care over His people (Isa 49:15; Zec 2:8; 1Co 10:13).
II. A more general state of the case.
1. This good is not to be determined by our fancies and conceits, but by the wisdom of God; for God knoweth what is better for us than we do for ourselves. Should the shepherd or the sheep choose his pastures? the child be governed by his own fancy or the fathers discretion? the sick man by his own appetite or the physicians skill? It is necessary sometimes that God should displease His people for their advantage (Joh 16:6-7). Peter said, Master, it is good for us to be here; but little thought what work God had to do by him elsewhere.
2. Good is to be determined by its respect to the chief good or true happiness which consists not in outward comforts, but our acceptance with God; other things are but appendages to our felicity (Mat 6:33).
3. This good is not always the good of the body, or of outward prosperity; and therefore our condition is not to be determined by the interest of the flesh, but the welfare of our soul.
4. It is not good presently enjoyed and felt, but waited for; and therefore our condition must not be determined by sense, but faith (Heb 12:11).
5. A particular good must give way to a general good, and our personal benefit to the glory of God and the advancement of Christs kingdom (Php 1:24).
6. In bringing about this good we must not be idle spectators, but assist under God.
7. If it be true of particular persons, it is much more true of the Church; all is for good (Psa 76:10). (T. Manton, D.D.)
The co-working of Providence
We begin with the first of these parts, viz., the proposition itself, All things work together for good, etc., wherein again we have two branches more. For the first, the subject, it is all things ; all things whatsoever they be, they do work together for the good of Gods people. All things indefinitely. It is a very large and comprehensive word, and so makes for the greater comfort and encouragement of all believers. First, all things in an universality of subsistence, and within the compass of being. Theres nothing which can be said to be, but what it is it is one way or other advantageous to those which are Gods people. First, for God Himself, who is the Being of beings, the uncreated being. There is nothing of Him but it makes for the good of His children. All the attributes of God, all the offices of Christ, all the gifts and graces of the Spirit, they still make for the good of them that belong to Him. Secondly, for created being, that is all of it for our good likewise. There is not any of all the creatures but they are in their several kinds and capacities subservient to the good of the Church and of every member of it. But secondly, all things in an universality of dispensation and under the notion of working. All occurrences, and events, and stations, and conditions, whether good, or bad, or indifferent, whatever is done and disposed in the world. The second branch of the proposition is the predicate or consequent in these words, Work together for good to them that love God. Wherein, again, we have three particulars more. For the first, the improvement itself, it is this: that they work together. Where there are two things distinctly and separately considerable of us–first, their simple operation. Secondly, their additional co-operation. First, I say, here is their operation: all things, whatsoever they be, they do work for the good of Gods children. It is not said, That all things are good, for they are not. Besides many sins and temptations, there are many crosses and afflictions which Gods children are sometimes exercised withal, that in their own nature are evil, and so to be accounted. But work to good that they do. And there is good which comes out of them, even then where there is not good in them, as immediate unto them. No affliction is joyous, but grievous, etc. (Heb 12:11). Again, they work for good here is a farther note of their activity: it had been well if it had been said, They turn to good, they are ordered and disposed to good, and the like. But the Holy Ghost does not content Himself with so narrow an expression as that is, but carries it a little further. If He had said, They prove to be good, that had been a word of casualty, and might have seemed to make it a mere accident and matter of chance. If He had said they are wrought to good: that had been a word of compulsion, and might have implied some kind of enforcement and constraint hereunto. But now He says rather they work to good, which is an expression of freeness, and forwardness and spontaneity and does denote that particular aptitude and disposition and inclination which is to be found in every creature as subordinate to the good of the Church. The second is their additional conjunction and co-operation–they work together. And here again there are three things especially observable. First, their efficacy in working: things which work together, they work with a great deal of strength; and that which is defective in one, it is supplied and made up by the other. Weak things, when they are joined together, they are enabled to do great matters. The second is their unity in working: things that work together they work with a great deal of cheerfulness and alacrity and agreement in their performance. Co-operation, it implies conspiration. The third is their concomitancy and connection, and subordination in working. And this again, it may be taken three manner of ways. There is a threefold co-operation or working together of all things for the good of Gods children, which is here pertinently considerable of us–First, they work together with God. Secondly, they work together with us. Thirdly, they work together one with another. This is done especially according to these following observations–First, by labouring for a clear and upright conscience. Secondly, by prayer and calling upon God (1Ti 4:4; 2Co 1:11). Thirdly, by studying the providence of God and observing Him in all His dealings with us, we should take notice of the things themselves, and take notice of our own hearts in them, how far forth they are affected with them, that so we may receive good and benefit from them. God has made to such and such conditions; this will suck and draw virtue out of them, and make a happy improvement of them; and all things work together for us so they work together with us. And thats the second co-operation. Thirdly, they work together; that is, they work together one with another. If we take any passage of Providence singly and alone by itself, perhaps we may not so easily see how it does indeed work for our good. But take it now in its complication and connection with many more, and then we shall see it abundantly. The second is the effect or end of this improvement, and that is here expressed to be for good. Here is no good set down, so as to declare what it is, only indefinitely and in the general. First, for temporal good; God sometimes does His servants good in this, by those things which at the first appearance seem opposite and contrary hereunto. As Joseph when his brethren sold him into Egypt. Secondly, for spiritual good, so all things work for good to them however. Every passage of providence to those who are the children of God, it serves to draw them nearer to God, and to perfect their communion with Him. Thirdly, for eternal good which is the main good of all. Thats the second thing here considerable, to wit, the end or effect of this improvement, and that is good, The third and last is the persons who are more especially interested in it, and they are the children of God, who are here described from a double qualification. The one of their Christian affection, to them that love God, and the other of their effectual vocation, to them which are the called according to His purpose. And so there is this in it, that Gods children, and they alone, have all things working to them for their good. There is none that have interest in the privilege but those only that do partake of the condition. As for other people, they are so far from having all things to work for their good as that they rather work the quite contrary, for their greatest evil. God Himself being an enemy to them, everything else is an enemy with Him, and all the creatures are ready to rise up in arms against them. The Word of God is a savour of death to them, the sacraments they are occasions of judgment. Prayer it becomes an abomination; there is a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block in all their comforts. Everything is the worse for them, and they for it. The second is the manner of enunciation, or declaration of this proposition in these words, we know it, which is an expression of great confirmation; it is not a matter of guess only, or conjecture, but of certainty and assurance. This knowledge of a believer, it may be reduced to a threefold head of conveyance–first, we know it by revelation. Secondly, we know it by reason; and thirdly, we know it by experience. There is very great reason for it. First, that which we have here in the text, the eternal purpose of God Himself. Whatsoever is done in the world, it is subservient to Gods decree, and tends to the filling of that. Now, this is that which God hath purposed, and ordained, and appointed aforehand, even to bring His children to perfect happiness and salvation at last. Secondly, Gods affection and the love which He bears to believers, this makes for it also. Especially, if we shall further add His omnipotence and almighty power, that He does whatsoever He pleases both in heaven and earth. Thirdly, the covenant of grace, that does likewise make much for this purpose. Fourthly, the mystical union which is betwixt Christ and every true believer. And now for the improvement and application of all this to ourselves. First, heres ground of patience and contentment in every condition. Again, as this makes for patience in the present condition, so also for hope for time to come. Again further, we may carry on this truth not only to the comfort of such and such Christians in particular, but also of the whole Church in general, by taking the words in the text, not distributively only, but collectively. But secondly, it may serve further to rectify us and to set us right in our judgments and opinions, and that especially in three particulars–First, of God Himself. Secondly, of the children of God. Thirdly, of religion and Christianity. First, it may teach us to have good conceits of God Himself, and to think rightly and soberly of Him. Whilst God has good thoughts for us, we should have good thoughts of Him, and justify Him in His proceedings in the world. There are certain intricacies and perplexities in providence which are not presently discerned or apprehended; there are the wheels moving within the wheels, as it is in Ezekiel, and we must be content to stay Gods leisure for the opening and unfolding of them to us. Secondly, to have good thoughts also of the children of God, and to think rightly of them; here is that which may make us in love with the state of Gods people, and to set a high price upon them: Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord (Deu 33:29). Thirdly, it should make us to think well of religion and Christianity itself, which does carry so much comfort and consolation in the bowels of it, and more than any other mystery or profession whatsoever besides; there is no such sweetness to be found anywhere as in the principles of Christianity improved and lived up to in the power of them. (Thomas Horton, D.D.)
All things working together for good to them that love God
A lighted taper inserted into a phial of one kind of gas will burn with the utmost brilliancy and beauty; in another phial, charged with a different kind of gas, that same taper will become extinguished in offensive smoke, and in a third it would produce an instantaneous and violent explosion. So the same calamity–sickness, bereavement, commercial disaster–will awaken in one man a slumbering conscience, will drive another to distraction, and a third it will draw nearer to God than ever; so that, whilst it is literally and undeniably true that the same calamities come alike upon the good and evil, it is a transparent fallacy to infer that the same ulterior results will follow in both cases. It is a fallacy to maintain that a curse may not remain a curse, or be transformed into a blessing, according as it is accepted as a salutary discipline or rebelled against as an arbitrary infliction. It is on the temper of the recipient that the result depends, and whether or not all things, good or ill, concur to his advantage. Does it not depend upon the use you make of anything, whether it becomes to you a blessing or a curse? Beneath the petals of a graceful and familiar flower is secreted a sedative poison, of such quality that it will frequently steep a man in such a slumber as only the last trumpet can awake him from. This you at once recognise as opium. You cannot cause water to boil for the most ordinary culinary purpose, but you disengage an element most formidable, the most irresistible power of expansion. This is steam. No summer passes over you, but you see the lightning tear the sky across as if it were a scroll of paper. This is electricity. These three agents, electricity, steam, and poison, to the mind of an untutored savage, are nothing but instruments of death. But a man of science in that deadly narcotic detects the principle of morphine; he compounds it with suitable ingredients, and converts it into one of the most inestimable and indispensable preparations in the pharmacopoeia. From death he extracts life. In steam he snatches, as it were, from the hand of Nature one of her most gigantic powers, and compels it to become the most obedient and the most versatile of his servants. Nay, the very lightning he enlists and disciplines into an obedient recruit. And in such wise is all this true of all these forces and many more, that while to the uncultured savage they are agents of death and objects of terror, they are working together for the comfort and benefit of him who has learned how to use them. Such is a faint illustration of the way in which the same occurrence may act with diametrically opposite results upon the practical Christian and upon the man who lives without God in the world. In the godless exciting rebellion and hardness of heart, and in the Christian pointing to filial submission, confiding holiness, and life eternal; forasmuch as all things–all things–work together for the good of them that are true to God. (W. H. Brookfield, M.A.)
The affection and vocation of the godly
We begin with the first of these branches, viz., of that description which is here made of the children of God, as taken from their Christian affection, of those that love God. In these, and many like places, are Gods children described by this character of their special love and affection to God. The reason of it is this–First, because this is the most excellent qualification of all others. It is that which the Scripture prefers above all other graces; though they all have their dignity in them, yet love it goes beyond them all, being such as shall last and continue, whilst the other ceases in regard of the exercise and authority of them. Secondly, it is an affection of the greatest influence and extent. It is that which, wherever it is, sets the wheels of the soul ageing for the doing of other things. He that loves God, he will stick at nothing else which God commands or requires at his hands (1Jn 5:3). Thirdly, it is that also whereby we most resemble God Himself and become likest to Him. This the apostle John signifies in 1Jn 4:16. Lastly, it is that which is most proper to all those relations wherein the faithful stand unto God as the friends of Christ, as the members of Christ, as the spouse of Christ. For the better opening of this point it may not be amiss for us to consider wherein this our love of God does consist, and what is the nature and working of it. Now for this it does especially consist in these three particulars–First, in our estimation of Him, a high prizing and valuing of those excellencies and perfections which are in Him. And this prizing and esteeming of Him, it does show itself farther in such effects as flow from it. First, in parting with anything for Him; love, it is a self-denying affection. Secondly, in zeal for Him, and maintaining and defending of Him upon all occasions. Love it is a vindictive affection, and is ready upon all occasions to take the part of the party beloved. Thirdly, this prizing of God as a testimony of our love to Him will show itself in a proportionable estimation both of ourselves and of every one else in reference to Him. Secondly, in a special longing and desire of soul after Him: love it is a desire of union. Thirdly, in special delight and complacency, and contentment in Him; where there is love, this is a great deal of satisfaction from the company and fellowship and society one of another (Psa 73:25). Seeing Gods children are thus described from their loving of God, we see what cause we all of us have to make good this character in ourselves, and to be provoked to this heavenly affection. First, as to arguments for it take notice of these–First, goodness, that is one incentive to love; it is the ground of all that love which we bear to the creature because we apprehend some special good and excellency in it. Secondly, beauty, that is another thing in the object of love. It must have some kind of attractiveness and enticing with it, now this is also in God. Thirdly, propinquity and nearness of relation, that also calls for love. It is so betwixt man and man, or at least should be so. Lastly, His love to us; love it begets love again (Psa 116:1; Psa 18:1-2). Now further, for the directions and helps to it, take notice of these–First, to beg it of God, there is none that can love God truly but such persons as He enables to do so. Secondly, get our hearts weaned from a loving and admiring of the world. Thirdly, labour to be like God, and to have His image stamped upon us; love, it is founded in likeness, there is somewhat suitable which draws the affection. And so now I have done with the first branch of the description of Gods children, and of such persons as have an interest in the privilege above mentioned, of all things working to their good, as taken from their Christian affection in these words, To them that love God. The second is from their effectual vocation, in these words, To them that are the called according to His purpose. Wherein again we have two branches more. We begin with the first, their condition, such as are called–those who are Gods children are such persons as are effectually called, take notice of that. First, for the calling itself to show you what it is. Now this it may be briefly thus described and declared unto us: calling, it is a work of Gods Spirit, whereby, in the use of the means, He does effectually draw the elect from ignorance and unbelief, to true knowledge and faith in Christ, this is the calling which is here spoken of. There is a double calling which is mentioned in Scripture: the one is general in the publishing of the gospel; the other is special, which belongs only to the elect. And this latter is that which we have here in this text, which are called according to His purpose. First, as to the former, the parts whereof this special and peculiar calling does consist, they are again twofold–First, Gods invitation. And secondly, mans acceptation. The second thing considerable to this calling is (as the parts whereof it consists so) the terms from which and to which it does proceed. And these according to the language of Scripture are sin and grace: from that miserable and wretched condition in which all men are by nature to the happy estate and condition of the children of God (Act 26:18). The consideration of this point is thus far useful to us, as it serves to set forth the excellency and all-sufficiency of the grace of God in conversion. And so as an argument of greater power, so also of greater favour and goodness in God towards us. The second is the person calling, and that is God Himself; it is He to whom this work does properly and principally belong. No man cometh unto Me, says Christ, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him (Joh 6:44; so Act 2:39). This it serves, first of all to inform us, that religion is not mere imagination, or a business of mans devising. No, but that it is such as God Himself has invited and called us to. It is also very comfortable as to the perfection and consummation of grace in us, that He who hath begun a good work in us will perfect it, etc., as it is in Php 1:6. Lastly, seeing it is God that calls us, we should therefore be careful to lead a godly and holy life and conversation, answerable to the nature of Him who hath thus called us. The third is the manner, and means, and time of calling, both how and when it is performed. First, for the manner how, or the means by which, this is in an ordinary course by the preaching and publishing of the gospel (Rom 10:17). Therefore this teaches us accordingly to honour this ordinance of God and to set highly by it. Another thing considerable as to this calling is the time and season of it when it is that men are made partakers of this blessing; now for this we find it to be a thing unlimited and undetermined, there is no set or appointed time for it, but some are called at one time, and some are called at another, as it pleases God in His providence to dispose it. Beloved, it is a dangerous thing to neglect the present seasons of grace and effectual vocation, because if we do so we know not whether we may ever enjoy them again. The fourth and last thing here considerable is the persons who are the subjects of this call. Therefore let none either engross this mercy or despair of it. Let none engross it to themselves as if it belonged to none but unto them; nor let none despair of it for themselves as if it did not belong to them at all. Those who are themselves effectually called they will have a high esteem and account both of their calling itself, as also of all other persons who are partakers of the same calling with them. The second is the ground of this condition, as also of the privilege annexed unto it, and that is the purpose and good pleasure and decree of God according to His purpose. First, this calling here spoken of it is absolute and independent. It is according to Gods purpose, not according to our desert, thus 2Ti 1:9. This must needs be so; because we see by plain experience that those who might be thought most of all to deserve it are many times excluded from it, whilst others are taken in. The publicans and harlots went into the kingdom of heaven before the Pharisees (Mat 21:31). Therefore let us from hence learn to abhor all doctrine of merit. Let us give God the whole glory of all. Our calling is absolute. Secondly, it is also unchangeable as the purpose itself, from whence it proceeds; the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Lastly, we see here the ground of the universal happiness of Gods children, and in particular the certainty of the privilege above mentioned of all things working to their good. (Thomas Horton, D.D.)
All things work together for good
1. With what ease the writers of the Bible give expression to the mightiest and most astonishing statements! Not, however, because the apparent impossibilities–which stand in the very teeth of their verification–are either ignored or overlooked. The sufferings of this present time; the subjection of the creature to the bondage of corruption; the groaning and travailing in pain of the whole creation; the anguish of mans inner and deeper experience; are all painfully vivid to the apostles eye. Nevertheless, in the midst of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword, he is bold to assert, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
2. Who of us can join in this language in the face of the worlds sin and woe? Some there may be who are able contentedly to meet the dark mysteries of Providence with whatever is best–a conviction, perhaps, that grew up out of the reverent trust and experience of their childhood. But this is seldom left undisturbed; and, once disturbed, we may regain confidence; but it will be as different from our early confidence as Josephs, when he stood before his brethren in Egypt, was different from that he enjoyed when he wore his coat of many colours.
3. This certitude of the apostle was the rational conviction, confirmed by an ample experience, established by a faith in the Christian verities, and made immovable by the visions of a heart disciplined by trial, and purified by affliction? And this is a certitude open to us all, if we seek it. Let us contemplate the source of its light, that our reason be not confounded at the confidence of our heart.
I. All things are at work, and subject to constant change. Our hedges and fields retain not their beauty, and our summers light and heat decline. The very earth grows old, and the heavens are not what they were. And among the sons of men there is no one abiding. And what are the records of history but the chronicle of the successive ages of the worlds experience. And within the little sphere of our own existence, incessant change allows no rest to either thought, affection, or will. And what an air of sadness all this gives to our life! It begets our earliest sorrows. And, as years wear on, a feeling of insecurity steals over us which denies us peace. But the heart refuses life without hope, and this ceaseless change arouses the mind to the discovery of some other ground of confidence. And our text speaks of this restless action, not only as a constant working, but as a working together. Let us see what difference this makes.
II. All things work together. The addition of this one word alters everything. It introduces design where all seemed aimless; order where all seemed chaos. For instance, winter is seen to have a necessary place and work in relation to summer; night to day; deserts to fruitful fields; the mountains to the valleys. In short, the earth is one, and made up of contradictory elements. The year is one, and requires all the seasons. The day is one, and composed of morning, noon, and evening. In like manner, the course of history is made up of all the forms of human life and every variety of experience, so that conflicting events, and the most incongruous elements, are made to work together in subordination to the one purpose. And so with the little circle of our personal experience. And these three–nature, history, and individual experience–are one. They are but spheres of co-operative agencies carrying out the one purpose which runs through all ages.
III. To what purpose, to what end do all things work together? For good. This is a necessary deduction. If all things work together, then good must be the result. Evil elements cannot be combined; they are antagonistic to each other. When wicked men combine, it is found necessary to set up the principles of goodness. There must be honesty among thieves, truth among liars, or their devices have no chance. The principles recognised among them as necessary for their co-operation are antagonistic to the ends for which they combine. The light by which they go astray is light from heaven. And it is the power of this admitted but opposed light which explodes every plot and makes it simply impossible for a course of combined wickedness to perpetuate itself. But the working together of all things implies nothing less than the presence of infinite goodness, in the very elements of things as well as in their embodied purpose; wisdom, which, as the eye of goodness, sees the end from the beginning and knows how to reach it; and power, the moral energy of both goodness and wisdom, which subordinates everything to the one purpose. This preordained purpose will only be fully revealed in the end; in the way there will be much of human arbitrariness, which will tend to hide it. The way, however, of goodness carries its security, for the attainment of its end, in its own moral power. This co-operation of all things for Gods purpose is a Divine chemistry. For as in a mixture of chemical elements, while the process of combination is going on, you may be utterly at a loss to know what the result will be, until, the last element being added, it is made manifest; so is it with the providence of God. Let us habituate ourselves, however, to regard providence as carried on by the personal power of Gods presence, a power, therefore, of quickening as well as of combining elements; of intensifying as well as of moderating their action; a power of new beginnings as well as of terminating forces and agencies long in exercise. It is what, and more than what, the will of man is to his whole body as well as to every separate part. God is not an exhausted Deity, neither is He under bondage to the forces which He has conferred upon His creatures. With Him there ever remains an infinite reserve of ways and means by which to do according to His will.
IV. But, if all things work together for good, then also for the best. Gods mind can only purpose the best in relation to the creature concerned. And to reach His end, He has but one way, and that is the best. That one absolutely perfect, highest, and best end is seen in His only-begotten Son, who is at once Son of man and Son of God; of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things, and for whose central glory mans redemption was purposed from eternity, but reserved for accomplishment till, the fulness of time, that He might gather up all things in One, and in that One for ever unite His glory and our salvation.
V. But for whom will this co-operation of all things work out its highest good? For those who love God, The highest good can only be received by rightly directed affections. As it proceeds from the love of the Creator, it can only be received by the love of the creature. For, just as a piece of mechanism, cunningly devised to weave a pattern of marvellous beauty, may require a thread of a given quality and texture to receive its design, so the highest purpose of the Divine love, to be wrought out by the co-operation of all things, can only be taken up by, and embodied in, the affections of His children. For, as His purpose is spiritual, it requires spiritual embodiment; as it is holy, it requires holiness; as it is free, it requires to be chosen; as it is merciful, it requires vessels of mercy; as it is personal, it requires personality; as it is social, it requires a society of individuals; as it is not only from, but of God, it requires godliness; and, as it is an all-embracing unity–a rich, full, and lasting oneness of Being–to which God freely gives Himself, it requires in those who partake of it the exercise of the love. (W. Pulsford, D.D.)
All things working together for good
I. all things. For there is a sense in which a human being is related to everything. He is related supremely to God, and by that relationship he touches the whole universe. But, probably, the all things here meant are those which more nearly and constantly affect men. Now there is a very great difference in the number, variety, and importance of these things in different individual cases. All things that can enter into an infants little life are few and simple compared with those of a man. The affairs of a savage are few compared with those of a civilised man.
II. All things work. All things are full of labour. The ceaseless movement of all things, from stars to atoms, would, if we could really see it all, be perfectly appalling. On the stillest day, and in the most sequestered scene, streams of life are rushing on through their courses. Not only the earth, the waters, the air, but the very rocks are alive. What is thus true in nature is just as true in human life; not only when mans thought is busy about them, and his own hand upon them, but often almost as much when the man rests and sleeps. We speak of busy time. It is not time that is busy. Tis men who live, and move, and have being. Tis things that work. Thought, and impulse, and act, and habit, and plan, and purpose–these are the great working powers. They all work: and always. We divide life into active and passive, into busy and quiet. But things are working as rapidly, and to effects as certain in the one time as the other. Things are troubled and perplexed at night: you can make nothing of them. You go to sleep, and in the morning they are clearer. It is just the same as if you had been thinking of them, and unravelling them all the night. They have been working while you have been sleeping. The same kind of process takes place through a series of days sometimes. Gradually a dark prospect clears, or a bright one darkens. The crooked becomes straight, or the straight becomes crooked. Nor can you tell any sufficient reason for the change.
III. All things work together. That explains the changes that take place, and the progress that is sometimes made very quickly. You have seen horses pulling a heavy load up a hill, and suddenly brought to a stand, and then moving on again, simply by the addition of an animal to the team. So a man is overmatched sometimes by the weight and pressure of the things he has to do, when–a new circumstance, a new thing is born, and as it were instantly yokes itself into harness with the rest, and the object is attained. But the working together of things is yet more than this. In some chemical experiments it happens that each separate substance becomes something else, and all a compound–a new thing, which has mysteriously composed itself out of the whole. The bosom of Providence is the great moral crucible in which things work together. The innumerable things that mingle in that crucible, if taken separately, would be seen working to diverse results; but the one master-influence now rules the whole process, and so combines the specific elements as to perpetuate and increase its own sway. All things work together, not in an aimless and capricious manner, as though a stream should one day flow seawards, and the next back towards its fountain, but in one volume, along one channel, in one direction, towards one end. This gives life an awful character. The sum of the influences tend to good, or to evil. Life in some instances may seem an equipoise, but it is not. Only a practised eye can tell which way a sluggish stream in a meadow is flowing, yet no one who has seen the stream enter the meadow, or leave it, can doubt that it is in motion there. Not for long does any human life flow as through meadow land.
IV. Now, the greatest question is this, Of what character is the supreme influence of all the things that work together in my life? The question is not difficult to answer, if only the right method be taken. Must, then, a man analyse, weigh, and describe all the things which hake for him the one grand life-influence! Must he search the bosom of Providence? How utterly vain were the effort! But, happily, there is no need to make it. The true test is far simpler and easier. It is this, Is there love to God? All things work together for good to them that love God. The question is not, Am I strong enough to vanquish the forces of life? because no man will ever be. To all there is at last the grand defeat. Nor is it, Am I wise and politic enough to foresee and prepare? because every man is overmatched, at one time or other, bier, of course, Am I good enough to change everything into good?–for, still, alas! when He who alone is good looks down, there is but the old sad case, that none doeth good. But the question is this and none other, Do I love God, whose whole delight is to overcome evil with good? What, or rather whom we love, and how much, will tell far more regarding our real character than anything else; will, therefore, also tell what moral position we occupy in relation to all outward things. If we love God, all things work together for our good. Quite clearly, then, the one grand solicitude with us should be the cultivation of this Divine affection of love to God. If this be in perpetual action, how need we give place and time and thought to other cares? All is well. Those working things, the strength and pressure of which we never could resist, the mystery of which we never could fathom–let them work together and enter into all possible combinations, they can produce nothing but good to us. Does the storm blow? Love Him who maketh the storm a calm, and who, in storm and calm alike, will keep you safely within the sure haven of His care. Is it night? Love Him to whom the darkness and the light are both alike, but who, knowing well that they are not alike to us, has promised that weeping and night shall pass away together, and that joy shall come in the morning. Are you in pain? Love Him who, although He is the ever-blessed God, suffered once for us, and still has the touch of all our pain on the nerve of His own infinite sympathy, and who writes over the portals of the happy gates, There shall be no more pain. Are you poor? Love Him who, to sanctify poverty, was born among the beasts, lived with the poor. Can you go up and stand beside Him, and complain that He has left you poor? (A. Raleigh, D.D.)
All things working for good
I. The believers character.
1. Love to God is his grand distinctive feature. The creeds of Christians may differ in minor shades, their ecclesiastical relations may vary–yet in this one particular there is an essential unity. They love one God and Father; and this truth–like those sundered rays of light returning to the sun, approximate to each other–forms the great assimilating principle by which all harmonise. The regeneration through which they have passed has effected this great change. Once they were at enmity with God. But now they love Him.
(1) As revealed in Christ. Who, as he has realised the preciousness of the Saviour, has not felt the kindling of a fervent love to Him who, when He had no greater gift, commended His love to us by the gift of His dear Son?
(2) In His paternal character. The Spirit of adoption takes captive their hearts, and they love God with a childs fervent, adoring, confiding affection.
(3) For all His conduct, for the wisdom, faithfulness, holiness of His procedure–for what He withholds as for what He grants. Of the source of this feeling let us not lose sight, We love Him because He first loved us.
2. Who are the called according to His purpose (Rom 1:6-7). What a glorious vocation is this! To have heard the Holy Spirits voice, to have felt the Saviours love, to have listened to a Fathers persuasive assurance, called to be Gods holy ones–sons; this were a vocation worthy indeed of God, and demanding in return our supremest, deepest affection! The principle upon which this call proceeds is said to be, according to His purpose. It excludes all idea of merit on the part of the called (2Ti 1:9). Has this call reached you? Ministers, the gospel, providences, conscience have called you, but has the Spirit called you with an inward and effectual vocation from death to life, from sin to holiness, from the world to Christ, from self to God?
II. The privilege which appertains to this character.
1. All things under the righteous government of God must necessarily be a working out of good. Thou art good, and doest good. In Him there is no evil, and consequently nothing can proceed from Him that tendeth to evil. The passage supposes something antagonistic to the well-being of the believer in Gods conduct at times. And yet, to no single truth does the Church bear a stronger testimony than to this, that the darkest epochs of her history have ever been those from which her brightest lustre has arisen. But let us pass to individuals. Shall we take the most painful circumstances in the history of the child of God? The Word declares that these circumstances are all conspiring, and all working together, for his good. Take tribulation as the starting-point (Rom 5:3-5). The Bible is rich in illustrations of this. Take, e.g. the cases of Jacob (Gen 42:36), and Joseph (Gen 50:20).
2. Observe the unity of operation. They work together. Seldom does affliction come alone. Storm rises upon storm, cloud on cloud. Trace the wisdom and love of God in ordaining your path to heaven through much tribulation. Single, the good they are charged to convey were but partially accomplished. It is the compounding of the ingredients in the recipe that constitutes its sanative power. Extract any one ingredient, and you impair the others and destroy the whole. It is the combination of sound, the harmony of many, and often discordant notes, that constitute music. Oh, how imperfectly are we aware of a plurality of trial, to wake from our lips the sweetest anthem of thanksgiving to God! Thus it is that the most deeply tried believers are the most skilful and the most melodious choristers in Gods Church. They sing the sweetest on earth, and they sing the loudest in heaven, who are passing through, and who have come out of great tribulation.
3. It is a present working. It says not that all things have worked or shall work, though this is certain. But it says that all things do now work together for good. The operation may be as invisible and noiseless as the leaven fomenting in the meal, and yet not less certain and effectual. And whether the good be immediate or remote, it matters little; sooner or later it will accomplish its benign and heaven-sent mission.
4. Its certainty. We know it, because God has said it, because others have testified to it, best of all, because we have experienced it ourselves. The shape it may assume, the end to which it may be subservient, we cannot tell. Gods glory is secured by it, and that end accomplished, we are sure it must be good. Will it not be a good, if your present adversity results in the dethronement of some worshipped idol–in the endearing of Christ to your soul–in the closer conformity of your mind to Gods image–in the purification of your heart–in your more thorough meetness for heaven? (O. Winslow, D.D.)
All things working for good
All things, whether in nature, providence, or grace, work together for good to Gods people.
I. The persons.
1. Those who love God. By those who hate God, even blessings are turned into a curse.
2. Who are the called according to His purpose.
II. The object.
1. To purify from sin (Mal 3:3).
2. To promote growth in grace.
3. To prepare for heaven.
III. The means.
1. Afflictions.
2. Chastisements (Heb 12:6). Job was chastised in love and elevated in character to a height he had never otherwise attained.
3. Persecutions. These drive the soul nearer to God. They show who are the genuine professors. Joseph was persecuted, but great good was accomplished thereby (Gen 50:20).
4. Special providences. These are the turning-points in our lives. How wonderful that I am here rather than elsewhere! There is all the world to choose from; and yet Peoria is my home both by invitation and selection. Paul, on his journey from Iconium to Troas, was minded to labour in the regions of Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered him not, for He had other work for him to do in the greater centres of the worlds civilisation (Act 16:7).
IV. The time.
1. This is present. Gods children do not have to wait for the blessing. Loving God, all things are received from His hand as means to an end; and enjoying His love, afflictions are tempered, and blessings are not misapplied. Many misquote this text and read it in the future, as if it were only will work together.
2. The future (2Co 4:17).
V. Encouragements.
1. To courage (Heb 12:13).
2. To faith (2Co 4:18).
3. To hope (Heb 6:18-20).
4. To love (Rom 8:35-39).
It is the love of God (both His love to us and our love to Him) that changes all things, whether good or untoward, into blessings. Oh, the bountiful alchemy of love! (Homiletic Review.)
All things working together for good
I. The fact, We know, etc. Note–
1. The good determined: being conformed to the image of Gods Son. Each believing man is as a block of marble, hewn out of the great quarry of unregenerated humanity, and appointed to be dressed and formed according to the Divine ideal. The image of the living Christ, as portrayed in the holy Gospels, supplies the model. And the work to be accomplished is that of breaking off unshapely angles, polishing down all rough projections, chiselling out the life-like features, and cleansing away all obscuring dust, till the human subject, changed into the same image, from glory to glory, stands out at last, a living likeness of the living Lord. No doubt the final result will be blessedness, lordship, and glory. But the work which has now to be effected is that of securing in us a likeness to the Lord. In the external manifestations of our life we must be brought to be like Jesus, who went about doing good; and therefore are we said to be the workmanship of God (Eph 2:10). But the work of new creation penetrates below the surface, and enters into the very spirit and life of the man (Eph 4:22-24).
2. The workers employed by the Divine Artist. All things, i.e., all the influences of present lot; all the influences of–
(1) The objective creation.
(2) The perpetually changing events of Providence, both prosperous and adverse, whether as specially affecting only the individual, or also the family, the Church, the nation, or the world.
(3) Which proceed from good and from wicked men.
(4) The invisible world, which come streaming down from glorified saints, angelic hosts, and from the ever-blessed God.
(5) The world beneath. There is nothing neutral in the mighty process; and nothing but whose influence, blended with all others, is made to contribute something towards the accomplishment of the predestinated result.
3. On whose behalf the good is being wrought. Those only who love God, who are the called according to His purpose; namely, to justify, sanctify, and glorify all them who believe in Christ. For the called ones are those who have adopted the Christian vocation as their own, and have therefore become not only called, but also chosen and faithful. For them the call has become effectual. They have fallen into the line of the Divine purpose, and are therefore being helped along that line by all these harmonised converging forces. The action of the external forces themselves would never produce the desired result. Their influence upon others does but serve to make moral scars and deformity. Just as the deadly nightshade concocts its poison from the very same soil and atmosphere from which the wheat-plant provides us bread, and other plants our honey.
4. The ultimately resulting good is the consequent, not of any single influence, but of all the influences together. This does not, indeed, denote that they work either simultaneously or in perfect and understood agreement amongst themselves. They are oftentimes all unconscious of the service which they render. First one and then another comes near and does the work for which he is specially adapted. Or perchance a whole host of the workers are busily engaged at once, so as to become simultaneous helpers. So, too, it is in other departments of Gods works. How many and complicated the forces and influences which must contribute to the growth and perfection of the plant or animal! And how innumerable and varied those by which the infant is developed to manhood! And yet every one produces some lasting impression, and supplies its contribution, with all the others, towards the final product. And thus it is in the formation of Christian character.
II. The ground of the fact, and of our knowledge of it. For (i.e., because that)
whom He did foreknow, etc.. Observe–
1. That God Himself predestinated this result; namely, that those who were foreknown as believing the gospel, and as becoming obedient to its call, should he conformed to the image of His Son.
2. That He who predetermined this result has also provided the means for its accomplishment.
3. That which He can He will do to bring the pre-ordained result to its consummation. It is not only that the purpose is His own, formed according to His own good pleasure, and given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (Eph 1:9-10; Eph 3:8-12; 2Ti 1:9); and therefore a thing never to be abandoned; but one, in respect to the working out of which He has given the strongest assurance. For its accomplishment He spared not His own Son, etc. Nay; in and with Christ, those all things have been already given (1Co 3:21-23). And, therefore, the apostle, projecting himself forward to the time when the great work of redeeming love shall have been completed, and giving that which is its history in every individual case, affirms that whom He did predestinate, them He also glorified.
Conclusion: Learn a lesson of–
1. Earnest diligence in the cultivation of the inner spiritual life. This is the true philosophers stone, by whose alchemic power everything may be transmuted into gold. Power over our own outward worldly condition we have but very little (Jer 10:23). Evil may come, and, if our hearts are not right with God, all things will but serve to intensify our selfishness, impatience, etc., making us to become more than ever vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. But, if we love God, we shall find a helping hand in everything.
2. Patient submission to Gods arrangements. Let us remember ever that His providence has to do with all things. Did He choose to do so, He could make our course of life, in all respects, prosperous and pleasant. But if trials, perplexities, and sufferings come, it must be because that these things are needed and good (Jam 1:2-4).
3. Joyful and triumphant confidence in God. This is that which is specially indicated by the apostle (verses 31-39). (W. Tyson.)
All things working for good
You have probably seen a large and complicated piece of machinery in full play. The parts, as you noticed, were very various–various in size and shape, various in the material of which they were made. There were wood and leather, and iron and brass; there were cranks and levers, and pistons and pulleys, and wheels great and small, with other instruments of which both the construction and the use were strange to you. And besides the difference of material, you observed a difference of movement among the parts. There was contrariety and opposition. The wheels whirled round in opposite directions; the chains seemed placed on purpose to resist each other. Checking and counterchecking, strain and counter-strain, were to be seen everywhere. And you felt confused as you stood contemplating the ceaseless and unintelligible whirl that was going on around you; yet you perceived that all the parts of the machinery, however diverse in themselves or in their mode of operation, were working together to produce a certain result–somehow or other their combined action led up to a certain definite point, and amidst all the apparent confusion, this point was invariably reached. (G. Calthrop, M.A.)
All things working for good
Storrs was a student at Andover Theological Seminary with young Gordon Hall. On a certain Saturday, towards the end of their course, Hall was preparing to go to Braintree to preach upon the following Sabbath, having some expectation that the invitation so to do would grow into a call. In the act of splitting some wood, however, his hat fell from his head beneath the axe, and was cut in twain and ruined. The circumstances were such that to replace it was impossible just then; and Hall, compelled to vacate his engagement at Braintree, arranged with Storrs to go in his place. Storrs went. His preaching pleased. He was invited to come again. And the result was that Hall was quite forgotten, a call was presently extended to Storrs, it was accepted, and he was in due time settled, remaining the minister of that parish until his dying day, a period of more than half a century. Hall, disappointed, one might naturally suppose at this thwarting of his hopes, had his mind turned to the foreign mission field, and became Gordon Hall, the first missionary of the American Board, whose name is for ever linked with the early enterprise of that eminent organisation. No one who has any belief in Divine providence will for a moment doubt that God stationed Storrs at Braintree and sent Hall to India; but does it not also seem as if He effected that arrangement by means of the accident to the hat? And this is the obvious lesson of the incident: that there is really no such thing as accident in this world; that all things work together in the execution of Gods purposes, and for good to them that love Him; that the most trivial occurrence should be contemplated in the light of the possibilities which may flow from it; and that our least concerns, as well as our greatest, are under the supervision and control of the heavenly Father.
Good to the good, the rule of Gods procedure with man
I. Who are the good? Them that love God. What love?
1. That type which God has predestined. His purpose.
2. That type to which God has called His creatures. How has He called them? By the revelation of His moral loveliness as revealed in nature, in conscience, in Christ. This love is–
(1) Paramount. Love as a passing subsidiary emotion is not religious love.
(2) Practical. Love that goes off in words or occasional acts is not religious love. It must be a ruling, practical force.
(3) Permanent. It must be in everything and for ever.
II. What is the good for them? It is good from all things. What good?
1. There is nothing good that does not promote moral goodness in the soul. Wealth, social position, power, health itself, are not only worthless but pernicious if they accomplish not this.
2. Whatever promotes moral goodness in the soul is good. Personal suffering, personal bereavement, social losses, etc., when they do this, are good. Tribulation worketh patience, etc. Our light afflictions. There is a glorious optimism in the history of the good. Conclusion: This subject–
1. Corrects a popular error: that religion is to a mans disadvantage in this world. No such thing. Pauperism with piety is infinitely better than a princedom with ungodliness.
2. This subject affords comfort to afflicted saints. The good can turn all to good. (D. Thomas,D.D.)
Trials good to the good
The afflictions of life are variously contemplated. Stoicism says, Submit to fate. Some are icy negatives in life. They stand amidst the problems and woes of humanity, calm and passive and scornful. Epicureanism says, Make thyself insensible by indulgence in pleasure. Many mean to take life cosily and sweetly. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain; but its groans shall not disturb the music of their life, nor its travail cloud the brightness of their little day. In contrast to this Pagan temper the Christian method is to look elements in the face, and see in them the promise of blessing. Christianity does not simply declare the inevitableness of sorrow, or merely lay down rules for lessening its bitterness. It discovers a wise and loving God directing all the mixed processes of life to a beneficient issue. And thus it soothes the heart into patience, lifts it into hope, and floods it with courage.
I. The circumstances which bring suffering into life.
1. Inherited moral defection. The passions, habits, weaknesses of one generation are transmitted. In consequence of this law, multitudes are born with the religious side of their nature so cramped and feeble that it is difficult to win them to goodness; and even when won, how slow is their growth in grace, how dwarfed their spiritual stature.
2. The universal condition of toil. Idleness is misery; congenial labour is gladness; but how much is congenial? How often the fierce competition harasses like a fever.
3. Contact with our fellow-men. You meet them in municipal councils, in business, etc.; and very often, the closer the intimacy the greater the recoil from the unlovely traits which are disclosed. There are men like the fox, like the tiger, like the serpent.
4. The sorrows that spring from our friendship. In having another united to you by the sacred chain of love, your liability to suffering is increased, according to the degree of your affection. If their hearts ache, so do ours.
5. Disappointment, in relation to the Divine and sacred ideals of the soul.
6. The triumph of policy over right; weakness crushed by strength; worth left to perish in obscurity; vice climbing into power; wrong slow to die; right slow to prevail.
II. Now he who loves God possesses, as it were, a grand spiritual alchemy by which these dark things of life are made sacramental. Sickness, disappointment, calumny, the discrepancy between the ideal and the actual, etc., are transformed into means of grace. Good comes to him from every source. The whole universe works in his behalf. As yet our knowledge of the way in which trial is promotive of good is necessarily imperfect. We can only see as through a glass darkly. Still, we have that degree of vision.
1. One form of good that is realised is the closer union of the soul with God. The natural instinct of the human heart in troubles is to betake itself to one able to sympathise and help. And to those who love Him, God is known as the God of comfort.
2. Trial also serves to develop the qualities which constitute true manhood. The right regulation of the character and conduct is inseparable from love to God. Now, as a man under irritation strives to be calm, he will grow in the mastery of his feelings; if under losses and perplexities he strives to be patient, he will grow in patience; if while smarting under a sense of injustice he steadily sets himself to preserve a heart of charity, he will grow in love; if, as pleasure calls, he resolutely endeavours to be faithful, he will grow in fidelity. And herein lies the contrast between the godly and the godless man: under the afflictive discipline of life, the one is soured, the other is sweetened; the one is cursed, the other is blessed. Put a piece of clay to the lapidarys wheel: it is ground to a heap of dust. But put a diamond on the wheel: the friction brings out its beauty.
3. And now, taking a more general view, what is to be the outcome of all the clash and discord and imperfection that has been going on since time began? This: the triumph of God. The prayer Thy kingdom come will be exchanged for The Lord reigneth. That final triumph in some measure belongs to the destiny of the godly man. It is the victory of those principles for which he lived and prayed and worked. (T. Hammond.)
The chief good
About 50 B.C. a cultivated Roman represents himself as discoursing pleasantly with his friends about the supreme good. He explains the views of the rival philosophers; but after surveying the whole field, he concludes without a word to indicate in which direction his own preference lay. In this, perhaps, he represented the majority of the thoughtful men of his time. To them life was a problem without any sure key to its solution. About 50 A.D. there were living in Rome a community of men who had arrived at the most astonishing conclusions on this very point. Though they were few and insignificant, they were persuaded that all the varied experiences of lifo worked out the highest blessedness. The explanation of the phenomenon was not to be found in any revolution, for things had perhaps changed for the worse. But something had happened in the interval which had set them in a new relation to all these things: and this was that the love of God, revealed in Christ, had been shed abroad in their hearts.
I. The good towards which everything is here declared to co-operate. The supreme good for man can never consist in anything external, for all such things are in their very nature inferior to Him, and are intended to serve as stepping-stones to something higher. Happiness consists in what we are and not in what we have. But what we are is precisely that which hinders our happiness, And the question is, How are we to compose our inward evils? To answer this we must find some one who has succeeded in being what it will be our blessedness to become, and who can help us to become like himself. Now Christ is Gods conception of manhood realised. In Him was reached that complete equilibrium and repose of all our frailties in which true blessedness consists. In Him there was no inward contradiction, no want which filled His heart with a continual ache. To be truly blessed, therefore, is to be like Him (verse 29).
II. All things combine to produce in Christians conformity to Christ. Life with Christians, so far as its outward framework is concerned, remains exactly as before. It develops anxiety, sorrow, disappointment. But Christianity shows all these things subjected to a Divine will and purpose. The order in which they come, their duration, the weight and the angle of their incidence, are wisely and unerringly adjusted, Each contributes in its own imperceptible, it may be, but effectual way to the desired result. And it is just because we lose sight of this result we often find the text so hard to believe. When some sudden catastrophe swallows up a mans fortune we are apt to ask with incredulous lips how that can be for good. When sickness comes or death plucks our sweetest flowers, is it possible to accept the stroke as a blessing in disguise? Without a struggle Certainly not, and not even thus always at first. No affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous, etc. Men are not made of cast-iron, and when they become Christians they do not cease to be men. Christ Himself once, at all events, submitted with strong cryings and tears. But if we only embrace the end of Gods discipline we shall see that these very things which we think work nothing but evil and woe, bring about precisely the opposite effects. Had Christ no trials? And did they work anything but good? Is He less glorious because His brow was crowned with thorns? And so as there was nothing in the life of our Lord but ultimately ministered to His glory, and that life embraced all the experience of humanity, so there will be nothing in your life that will not make you liker to Him, if only you receive it in His spirit. Listen to that flood of music that at the touch of a single hand rolls from a hundred pipes. It may at first confuse, overwhelm, astonish you. But amid all the apparently conflicting sounds, a practised ear can detect the expression of one tumultuous emotion, or it may be the melody of a simple air, that, divested of its manifold accompaniments, might be played upon an oaten stop. And in like manner if you suffer your life to be controlled by God, there will run through it the harmony of a Divine purpose, conforming you to the image of His Son.
III. The condition on which this working together of all things for good is based. That we love God.
1. It is plain that all things do not work together for good because of any peculiar virtue in the things themselves, nor simply because of the time and manner of their occurrence. Heat and moisture, light and air, are all necessary for the maturing of the crops; but if the soil be poor and insufficient, or foul with weeds, the harvest will be thin and disappointing, if it does not utterly fail. So the discipline of life may be all administered with the most beneficent design; but if there be no corresponding receptivity in us, it will do us no good. The skill, patience, and methods of the teacher may be unimpeachable; but if the pupil is lazy and disobedient these will not in themselves make him a scholar. He must to some extent make the aim of his teacher his own, and co-operate with him, in order to receive the full benefit of his tuition. Hence, St. Paul says we must love God if Gods providence is to conform us to Christ, that is, we must be at one with Him in seeking the fulfilment of His purpose.
2. But loving God also describes that clinging to God as a child clings to his father, especially at the approach of peril, and which, even at the time of chastisement, never dreams of questioning His love. And there is much need of this. For though we may know the fact we often cannot understand the fashion, in which all things are to work together for our good. We cannot discern the perspective of life or see clearly the relation in which each part stands to the whole. And hence we must take much on trust. We must cling to God in the dark, remembering that He leads the blind by a way that they know not, and yet that this way is sure to be the right one.
3. And lest at any time you should be shaken in your conviction of the blessed end of Gods dealing, by the fear that you do not satisfy the condition of loving Him, then remember that this love is not so much a feeling as a posture or habit of the soul.
4. Then remember that the essence of love is obedience: This is love, that we walk after His commandments. And be assured that if you are willing to be fashioned after the image of Christ, He will make good His word to you, and perfect that which concerneth you. (C. Moinet.)
The good in relation
I. To the Spirit of their life. They love God. This is not a passing sentiment such as exists in the hearts of most, but a permanently predominating force. It is–
1. The love of gratitude, awakened by the contemplation of Gods wonderful favours.
2. The love of esteem, awakened by the view of His moral excellencies.
3. The love of benevolence, awakened by a belief in the universal goodness of His purposes. In relation to man these may exist separately. We may feel gratitude where we cannot esteem, etc. But in relation to God it takes these three forms. His favours are infinite, His character perfect, His purposes only good, therefore these forms are supreme. Love thanks Him for what He has done, adores Him for what He is, wishes Him well for what He is pursuing.
II. To the conduct of God.
1. He has called them to love–not by force. Love cannot come by commands and penalties. He calls men to love by exhibiting the lovable in Himself–His mercies, perfection, benevolence; to awaken gratitude, esteem and goodwill. This He does–
(1) In the phenomena of nature. How lovable God appears in the forms and operations of the universe.
(2) In the dispensations of life. In all temporal events from the cradle to the grave God commands our affections.
(3) In the life of Christ. Here we have His kindness, perfections, benevolent designs.
2. He has called them to love according to His purpose. God does not act fitfully, or by caprice. From the beginning He purposed that His intelligent creatures should love Him. All the arrangements of nature, the machinery of His government, the revelations of Himself show this. The gospel is his especial call to man as a sinner to love Him: and how exquisitely adapted it is to generate affection in depraved souls.
III. To the workings of Providence.
1. All things–
(1) Work.
(2) Harmoniously.
(3) For good.
(4) For the good of the good.
2. This we know–
(1) From a priori reasoning. On the assumption that the Creator is benevolent, we are bound to conclude that He will direct all to the happiness of them that love Him. It is ever the instinct of His creatures to seek the happiness of those that love them.
(2) From the arrangement of the universe. Does not the exquisite adaptation of outward nature to minister to our animal senses, physical wants, desire for knowledge, and love of the beautiful show that the Creator intended to make His moral creatures happy?
(3) From the special provisions of the gospel. Here is pardon, purity, knowledge, consolation, holy fellowship, and a blessed paradise.
(4) From the operation of the affections. Love to God–
(a) Put the soul into harmony with the universe. The soul destitute of love to God is in antagonism to the whole system of nature.
(b) Enables the soul happily to appropriate the universe.
(5) From the biography of the good. Joseph, David, Daniel, Paul.
(6) From the assurances of Gods Word. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The beneficial operation of all things for the good of the Christian
I. What a different thing this world is to those that love God, and those who do not.
1. The circumstances of the world, the general order of nature and providence, the mingled distribution of health, sickness, and accidents, are the same to both. They both share in great public benefits and calamities, and in this more favoured part of the world the Divine revelation shines on both classes alike. This fact would be a most mysterious thing without a light cast upon it from heaven, as was painfully felt by thoughtful men, even under the light of the earlier revelation.
2. To us is granted a light that pierces deeper through this sameness on the surface of things. And then, what an immense difference! The good things in mans condition–what do they do for the enemies of God? What to them is the effect of all nature, with its beauties, its vicissitudes, its productions? What to them the bounties of providence? Or what to them the share of general calamities? What are all these in effect to men who continue still irreligious, thoughtless, unthankful? The other class, however, is so disposed that all things operate towards it beneficially. And that one state of the soul should thus repel the essential, spiritual good of all things, and that an opposite one should attract it is not strange, if we consider the principle that is present or absent–the love of God. That being wanting, how should the soul derive the good of things? The perception, the discriminating faculty, the transmuting power, the principle to repel the evil is wanting; nay, the very will to obtain the good is wanting. The happy adaptation belongs only to them that love God, who are the called according to His purpose.
3. The latter part of the sentence explains how they come to love God–not that they first loved Him, but that He loved them. They were the objects of His gracious purpose. No one that knows anything of the alienated state of our nature can believe that a condition of the soul in which the love of God should prevail, can be created by any less cause than the sovereign operation of the Divine Spirit; i.e., by an effectual calling. But, then, neither can he imagine that this operation should be as if from a sudden and incidental thought of the Almighty. This, then, is the sacred process; the ancient purpose, fulfilled at length in the calling according to that purpose; and this calling being an inspiration of the love of God into the renewed soul. And this places the soul in a new system of relations with the world and its events, and that the most advantageous one that is possible. The indwelling of the love of God constitutes a radical change, so that the working together of things upon the mind shall be, mainly and predominantly, for good; and progressively more so, in proportion as that sacred principle more fully prevails. For the love of God makes the soul quick to perceive, to dislike, and to repel all that is evil; makes it solicitous, vigilant, and active to apprehend and obtain all the most essential good.
II. But, then, beyond all this the supreme security is that God will have it so. He will make all things work, etc. They are the most valued objects He has in the world; and it may well be believed that they shall not be left to chances for their welfare. For their sake He has given something incomparably more valuable than all things here, even His beloved Son, who is constituted to the Church, head over all things. And this cannot be less than a security that all things shall be made to minister to them. Strangers and enemies to God are very little aware of all this. They look on the good in the system, in its mere natural, material character of good, but little aware that this is made to impart a far higher, nobler kind of good to them that love God. And they regard the evil as simply evil; hardly sensible that even this is turned to infinite advantage to the children of God. The proud and mighty ones of the earth are exerting their utmost power and devices to make all things serve their interests, never dreaming that the Almighty Potentate is making all things, and them among the rest, cooperate for the advantage of His friends. And when they are working with all their might against one another, little do they suspect that they are all the while co-operating for the benefit of another class! Would not that, if it could suddenly come on their perception, pacify them at once? What! working with all this strife and cost for the advantage of those people they call saints! The very pride that raised the contest would still it!
III. Under this Divine superintendence all things work together for good. A large assertion! but where is the impossibility of its being true? A man whose soul is animated and sanctified by the love of God, what can he see, or hear, or encounter, from which, under the aid of the Divine Spirit, he absolutely cannot extract any good?
1. With this holy affection glowing in his soul, suppose him placed in the very centre of a scene of excessive iniquity–might he not draw from every point of the circuit something salutary? Might he not be struck with a religious horror lest himself should fall into sin? Or, inspired with fervent thankfulness for having been saved or redeemed from it, might he not feel an emotion to implore the interference of Almighty Power? Thus he might, in the very worst field, reap invaluable spiritual advantage.
2. There are the temporal good things. Now it is a mighty thing to say of any mortal that these shall absolutely work for his good. But the prevalent love of God will make them do so; will excite thankful admiration of the Divine bounty, stimulate a zeal to serve God, more benevolent compassion for those who are suffering the contrary of this temporal good, and excite to active charity.
3. But the most animating light of this truth falls on the darker side of human life. But temporal misfortunes may be made the means far more effectually to convince them that this is not their rest; that this world will not do for them; to promote their submissive adoration of an all-governing, wise, though mysterious Providence, and to inspire an energy of desire and effort toward a better country.
4. And even the evils of a spiritual kind; the pains of conscience, fears of the Divine wrath, temptation, perplexities concerning religious truth; through these, as a severe discipline, many minds have been drawn and exercised to the attainmeat of a happy elevation of Christian sanctity and peace. (John Foster.)
The Purpose, calling, and love of God
1. The law of motion is impressed on everything.
2. What is the good. In general the union of ourselves with God, the studying, loving, enjoying Him, and furthering His purpose for ever.
3. The apostle connects man here with three things–
I. The purpose of God. His purpose is–
1. Essentially one. He has a series of purposes harmonised into one, but one all-embracing idea. We call this idea providence when governing the world, and decree when saving the world.
2. Good. The purpose of God must be like God. He is good, and so is His purpose. Whatever form the good may assume, whether We call it instinct, rationality, volition, moral excellency, grace, perfection, if we trace the stream back into its origin, we shall look into the depth of the Divine decree.
3. Progressive. God is better known now than He ever was before, and will for ever and ever spread Himself before the faith, and love, and intelligence of His creation. Look at all the dispensations of time till now, and how many are continually unfolded. What is the administration of time but the unfolding of Gods one everlasting purpose?
II. The calling of God. God in Scripture is represented as calling men by His providence, His truth, conscience; and those who answer are the called. God decreed–
1. That you should have an intelligent, responsible, undying nature.
2. That the offer of salvation should be made to fallen man.
3. That the refusal of His offer should be punished.
4. That those who trust in His mercy shall be saved.
III. The love of God.
1. Gods dispensations towards man reveal His love. The apostle mentions five things in reference to this love–
(1) Foreknowledge.
(2) Predestination–a beautiful word, giving a destiny beforehand. He brought out the sun, and said, Your destiny is to illumine and warm these worlds. He said, Move on, and the sun has done it. Is it natural to suppose that God gave no destiny to man? God did not throw out souls for no purpose.
(3) Calling. There is the man, and God knows what he is for, and says, Man, keep up to thy destiny; leave earth, selfishness, sin, hell down beneath thy feet, and come up.
(4) Justification. When the man bears the call, and obeys it according to the great fixed plan, of which Jesus and His death is the great centre, he is justified, made right.
(5) Glorification–that is, reaching the destiny. All things work together. Do not attempt to take one link from the chain.
2. The work of Christ also reveals His love. Look to Bethlehem, to Calvary, to the grave of Joseph, the Mount of Olives, and the right hand of God. What is He doing? Making intercession for us. Do you see anything that is not encouraging? Who can separate us from the love of Christ? (Caleb Morris.)
The secret of the Divine ways
1. How many among you have felt, at the reading of my text, an involuntary doubt cross their mind! And, beyond the circle of believers, with what a smile of pity or of indignation is it greeted!
2. Moreover, the manner in which this truth is often presented revolts generous hearts. When I see a Christian overwhelmed by trials, yet not doubting the Divine goodness, blessing the hand which afflicts, I recognise both the tone of Paul and the spirit which animated him. But when, in the midst of a tame and easy existence of selfish happiness, I see a Christian delight in the thought that his lot is privileged above others, I can understand the sceptics smile and indignation. Under this narrow aspect the great thought of Gods intervention is often presented. Here is an epidemic; a believer who is spared pretends to see in this fact the mark of the special preference of God. Another is the only one who escapes from a shipwreck; he lets it be understood that God had cares and tenderness only for him. The atheist Diagoras, disembarking at Samothracia, went to the temple, where they showed him the offerings of voyagers rescued from shipwreck. Canst thou deny the providence of the gods, they said to him, when thou seest all those testimonies of their intervention? Ah! replied Diagoras, we should also hear the testimony of those who rest buried beneath the waves! If we must recognise with pleasure that God acts in preserving us from danger or suffering, we must also repel the theory of a special preference. God loves those unfortunate victims of epidemic or shipwreck as much as He loves us, and more perhaps. I cannot tell what I experience when I see Christians interpreting Gods dispensations in the sense which corresponds to their narrow hearts. In vain has the Book of Job condemned that error; in vain the Master has declared that the Galileans upon whom the tower of Siloam fell were not guiltier than others. We hear such explaining the ways of the Lord with a cold and axiomatic tone. A child is taken away; they ask if it was not made an idol of. A humiliating misfortune overtakes one of their neighbours; they conclude that it was undoubtedly necessary–an idea directly opposed to that of St. Paul, who affirms that all things work together for good to them that love God.
3. Now this error manifests itself under forms which are singularly hurtful to Christian beliefs. There are men who can see Divine intervention only in what is extraordinary. There are Christians who do not perceive God acting in the uniform laws by which He governs the world. A cure, for example, in which human science has taken no part, seems to them, should be attributed directly to God; if the physician had interfered, in their eyes he would have relegated God to the background. Thence proceeds a consequence which unbelief does not fail to draw. Ignorance is the mother of faith. In a dark century such an event is attributed to God; but to-morrow a more enlightened generation will know the law thereof. Now that is what we ought to fight against. God does not manifest Himself to us in that alone which astonishes and disconcerts us. All things work together for His plans. Let us now penetrate to the real centre of the apostles thought.
I. All things tend towards one end. That thought was born the day when Jesus taught His disciples to say, Thy kingdom come. Reason alone would conclude in an opposite sense. How can we recognise a Divine plan in that bloody play which is called history, in those ancient civilisations which have so thoroughly disappeared, in those insolent triumphs of force or cunning, in those miscarriages of the best causes? A deep thinker sums up his science on this point by saying that humanity, like a wheel, describes a fatal circle. And yet one would not dare to repeat this to-day. Progress is believed in; men have taken from Christianity their belief in the final triumph of justice and truth. Well! that belief belongs to us; we have given it to the world; do not let the world turn it against us. I see Christians confounded at the sight of this world, despairing of the future. Let that cowardly attitude be far from us! All serves to erect that eternal temple where God shall be adored by all His creatures; each generation which passes lays its stone there, and the building rises.
II. To believe in that general plan by which all things work together for the glory of God is not enough. I want to know what his plan is with regard to me. But how shall we show this without dashing against objections?
1. Our belief is taxed with pride. What presumption to believe ourselves objects of the vigilant care of God! So then, when you see your little child relating his faults to God, and asking Him to make him better, is that a teaching of pride? But you will answer, Have all Christians the admirable simplicity of that child? No. But that proves that they are men and sinners–nothing more. The ideal for them (the gospel declares it) would be to become children again. You insist on our insignificance. But if we are great enough to believe in God, to love Him, what pride is there in believing that God responds to that desire which He has Himself inspired? Would you charge with pride the feeble plant which, each day at sunrise, holds up its head and half opens to inhale its vivifying heat? God, you say, is too great to make all things work together for our good. What!–that God who has poured forth on the meanest of His creatures treasures of wisdom, of foresight; that God who decks the birds of the air and the flowers of the field would be too great to count our sorrows and our prayers! You accuse us of pride? But suffer me, in turn, to distrust your humility. A thousand times I have seen the rebel creature escape from God under pretext of his insignificance, and shelter his revolt under the veil of humility. Where is pride if not in that attitude of a feeble and sinful being who says, Let others call upon Thee; I can do without Thee?
2. Our modern stoics accuse us of obeying an interested sentiment. To hear them, man ought never to seek his own good. He ought to obey duty–that is all. But we may well remark that the gospel has said all that with an incomparable power. Never has the mercenary spirit been more mercilessly condemned than by Jesus Christ. But because I ought to serve God without calculation, does it follow that I ought to reject, in the name of my dignity, that Providence which makes all things work together for my good? No, certainly, for that would be to lie to my nature.
3. Why pretend that God occupies Himself with each of His creatures, since He governs the world by invariable laws? So then, in a well-ordered state, because the sovereign has made and observes the laws, he cannot testify his benevolence to any of his subjects, and the order which he has made to prevail will hinder him from ever manifesting his love. To be logical, we must go further, and say that God is chained by the laws, He has made, that there is no other God than those laws, and return to the inexorable fatality of the heathen.
4. Appeal is made to experience. Are you spared more than others, you who pray? And when you would escape from the evils which threaten you, are you not, like us, obliged to resort to the human means which experience points out? But have the objectors reflected that they confound the good of believers with their visible happiness, a confusion which the Bible never makes? Distinguish those two things, and light already begins to come. What God calls our good is not what we call our happiness. Happiness for us is success, health, glory, fortune, the affection of mankind, pleasure; in the sight of God the good for us is holiness, is salvation. God does not to-day attach happiness to faith, and success to piety; if He did so, we should obey Him in order to be happy, and God would be served only by mercenaries. But it is true only in appearance that all men suffer alike. Question believers, and they will tell you that in the severest trials they have discovered signs of the Divine goodness, Now, even when outwardly all seems to be identical in the life of him who loves God and of him who does not, we must admit that events will work upon men according to the mind with which they are accepted. Behold in nature those forces which frighten us by their power of destructiveness. In the plant, beneath a lovely flower, is a subtle poison; in the atmosphere is the hurricane and the electricity. Put the savage in presence of those forces, he will find only suffering and death. But the scientist extracts that poison, and finds in it a remedy for his ills; to the breath of the wind he spreads the sails of his mills or of his ships; he lays hold of the lightning, and upon an imperceptible thread cast into the depths of the ocean he commands it to carry his thoughts to the ends of the world. Well, this is a faithful picture of the manner in which the believing soul can turn to his good all the events of life, all the evils which overwhelm it. Here is failure, mourning, suffering alighting on a Christian soul. Well, you will see that soul seizing those terrible forces which might crush it under their strokes, humbling itself, praying, blessing, and drawing from what might be its death the secret of true greatness, of spiritual triumph and of holiness. (E. Bersier, D.D.)
The Christian conception of the universe
I. The universal law–all things work. Work is not blind and aimless labour, but power directed by knowledge to the attainment of some definite end. There is a prodigious amount of energy in operation which has the appearance of agitation only, without plan or project. But there is an unseen and beneficent Hand that wields and fashions the issues of all.
1. The inanimate creation is not exempted from the law of work. The viewless gases are never idle; the particles of dust beneath our feet have run successive careers of varied labour; the world itself is a colossal work, and its motion is a ceaseless flight. The sun never halts, every star is crowned for illustrious toil, and every atom as certainly shares the common lot.
2. In the lowest levels of animated existence there are the tokens of work. Life reveals itself in activity. The springing grass, the rising corn, the budding forest, are models of industry.
3. Work pervades the human and animal economy. A single drop Of water is an ocean capable of holding millions of inhabitants; a vegetable crevice of like dimensions is a populous world. Vast masses of rock are the tombs of microscopic animalcules in countless myriads that toiled in bygone time. What million-fold animation gleams and murmurs in the summer air! What vital energies centre in man! Every particle in his body is a separate worker. Work is demanded of every one who approaches the path of progress. Even sin is evil work, and death is the wages of its ill desert.
4. Angels and demons work. Little is said of angels, but names are applied to them taken from our highest ideas of might and dignity (Col 1:16). For what are they raised to this height? Are they not all ministering spirits? Angels which have forfeited celestial splendour retain all their native might, and exert it to the full (Eph 6:12; 1Pe 5:8).
5. The Godhead works (Joh 5:17; 2Co 3:8). The whole scheme of nature is the works of God. God never leaves off working (Isa 40:28). Virtue never ceases to go out of Him.
II. The universal method–all things work together. What unlike things subsist in the realm of creation! How difficult to imagine their concordant activity! Each wheel in the subtle and complicated mechanism revolves on its separate axle, yet all are cogged in some transcendent unity, and move towards one common and sublime destination.
1. The inferior objects of nature work together. Gases are rarely found alone. Their native affinities present them in combination. Matter does not exist in ultimate granules, but in cohering masses. World balances world. The star shining far away is working with every grain of sand upon our shores. The fragile insect, a mere speck of animated light, pipes its feeble song in harmony with the music of the spheres, and poises its wings of gauze for flight in consonance with the universal law and order of the great creation.
2. Men work together. All that we mean by civilisation is due to this. Multitudes, without knowing it, think the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle, Bacon and Newton. It is the same in the moral sphere. Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Paul, and John operate upon us every moment. Why are we here to-day? Because Jesus died eighteen hundred years ago! How the remote ages work together! So is it in evil. Notwithstanding the lapse of all the centuries the hand of Adam is on us still.
3. Men work together with nature. The two were made for each other. There is nothing that does not co-operate with our intelligence and taste. A star that shone millions of years ago, and many millions of miles away, blends with my reason, and nourishes my sensibility. The venerable geological records are among the most influential facts of our life.
4. Men and angels work together, They are our fellow-servants, and are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. We pray daily to be lifted nearer to their ministry (Mat 6:10). With the fallen hosts men labour and combine. Whoever is disloyal to the Great King belongs to the ranks of the wicked one.
5. Men work together with God. That the righteous do so needs no proof. But what of the wicked? In all their evil He interworks and counterworks, and causes their wrath to praise Him (Psa 76:10). Pharaoh refused to work with God, but his wilful hardness of heart exhibited the Divine power and glory. Balaam would not work with God, but his very sins became the executors of the Divine righteousness. Herod, Pilate, etc., resolved not to work with God, yet they did whatsoever Gods hand and counsel determined before to be done.
6. All things, principles, and beings work together, and God moves amidst and works through them all.
III. The universal destination–to them that love God.
1. Why to them that love God? Not to love God, who is the centre and source of all Divine moral loveliness, is to be incapable of good.
2. All for good. The whole material system is a ministry for good to you. A Fathers tenderness shines down from every star, and smiles from every common flower. All the ages are linked together, and men of all time take hands to bless thee. For good to you Egypt reared its pyramids and Nineveh its palaces, Phoenicia traded, Greece speculated, and Rome conquered. For good to you Adam fell, Abraham believed, David sung, Isaiah soared, Jesus wept, agonised, and died. Are you not constrained to read all your own life with the same clue to its meaning? How all the course of your past life, without your design, has conspired to fit you to bear the burden and fulfil the vocation of this present hour! At an early stage of your course, it may be, you encountered a bitter disappointment. But you have long since seen that the discipline was necessary. You remember a time when you lay low. But you have many a time confessed, It is good for me that I have been afflicted. You have sad and sorrowful bereavements in your recollection. But you have not a sensibility at the present hour that death has not softened, and the clouds, so black at noon, now your sun is setting, are bathed in rosy light on the calm horizon of the better land. Are you crushed by some recent grief? Be patient, and good shall not fail to be worked. And what shall we say of your mistakes, follies, and sins? Peter arrived at courage through cowardice, and attained to fortitude through failure. While the world, the flesh, and the devil tempt, the Father sympathises, the Lord Jesus intercedes, the Holy Spirit waits to guide into all the truth, angels minister, and all things work together for good.
Conclusion:
1. If this be so, what should be our great concern? Manifestly, to love God.
2. The love of God in the heart is the secret of all spiritual rest and peace.
3. All things work together for ill to them that love not God. That the stars in their courses fought against Sisera is the symbol of a universe in league against the sinner. (H. Batchelor.)
All things working together for good
I. The character. It consists of two particulars.
1. The person loves God. And, that we may arrive satisfactorily at this conclusion, let us go by several successive steps.
(1) First, am I sure that I do not hate Him? The carnal mind is enmity against God.
(2) Do I think of God? Have I satisfaction in thinking of Him?
(3) Have you received Christ and the reconciliation and peace which are by Him? No man cometh to the Father but by Christ. Are you a suppliant for mercy, peace, and eternal life, through Christ Jesus? If so, you are a lover of God. I suppose the love of God to consist in these simple elements–
(a) First, delight in His excellence, complacency in His perfec-lions, mental apprehension of His surpassing and uncreated loveliness.
(b) The second element is goodwill to God, and to His plans and purposes; consciousness of an interest in them, and admiration of their wisdom, holiness, and power.
(c) There will be gratitude for the benefits we have received.
(d) Love to God supposes resignation to His will, and acquiescence in its decisions, without resentment or murmuring.
2. The next point is, the calling according to Gods purpose. Let us not forget that the purpose is not by reason of the love in us, but that the love is in us by reason of the purpose. It is this antecedent purpose which is the cause of our love. Therefore give diligence to make your calling and election sure.
II. The privilege. To these persons all things shall work together for good.
1. We take first, all Divine perfections; all the attributes and prerogatives of Gods nature. For who, I pray you, is the greatest worker in this universe? My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
2. There is, secondly, the course and constitution of natural things, as they subsist around us in their harmony and concurrence of operation. Seedtime and harvest, day and night, summer and winter, do not fail. Surely this is not mainly and chiefly that lions may roar, horses be fed, insects creep, and eagles soar. All these things are subordinate; the higher purpose is the preservation and happiness of man. And we further inquire, what man or what men? The primary and the higher purpose is, that the just may live; that their excellencies may be revealed, and their character consummated; that the love of God may shine in them; and that they may accomplish the great end of their being, which is, to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
3. All the means of grace work for their good.
4. Fourthly and mainly; all the dispensations of providence are intended to work for good. It is for good. Did you ever read the maxim, I had perished if I had not perished? That is, I had been lost as to my soul, if I had not lost my estate. The affliction may be nearer. It may touch the bone and the flesh. There may be strong pain, or fever, or need of surgical operation. Must we say, It is for good? If we love God, it is for good. All the countless strokes of the chisel on the block of marble contribute to form the statue which almost breathes. The printing-press is filled with all its types; and forth comes the paper without a word deficient. All the medicines are mixed by the science of the physician; and from the mixture the healing result is realised. All the reapers in the field assist to bring the harvest home. And after the same manner as these emblems and illustrations represent, all things in Providence concur for the final salvation of those who love God, and are the called according to His purpose.
III. The certainty of all this. We know. St. Paul knew it by inspiration. The rabbins tell us concerning a certain Jew, that, whenever a calamity occurred, he was accustomed to say, This also is good; and they changed the mans name from Nahum to Gamzu, which means in Hebrew, This also. Blessed is that man in whose mind this principle is fixed, in all its light, and power, and consolation: come what will, it is good, for I am a lover of God, and called according to His purpose. (J. Stratten.)
Divine providence
I. God deals with His children after a fixed and definite plan. Were a person altogether unacquainted with architecture to visit some splendid temple in the process of erection, and observe the huge, rough stones, and hoards, and timbers, iron-castings, bricks, lime, mortar, lying scattered in confusion all around: were he to see one group of workmen cutting up material here, another digging trenches there, he might truly say that he could see no plan or system in the business. But let the observer set himself to watch from day to day the busy work as it goes on; let him patiently examine, not only the minutest details, but also try to obtain a view of the general scope of the whole, and he will not be long in finding out that some superior mind regulates all, and that every stroke of every workman is conducive to the same ultimate effect. God is building up the Christian in accordance with a perfect plan into a majestic temple for the decoration of the eternal city.
II. God not only carries on His great designs by a pre-established plan; but the very minutest concerns of human life are also comprehended in it. The piercing eye of God strikes through the deepest shades of night and sees with keenest sense each individual atom which makes up this grand, material universe. He perceives and clearly understands the constitution, use and properties, the bearing and the end of every organ, system, instrument, which forms this wide, mysterious world of animated nature that surrounds us. A single spark of fire may sink a city into ruins and seal the destiny of an empire; and so in Gods moral government the greatest and remotest ends are often brought about by the minutest means conceivable; a word, a silent thought, has saved a soul; and through that soul, ten thousand other souls, from rain. The combination of the elements is as perfect in a particle of water as in a diamond. Is not the plan of God as visible in the one as in the other?
III. But God has a plan; that plan extends to the minutest circumstances in the Christians life; and by that plan God makes everything work together for His good! Do you tell me God never bends the laws of nature to save or favour those that love Him? I admit it. But He brings those that love Him into such relation to the laws that they turn, as ten thousand rays of light from objects round you to the pupil of your eye, unto his benefit. A ray of light is bent by the same angle for the Christian as the sinner; but the difference is this: the one sees God in it, the other sees himself, or nothing in it. The Christians heart is a golden bowl turned up towards heaven, and into it God is ever pouring benefactions. The Christian does not always think them so; but in they come, pure benefactions.
1. Then let me say, if God be working so for us, we ought not to be too solicitous about results. God is working ever us; let us leave the consequence to Him.
2. Let us also suppress our murmurings at the allotments of Providence. If God is guided by a plan; if that plan reaches down to the minutest details of daily life, what need have we to murmur.
3. And if all things are working together for our good, what reason have we to envy the wicked in their riches and prosperity? If a man be standing firmly on a rivers bank and sees another gliding gaily but inevitably down to a tremendous precipice below, shall he be envious of the pleasant sail that intervenes before the dread catastrophe?
4. And if all things be working together for good, let us cast away our fears and press onward.
5. But while all things work together for good to those that love the Lord, we are told upon the same authority, the way of the ungodly shall perish! (Elias Nason.)
The Christians delivery from the tyranny of circumstance
I. There is a side on which this statement is unlimited. All things work for our good. The apostle, in this tremendously sweeping statement, is speaking about things external to us, and not what transpires within a mans own breast. Augustine, commenting on this passage, included under it even sin itself. His own experience helped him to see that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. What Paul does say, however, is that everything external to us is working for our good. The stars in their courses fight for the Israel of God. A Pagan view of life would tell us that we are placed in a world where law and necessity reign. Stern, hard-and-fast laws, like a huge machine, are grinding out their unalterable decrees. They may work out ill, but all we can do is to resign ourselves to the inevitable. That is not the Christian view of Gods creation. One of the laws of God, one of the things that on this earth very nearly constitute a necessity, is–If man does not work, neither shall he eat. Men have often fretted at such a law. The Christian accepts this law, and acknowledges that Gods law of work is part of the great discipline of life. He would not have it otherwise, even though he could. It may need an exercise of faith to see that all these laws, which we call laws of nature, are working for our good; that the universe, with its great forces; the earth, with its lightnings; the sea, with its storms and shipwrecks, can do us no harm. Yet, when once we get a Christian view of the world, that is a certainty. These laws constitute the will of our heavenly Father. Let us now take a step further. Christ has helped us to see even in adversity a power working for good. Lastly, we may say that that which has been reckoned the great enemy of man–Death itself–is among the things that work together for good to them that love God. It is death that does for us the great service of perfecting our life. This Christian reading of life has been the death of death. Are we not now in a position to answer the question–Do all things work for our good? If our life is set upon mere physical happiness, then all things do not work for what we think our good. That is not the good for which things are working, But if we go deeper, and interpret by the good, the larger life, the maturer spirit, the holier existence, then there is a conspiracy in all things without to help us.
II. There is an aspect is which this statement is limited. It is limited as regards persons–to them that love God. Is there any need why this broad and general statement of Pauls should have any limitations whatsoever? Could we not say in the fullest sense that all things are working for good to all the children of men. There is nothing vindictive in God. He maketh His sun, etc. God is no respecter of persons. Are not My ways equal, saith the Lord. May not the explanation of the mighty difference in Gods providence to those who love Him lie within the heart and not without? The laws of the Infinite are abiding and eternal. The manner in which they fall upon different men lies with the individual soul. The laws of Gods universe are such that if a man is out of sympathy with God, all things seem to work against him. The further he is away from God, the more he is made to suffer. The selfish man who has been all his life long absorbed in schemes of self-aggrandisement; who has trampled on the rights of others, and been careless of their feelings, is at last met by such a body of adverse opinion that he is crushed. He set himself against Gods law of true usefulness, and so in trying to save his life he loses it. A good sailor, with his hand on the helm, can pilot his little boat amid rough waters, and never ship a sea. The man who has no skill or knowledge has his boat struck by every wave, and ships sea after sea, until at last he suffers shipwreck. So do men by unwisdom, amid favourable enough conditions, make shipwreck of their souls. On the other hand, if we hearken to God, all Gods creation will hearken to us. If we love God, we are in harmony with the whole working of Gods universe. For the earth is the Lords, and the fulness thereof. It is a hopeless struggle to fight against God, and the man who is on the side of the Almighty is not engaged in it. (D. Woodside, B.D.)
In what respects afflictions are for our advantage
I. The sufferings of those who love God have of themselves a proper tendency to promote their spiritual and supreme good, I shall consider the tendency which the sufferings of those that love God have to promote their true interest, in the following respects.
1. As they are proper to make us reflect on our past conduct.
2. To humble our pride and vanity,
3. To make us more sensible of our dependence on God.
4. To discover to us the sincerity of our love to God, and–
5. To raise our thoughts to the contemplation of a future and more perfect state of happiness.
II. God is pleased to further this natural tendency of them by special acts of His providence and grace.
1. Our afflictions not springing out of the dust, but coming from the hand of God, and being wisely designed by Him for some good end to us, we may comfortably assure ourselves that He will wisely dispose all events in such manner as may most effectually conduce to that end.
2. When He appoints us to the combat, He proportions His assistance to the nature and difficulties of the service: He does not leave us to fight it out with our own forces. God, therefore, who knows the frailty of our nature, is always pleased to send His staff with His rod, and to grant us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers and carry us through all adversities.
Conclusion:
1. If afflictions have both in their own nature a tendency to promote our good, and be designed by God to this end, then we have great reason to be patient and resigned under them. As in other cases, the prospect of any great and certain advantage will make us cheerfully undergo many difficulties, and even expose ourselves to many visible and imminent dangers.
2. If God design afflictions for our good, then if we would not oppress or frustrate His design in them, we must endeavour to profit by them; for, like all other means of piety, they do not operate of themselves to our advantage without our own concurrence.
3. If afflictions have so proper a tendency to promote our spiritual good, it will concern us by reasonable acts of mortification and self-denial frequently to afflict ourselves.
4. If God means afflictions to us for good, under which I all along comprehend disappointments, then there is no forming any certain judgment of the wisdom or folly, of the virtuous or vicious state of men, from all that goes before them. I do not say that the weak reasons of a mans conduct never appear to us in his disappointments, for they often do; but we must see at the same time very particularly what way he took, what circumstances he was in, and upon what motives he acted. For it sometimes happens that a man is obliged in reason and justice to do those things which appear to others the most unreasonable. If there be any true judgment to be made of men, with respect to their spiritual condition, from their circumstances of life, we ought rather to judge in favour of the afflicted and unhappy, for there are several things spoken very much to their advantage in Scripture. (R. Fiddes, D.D.)
The operations of Divine Providence
are–
I. Unlimited in their sweep. All things. This is a bold assertion. We can understand how many things work together for good. Critical epochs in the worlds history, important reforms in national life, occasional afflictions in the domestic circle, but are there not innumerable petty details in life that are beneath Gods notice? No; all things, near and remote, great and small; all substances necessary for the growth of the body, all forces necessary for the development of the mind, all influences necessary for the perfection of our spiritual nature.
1. All the provisions of nature are destined for the good of Gods children. God made the world for our abode, and furnished it for our accommodation. For us the sun shines, the wind blows, the birds carol.
2. All the provisions of grace. The Sabbath, the sanctuary, the Scriptures. God the Father, who created us, watches over our steps; God the Son, who redeemed us, lives to intercede for us; God the Holy Ghost, who dwells with us, enlightens and sanctifies us.
II. Harmonious in their design. Work together.
1. Changes in the history of nations work together for good. The devout student has no difficulty in recognising the hand of God in the past. He regards the bondage of Israel, the crucifixion of Christ, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the dark periods of the worlds history as necessary links in the chain of Gods providential dealings. The future is as surely in Gods hand as the past. Light shall triumph over darkness, and good over evil. Gods hand is upon the wheel of providence; and when His work is complete, we shall say, He hath done all things well.
2. Changes in the history of individuals. There is a special as well as a general supervision of human affairs. Look at the life of Moses, and Joseph, and David. Little events are the hinges upon which great events turn. The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.
III. Benevolent in their aim. For good, not for our prosperity. Prosperity may, or may not, be a good thing. Not for our happiness. Happiness is not the highest attainment in the Christian life. Gods aim is the perfection of our spiritual nature. The discipline through which God leads us may be dark and inexplicable, but it is always for the best. As winter prepares the way for spring, and spring opens the door for summer, and summer ripens the golden harvest, so the darkest and most trying dispensations of Gods providence are working together for good to them that love God.
1. Sickness is often designed for our good. The mind may become dark, and need enlightening; the heart hard, and need softening; the life barren, and need pruning.
2. Bereavement. It is good for those who are taken to be present with the Lord. It is good for those who remain if it solemnises their thoughts and sanctifies their soul. God will be a friend to the friendless, and a husband to the widow.
IV. Discriminating in their application. The promise is not to the wise, or the strong, or the courageous, but to them that love God. Providence is for the righteous; it is against the wicked. Love manifests itself–
1. In practical service. The loving heart makes the diligent hand.
2. In a submissive spirit. When adversity comes, a man who loves God says, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, etc. When affliction overtakes him, he says, I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. When persecution arises, he says, Not my will, but Thine be done. The more perfectly we know God, the more implicitly we shall trust Him. God is wise, and cannot err; He is good, and will not.
V. Manifest in their results. The apostle does not say, I hope, or I think, but we know. This assurance is in perfect harmony–
1. With the promises of Gods Word. David says, No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. Moses says, And as thy day, so shall thy strength be. Christ says, Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end. God says, My grace is sufficient for thee.
2. With the experiences of Gods children. It was a dark day in the experience of Moses when his mother could no longer hide him; but God watched over him, and preserved him from harm. It was a dark day in the experience of Joseph when his brethren east him into a pit; but God was with Joseph, and led him from prison to a throne. It was a dark day in the experience of the disciples when Christ was crucified; but His sufferings were the purchase of their salvation. (J. T. Woodhouse.)
Christian security
In this world of doubt and conjecture it is refreshing to find a man who declares that he knows what he says is true. Stilt more refreshing to find that what he says he knows is just that about which we have been much in doubt. From the text I learn that all things act–
I. Energetically. They work.From this our word energy is derived. Used here to denote the most intense, tireless activity. The universe is all alive under the Divine hand.
II. Harmoniously. They work together. In the mechanism of Divine providence there are no loose pullies on which idle belts career. All thinks work, not frictionally, or at random, but together. We see that things work, but we cannot see how they work together. How could we see so much?
III. Beneficently. For good. They all play into one grand purpose–for good, literally into good. In the light of this text the Christian loses his insignificance, and looms up before us in an attitude of importance and grandeur. God, not man, is to decide what this good is to be. Spiritually considered, when we talk about profit and loss, success or failure, very often we know not what we say. We are like children prattling about the affairs of nations. We may spell a word defeat, but God may pronounce it victory. We may pronounce a word gain, but God may call it loss. Men are sometimes congratulated when they ought to be pitied, and the reverse.
IV. Specifically–to them that love God. Those who do not love God have no right to its blessed comfort. To remain in sin is to antagonise the arrangements of infinite beneficence, and means danger, and folly, and suicide, and damnation. The great question that shall shape your eternity and mine is, Do we love God? We must not forget that the Holy Ghost gives us the tense of this verb, work. The text does not say all things will, or may, work for good; but all things are now working for good. To honour God and be strong, our love also must be in the present tense. (T. Kelly.)
The purpose of Gods afflictive providences
I once went with my brother to extract a crystal from the rock. With a mighty sledge-hammer he vigorously dealt blow after blow upon the rock, and chipped off piece after piece. At last the top of the crystal appeared. Then one might see what he was after, for it had not shown upon the outer surface of the rock. When the crystal appeared, then the whole strife became how so to break the rock away from it, and how so to strike the rock as to extract the crystal. The rock was good for nothing; the crystal was everything. The soul is mans crystal, and the body is but the incasing rock that holds it. Gods providences are omiting upon the rock, and breaking and cutting it away, and extracting the precious crystal, which is worth incomparably more than its setting in the rock. I stood once in Paris, where the stone is soft, and where the building blocks are cut, not on the ground, but in their places on the tops of the doors, and about the windows; and I saw the chiselling done. I saw the work going forward on some of the public buildings, where lions, and eagles, and wreaths of flowers were being carved. Men stood with little chisels and mallets, cutting, and cutting, and cutting the stone, here and there. Suppose one of these blocks of stone, when it first mounts into its place, is told that it is to be a royal lion, and it is to decorate a magnificent structure. The workman commences, and after working one day the head is rudely shaped, but you can barely tell what it is. The next day he brings out one ear. The third day he opens one eye. And so, day after day, some new part is added. The stone complains, and asks if the operation is to be an everlasting one; but the work goes on. And you cannot get anything out of stone except by myriads of blows continued until the work is done. I hear people say, Why am I afflicted? For your good. How long shall I be afflicted? Until you cease to ask how long. Until Gods work is done in you. God will go on chiselling as long as it is necessary, in order to elaborate first one feature and then another, and then another. The work ought to go on until it is completed. And every true heart ought to say, Lord, do not stay Thy hand; cut away until I am brought out into the fair lines and lineaments of the image of God. Troubles and afflictions and blows that are sent are useless unless they make you patient to your fellows and submissive to your lot. But rest assured that if you love God all things will work together for your good. And now join and work with them. Help God to work for you.
The security of believers
The argument for this is fivefold.
I. The Divine supremacy.
1. This co-operation among all things for the believers good is not the result of the conscious aim of the things themselves, but by virtue of an extrinsic force.
2. This force, which makes all things work together, must be a supreme force.
3. This supreme force is God.
(1) Because He alone is supreme.
(2) Because the controlling power is exercised in behalf of the objects of His love, who also are His called ones.
(a) To love God is the only true evidence of being His called ones.
(b) To be His called ones is to secure the co-operation of all things for our good.
II. The Divine purpose (verses 29-31).
1. This foreknowledge is more than prescience; it implies personal, loving approval.
(1) Otherwise there could be no discrimination, for God is prescient, knows, intellectually, all.
(2) Otherwise Universalism has in these words the strongest possible foundation.
(3) The conditions of this Divine approval must be conceived of in harmony with the nature of Him who does the approving.
(4) Being the moral approval of One who is holy and just, as well as loving, and who has predestined salvation only through the death and resurrection of His Son, it is easy to understand the plan of electing grace.
2. Far-reaching and all-loving purpose for the highest good of believers.
(1) The ineffable good of conformity to the image of Gods Son.
(2) Of contributing by Divine grace to the glory of Christ.
(3) Of being called by the Holy Spirit, justified by the Father, and glorified with Christ for ever.
3. The good of a righteousness unchallengeable to all eternity (verse 31).
III. The Divine sacrifice an argument for the believers security (ver. 32).
1. This form of statement undeniably implies a real sacrifice on the part of the Father in giving up His Son.
2. Such a sacrifice as this implies the withholding of no good from those who accept Christ.
(1) This argument is as self-evident as it is wonderful.
(2) The reality of the substitutionary character of Christs work is unavoidable, according to these words.
IV. Divine election (verses 33, 34).
1. The elect of God are His justified ones (ver. 33).
(1) The condition of justification and prerogatives of the justified are laid down in many parts of Scripture.
(a) Condition of justification (Rom 5:1; Gal 2:16).
(b) Prerogatives of the justified–peace, blessedness, pardonse salvation (Rom 5:1; Rom 4:6-8).
2. Divine justification rests on a solid foundation.
(1) Death, resurrection, session at Gods right hand, and intercession of Christ (vers34).
3. The security of the justified believer is as safe as the foundation on which it rests (verses 33, 34).
V. The enduring nature of the Divine love.
1. The love here mentioned is the Divine love (verses 35-39).
2. Consider the list of forces which seek to wrest the believer from its gracious grasp (verses 35-39).
3. The sublime assurance of the apostle (verses 38, 39).
(1) The foundation of the assurance–the Lord Jesus.
(2) Its far-reaching character–Nor things to come.
Conclusion: Let us never forget–
1. The glorious assurance of the Holy Spirit of promise (verse 28).
2. The glorious purpose for which believers are called–To be conformed to the image of His Son. Everything contrary to holiness in the life of the believer is a frustration of the Divine purpose.
3. Let us never forget the unchangeableness of Gods love. (D. C. Hughes, A.M.)
The true Christians blessedness
We have here–
I. The description of a true Christian, and a declaration of His blessedness.
1. Them that love God. Now, there are many things in which the worldly and the godly do agree; but on this point there is a vital difference. No ungodly man loves God in the Bible sense of the term. An unconverted man may love a God, as, for instance, the God of nature, and the God of the imagination; but the God of revelation no man can love, unless grace turn him from his natural enmity towards God. And there may be many differences between godly men; they may belong to different sects, hold very opposite opinions, but all agree in this, that they love God.
(1) As their Father; they have the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry Abba Father.
(2) As their King; they are willing to obey Him.
(3) As their Portion, for God is their all.
(4) As their future inheritance.
2. The called according to His purpose, by which He means, that all who love God love Him–
(1) Because He called them to love Him. All men are called by the ministry, by the Word, by daily providence, to love God; the great bell of the gospel rings a universal welcome to every living soul, yet there was never an instance of any man having been brought to God simply by that sound.
(2) Because they have had a supernatural call.
II. Take the words one by one.
1. Work. Look around, above, beneath, and all things work–
(1) In opposition to idleness. The idle man is an exception to Gods rule. There is not a star which doth not travel its myriads of miles and work. There is not a silent nook within the deepest forest glade where work is not going on. Nothing is idle. The world is a great machine, but it is never standing still.
(2) In opposition to play. They are ceaselessly active for a purpose. The world hath an object in its wildest movement. Avalanche, hurricane, earthquake, are but order in an unusual form; destruction and death are but progress in veiled attire. The great machine is not only in motion, but there is something weaving in it, viz., good for Gods people.
(3) In opposition to Sabbath. Since the day when Adam fell all things have had to labour. Let us not wonder if we have to work too. If all things are working, let us work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no man can work.
2. Together.
(1) In opposition to their apparent confliction. Looking with the mere eye of sense, we say, Yes, all things work, but they work contrary to one another. The world is always active, but it is with the activity of the battle-field. Be not deceived. There is no opposition in Gods providence; the raven-wing of war is co-worker with the dove of peace. The tempest strives not with the peaceful calm–they work together. Look at our history. The strifes of barons and kings might have been thought to be likely to tread out the last spark of British liberty; but they did rather kindle the pile. The hearings of society, the strife of anarchy, the tumults of war–all these things, overruled by God, have but made the chariot of the Church progress more mightily. The charioteers of the Roman circus might with much cleverness and art, with glowing wheels, avoid each other; but God guides the fiery coursers of mans passion, yokes the storm, bits the tempest, and keeping each clear of the other from seeming evil still enduceth good, and better still; and better still in infinite progression.
(2) None of them work separately. The physician prescribes medicine; you go to the chemist, and he makes it up; there is something taken from this drawer, something from that phial, something from that shelf: any one of those ingredients, it is very possible, would be a deadly poison if you should take it separately; but he puts them into the mortar, and when he has worked them all up, and has made a compound, he gives them all to you as a whole, and together they work for your good. Too much joy would intoxicate us, too much misery would drive us to despair: but the joy and the misery, the battle and the victory, the storm and the calm, all these compounded make that sacred elixir whereby God maketh all His people perfect.
3. For good.
(1) There is the worldlings good, the good of the moment. Now God has never promised that all things shall work together for such good as that to His people. Expect not that all things will work together to make thee rich; it is just possible they may all work to make thee poor.
(2) The Christian understands by the word spiritual good. Ah! saith he, I do not call gold good, but faith! I do not think it always for my good to increase in treasure, but I know it is good to grow in grace.
(3) Good eternal. All work to bring the Christian to Paradise
(4) Sometimes all things work together for the Christians temporal good, as in the case of Jacob.
4. I return to the word work–to notice the tense of it. It does not say that they shall work, or that they have worked; both of these are implied, but that they do work now. I find it easy to believe that all things have worked together for my good. I can look back at the past, and wonder at all the way whereby the Lord hath led me. And I have an equal faith for the future, that all things will in the end work for good. The pinch of faith always lies in the present tense. However troubled, downcast, depressed, and despairing the Christian may be, all things are working now for his good.
5. Paul does not say, I am persuaded; I believe; but We (I have many witnesses) know. The apostle lifts his hand to where the white-robed hosts are praising God for ever. These, says he, passed through great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb: ask them! And with united breath they reply, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. He puts his hand upon his poor distressed brethren–he looks at his companions and he says, We! We know it. Not only does faith believe it, but our own history convinces us of the truth of it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The blessedness of believers
This text is a tonic. It is clear mountain air. Protracted conflicts with self, Satan, the world, adversities and sorrows, often leave us discouraged. Then we need this invigorating truth. It changes the aspect of every conflict of life. We shall not be injured, but benefited; shall not lose, but gain; shall not be defeated, but conquer. This conviction inspires courage, kindles enthusiasm, and girds with strength.
I. The promise is only to them that love God.
1. Obedience is the infallible test of this love. To belong to the Church; to be baptized; to be confirmed; to say prayers, is no proof that we love God, unless we keep His commandments; and those who do keep the commandments are known by their fruits. It is not doubtful what the trees are when they are in blossom. That pure white blossom is the cherry; that pink and white one is the apple. But when we eat the fruit we know the tree. That peach never grew on a crab-apple. But, granting that we may be mistaken, God infallibly knows them that love Him.
2. This special graciousness to them that love Him is open to all, but a righteous ruler must limit moral benefits to moral obedience. If God made all things work together for good to bad and good alike, there would be no moral principle in His government. Nay! such Divine co-operation would sanction the wickedness of men. His moral government must be consistent with His holiness.
3. As He loves His own eternal purposes of truth and righteousness, He must especially love and honour them who are fulfilling those holy purposes. God simply assures His obedient children that their obedience shall have its reward. Providence is in league with holiness.
II. Mark the wealth of the promise: All things.
1. Light is beautiful, but light alone cannot form the picture. Shadows must lie there–a dark background on which the light can pencil its beauty. God cannot form the beautiful rainbow until He has unbraided a beam of white light into the sevenfold colours of the prism, which borrow from and lend to each other enhancing loveliness. Thus also He knows how to blend the bright and dark things in human life to produce the most holy characters. Be patient and trustful, for He is making you after a beautiful pattern, even the image of the Only Begotten. The cutting and polishing of diamonds is done by friction. God puts His jewels on the friction-wheels only to polish them. He knows how to bring out the beauty of holiness. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. The darkness that comes across our sky is often but the shadow of a great blessing coming from heaven and passing between us and the sun. The thunderbolt that prostrates some sheltering tree lets heaven shine on a spot of earth where it never shone before. The banishment of John to Patrons seemed cruelty; but when there God revealed to him the visions of the Book of Revelation.
2. There is great force in the original verb, work together. I once visited a great carpet factory. I saw the wool seized by iron teeth, combed and carded, pressed under huge iron rollers and condensed into rolls, spun into yarn, dipped here in blue, there in black, yonder in crimson, there in orange, till vast piles of bobbins of every colour of yarn met my eye. But I could not see how these piles of coloured yarns could be woven into a carpet of such exquisite pattern. All seemed confusion and without intelligent design. Then the superintendent took me to the next floor, where he showed me a diagram of perforated cardboards, the exact pattern of the carpet designed–a plan unseen by the weavers below, but a plan connected with the looms and controlling all the shuttles of varied hues, thus guiding the weaving of all the threads into a web of beauty. This world is a vast factory; the events and experiences of life are crude materials seized by the iron teeth of trial, combed and carded, pressed under heavy rollers of sorrow, spun into warp and woof by the whirling spindles of duty, dipped here in the bright dyes of joy and prosperity, there in the dark hues of suffering and affliction. Confusion and mystery seemed everywhere. Then the Master took me up into the sanctuary and showed me the beautiful plan of the text, by which, unseen by the weavers below, the apparently random shuttles of life were weaving all the threads into a glorious robe of righteousness for them that love God.
III. The doctrine is not a pleasing fancy, a beautiful dream, but a glorious certainty: For we know. How?
1. We know the fact (not the philosophy) because it is the declared purpose and promise of God. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but not one syllable of His Word shall fail.
2. By the experience of them that love God. The breaking up of the family circle on earth has often been the means of re-uniting all the loved ones in heaven. The treachery of earthly friends has often driven us to closer communion with the faithful and true Friend in heaven. The wreck of mortal hopes has often enriched our immortal hopes. The vanity of this world has led us to seek more earnestly the solid realities of the world to come.
3. By the recorded testimony of good men. Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy word. Take the experience of Paul in this chapter. (J. O. Peck, D.D.)
The great dome of Gods providence
In the baptistery of the cathedral at Pisa is a wonderful dome. Spacious, symmetrical, composed of the choicest marble, it is a delight to stand beneath and gaze upon its beauties. Thus I stood one sunny April day, when suddenly the air became instinct with melody. The great dome seemed full of harmony. The waves of music vibrated to and fro, loudly beating against the walls, swelling into full chords like the roll of a grand organ, and then dying away into soft, long-drawn, far-receding echoes, melting in the distance into silence. It was only my guide, who, lingering behind me a moment, had softly murmured a triple chord. But beneath that magic roof every sound resolved into a symphony. No discord can reach the summit of that dome and live. Every noise made in the building, the slamming of the seats, the tramping of feet, all the murmur and bustle of the crowd, are caught up, softened, harmonised, blended and echoed back in music. So it seems to me that over our life hangs the great dome of Gods providence. Standing as we do, beneath it, no act in the Divine administration towards us, no affliction, no grief, no loss which our heavenly Father sends, however hard to bear it may be, but will come back at last softened and blended into harmony, with the overarching dome of His wisdom, mercy, and power, till to our corrected sense it shall be the sweetest music of heaven. (J. D. Steele.)
The seasons of our education
We cannot skip the seasons of our education. We cannot hasten the ripeness and the sweetness of a single day, nor dispense with one nights nipping frost, nor one weeks blighting east wind. (F. W. Robertson.)
The guidance of our Pilot
A landsman at sea understands little how a vessel is worked; he sees her often heading almost back from her course, making strange and contrary traverses–sometimes stripped of her canvas when to him all seems fair; sometimes strong sails set upon her when the storm is driving fiercely; yet he trusts in the presiding skill, nor would he dare to give, much less countermand, an order; for in the extremity of his own ignorance he has the comfort of knowing that the pilot knows. So, in the hour of gloom, let us trust in God, for to Him the night shineth as the day; and what to us appears adverse, to Him is the guidance of our prosperity.
All things for good
Only a few years afterwards, Jeremiah was reduced to comparative poverty. The bulk of his property had been invested in the stock of the bank, which failed, unable to pay a shilling in the pound. Thus compelled to dispose of his expensive establishment, change his style of living altogether, and, with his wife and four children, take to short commons, his spirits did not desert him. Said Jerry, Never mind!–two words which he never failed to throw at the teeth of every mishap he encountered. Never mind! I like variety. I am tired of riding in a carriage; I once broke my leg in one. Walking is an exercise that I need very much. Come, come, this is not so bad an affair after all. It will test the value of my friends. Besides, now I can earn the bread we eat. Ah! it will be a labour of love, and that enriches the soul! I can almost say I am glad this accident has happened; I can indeed! (E. Paxton Hood.)
Mans mistakes rectified by God
I sometimes think of it as of a child sitting in a boat. The child does not know the coast, and it very little understands how to row. If the child were left to itself, pulling upon the oars, its right hand being a little stronger than the other, it would be all the time veering the boat to the right, and the boat would be constantly turning round and round. The child would, perhaps, make its way out of the harbour and into the ocean, and be carried away and lost, if there were no guiding power in the boat but its own. But there in the stern sits the father. The uneven strokes of the child would carry the boat this way or that out of its course; but the steady hand of the father overcomes those uneven strokes; and all the mistakes with the oars are rectified by the rudder, and the boat keeps its right course. So that the force exerted by the child, though misdirected, all works for good when the father guides. (H. W. Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God] To understand this verse aright, let us observe:
1. That the persons in whose behalf all things work for good are they who love God, and, consequently, who live in the spirit of obedience.
2. It is not said that all things shall work for good, but that , they work now in the behalf of him who loveth now, ; for both verbs are in the present tense.
3. All these things work together; while they are working, God’s providence is working, his Spirit is working, and they are working TOGETHER with him. And whatever troubles, or afflictions, or persecutions may arise, God presses them into their service; and they make a part of the general working, and are caused to contribute to the general good of the person who now loves God, and who is working by faith and love under the influence and operation of the Holy Ghost. They who say sin works for good to them that love God speak blasphemous nonsense. A man who now loves God is not now sinning against God; and the promise belongs only to the present time: and as love is the true incentive to obedience, the man who is entitled to the promise can never, while thus entitled, (loving God,) be found in the commission of sin. But though this be a good general sense for these words, yet the all things mentioned here by the apostle seem more particularly to mean those things mentioned in Ro 8:28-30.
To them who are the called according to his purpose.] Dr. Taylor translates , the invited; and observes that it is a metaphor taken from inviting guests, or making them welcome to a feast. As if he had said: Certainly all things work together for their good; for this reason, because they are called, invited, or made welcome to the blessings of the covenant, (which is ratified in eating of the covenant sacrifice,) according to God’s original purpose first declared to Abraham, Ge 17:4: Thou shalt be a father of many nations-and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, Ge 18:18. Thus this clause is to be understood; and thus it is an argument to prove that all things, how afflictive soever, shall work for our good while we continue to love God. Our being called or invited, according to God’s purpose, proves that all things work for our good, on the supposition that we love God, and not otherwise. For our loving God, or making a due improvement of our calling, is evidently inserted by the apostle to make good his argument. He does not pretend to prove that all things shall concur to the everlasting happiness of all that are called; but only to those of the called who love God. Our calling, thus qualified is the ground of his argument, which he prosecutes and completes in the two next verses. Our calling he takes for granted, as a thing evident and unquestionable among all Christians. But you will say: How is it evident and unquestionable that we are called? I answer: From our being in the visible Church, and professing the faith of the Gospel. For always, in the apostolic writings, all that are in the visible Church, and profess the faith of the Gospel, are numbered among the called or invited; i.e. among the persons who are invited to feast on the covenant sacrifice, and who thus, in reference to themselves, confirm and ratify the covenant. As for what is termed effectual calling, as distinguished from the general invitations of the Gospel, it is a distinction which divines have invented without any warrant from the sacred writings. Our calling, therefore, is considered by the apostle in the nature of a self-evident proposition, which nobody doubts or denies; or which, indeed, no Christian ought to doubt, or can call in question, Taylor’s notes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Another argument to comfort us under the cross, from the benefits of it;
We know that all things, &c. It is not matter of guess only and conjecture, but of certainty and assurance. How is this known?
1. By the testimony of God; the Scripture tells us as much, Psa 128:1,2; Isa 3:10.
2. By our own experience; we are assured of it by the event and effects of all things, both upon ourselves and others.
All things, even sin itself; because from their falls, Gods children arise more humble and careful. Afflictions are chiefly intended; the worst and crossest providences, those things that are evil in themselves, they work for good to the children of God.
Work together; here is their operation, and their co-operation: First, they work together with God. What the apostle says of himself and others in the ministry, 2Co 6:1, that may be said of other things, especially of afflictions; they are workers together with God. Some read the words thus, God co-operates all to good. Again, they work together with us; we ourselves must concur, and be active herein; we must labour and endeavour to get good out of every providence. Once more, they work together amongst themselves, or one with another. Take this or that providence singly, or by itself, and you shall not see the good it doth; but take it in its conjunction and connexion with others, and then you may perceive it. One exemplifies it thus: As in matter of physic, if you take such and such simples alone, they may poison rather than cure; but then take them in their composition, as they are made up by the direction of a skilful physician, and so they prove an excellent medicine.
For good; sometimes for temporal good, Gen 1:20; always for spiritual and eternal good, which is best of all. All occurrences of providence shall serve to bring them nearer to God here, and to heaven hereafter.
According to his purpose: these words are added to show the ground and reason of Gods calling us; which is nothing else but his own purpose and good pleasure; it is not according to our worthiness, but his purpose: see 2Ti 1:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. Andor, “Moreover,”or “Now”; noting a transition to a new particular.
we know, c.The orderin the original is more striking: “We know that to them thatlove God” (compare 1Co 2:9Eph 6:24; Jas 1:12;Jas 2:5) “all things worktogether for good [even] to them who are the called (rather, ‘who arecalled’) according to His (eternal) purpose.” Gloriousassurance! And this, it seems, was a “household word,” a”known” thing, among believers. This working of all thingsfor good is done quite naturally to “them that love God,”because such souls, persuaded that He who gave His own Son for themcannot but mean them well in all His procedure, learn thus to take ingood part whatever He sends them, however trying to flesh and blood:and to them who are the called, according to “His purpose,”all things do in the same intelligible way “work together forgood”; for, even when “He hath His way in the whirlwind,”they see “His chariot paved with love” (So3:10). And knowing that it is in pursuance of an eternal”purpose” of love that they have been “calledinto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ” (1Co1:9), they naturally say within themselves, “It cannot bethat He ‘of whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things,’should suffer that purpose to be thwarted by anything really adverseto us, or that He should not make all things, dark as well as light,crooked as well as straight, to co-operate to the furtherance andfinal completion of His high design.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
<Ver. 28. And we know that all things work together for good,…. There is a temporal good, and a spiritual good, and an eternal one. Temporal good is what the men of the world are seeking after, and generally have the greatest share of, and the saints the least; and yet they have as much as is needful for them, and what they have, they have with a blessing; and even sometimes afflictions work for the temporal good of God’s children: spiritual good lies in a lively exercise of grace and a conformity of the soul to God; and is what the men of the world least regard, and the saints most; and sometimes afflictions issue in this sort of good, as they do also in eternal good, for they work for us an exceeding weight of glory: by “all things” may be meant, all beings good and bad: all good beings eternal or created: eternal, as Jehovah the Father, all his perfections, purposes, promises, provisions, and performances; Jehovah the Son, as the mighty God, and as Mediator, all that he is in himself, all that he has in himself, all that he has done, or is doing, all his titles, characters, and relations; Jehovah the Spirit, in his person, offices, and operations; these all have worked together in the council of peace, in the covenant of grace, and in redemption; and they do work together in sanctification, and so they will in glorification, and that for the good of the saints: all created ones, as good angels, good magistrates, good ministers of the Gospel: all evil beings, as devils, persecuting magistrates, heretics, and false teachers: all things, good and bad: all good things, outward peace and prosperity, external gifts, the ministry of the word, the administration of ordinances, church censures, admonitions, and excommunications; all evil things, sin the evil of evils: original sin, or the fall of Adam, which contains all other sins in it, was attended with aggravating circumstances, and followed with dismal consequences, yet has been overruled for good; hereby a Saviour became necessary, who was sent, came, and wrought out salvation; has brought in a better righteousness than Adam lost; entitled his people to a better life than his was, and makes them partakers of the riches both of grace and glory: actual sin, inward or outward; indwelling sin; which is made use of, when discovered, to abate pride, to lead to an entire dependence on Christ, to teach saints to be less censorious, to depend on the power and grace of God to keep them, and to wean them from this world, and to make them desirous of another, where they shall be free from it; outward sins, of others, or their own; the sins of others, of wicked men, which observed, raise an indignation in the saints against sin, and a concern for God’s glory, and to look into their own hearts and ways, and admire the grace of God to them, that this is not their case; of good men, which are recorded, and may be observed, not for example and encouragement in sin, but for admonition, and to encourage faith and hope under a sense of it; of their own, for humiliation, which issues in weakening the power of sin in themselves, and the strengthening of the graces of others: but from all this it does not follow, that God is the author of sin, only that he overrules it to wise and gracious purposes; nor should any take encouragement to sin, to do evil that good may come; nor is sin itself a real good; nor is it to be said that it does no hurt; for though it cannot hinder the everlasting salvation of God’s people, it does a great deal of hurt to their peace and comfort; and that it is made to work in any form or shape for good, is not owing to its own nature and influence, which is malignant enough, but to the unbounded power and unsearchable wisdom of God: all evils or afflictions, spiritual and temporal, work together for good; all spiritual ones, such as the temptations of Satan, which are made useful for humiliation, for the trial of grace, to show us our weakness, our need of Christ, and to conform us to him, and also to excite to prayer and watchfulness; the hidings of God’s face, which make his presence the more prized when enjoyed, and the more desirable. Temporal afflictions, afflictions in body, name, or estate, nay even death itself, all work together for the good of God’s people. The Jews tell us of one Nahum, the man Gamzu, who, they say, was k so called, because of everything that happened to him he used to say, , “Gam zu letobah”, “this is also for good”: and they give instances of several misfortunes which befell him, upon which account he used these words, and how they proved in the issue to his advantage: agreeably to this is the advice given by them,
“for ever (say they l) let a man be used to say, all that the Lord does, , “he does for good”.”
Now that all things do work together for good, the saints “know”, and are firmly persuaded of; both from the word and promises of God, and from the instances of Jacob, Joseph, Job, and others, and also from their own experience: and it is to be observed, that it is not said that all things “have” worked together, and so they may again, or that they “shall” work together, but all things work together for good; they “now” work together, they are always working together, whether it can be observed or not: prosperity and adversity, whether in things temporal or spiritual, work “together”, and make an intricate woven work in providence and grace; which will be viewed with admiration another day: one copy reads, “God works together”, or “causes all things to work together for good”; and so the Ethiopic version, “we know that God helps them that love him, to every good thing”: and to this agrees the Syriac version, “we know that to them that love God, he in everything helps them to good”; and certain it is, that God is the efficient cause, that makes all things work together for his people’s good. The persons to whom all things work together for good, are described as such
that love God; a character, which does not agree with all the sons and daughters of Adam: love to God is not naturally in men; it is wrought in the soul in regeneration, and is an evidence of it; it grows up with faith, which works by it; without it, a profession of religion is vain; and where it is once wrought, it lasts for ever; it ought to be superlative and universal, constant, warm and ardent, hearty and sincere: such who have it, show it by a desire to be like to God, and therefore imitate him, by making his glory the supreme end of their actions; by being careful not to offend him; by delighting in his presence, in his people, word, ordinances, ways, and worship; and by undervaluing the world, and all things in it, in comparison of him; who is to be loved for the perfections of his being, the characters and relations he stands in and bears to his people, and on account of the love with which he has loved them, and which is indeed the spring and source of theirs. They are further described, as such
who are the called according to his purpose. The called of God and of Jesus Christ; not to any office, or by the external ministry of the word only, but by special grace; from darkness to light, from bondage to liberty, from the company of sinful men to fellowship with Christ, from a trust in their own righteousness to a dependence on his, to grace here, and glory hereafter; which is done according to the purpose of God: the persons called are fixed upon by God; none are called but whom God purposed to call; those who are called can assign no other reason of it than the will of God; and no other reason but that can be given why others are not called; the time when, the place where, the means whereby persons are called, are all settled and determined by the will, and according to the purpose of God.
k T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 21. 1. Sanhedrin, fol. 108. 2. Cosri, fol. 151. 1. l T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 60. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
All things work together ( ). A B have as the subject of (old verb, see on 1Cor 16:16; 2Cor 6:1). That is the idea anyhow. It is God who makes “all things work together” in our lives “for good” ( ), ultimate good.
According to his purpose ( ). Old word, seen already in Ac 27:13 and for “shewbread” in Mt 12:4. The verb Paul uses in 3:24 for God’s purpose. Paul accepts fully human free agency but behind it all and through it all runs God’s sovereignty as here and on its gracious side (Rom 9:11; Rom 3:11; 2Tim 1:9).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Work together [] . Or, are working together, now, while the creation is in travail. Together refers to the common working of all the elements included in panta all things.
For good. Jacob cried, all these things are against me. Paul, all things are working together for good.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And we know that,” (oidamen de hoti) “and we know, perceive, or realize that” based on the Word of God, testamentary evidence of the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, and the history of his people, Joseph, Job and David; Psa 119:160; Psa 19:1-6.
2) “All things work together – (panta sunergei) “all things (kind of things) work in harmony,” agreement, together, not separately, – nature, providence, grace, the Holy Spirit who seals to the day of redemption and restitution, Eph 1:5; Act 3:21.
3) “For good to them that love God,” (eis agathon tois agaposin ton theon) “To these who love God;” Joseph’s hardships worked for good, Gen 45:5; Gen 50:20, to spiritual, eternal good; even what seems evil is overruled for good.
4) “To them who are called;” (tois kletois ousin), to those having been called; all who are now saved, especially the called to obedient church service, Luk 9:23; Matthew 18-20; Gal 5:13; Col 3:15; Joh 15:16.
5) “According to his purpose,” (kata prothesin) “according to, or in harmony with, (his eternal) purpose;” 1Ti 6:12; Heb 9:15; Eph 1:11; 2Ti 1:9. The calling is unto the eternal call to an heirsetting with Christ to the glory of God, Eph 3:5-11; Eph 3:21. Not separately but together all things worked for good, in spite of evil that befell: Noah, Joseph, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Naomi, Ruth, David, Daniel, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and John on Patmos.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
28. And we know, etc. He now draws this conclusion from what had been said, that so far are the troubles of this life from hindering our salvation, that, on the contrary, they are helps to it. It is no objection that he sets down an illative particle, for it is no new thing with him to make somewhat an indiscriminate use of adverbs, and yet this conclusion includes what anticipates an objection. For the judgment of the flesh in this case exclaims, that it by no means appears that God hears our prayers, since our afflictions continue the same. Hence the Apostle anticipates this and says, that though God does not immediately succour his people, he yet does not forsake them, for by a wonderful contrivance he turns those things which seem to be evils in such a way as to promote their salvation. If any one prefers to read this verse by itself, as though Paul proceeded to a new argument in order to show that adversities which assist our salvation, ought not to be borne as hard and grievous things, I do not object. At the same time, the design of Paul is not doubtful: “Though the elect and the reprobate are indiscriminately exposed to similar evils, there is yet a great, difference; for God trains up the faithful by afflictions, and thereby promotes their salvation.”
But we must remember that Paul speaks here only of adversities, as though he had said, “All things which happen to the saints are so overruled by God, that what the world regards as evil, the issue shows to be good.” For though what [ Augustine ] says is true, that even the sins of the saints are, through the guiding providence of God, so far from doing harm to them, that, on the contrary, they serve to advance their salvation; yet this belongs not to this passage, the subject of which is the cross.
It must also be observed, that he includes the whole of true religion in the love of God, as on it depends the whole practice of righteousness.
Even to them who according to his purpose, etc. This clause seems to have been added as a modification, lest any one should think that the faithful, because they love God, obtain by their own merit the advantage of deriving such fruit from their adversities. We indeed know that when salvation is the subject, men are disposed to begin with themselves, and to imagine certain preparations by which they would anticipate the favor of God. Hence Paul teaches us, that those whom he had spoken of as loving God, had been previously chosen by him. For it is certain that the order is thus pointed out, that we may know that it proceeds from the gratuitous adoption of God, as from the first cause, that all things happen to the saints for their salvation. Nay, Paul shows that the faithful do not love God before they are called by him, as in another place he reminds us that the Galatians were known of God before they knew him. (Gal 4:9.) It is indeed true what Paul intimates, that afflictions avail not to advance the salvation of any but of those who love God; but that saying of John is equally true, that then only he is begun to be loved by us, when he anticipates us by his gratuitous love.
But the calling of which Paul speaks here, has a wide meaning, for it is not to be confined to the manifestation of election, of which mention is presently made, but is to be set simply in opposition to the course pursued by men; as though Paul had said, — “The faithful attain not religion by their own efforts, but are, on the contrary led by the hand of God, inasmuch as he has chosen them to be a peculiar people to himself.” The word purpose distinctly excludes whatever is imagined to be adduced mutually by men; as though Paul had denied, that the causes of our election are to be sought anywhere else, except in the secret good pleasure of God; which subject is more fully handled in the first chapter to the Ephesians, and in the first of the Second Epistle to Timothy; where also the contrast between this purpose and human righteousness is more distinctly set forth. (268) Paul, however, no doubt made here this express declaration, — that our salvation is based on the election of God, in order that he might make a transition to that which he immediately subjoined, namely, that by the same celestial decree, the afflictions, which conform us to Christ, have been appointed; and he did this for the purpose of connecting, as by a kind of necessary chain, our salvation with the bearing of the cross.
(268) [ Hammond ] has a long note on the expression, κατὰ πρόθεσιν and quotes [ Cyril ] of Jerusalem, [ Clemens ] of Alexandria, and [ Theophylact ], as rendering the words, “according to their purpose,” that is, those who love God, — a construction of itself strange, and wholly alien to the whole tenor of the passage, and to the use of the word in most other instances. Paul has never used the word, except in one instance, (2Ti 3:10,) but with reference to God’s purpose or decree, — see Rom 9:11; Eph 1:11; Eph 3:11; 2Ti 1:9. It seems that [ Chrysostom ], [ Origen ], [ Theodoret ], and other Fathers, have given the same singularly strange explanation. But in opposition to these, [ Poole ] mentions [ Ambrose ], [ Augustine ], and even [ Jerome ], as regarding “the purpose” here as that of God: in which opinion almost all modern Divines agree.
[ Grotius ] very justly observes, that κλητοὶ, the called, according to the language of Paul, mean those who obey the call, ( qui vocanti obediunt ) and refers to Rom 1:6; 1Co 1:24; Rev 17:14. And [ Stuart ] says that the word has this meaning throughout the New Testament, except in two instances, Mat 20:16. and Mat 22:14, where it means, invited. He therefore considers it as equivalent to ἔκλεκτοι, chosen, elected, or true Christians. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
HELPFUL RESULTS FROM AN UNHOLY WAR
Rom 8:28
Preached shortly after the World War closed.
I AM to speak to you this evening on Helpful Results from an Unholy War. I would gladly lay emphasis upon both features of this theme. The great Apostle put the question once, Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? and answered it, God forbid. In that statement he enunciated a perfectly righteous principle; and I would have no man interpret me to mean that the war through which we passed, 1914-1918, was in any measure justified by the good things that grew out of it. By the profoundest conviction I am in perfect accord with what the Grand Duke Michal of Russia said upon this subject: War is devilish! In accord also with the comment of another upon the Grand Dukes statement: No words can describe the awful sufferings and agonies of this man-made hell of war. Any one who wants to see war anywhere, so that we can sell goods at higher prices, certainly has the mind of the devil, and is not very likely to be at peace with himself. The soldiers who have seen real war are the least anxious for it. We ought to take the emphasis off of the glory of war and place it where it belongs. It is hellish! If the world was ever weary and sick of one sight it is that of human bloodshed by human handsa wholesale murder created by international complications and unbridled national ambitions.
Let no auditor tonight imagine that I am here to defend war; in the language of the Apostle, God forbid! And yet, that certain temporal benefits accrue from this cannot be questioned. It is only another illustration of our text: All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
I want to present these benefits under three suggestions: Temporal, Moral, and Spiritual.
TEMPORAL BENEFITS
The most evident effect of the war was felt in the prosperity brought to the common people. The world was a wreck. Destruction and maiming were both on every side; and yet, in consequence of that common disaster, human labor, for both the mind and the muscle has been greatly enhanced. The reconstruction necessities were so enormous that no able-bodied man waited and watched for employment. Even the maimed and halt were occupied and able to earn salaries that the very strongest had found it difficult to secure only a few years since. The strikes and social disorders of Old World countries, Canada and the United States, are not the hopeless, helpless expression of mans inhumanity to man and of sordid social conditions that they were a few years since. I lived in Chicago thirty-five years ago and saw something of the great strikes that characterized and cursed that city at that time. Ones sympathies were drawn out to the laborer; his income was so small, his social and home conditions were so unhappy; his outlook so clouded; the very spirit was crushed and one did not wonder at his sullen rebellion. The strikes and social disturbances of the present time represent altogether another phase of life. They speak the conscious strength of organized labor; they even represent a practical demand upon the man of wealth, for a fair, if not an equal division; they voice not servants and slaves, but conscious rulers. Democracy has triumphed to such an extent that we are in veritable danger from the common man who is fast becoming the crowned man; and whose new power is not always employed with conscience and discretion. In the South a few days since I found the white people living in constant anxiety over the race question. The colored man of the South is not only a free man, but ambitious to be a master; and in those sections where he is superior in numbers, the alarm of the whites has good occasion.
But in spite of the growth of Socialism, the dangers attendant upon triumphant democracy, the general condition of the people now is marvelously improved over that of times past. Better an occasional revolution than white slaves and black slaves, living in sordid poverty and serving without prospect. Temporal prosperity is one of the blessings growing out of a bad war. Even in those countries most sorely torn by shot and shell, reconstruction is coming rapidly because laborers are scarce and salaries are high, and markets are active, and few men are idle.
Again, It has put power into the hands of the people. The potentates of earth have perished from their thrones. In Germany alone 278 titled men were reduced by war to civilian rank. Almost every other country has been relieved of the taxing burden of ornamental crowns and oppressive thrones. The Republic and the Democracythese are triumphant. We do not believe the old Latin phrase involves the truthVox populi: vox Dei; but we are confident that the people have a right to rebel against oppressive kings and inherited thrones. When from Florence the Medici rulers were expelled, and the chief burden of framing a new constitution fell upon the great minister Savonarola, he introduced his reformation by the appeal of Scripture, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. And when he came to establish a Republic, he rested it in three or four simple principles:
Fear God.
Prefer the weal of the Republic to thine own.
Recognize a general amnesty.
Have a Grand Council after the pattern of Venice but without a doge, (or chief).
There is one thing in this arrangement to which I call your attention. You would expect from Savonarola the first principleFear God. You are not surprised to have them given the fundamental thing, seeking the Kingdom of God; but his loyalty to human government is fully revealed in his demand that the people prefer the weal of the Republic to their own. That is the essence of patriotism; and wherever the people have that spirit, My country first; my personal interest second, the country is safe in the peoples hands. We have had a vast deal to say about making the world safe for democracy, but there is something further needed, and that is making democracy safe for the world, by bringing the people to look beyond their own personal ambitions to the public weal. If it were not for selfishness, thrones and crowns would not have been such curses. If selfishness lives in the Republic or dominates the Democracy, then democracy will not be safe for the world. This war has put the power into the peoples hands. We must wait now and see how they will exercise it. If its prostitution occurs, then oppression, hardship, suffering, such as now curses Russia, will characterize it. Whether the people prefer the weal of the democracy to their own, will determine the question of blessing or curse.
Greater yet will be the
MORAL BENEFITS
that will come in consequence of the World War. Let me make mention of a few of these:
The war has struck the legalized saloon a stunning blow. To be sure it will not die easy. Its final struggle will be great enough to persuade many men that it is more alive than ever. The chicken with its head off flies faster and flutters louder, and shows more convulsive action than it ever did when its head was in place, and its neck vertebra unbroken; but they are the reflex actions of the dying just the same. One day when Jesus Christ came from the Mount of Transfiguration, He found at its base a boy possessed with an evil spirit. He commanded the demon to come out of him. The boy fell, frothed at the mouth; great muscular convulsions shook his frame; his appearance for a brief space of time was worse than it had ever been before, and the superficial man might have said it were better to have left the demon undisturbed. But that judgment would have been superficial indeed. It was the day of doom; the devil was going out; the boy was being delivered. These paroxisms would be followed by peace; and the mental derangement to which he had been long subjected would give place to a splendid equilibrium of mind.
It is so with the dying convulsions of the liquor traffic. We may expect orgies, expect convulsions shaking the entire land. But they are death throes nevertheless; and if we ever had cause to sing the Te Deum in connection with the Prohibition movement, we will have better occasion a few years hence.
Again, this war has shown Gods judgment on the social vice. From time immemorial, the very assembly of men for battle has given dangerous supremacy to this sin; but never before have men studied its effects as now, and given to their scientific investigation the publicity that has now come. The magazines and newspapers have dared to report the physical incapacity of thousands afflicted with the most dreaded of all human diseases, the sufferings consequent of sin that has beggared hell for description. The public has read these reports, they have conveyed their own warning, and the social vice has been shown to be, not a mere violation of a code which men in their selfish ambitions have built up; but rather a law, which God in His wisdom declared, and in His awful judgments now defends. The Scriptures say, The wages of sin is death, and the social vice has illustrated that a million times; and the war has made the illustration potent through its publicity.
Yet again, The war has shamed cowardice and exalted courage. This is a moral blessing. No man lives and is sane and debates whether courage is a moral virtue. Henry Van Dyke holds high place in modern literature. In one of his sermons he says: Courage is an honorable virtue. Men have always loved and praised it. It lends a glory and a splendor to the life in which it dwells, lifts it up and ennobles it, and crowns it with light. The world delights in heroism, even in its rudest forms and lowest manifestations. * * A brave, frank, manly foe is infinitely better than a false, weak, timorous friend. The literature of the courageous has always been immensely popular, and the history of the brave is written in letters of gold. It is this that men have loved to read in the strange, confused annals of war deeds of self-forgetful daring which leap from the smoke and clamor of battle, and shine in the sudden making of splendid names. The boy on the burning deck, refusing to disobey his fathers commands even in the face of death; brave Lady Douglas defending her king from assassin; Leonidas at Thermopylae, and Horatius at the bridge, and the Six Hundred at Balaklava; Old Cranmer bathing his hands in fire at the martyrs stake; young Stephen praying fearlessly for his murderers; Florence Nightingale facing fever in Crimean hospitals; Father Damien braving leprosy in the Islands of the Sea; young men and maidens, old men and matrons, fighting, suffering, achieving, resisting, enduring, daring, living, and dyingits the spark of heroism that kindles their names into the blaze of light, for everywhere and always courage is an honorable virtue.
Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend To mean devices for a sordid end;Courage, an independent spark from Heavens throne,By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high, alone; The spring of all true acts is seated here,As falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear.
It is doubtful if anything has ever come into human history that produces so much courage, and physical courage of so high an order, as characterized the World War. One of the most informing articles appearing in a leading magazine was entitled, The New Death, and the author contended that men were dying in a new way, dying with a smile upon their faces, dying with willingness in their hearts, dying because they believed it were better to die than to let wrongs live. That was courage; and that came out of that awful carnage of world war.
But more important still are what men would call
SPIRITUAL RESULTS
Of these there are a multitude one would like to name, and upon these he would like to dwell at length, for they are worthy; but perhaps out of the great company of such results that would naturally claim attention, I may be pardoned if I choose three, and spend the remaining portion of our time upon them.
It has put into the church a new conviction of duty. And I think this is true whether you speak of the church as a local body, or use the phrase in a larger sensethe church at large. One thing is certain in the lurid light of the world of flame; the church was not satisfied with what she saw of her own deeds and doings. I think throughout the whole earth there was a feeling that if the Church had done its whole duty the war would not have come, a conviction that in withholding our funds from home and foreign missions, and our sons and our daughters from sacrificial service and living selfishly, we had made possible a combination of an old and a new heathenisma heathenism that poorly recognized God, a heathenism that permitted false personal and national pride, a heathenism that paved the way for human butchery, and sought to cloak the crime with Christian terms. The Church is now doing penance, and is putting up larger sums for Gospel preaching than it has ever pledged since it had its birth; laying emphasis upon social service in the hope of thereby straightening the world.
While some of us believe that many false notes are being sounded, and that failure will attend them every one, we are also convinced that the new conviction of duty coming to the Church of God is bound to accrue to the advantages of Christianity. More will not only be attempted, but more will be accomplished than before the war; and so far as atonement can be made for an indolent past, many churches are making it. Carter Glass, Secretary of the Treasury at Washington, in a communication addressed to American pastors said, When real service for the upbuilding and betterment of the nation and community is needed we naturally look to the churches of the country for their loyal assistance and cooperation. During the war they held true to their faith and justified the confidence as being instruments upon which the Government could rely for assistance in all the activities necessary to the successful prosecution of a just and righteous war. In peace time the needs of the nation and the community are as great, and should be as inspiring to the churches as are the war-time needs. Many of the things that we do under the pressure of war are equally necessary and valuable in times of peace, but it sometimes happens that it needs the shock and force of war to bring these to our attention. Perhaps that is exactly what has occurred. The very shake of war wakened sleeping men and dozing women and the appeals of duty are now receiving attention. Let us hope that the effort will not be spasmodic, but sincere and sustained.
The second spiritual result is to be found in the clear failure of new theology. A bloodless gospel converted Germany into a bloody people; and wherever it has been preached in every portion of the world, the product has been the same. Bring men to believe in new theology, based as it is upon the evolution hypothesis, and they will set themselves to the task of producing the super-man, and trying to put the supremacy of the world into his potent hands. That is exactly what took place, and that falsehood brought the war into existence. If England and America can learn anything by a bitter experience, they ought to learn the danger of adopting Rationalism, and then confusing it with the Christian religion. Cardinal OConnell, speaking on President Eliots Twentieth Century Religion, sagely said: Millions are growing up without even an intelligent knowledge of God, of Christ, of religion, of spiritual life. The press, the stage, the street are flooded with living proofs of a spiritual decadence which can bring only social and national ruin. The play, the magazine, the ball room, all give evidence of an ever-increasing disregard of even the rudiments of common decency, of dress, of deportment, of conversation and of conduct. Little by little the bars have been lowered letting out the few influences which held society in restraint, and letting in a very flood of folly, of insatiate greed for amusement of any and every kind, until what even a few years ago would make a decent woman blush to see in others, has become so common that even decent women now accept it as matter of fact for themselves and their daughters. We need be neither prude nor Puritan to see and to realize that something is passing in the heart and the mind of the women of today which is leaving them hard and unwomanly, and that year by year this transformation goes on, until, if it continues, there will be neither home nor family nor normal womanly nature left. If this is the new woman, then God spare us from any further developments of such an abnormal creature. Thank God, the woman who is true to her faith is not easily influenced by these modern fads of a new paganism. She has her standards and she stands by them unchanged. And what, in the last analysis, is the cause of all this moral degeneracy evident on all sides? Why it is simply the natural result of the decay of even the external semblance of Christianity.
If the Bible is nothing but a bit of oriental poetry, if faith is only superstition, if, as again and again we have been told by some of the intellectuals, miracles and magic are all the same, and God is an electric current, then what wonder that the churches are empty, and what wonder that men refuse to think any more of God, or of religion or of moral law.
The leaders of this false and crude intellectualism have lost all that is best in life. They have killed the heart in men, because they themselves have no heart. What do they know of real life they who have never for a single day lived among the poor, the laborer, the struggling artisanthey whose whole existence has been spent among chemical formulas or in the prim sedateness of a university board meeting where an error in grammar is a mortal sin and where a soft voice passes for conviction and principle? Why, this is all sham! How can men who know nothing of hearts, nothing of feeling, nothing of the trials of poverty, of affliction, whose whole creed is a conceited notion of their own importance, and whose life is a sort of flawless cycle, know anything of real life, of real need, moral and spiritual; in fact, what can they know of real men?
If they would confine themselves to chemistry we should have some respect for their opinions. But when they invent a new religion each yeara thing which is as old as error and has nothing of religion in it, they simply make themselves ridiculous. Let them all drop the fads and frills of a false social and moral standard of life and get down to the hearts of men and things. We are tired to death of theories which never solve anything and only breed confusion. The world is being talked to death with a new sociology and a new religion and a new system of pedagogy at the end of every public dinner. Amid all this riot of talk who can really think? It is thought, not talk, that is most wanted and most needed. It is consideration of old and eternal truths, truth eternal and immutable, that will bring back to those even outside the church respect for Christian principles and Christian ideals.
Finally, the late war justified the Saviours sacrificial atonement. At the very time when men are putting forth books calling the doctrine of salvation by shed blood foolish and futile, the world had demonstrated that salvation could not be had after another manner. If an uninspired ruler in Jesus day was sufficiently illumined to say, It was expedient that one man should die for the people, for the salvation of our nation it was expedient that many men die; for the saving of England it was expedient that millions should die; and for the life of France it was expedient that many more die. Without shedding of blood the people would have perished. We applaud their heroism; we approve the principle upon which they proceeded. How strange, then, that we should object when God adopts the same method for the salvation of the world, and puts His own Son into the deadly breach to perish that we might not be slaughtered by sin; for, He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2Co 5:21).
It is doubtful if any illustration of this truth is more potent than the bronze statue of Nathan Hale, near the Post Office in New York, with its inscription, I regret that I have but one life to give for my country! That is the Gospel! Isaiah anticipated it before it was visualized, and wrote: He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to His own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:5-6).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom. 8:28. All things.Without exceptionall things visible and invisible, our troubles, even our sins.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rom. 8:28
Consoling knowledge.St. Paul was keenly alive to suffering. He sympathised with a suffering creation. And yet, as he stands amid suffering and desolation, a divine joy lights his countenance. Confidence sustains his soul. Whence this joy and confidence? The answer is found in the text. Amid the pains and perplexities of life we must trust in the unfailing wisdom and goodness of God. We must keep alive the consoling knowledge that all things, etc.
I. What is mans highest good?What is the highest good, not for man as a physical being, as a mere resident of earth, but for man in the greatness of his nature, in the importance of his destiny? The highest good for man is to love God, to be conformed to the image of Gods Son, to be beloved of God. The degree of mans perfection is the measure of his loving God. The highest good is not material, but spiritual; the highest good is being developed both in the time-life and in the eternal existence.
II. The dispensations of God promote the highest good.Man must work longer and more carefully in erecting a structure which is to endure than in making one which is soon to be taken down. The highest good has reference to the future, and the work to be done in the present must have reference to that future. The mystery of death-bed repentances must be left; the greatest lives on earth have been trained in rough schools and have tasted long experiences. God will harmonise the short Christian life of the dying thief on earth and the rough, long pathway of an apostle. Most have many experiences in the Christian course. Crosses and losses are not unknown. But true to their work, and work only for our good, are the cross providences of God. The temple of the human soul is to be built up to a glorious perfection, and the builders are the trials, sufferings, and afflictions with which Gods children are visited. Winters storm as well as summers sunshine tempers the oak; the snow that means death to the unwary traveller fertilises the land; the hurricane that shatters the building scatters the noxious vapours; the ocean that entombs brave men and fair women sends its bracing ozone on to the land. Thus all things, fair and foul, smooth and rough, prosperous and adverse, joyous and painful, are working to the greater perfection of those that truly love God.
III. The twofold guarantee.This is found in the words to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Our love to God is the outcome of His love to us. The human love is responsive to the divine love. True love to God will bring to light the good that may be concealed by the repulsive drapery of adversity. True love from God will evoke good out of seeming evil. The love of God broods over a groaning universe, and will turn the groans into hymns of praise. And surely the love of God specially watches over the beloved. Gods love can pierce the prison wall, and give glad songs to the prisoners for the truths sake. Gods love can visit the chamber of suffering, and smooth the pillow for the aching head and give heavens light in natures darkness. Love called, and love obeyed. Love called the human soul to divine heights. Shall love, backed by wisdom and power, leave the beloved to be destroyed by the strokes of adversity? Shall unchangeable love call, and then forsake? The purpose of divine love is that the beloved walk in the realm of perfect love; and this purpose cannot fail. Heaven and earth may fail, but divine purpose must stand. This knowledge is consoling. This confidence is sweet. We know, and by the sustaining power of that knowledge Paul showed himself the worlds great hero. Not-knowledge may be the boasted creed of some. Pauls knowledge has in it divine consolations. We know, and we walk calmly and peacefully through the unknowable. We know that all things are working together for our good, and we work joyfully towards the infinite good and repose on the infinite love.
Rom. 8:28. The discipline of sufferings.Sufferings are either the result of our own folly or such as could not have been foreseen by us.
Why does God allow latter to happen? These answers have been suggested: God ignores mans affairs (Hinduism); God only cares for a few men (Eclecticism); God is not quite almighty (Dualism). None of these can be Christians answer. His answer is to be gathered from this passage.
Bible nowhere says that our comfort or our pleasure is Gods chief care; but it does teach that our good is. (Be careful not to confuse these things.) God wishes our happiness, our holinessnot comfort or pleasure.
The good of pain, privation, suffering, bereavement. They correct evil, prevent evil, develop character (merchant, soldier), produce sympathy, promote brotherliness, promote enterprise (severe climates have energetic people), prepare for eternity. Example: David is at his best amid adversities, at his worst amid comforts.
A reservation in the statement to them that love God. Notice: No sorrow leaves us where it found us; it drives us from God, or brings us nearer to Him. Examples: The remorse of Judas; the remorse of Peter.
Resolution: To look on every trouble as a test and turning-point.Dr. Springett.
Rom. 8:28. All things working for good.St. Paul believes that there is a purpose, that there is an end, towards which events are tending. It looks at first sight like a faith rather than the conclusion of an argument. Reason alone might arrive at an opposite conclusion. How can we see a providential guidance, a divine plan of any kind, in the bloody game which chiefly makes up what we call history? How in those failures of great causes, in the enervation and degradation of civilised peoples, which make philosophers like Rousseau look back with fondness to the age of barbaric simplicity? It is true enough that the purpose of God in human history is traversed, that it is obscured, by causes to which the apostles of human despair may point very effectively; and yet here, as ever, we Christians dare to say that we walk by faith where sight fails us, as elsewhere, and we see enough to resist so depressing a conclusion as that before usto know that the course of events is not thus fatal, thus desperate. We believe in a future; we believe that all moves forward, through whatever failures, through whatever entanglements, to a predestined end, and that each race, each generation, each particular class in each society, does its part, whether we can accurately estimate that part or not, towards promoting that end.
All things work together for good. For what kind of good? The glory of the Master and Ruler of all? No doubt they do. As nothing exists without His permission, so the very forces of evil itself will have, against their own bias and bent, to do His will and secure His triumph. He would not be God if it could be otherwise. But this is not what the apostle here says, nor does he go so far as to say that all things actually work together for the good of all human beings; for clearly our experience tells us that they do not. Who would say that his wealth was for the good of the debauchee, that his power is good for the selfish despot? It may be true enough that in the original design all things, all circumstances, were strictly designed to work together for the good of all; but man must be something else to what he generally is if he is in this sense to inherit all things, if nothing that happens is to harm him, if he is to find in all around him sources of blessedness and strength. All things work that love God. Not Gods glory merely, but the good of those that love Him, is the object of His providence. Surely the child is not guilty of outrageous pride when it turns to its mother with an instinctive confidence that she will nourish and protect it; and it is the childlike that is one of the highest moral instincts in us, which leads us to believe that like as a father that we are but dust. Our Lord was careful to assure His followers that in the world they would have tribulation, and to proclaim the blessedness that would attend temporal failures. What is the good of which the apostle speaks? It is real, absoluteit is eternal good. It is the good of the soul rather than the body, the good of the eternal world rather than the present world. Why is it that all things are said to work that love God? Because such love, and it only, can transform all circumstances into blessings. No life is made up of such commonplaces that each cannot be made, by this love, to sparkle with the highest moral interest. No misfortunes are so great that they cannot be built into the steps of the staircase by which souls mount to heaven. The soul which loves the imperishable can never be doomed to a real disappointment. Social or political trouble may teach us unselfishness. Religious controversy or the advance of unbelief may teach us earnestness. Probably they touch some of us far less nearly than the joys and sorrows of our private lives.
Much may be done in an hour which will last for ever. If a thousand years are as one day before the eternal God, so surely one day may be a very eternity to the soul of man. Spiritual revolutions within the soul, the deepest changes for good or for evil, have no appreciable relation to time. Intensity, not duration, is the measure of their importance. God grant us to pray with all our hearts that, as He has prepared for them that love Him such good things as pass our understanding, so He will pour into our hearts such love towards Himself that we, loving Him above all things, may obtain His promises, which exceed all that we can desire, through Jesus Christ our Lord!Canon Liddon.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom. 8:28
All things for the best.The first point to be spoken of is the excellent privilege of Gods children, that all things shall work together for the best; both good and evil shall turn to their happiness. The reason stands thus: All things shall work together for the best to them that love God. Therefore all afflictions, crosses, and vexations whatsoever that betide such persons shall work together for their good; and for this cause all Gods servants must learn patiently to bear and cheerfully to undergo poverty or riches, honour or dishonour, in this world. The first sin of all, which hath gone over whole mankind and is spread abroad in every one of us, this by Gods mercy and our repentance proves to all believers a transcendent good, for the fall and sin of the first Adam caused the birth and death of the Second Adam, Christ Jesus, who, notwithstanding He was God, took upon Him the nature of man, and hath made us by His coming far more happy than if we had never fallen. Neither would God have suffered Adam to have fallen but for His own further glory in the manifestation of His justice and mercy and for the greater felicity of His servants in Christ their mediator. And it is good we should have something within us to make us weary of the world, else when we have run out our race we be unwilling to depart hence. Now our bondage to this natural corruption serves exceedingly to make us mourn for our sinful disposition and hunger after our God, to be joined with Him, as we see in St. Pauls example (Rom. 7:24), where, finding the rebellion of his nature and the strife that was in him, the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, he cries out, saying, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? and seeketh to God in Christ for mercy straight. For the evils of body, such as sickness and diseases of all sorts, which daily attend our houses of clay, God by means hereof acquaints His children with their frail condition, and shows them what a little time they have to provide for eternity, thereby driving them to search their evidences and to make all straight betwixt Him and them. Outward weaknesses are oft a means to restrain men from inward evils. God usually sanctifies the pains and griefs of His servants to make them better. The time of sickness is a time of purging from that defilement we gathered in our health. We should not be cast down so much for any bodily distemper as for sin that procures and envenoms the same. That is a good sickness which tends to the health of the soul. Now the causes why all things do work together for the best to them that love God are theseviz., It is Gods decree, manner of working, and blessed covenant. It is the foundation of the covenant of Christ Jesus. The second cause why all works together for the best to believers is the manner of God working in things, which is by contraries. He bringeth light out of darkness, glory out of shame, and life out of death. We fell by pride to hell and destruction, and must be restored by humiliation to life and salvation. Christ humbled Himself, being God, to become man for us, and by His death restored us to life. When our sins had brought us to greatest extremities, even then were we nearest to eternal happiness. There is nothing in the world that to Gods servants is absolutely evil, because nothing is so ill but some good may be raised out of it; not as it is an evil, but as it is governed and mastered by a supreme cause. Sin is of all evils the greatest, and yet sinful actions may produce gracious effects through Gods ordering and guiding the same. A child of God is truly happy in the midst of all misery.Sibbes.
Gods sovereignty and mans freewill declared.The calling here and elsewhere spoken of by the apostle is the working in men of the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) He hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation (Art. XVII. of the Church of England). To specify the various ways in which this calling has been understood would far exceed the limits of a general commentary. It may suffice to say that on the one hand Scripture bears constant testimony to the fact that all believers are chosen and called by God, their whole spiritual life in its origin, progress, and completion being from Him; while on the other hand its testimony is no less precise that He willeth all to be saved, and that none shall perish except by wilful rejection of the truth. So that on the one side Gods sovereignty, on the other mans freewill, is plainly declared to us. To receive, believe, and act on both these is our duty and our wisdom. They belong, as truths, no less to natural than to revealed religion, and every one who believes in a God must acknowledge both. But all attempts to bridge over the gulf between the two are futile in the present imperfect condition of man. The very reasonings used for this purpose are clothed in language framed on the analogies of this lower world, and wholly inadequate to describe God regarded as He is in Himself. Hence arise confusion, misapprehension of God, and unbelief. I have therefore simply, in this commentary, endeavoured to enter into the full meaning of the sacred text whenever one or other of these great truths is brought forward, not explaining either of them away on account of possible difficulties arising from the recognition of the other, but recognising as fully the elective and predestinating decree of God where it is treated of, as I have done in other places the freewill of man. If there be an inconsistency in this course, it is at least one in which the nature of things, the conditions of human thought, and Scripture itself, participate, and from which no commentator that I have seen, however anxious to avoid it by extreme views one way or the other, has been able to escape.Alford.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8
Rom. 8:28. Blessings in disguise.In every burden of sorrow there is a blessing sent from God which we ought not to thrust away. In one of the battles of the Crimea a cannon-ball struck inside a fort, gashing the earth, and sadly marring the garden beauty of the place. But from the ugly chasm there burst forth a spring of water, which flowed on thereafter a living fountain. So the strokes of sorrow gash our hearts, leaving ofttimes wounds and scars, but they open for us fountains of rich blessing and of new life. Our pain and sorrow, endured with sweet trust and submission, leave us with life purified and enriched, and more of Christ in us. In every burden that God lays upon us there is always a blessing for us, if only we will take it.
Then Sorrow whispered gently: Take
This burden up. Be not afraid;
An hour is short. Thou scarce wilt wake
To consciousness that I have laid
My hand upon thee, when the hour
Shall all have passed; and gladder then
For the brief pains uplifting power,
Thou shalt but pity griefless men.
Rom. 8:28. The happiness of suffering.Dr. Richard Rothe, the eminent German theologian, once said, There are people who, after experiencing in their youth the happiness of joy, come in their old age to enjoy the happiness of suffering. To superficial thinkers this remark may seem perplexing. But sufficient study of it will reveal a profound meaning in it. Certainly to the Christian there is a happiness which is the outgrowth of suffering as of nothing else, and it is a very real and precious sort of happiness.N. F. Boakes.
Rom. 8:28. Persuasions and persuasion.There are many persuasions amongst menthere is but one that is of value in the sight of God. A persuasion amongst men, when the word is used in a religious sense, means, What denomination in the Church do you belong to?are you a Baptist, or a Congregationalist, or a Churchman? And a man may belong to any of these, or of the many other denominations or persuasions, and yet not be connected with the great and the right persuasion after all. In terrible agony a soldier lay dying in one of the American hospitals. A visitor asked him, What Church are you of? Of the Church of Christ, he replied. I mean, of what persuasion are you? Persuasion? said the dying man, as his eyes looked heavenward, beaming with love to the Saviour; I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Church membership may exist without Christ membership: the first may be without any life or peace; in the latter there are both.
Rom. 8:28. The great dome of Gods providence.In the baptistery of the cathedral at Pisa is a wonderful dome. Spacious, symmetrical, composed of the choicest marble, it is a delight to stand beneath and gaze upon its beauties. Thus I stood one sunny April day, when suddenly the air became instinct with melody. The great dome seemed full of harmony. The waves of music vibrated to and fro, loudly beating against the walls, swelling into full chords like the roll of a grand organ, and then dying away into soft, long-drawn, far-receding echoes, melting in the distance into silence. It was only my guide, who, lingering behind me a moment, had softly murmured a triple chord. But beneath that magic roof every sound resolved into a symphony. No discord can reach the summit of that dome and live. Every noise made in the buildingthe slamming of the seats, the tramping of feet, all the murmur and bustle of the crowdis caught up, softened, harmonised, blended, and echoed back in music. So it seems to me that over our life hangs the great dome of Gods providence. Standing as we do beneath it, no act in the divine administration towards us, no affliction, no grief, no loss which our heavenly Father sends, however hard to bear it may be, but will come back at last softened and blended into harmony, with the overarching dome of His wisdom, mercy, and power, till to our corrected sense it shall be the sweetest music of heaven.J. D. Steele.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Text
Rom. 8:28-30. And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. Rom. 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: Rom. 8:30 and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
REALIZING ROMANS, Rom. 8:28-30
372.
Consider carefully that Rom. 8:28 does not say that all things are good for the Christian. What is good?
373.
If we do not love God, we cannot see the good. Is that the thought here?
374.
Do things just work out by themselves?
375.
When and by whom were we called?
376.
Study very, very carefully the meaning of the word purpose in Rom. 8:28. It is the key word.
377.
Who is involved in the foreknowledge of God, as in Rom. 8:28 a and Rom. 8:29 a? Does this mean God has no foreknowledge of others? Are others in his purpose, too?
190.
What encouragement is found in Rom. 8:26-27?
191.
Explain the Holy Spirits intercession for us.
378.
You have a dictionary. Look up the meaning of the word foreordained. Note please the several synonyms given.
379.
Christians are not foreordained to everything, but rather to one thing. Read Rom. 8:29 b and determine what it is.
380.
In Rom. 8:29 b we learn Jesus is our elder brother in what respect?
381.
Attempt to discover the position and progress of the expressions: foreordainedcalledjustifiedglorified. Relate them to your own salvation and hope. Show the progress in Gods dealings with you. What happened first, second, etc., first from Gods view, then from yours?
382.
If we are already glorified in Gods plan, could we ever be otherwise? In other words, does this verse teach eternal security?
Paraphrase
Rom. 8:28-30. Besides, we patiently suffer, because we know, from Gods love and from Christs power, that all things, whether prosperous or adverse, co-operate for the salvation of them who love God, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, even to them who are called the children of God according to his purpose.
Rom. 8:29 For those whom God foreknew were to be called his sons, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, by having their minds adorned with his virtues, and their bodies fashioned like to his glorious body, that he might be the first-born of many brethren, the children of God.
Rom. 8:30 Moreover, whom he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, them he also called his sons, (Rom. 8:28.): and whom he called his sons, them he also justified, by counting their faith for righteousness: and whom he justified, them he also glorified, by putting them in possession of the eternal inheritance.
Summary
All things work together for good to those that are called according to Gods ancient purpose, to those that are called by the gospel. Those who would obey him, he predetermined to be, when raised from the dead, of like form with that of his Son. Those whom he predetermined, he also called; and those whom he called, he justified; and those whom he justified, he glorified. The perfection of Gods ancient purpose, or plan, is evident.
Comment
c. Encouragement Number Three is found in consideration of Gods eternal purpose for his children. Rom. 8:28-30
The encouraging words have all been addressed to them that love God. We find now this word of conclusion, that all things work together for good to these persons. We know that all things which come into the experience of the Christian are not good. God in his infinite wisdom, however, by his everlasting love, works all things together in such a way that they will result in our good. This life may not even see the final good for the child of God (although many times it does), yet in the eternal realm we will know that God has kept his word. There is yet another descriptive comment to be made about those persons who are the objects of Gods love. Not only do they love God, but they are called according to his purpose. This is the very reason why God works all things together for their good.
The phrase, called according to his purpose, says Lard, is the clue to understanding all that is said in Rom. 8:28 b Rom. 8:30. The one word purpose is the most important word of the whole section. We quote from Moses E. Lard concerning the meaning of this word. Prothesis here rendered purpose is from protithimi, which means to place out or set before. Accordingly, prothesis means a placing or setting before, Purpose, from the Latin propono, to place before, literally and exactly translates it. But prothesis is not predicated of men, but of God, and it denotes not his physical act of placing things locally before or in front of him, but his act of placing them before his mind so as distinctly to see them. The placing is before his mind, and the seeing is mental seeing. Lard, p. 280.
When did this setting before his mind take place? The answer cannot be given as to the exact time, but we know it to be before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), at some time before the material universe (including man) came into existence.
What was involved in this setting before? What was comprehended in it? Again we quote from Lard: . . . . man, including this world with all that in any way pertains to it, from his conception on, to say the least, until his glorification. Beyond this period, for the present, we need not attempt to look. God, as it were, set before him the whole human race with their entire destiny. All that man is or shall be stood before himsin, redemption, glorificationall were naked and open to his eye. It was there that the Logos was foreordained before the foundation of the world (1Pe. 1:20) to be the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; and from that point forward he was ever viewed as slain. There the whole gospel was ideally perfected; in a word, the whole of time, with all that shall transpire in it, was in vision as completely before God as it will ever be in fact when it is past. To us this is utterly incomprehensible, and yet we cannot conceive how it could possibly have been otherwise. In that prothesis, accordingly, each man was as distinctly before God, as saved or lost, as he will be when the judgment is past, not because God decreed that this man should be saved and that one not, but because, leaving each absolutely free to choose his own destiny, he could and did as clearly foresee what that destiny would be, as though he himself had fixed it by unchangeable decree. To assume that God must foreordain what a mans destiny shall be, in order to foresee it, is a profound absurdity. He can as unerringly forecast the end of a perfectly free agent as he can that of a being to whom his decree has left no more of volition than belongs to the merest machine. Can any one be found so daring as to deny that he can do this? Lard, pp. 280281.
192.
What encouragement is found in Rom. 8:28-30?
193.
To whom is this encouragement directly addressed?
194.
How do we harmonize this scripture with the fact that all things that come into a Christians life are not good?
195.
What special fact is stated about those that love God in addition to the fact that all things work together for good.)
196.
What special key word opens our understanding to the Rom. 8:28 b Rom. 8:30?
197.
What does this word mean?
198.
Whose purpose is here considered?
It yet remains to say that the calling of those who love God was accomplished even as Paul said elsewherethrough the gospel. (2Th. 3:13-14)
With these thoughts in mind, we can approach Rom. 8:29 with the preparation necessary to understanding.
For whom he foreknew. The fore refers back to the thought that this is the reason we know all things work together for good. The sense in which God foreknew has already been stated: he did foreknow all things regarding the Christian from before his birth to his glorification. His foreknowledge had nothing to do with the choice of man. He foresaw in the prothesis that certain persons would, of their own choice, obey him or his Son.
199.
What act of God does the word purpose here denote?
200.
At what time did this act of setting before take place?
201.
What was involved or comprehended in this setting before?
202.
Is there any conflict between the thought of Gods foreknowledge and mans free will?
203.
What connection is there between foreknowledge and foreordination?
204.
How is the calling of them that love God accomplished?
205.
What is the only thing mentioned that God foreordained?
He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son.
There is no need to be alarmed at these words if we but remember that the conditions here spoken of were spoken of as if they had occurred long before they actually took place. So, to say that God foreordained or predetermined certain persons to be conformed to the image of his Son is to speak of the conclusion without comment as to what could have occurred between the time they were called and the day they were ushered into eternal presence. It is our conviction that God does not foreordain the life or actions of anyone. He foreknows, it is true, but the shaping of life is done by free choice in obedience to Gods will. Because God foresaw that certain persons would of their own volition be faithful to him, he foreordained such individuals to be his. In other words, their obedience was not determined by his act of predetermination; but his act of predetermination was determined by their voluntary act of obedience. Lard, p. 282
Please notice that the only thing God foreordained (according to the text) is that those whom he foreknew would be conformed to the image of his Son. The words to be conformed to the image of his Son have reference to the resurrection day when we will indeed be transformed into his likeness. . . . who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory . . . (Php. 3:21) Since Jesus was the first to receive this resurrection body, and since he also is our elder brother, we can consider him the first-born from among many brethren. We then can give him due honor and praise. As the elder brother, the first-born was to be honored by all others of the family; so is Jesus to be honored who will give us his likeness on the resurrection morn. Rom. 8:29
Still viewing the prothesis of God, we can say of those that have been predetermined that they were first called by the gospel, then through their surrender and obedience to Christ they were justified, and finally, viewing the matter as if it had already occurred, we could say, Them he also glorified.
In conclusion we can say that the help given to the child of God which will enable him to bear up under any circumstance is found in the bold statement: We know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. The reasons why we know then follow. We know because of the knowledge we have of Gods eternal purpose or prothesis. Rom. 8:28-30
206.
To what does conformed to the image of his Son refer?
207.
Name the steps to glorification as mentioned in these verses.
208.
In conclusion, what reason is given to show that to them that love God all things work together for good?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(28) All things.Persecution and suffering included.
Work together.Contribute.
There is a rather remarkable reading here, found in the Vatican and Alexandrian MSS., and in Origen, inserting God as the subject of the verb, and making all things the object. God works all things with, or co-operates in all things. This reading is very early, if not original.
To them who are the called.Further description of those who love God. They have also, as in His eternal counsels He had designed it should be, obeyed the call given to them in the preaching of the gospel, and definitely enrolled themselves in the kingdom of the Messiah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(28-30) These verses contain a third reason for the patience of the Christian. He knows that whatever happens, all things are really working together for good to him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. All things Not only does the Spirit work in and for us, but when he works all things else cooperate. As the whole creation groaneth together waiting for the renovation of God’s sons, so the whole co-worketh to that glorious consummation.
Love God And just so far and just so long as they love God. Just so far as their love to God is diminished and sin is committed, just so far is the working of all things lessened and doubtful; and when their love to God ceases, the co-working for good ceases, and they are no longer the called. For it is to the man as a GOD LOVER, not as a blank individual, that these promises are made.
The called (See note on Rom 1:1.)
His purpose Of glorifying in Christ the mortal bodies of all true believers, (Rom 8:21.) But the stages of glorification implied in 19-23, as belonging to believers, the apostle now beautifully traces in their divinely established order, from the foreknowledge of God in the past eternity to the consummation in and for the eternity of the future.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And we know that to those who love God all things work together for good, even to those who are called according to his purpose.’
In contrast to what God knows (Rom 8:27) is what ‘we know’. Our knowledge of the purposes of God may be limited, but what we do know is that to those who love God (believers), to those who are called according to His purpose, all things work together for good. By ‘good’, of course, we must see final good, what is good in God’s eyes. Such things do not necessarily turn out for our earthly benefit, for God’s way might lead to a cross, and may well, as we have seen, lead to suffering and tribulation (Rom 8:17 c-18). But what we can be sure of is that they result in our eternal good. God will take all that happens to His own and make it work for their good.
‘To those who love God.’ Unexpectedly this description is rare in Paul’s writings. See, however, 1Co 2:9 (an Old Testament quotation); Rom 8:3 (‘the one who loves God is known of Him’) and compare Eph 6:24 (‘those who love our LORD Jesus Christ’). But the idea is common in the Old Testament, signifying true believers, something which 1Co 8:3 confirms. Such love is, of course, the basis of Christian living, ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and might’ (Deu 6:5; and regularly cited or confirmed by Jesus; Mat 22:37; Luk 10:27). But Jesus also said, ‘If God were your Father you would love Me’ (Joh 8:42). Thus to love God is to love Jesus Christ. The reference is therefore clearly to true believers, something confirmed by the fact that they are those who are ‘called according to His purpose’.
‘All things.’ We need not put a limit on ‘all things’, for if one thing is sure it is that God does make all things finally work together for those who love Him, even though it might be as a rod of chastisement (Heb 12:5-11). It especially has in mind suffering and persecution, as well as the antagonism of evil spiritual forces (Rom 8:35; Rom 8:38-39).
‘To those who are called according to his purpose.’ Here is a definition of those who love God, and vice versa. Those who love God are those whom He has called according to His purpose. In some way they have heard His voice speaking to them, and they have responded. The calling has thus been an effectual call because it has resulted in their loving God. And it is a call made ‘in accordance with His purpose’. Whatever men’s thought may be concentrated on, God’s thoughts are focused on the salvation of His own, and on His presentation of them in His sight as holy, unblameable and unreproachable (Col 1:22). For this purpose of God for those whom He has called is now made clear as it is expanded on in Rom 8:29-30.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Believer Can Rest In Total Assurance Because He Knows That God Is Working His Purposes Out From Beginning To End. He Can Therefore Rest In The Certainty Of His Love Whatever Befalls (8:28-39).
Now we learn that, although we may not know what is the mind of the Spirit in His intercession on our behalf, one thing that ‘we do know’ (Rom 8:28) is that to ‘those who love God’ all things work together for good. While the Spirit intercedes in full knowledge, our knowledge is restricted. This is in fact good for us. It would not be good for us to know all. But our knowledge is nevertheless sound for it is firmly based on our faith in His purposes (Rom 8:28-30) and our faith in His love (Rom 8:35; Rom 8:39). We know that God is ‘for us’. And in view of that fact that we know that ‘God is for us’ (Rom 8:31), we know that we have no need to fear, for He has demonstrated in the giving up of His own Son, what His intentions towards us are. Does someone lay a charge against us? (Rom 8:33). God has declared us righteous. Does someone seek to condemn us? (Rom 8:34). Our advocate, the risen Christ, pleads on our behalf (1Jn 2:1-2). And having had made known to us His love by His death and resurrection, we can rest on that love with confidence knowing that nothing can separate us from it. For nothing can ‘separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our LORD’ (Rom 8:39).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The assurance of God’s eternal decree:
v. 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
v. 29. For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the First-born among many brethren.
v. 30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them He also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. In his chain of arguments for the comfort and consolation of the Christians, Paul now adds another link: Further, we know. It is a matter of the certainty of faith that to them that love God, in whom their faith has brought forth this fruit of loving trust in God, all things, also the sufferings of this present time, work together, are of assistance, serve for good, for the best, and therefore also for the glory which Paul has in mind in the entire section. In accordance with the purpose of God everything, also affliction and suffering, must result in a good and salutary way for them that love God, or, as they are further described, that are called in accordance with a purpose, in whom the call of God unto salvation has been effective, who have really been brought to accept the blessings to which God invites all men in the Gospel. By the call of God they have been placed in the fellowship of Jesus Christ, 1Co 1:9; they have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light, 1Pe 2:9. It was not a matter of their own doing, whose insufficiency might afterwards cause doubts to arise in their minds as concerning the certainty of their salvation, but it is the effectual call of the faithful God, 1Co 1:9. With regard to those that do not heed the invitation and call of God in the Gospel nothing is said in this passage. The present and future state of such people is not due to any decree of God. With regard to the unbelievers the Bible merely states that God extends the invitation and call of the Gospel to them also, that He has overlooked and omitted nothing in their behalf, but that they on their part willfully hindered the effect of the Word, consistently and deliberately resisted the Holy Ghost in His efforts at converting them, that they would not listen to His appeal, and therefore have only themselves to blame for their final perdition The fault of any man’s damnation in no way lies in God, but altogether and alone in man. But in our passage the apostle discusses only those that have been regenerated by the call of God, and in the number of these he includes himself and his readers quite generally, without any invidious distinctions.
Of them that are thus called according to the purpose of God, the statement is now made: Whom, however, He did foreknow, them He also called. The calling of God is the result of His previous foreknowledge: He knew them beforehand as His own, it was an eternal foreknowledge coupled with effective love; He fixed His mind upon them in grace, He selected them in advance as such whom He would, in time, make His own. And in accordance with this foreknowledge the call of God was issued to them and was effective in them when they heard the Word of the Gospel. But before this took place, there was a second act on the part of God: For whom He foreknew He also foreordained, determined, decreed, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that they should, in appearance and acts, be like His Son, in order that He might be the First-born among many brethren. Because of and in His foreknowledge, because of His eternal selection by grace, God also foreordained, or predestinated, the selected ones to the divine sonship, with its fullness of heavenly glory, Christ being the first-born and the only-begotten Son and Heir of God, but all the many adopted children partaking of the same bliss in richest measure with Him. Thus the purpose and decree of God with reference to those in whom His call is effective, includes both foreknowledge and foreordination, and has for its object the presenting of heavenly glory in Christ.
And now the actual carrying out of this decree and purpose as it was made and formed in eternity is described: Whom He foreordained, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. The foreordination of God was put into execution in those whom He had selected for His own, in mercy. His gracious call, in their case, was effectual; it kindled faith in Jesus Christ and His redemption. And thus the call, or conversion, resulted in their justification, the righteousness of Christ being given to them, God declaring them to be righteous for the sake of Jesus Christ, whom they had received by faith. And thus the justification, in turn, brings on, and merges with, the glorification. The full revelation of the glory is still in the future, but its possession is secure even now, only its enjoyment being a matter of hope. Thus the decree of God and its execution are pictured by the apostle in their sequence according to the gracious band of God upon the believers. He has brought out in a splendid manner the certainty of the future redemption and glory as based upon the eternal counsel and decree of God.
The Election of Grace
The passage from 8:28-30 is one of the proof-texts of the doctrine of the election of grace, a truth plainly taught in Holy Scriptures. And here it should be noted, first of all, that the apostle treats of this doctrine only after he has given a full exposition of the fundamental articles of Christian doctrine, of sin and grace, of justification and sanctification. He addresses himself specifically to the regenerated, justified, sanctified children of God, directing their attention to the wonderful counsel of God to their sanctification. To make the doctrine of predestination the fundamental principle and source of all Christian doctrines is not in accordance with Scriptures. The doctrine of the election of grace is a fountain of rich comfort for believing Christians, for them that walk in the Spirit and longingly await the future glory, and it therefore can be understood and properly appreciated by these only. It should also be noted that the apostle speaks only of an election of grace, unto eternal life, and nowhere teaches an election to damnation. To conclude from the fact that certain people are foreordained by God unto eternal salvation that the others are destined to eternal damnation is to confuse Law and Gospel and to upset Christianity. The election of grace has for its object each and every person of the elect; it concerns the children of God only that are chosen and elected unto eternal life. For these persons are the children of God, those that love God, the Christians. In the epistles of the New Testament the expressions “called,” “sanctified,” “beloved,” and “elect” are used altogether promiscuously. And in the Lutheran Confessions the titles “elect,” “Christians,” and “children of God” are used as synonyms. Whenever Scripture, therefore, speaks of the elect, of those whom God has foreknown and foreordained, we should think of believing Christians and be sure to include ourselves in the number of the elect. It is true, incidentally, that only those are truly elect, remain in faith unto the end, and are finally glorified. But Scripture consistently speaks of, and describes, the Christians as persons whose characteristic is faith, and who receive the end of faith, the salvation of their souls. Therefore Luther defines the holy Christian Church, or the communion of saints, as the sum total of those whom the Holy Ghost calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. Now experience teaches that many who once were believers sooner or later lose their faith. And the Bible earnestly warns against backsliding and speaks of such as are believers for a time only. But all this does not belong to the doctrine of the election of grace; for this concerns only such people as believe and are saved. The eternal election, or predestination, since it concerns only certain persons, for that very reason differs from the counsel of redemption, from the express teaching of universal grace, which concerns all men. The eternal election of grace means that God has chosen each and every person of the elect, those that are now Christians and love God, and therefore us also, before the foundation of the world, unto Himself, for His own, and destined them for eternal glory; this decree being carried out in time, when God called these people and transmitted to them the full blessing of justification through the merits of Jesus. And this purpose of God will surely be carried out. Thus the election of God is the cause not only of our salvation, but also of our being called, converted, justified. Faith is the result of the election of God, and gives the believer the guarantee that he belongs to the elect and will finally obtain eternal glory. And therefore the doctrine of the election of grace, as it is taught in the passage above and in other passages, Eph 1:3 ff. ; 2Th 2:13 ff. ; 2Ti 1:9; 1Pe 1:1-2, is full of comfort for the Christians. If ever any doubt as to our salvation wants to rise in our hearts, then we should remember and cling to the knowledge that God from eternity has taken the matter of our salvation and all that pertains to it into His merciful and powerful hand. In the midst of all crosses and trials, when it would seem that God has abandoned us entirely, we should rest our faith upon His Word, which tells us that all the tribulations of this present time are but incidents along the way to heaven, and can in no way compare with the glory which shall be revealed in us on the day of our final redemption. If we thus adhere strictly to the argumentation of Scriptures and apply the comfort of Scriptures to our hearts, then our thoughts will not revert to others, then we shall not yield to the temptation of speculating about this doctrine in its so-called reasonable conclusions, and will thus be spared the dangers into which such speculations lead. If we thus hold fast the truth that the election of grace is not an absolute election, that it was not an arbitrary act of God’s sovereign pleasure, but flows from the eternal counsel of love, that it is based alone upon His grace and mercy, and that its object is to keep us safe in His Word and faith unto our end, then all thoughts of doubt will be removed from our hearts, and our faith will be most firmly established.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rom 8:28. And we know, &c. In the summary which we have given on Rom 8:12 we observed that this is the seventh argument advanced by the Apostle to reconcile Christians to sufferings: “Whatever befals us, supposing we love God, certainly concurs and tends to complete our salvation.” The Apostle never once uses the word
, called or invited, in his arguments, ch. Rom 2:3 : Rom 4:5 : It is a metaphor taken from inviting guests, or makingthem welcome to a feast; and the word and sentiment would be well understood, if we rendered it invite, rather than call: for to call is never, in English, applied peculiarly to the affair of acquainting a person that his company is desired at an entertainment; but either to bid or invite. The verb is translated by bid, Mat 22:3-4. Luk 14:7-8; Luk 14:10. Bid, however, seems to be almost antiquated, and invite is the common mode of expression; though as the word call has been so long in use, one cannot well lay it aside. They are here said to be called or invited of God, according to his purpose, which the Apostle gives as a proof that all things in our present situation are either appointed, or shall be overruled for the happiness of them that love God: thus the clause is to be understood, and thus it is an argument to prove, that all things, how afflictive soever, shall work together for our welfare; but then it must be taken in connection with our loving of God and obedience to him. The Apostle does not pretend to prove that all things shall concur to the everlasting happiness of all that are called or invited; (for many are called, who at last shall not be among the chosen, Mat 20:16.) but only those of the called who perseveringly love God. Our calling or invitation, thus qualified, is the ground of his argument, which he prosecutes and completes in the two next verses; and this calling he takes for granted, as a thing evident and unquestionable among all professed Christians. But it may be asked, “How is it thus evident that we are called?”The answer is,”From our being in the visible church, and professing the faith of the Gospel:” for always, in the apostolic writings, all that are in this visible church and profession, are numbered among the called or invited. As for effectual calling, it is a distinction which divines have invented, without any warrant from Scripture. Our calling therefore is considered by the Apostle in the nature of a self-evident proposition, which nobody doubts or denies, and which indeed no Christian ought to doubt, or call in question. See Eph 3:1-11.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 8:28 . Third ground of encouragement; comp. on Rom 8:26 .
] It is known to us, however (as in Rom 8:22 ). This is not: on the other hand, however , in contradistinction to the sighing discussed since Rom 8:22 , as Hofmann thinks a reference, that must have been marked in some way or other (at least by the stronger adversative ). It is the usual , and carries us from the special relation discussed in Rom 8:26 f. over to a general one, the consciousness of which must finally place the good courage of the believer on a footing all the more sure.
. . ] the dative of communion . Paul characterizes as lovers of God ( .) the true Christians (comp. 1Co 2:9 ; 1Co 3:8 ; Eph 6:24 ; Jas 1:12 ), as is plain from . . .
] everything, i.e. , according to the context, all destined events , even those full of pain not excepted (Rom 8:35 ). On the thought, comp. Plat. Rep . p. 613 A.
] works along with , that is, contributes; , Hesychius. See Wetstein. The does not refer to the common working together of the elements contained in (comp. Rom 8:22 ), but to the idea of the fellowship in which he who supports necessarily stands to him who is supported. Comp. on Rom 8:26 .
] indefinitely: for good; it works beneficially . Comp. Theogn. 161; Hom. Il . x. 102; Plat. Rep. l.c.; Sir 39:27 ; Rom 13:4 . Reiche erroneously takes it as: “the good of the Christians, their eternal welfare.” In that case, the article at least must have been used as in Rom 14:16 ; and some witnesses in reality add it. Bengel has the right view: “ in bonum , ad glorificationem usque ” (Rom 8:30 ).
. ] These words may mean either ( as predicate, joining on): “ since they are the called according to His purpose ” (so Hofmann), or (taking in conjunction with ), as to those who ( quippe qui, i.e. since they indeed) are the called according to His purpose . So usually; and this latter is the true rendering, because otherwise would be put not only quite superfluously, but also in a way very liable to misconception, since it would occur to every reader, at the first glance, to join with . Had Paul meant what Hofmann thinks he did, he would have written simply . . without , or possibly . . .
Respecting the idea itself, there is causally involved in the relation of being the called according to His purpose (for the emphasis rests on ), the certainty that to them all things , etc.; for otherwise that high distinction, which God has conferred upon them according to the purpose of His grace, would be vain and fruitless, which is impossible (Rom 8:30 ). The here meant is the free decree formed by God in eternity for imparting bliss to believers through Christ (Rom 9:11 ; Eph 1:11 ; Eph 3:11 ; 2Ti 1:9 ; Eph 1:9 ). In accordance with that decree, the call of God to the Messianic salvation through the preaching of the gospel (Rom 10:14 ; 2Th 2:14 ) has gone forth to those comprehended in that decree. Therefore, when Paul terms the Christians , it is self-evident that in their case the call has met with success (1Co 1:24 ), consequently has been combined with the converting operation of the divine grace, without the latter, however, being found in the word itself , or the word being made equivalent to . Comp. Lamping, Pauli de praedest. decreta , Leovard. 1858, p. 40 f. Christians are at the same time , (Rom 9:11 ), . . .; but the significations of these predicates correspond to different characteristic qualities of the Christian state. Consequently, just as it was quite a mistaken view to interpret of the personal self-determination of the subjects (Chrysostom, Theodoret, and others), so also it was an unbiblical and hazardous distinction (see against this, Calovius) to put the called in contrast with those who are called . (Augustine, Estius, Reithmayr, and others). Weiss aptly observes, in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol . 1857, p. 79: “Election and calling are inseparable correlative ideas; where the one takes place, there the other takes place also; only we cannot take cognizance of the former as an act before all time and within the divine mind, while the latter becomes apparent as a historical fact.” Comp. also his bibl. Theol . p. 386 f.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1877
ALL THINGS WORK FOR GOOD
Rom 8:28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
TRUE believers have the greatest encouragement to draw nigh to God; they have supernatural assistance when pouring out their hearts before him, and are assured by God himself that their prayers shall be heard; yet, sometimes, like the Israelites in Egypt, the more they renew their requests, the more they find their burthens increased [Note: Exo 5:6-8.]: hence, like them, they are also sometimes ready to murmur and despond [Note: Exo 5:20-21.]; but, by grace they are enabled to wait patiently the Lords leisure, and invariably, in the issue, the clouds which they so much dreaded, burst in blessings on their heads.
This St. Paul declares to be the experience of all true believers. In his words I wish you to notice,
I.
The description he gives of true Christians
Christians are sometimes described in the Scriptures by their regard for God, and sometimes by Gods regard for them. The text leads us to speak of them in both points of view:
1.
Their regard to God
[The loving of God is a character peculiar to true Christians: others are represented rather as haters of God, and enemies to him in their minds [Note: Rom 1:30. Col 1:21.]; but they who are partakers of his grace, have their natural enmity removed: they behold his excellency, and are sensible of their obligations to him: hence they love him, and strive to love him with their whole hearts.]
2.
Gods regard for them
[Their regard for him sprang not from any good dispositions in themselves; it resulted purely from the manifestations of Gods love to them: he formed purposes of love to them from all eternity [Note: Jer 31:3.]. In due time he called them by his grace, and made them his people; and this distinguishing favour is the true source of their love to him. To this effect both our Lord and his beloved Apostle testify [Note: Joh 15:16. 1Jn 4:19.] To the eternal purposes of God, therefore, and not to the inclinations of our carnal minds, must all the good that is in us be traced.]
To persons of this description the Apostle announces,
II.
His strange yet assured confidence respecting them
It is under sufferings that the superiority of the Christians state is to be seen to the greatest advantage. Of them the Apostle speaks; and declares that, of whatever kind they be, they shall work for the good of them that love God
[The Christian may be called to bear the heaviest afflictions; but they shall bring him to consideration, stir him up to prayer, wean him from the world, and lead him to seek his rest above He maybe assaulted also with the most distressing temptations; but these will shew him the evil of his heart, and the faithfulness of his God: they will also teach him to sympathize with his tempted brethren: even death itself will be among the number of the things that shall prove beneficial to him. This is the most formidable enemy to fallen man: it cuts him off from all means and opportunities of salvation, and seals him up under endless and irremediable misery; but to a true Christian it is a most-invaluable treasure [Note: 1Co 3:22.]. It puts a period to all his sorrows and temptations, and introduces him to the immediate, everlasting enjoyment of his God.]
Nor can we doubt of this blessed truth
[The Apostle speaks of it not as a matter of conjecture, but of certainty: as he knew it, so may we know it, from the declarations and promises of God [Note: Psa 25:10.]. Both David and Paul have attested it also from their own experience [Note: Psa 119:71. Php 1:19.]: nor is there any Christian in whom it has not been realized. It is not however singly or separately that all things work for good, but as taken together in a collective view. Separately considered, many things may have wrought for evil, by producing sinful tempers or actions; but when viewed as connected with all their effects and consequences, the most untoward circumstances will be found to have wrought for good.]
This subject naturally suggests,
1.
A rule whereby to judge of Gods electing love
[Our election of God can be known only by its effects [Note: 1Th 1:4-5.]. To ascertain it, we must inquire whether we have been called by his grace, and whether, in consequence of that call, we love God supremely? If we experience these effects, we may safely conclude, that God has entertained eternal purposes of love towards us; but if we trace not these effects, our pretensions to an interest in his electing love is a fatal delusion. Let them, in whom these evidences are found, rejoice; but rejoice with trembling.]
2.
A ground of comfort under his apparent frowns
[Afflictions are not at the present joyous, but grievous; and because they are his rod, we are ready to say, All these things are against me. But the Scripture tells us, that the trial of our faith is precious [Note: 1Pe 1:7.]. Let the afflicted then consider what good may be accruing to them. Their troubles may be working so as to discover, prevent, punish, or destroy sin; or they may be working to impart, exercise, strengthen, or perfect grace What reason, in either case, have the afflicted to take comfort! We think little of inconveniences if they do but promote our temporal interest. Should we then be averse to any trials that may tend to our spiritual advantage? Let us wait to see the end of the Lord, and be solicitous rather about our future benefit, than our present ease.]
3.
A motive to love and serve God with our whole hearts
[Things are never represented as working for the good of the wicked; on the contrary, their temporal blessings are often cursed to them; yea, even spiritual blessings only aggravate their guilt and condemnation [Note: 2Co 2:16.]. Christ himself proves, not a Saviour, but a stumbling-block to them [Note: 1Pe 2:7-8.]. But for Gods people, all things, sin excepted, work for good. Should they not then love him for such distinguishing mercy? Can they ever do enough for him, who so marvellously overrules all events for them?]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Ver. 28. All things work together ] Not affliction only (as some would here restrain it), but sin, Satan, all. Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit, saith Seneca. Medici pedes et alas cantharidis, cum sit ipsa mortifera, prodesse dicunt. The drinking of that wine wherein a viper hath, been drowned cureth the leprosy. The scorpion healeth his own wounds, and the viper (the head and tail being cut off), beaten and applied, cureth her own biting. God changeth our grisly wounds into spangles of beauty, and maketh the horrible sting of Satan to be like a pearl pin, to pin upon us the long white robe of Christ, and to dress us with the garment of gladness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
28 .] Having given an example, in prayer , how the Spirit helps our weakness , and out of our ignorance and discouragement brings from God an answer of peace, he now extends this to all things all circumstances by which the Christian finds himself surrounded. These may seem calculated to dash down hope, and surpass patience; but we know better concerning them . But (the opposition seems most naturally to apply to Rom 8:22 , the groaning and travailing of all creation) we know (as a point of the assurance of faith) that to those who love God (a stronger designation than any yet used for believers) all things (every event of life, but especially, as the context requires, those which are adverse. To include, with Aug [56] de Corrept. et Grat., c. ix. (24), vol. x. pt. i. p. 930, the sins of believers in this , as making them ‘humiliores et doctiores,’ is manifestly to introduce an element which did not enter into the Apostle’s consideration; for he is here already viewing the believer as justified by faith, dwelt in by the Spirit, dead to sin) work together ( , absolute, or implied: not, ‘ work together for good with those who love God ,’ ‘loving God’ being a ‘working for good:’ which, though upheld by Thol., seems to me harsh, and inconsistent with the emphatic position of . . . Surely also in that case would have been , all things , as one party working , set over against . ., the other party working : whereas gives rather the sense of all things co-operating one with another .
[56] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430
If the reading of [57] [58] be adopted, we should understand either (1) that God causeth all things to work, &c.: taking as from , concludo : or (2) that, as Syr. renders it, “ in every thing He helpeth them for good .” But in this last case, we should require ) for (towards, to bring about) good (their eternal welfare; the fulfilment of the purpose of the . . . , Rom 8:39 ), to those who are called (not only invited , but effectually called see below) according to (His) purpose .
[57] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 : as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50 , to , Joh 8:52 . It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria; it does not, however, in the Gospels , represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century .
[58] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle; it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon; nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as ‘Verc’): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are (1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as ‘Blc’); (2) that of Birch (‘Bch’), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798, Apocalypse, 1800, Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (‘Btly’), by the Abbate Mico, published in Ford’s Appendix to Woide’s edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus’ Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentley’s books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (‘Rl’), and are preserved amongst Bentley’s papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20) 1 . The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgon’s “Letters from Rome,” London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).
In this further description the Apostle designates the believers as not merely loving God , but being beloved by God . The divine side of their security from harm is brought out, as combining with and ensuring the other. They are sure that all things work for their good, not only because they love Him who worketh all things , but also because He who worketh all things hath loved and chosen them , and carried them through the successive steps of their spiritual life. The calling here and elsewhere spoken of by the Apostle (compare especially ch. Rom 9:11 ) is the working, in men, of “the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the foundations of the world were laid, He hath decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation.” Art. X. of the Church of England. To specify the various ways in which this calling has been understood, would far exceed the limits of a general commentary. It may suffice to say, that on the one hand, Scripture bears constant testimony to the fact that all believers are chosen and called by God, their whole spiritual life in its origin, progress, and completion, being from Him : while on the other hand its testimony is no less precise that He willeth all to be saved, and that none shall perish except by wilful rejection of the truth. So that, on the one side, GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY, on the other, MAN’S FREE WILL, is plainly declared to us. To receive, believe, and act on both these, is our duty, and our wisdom . They belong, as truths, no less to natural than to revealed religion: and every one who believes in a God must acknowledge both. But all attempts to bridge over the gulf between the two are futile in the present imperfect condition of man. The very reasonings used for this purpose are clothed in language framed on the analogies of this lower world, and wholly inadequate to describe God regarded as He is in Himself. Hence arises confusion, misapprehension of God, and unbelief. I have therefore simply, in this commentary, endeavoured to enter into the full meaning of the sacred text, whenever one or other of these great truths is brought forward; not explaining either of them away on account of possible difficulties arising from the recognition of the other, but recognizing as fully the elective and predestinating decree of God where it is treated of, as I have done, in other places, the free will of man . If there be an inconsistency in this course, it is at least one in which the nature of things, the conditions of human thought, and Scripture itself, participate, and from which no Commentator that I have seen, however anxious to avoid it by extreme views one way or the other, has been able to escape. See, for a full treatment of the subject, Tholuck’s Comm. in loc.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 8:28-39 . Conclusion of the argument: the Apostle glories in the assurance of God’s eternal and unchangeable love in Jesus Christ.
= further, we know: in a sense this is one ground more for believing in the glorious future: God is ever with us, and will not abandon us at last. ( ): is naturally neuter, and if is the true reading, it is probably best to render “God co-operates for good in all things ( accus. of ref as in 1Co 9:25 ; 1Co 10:33 ) with those,” etc. . describes the persons in question from the human side; describes them from the Divine side. It is in pursuance of a purpose of God (for with reference to the eternal purpose of redemption, see Rom 9:11 , Eph 1:11 ; Eph 3:11 , 2Ti 1:9 ) that they are called. “Calling” in Paul never means “invitation”; it is always “effectual calling”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rom 8:28-30
28And 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. 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Rom 8:28 “And we know” This verb (oida) occurs four times in this context.
1. believers know that all creation groans (Rom 8:22)
2. believers do not know how to pray (Rom 8:26)
3. the Father knows the hearts of humans and the mind of the Spirit (Rom 8:27)
4. believers know that all things work together for good (Rom 8:28)
NASB, TCNT”God causes all things”
NKJV, NRSV,
NET”all things”
TEV, NIV”in all things God works”
The textual question is how many times does “Theos” (or “Theon”) appear in this verse?
There is no manuscript variant related to the phrase “to those who love God,” but there is a variant related to the phrase “all things work together for good.”
1. Some manuscripts add “ho Theos” after the verb, P46, A, B, 81, and some Coptic and Ethiopian versions.
2. Most manuscripts omit it, , C, D, F, G, and the Vulgate, Peshitta, Armenian versions. The UBS4 rates its omission as “B” (almost certain).
The NASB includes it to stress the point of divine activity. It is possible from the context that the Spirit’s agency is indented (cf. Rom 8:27; NEB, REB).
“to work together for good” This is present active indicative. This is another compound with syn (cf. Rom 8:26). Therefore, it literally means “all things continue to work in cooperation with one another for the good.” This is a difficult concept in a world of evil and suffering (two helpful books on this subject is The Goodness of God by Wenham and Hannah Whithall Smith, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life). The “good” here is defined in Rom 8:29 as “conformed to the image of His Son.” Christlikeness, not prosperity, fame or health, is God’s unalterable plan for every believer.
“to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” These are two present active participles. These are two conditions which continue to allow the believer to view life, regardless of the circumstances, in a positive light (cf. Rom 8:15). Again notice the twin covenantal aspects of human freedom (“love”) and God’s sovereignty (“called”).
The term “purpose” in connection to God’s eternal plans is found in Rom 9:11; Eph 1:11; Eph 3:11; and 2Ti 1:9. God has an eternal redemptive plan for fallen humanity. See SPECIAL TOPIC: YHWH’s ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PLAN at Rom 1:5.
Rom 8:29-30 The verbs in these verses are all aorist active indicatives. They form a chain from before time until time is no more. God knows us and is still for us and wants us to be with Him. This is a corporate, not individual, context. The final act of glorification is still future, but in this context it is stated as an accomplished event.
Rom 8:29 “foreknew” Paul used this term twice, here and Rom 11:2. In Rom 11:2 it referred to God’s covenant love for Israel before time. Remember that the term “know” in Hebrew related to intimate, personal relationship, not to facts about someone (cf. Gen 4:1; Jer 1:5). Here it is included in a chain of events (cf. Rom 8:29-30). This term is linked with predestination. However, it must be stated that God’s foreknowledge is not the basis of election because if that were so, then election would be based on fallen humanity’s future response, which would be human performance. This term was also found in Act 26:5; 1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 1:20 and 2Pe 3:17.
“predestined” The terms “foreknow” (proginsk) or “predestine” (prooriz) are both compounds with the preposition “before” (pro) and therefore, should be translated “to know before,” “to set bounds before,” or “mark off before.”
The definitive passages on predestination in the NT are Rom 8:28-30; Eph 1:3-14 and Romans 9. These texts obviously stress that God is sovereign. He is in total control of all things, including human history. There is a preset divine redemption plan being worked out in time. However, this plan is not arbitrary or selective. It is based not only on God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge, but on His unchanging character of love, mercy and undeserved grace.
We must be careful of our western (American) individualism or our evangelical zeal coloring this wonderful truth. We must also guard against being polarized into the historical, theological conflicts between Augustine versus Pelegius or Calvinism versus Arminianism.
Predestination is not a doctrine meant to limit God’s love, grace, and mercy nor to exclude some from the gospel. It is meant to strengthen believers by molding their worldview. God is for all mankind (cf. Joh 3:16; 1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9). God is in control of all things. Who or what can separate us from Him (cf. Rom 8:31-39)? Predestination forms one of two ways to view life. God views all history as present; humans are time bound. Our perspective and mental abilities are limited. There is no contradiction between God’s sovereignty and mankind’s free will. It is a covenantal structure. This is another example of biblical truth given in dialectical tension (see SPECIAL TOPIC: EASTERN LITERATURE at Rom 3:27. Biblical doctrines are usually presented from different perspectives. They often appear paradoxical. The truth is a balance between the seemingly opposite pairs. We must not remove the tension by picking one of the truths. We must not isolate any biblical truth into a theological system unrelated to a specific context.
It is also important to add that the goal of election is not only heaven when we die, but Christlikeness now (cf. Eph 1:4; Eph 2:10)! We were chosen to be “holy and blameless.” God chooses to change us so that others may see the change and respond by faith to Him in Christ. Predestination is not a personal privilege but a covenantal responsibility!
“to become conformed to the image of His Son” This is a major truth of this passage. This is the goal of Christianity (cf. Rom 8:9; 2Co 3:11; Gal 4:19; Eph 1:4; Eph 2:10; Eph 4:13; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:3; 1Pe 1:15). Holiness is God’s will for every believer. God’s election is to Christlikeness (cf. Eph 1:4), not a special standing. The image of God which was given to humanity in creation (cf. Gen 1:26; Gen 5:1; Gen 5:3; Gen 9:6) is to be restored (cf. Col 3:10). See note at Rom 8:21 and SPECIAL TOPIC: CALLED at Rom 1:6.
“that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” In Psa 89:27 “first-born” is a title for the Messiah. In the OT the first born son had preeminence and privilege. The term was used in Col 1:15 to show Jesus’ preeminence in creation and in Col 1:18 and Rev 1:5 to show Jesus preeminence in resurrection. In this text believers are, through Him, brought into His preeminence!
This term does not refer to Jesus’ incarnation, but to Him as the head of a new race (cf. Rom 5:12-21), the first in a series, the trail blazer of our faith, the channel of the Father’s blessing to the family of faith! See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: FIRSTBORN
Rom 8:30 “glorified” God is often described in the Bible by the term “glory.” The term came from a commercial root word that meant “heavy” and by implication, valuable, like gold. See Special Topic at Rom 3:23. Theologically God is redeeming fallen mankind through a series of steps listed in Rom 8:29-30. The last step is “glorification.” This will be the believers’ complete salvation. It will occur on Resurrection Day when they are given their new spiritual bodies (cf. 1Co 15:50-58) and are united fully with the Triune God and each other (cf. 1Th 4:13-18; 1Jn 3:2).
Often the process mentioned in Rom 8:29-30 is put into theological categories.
1. justification, Rom 8:30 – freed from the penalty of sin (adoption, heirs, Rom 8:16-17)
2. sanctification (i.e., “conformed to the image of His Son”), Rom 8:29 – freed from the power of sin (Christlike living)
3. glorification, Rom 8:30 – freed from the presence of sin (i.e., heaven)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
And = But.
work together. Greek. sunergeo. Only here, Mar 16:20. 1Co 16:16. 2Co 6:1. Jam 2:22.
love. Greek. agapao. App-135.
purpose. Greek. prothesis. See Act 11:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
28.] Having given an example, in prayer, how the Spirit helps our weakness, and out of our ignorance and discouragement brings from God an answer of peace, he now extends this to all things-all circumstances by which the Christian finds himself surrounded. These may seem calculated to dash down hope, and surpass patience; but we know better concerning them. But (the opposition seems most naturally to apply to Rom 8:22, the groaning and travailing of all creation) we know (as a point of the assurance of faith) that to those who love God (a stronger designation than any yet used for believers) all things (every event of life, but especially, as the context requires, those which are adverse. To include, with Aug[56] de Corrept. et Grat., c. ix. (24), vol. x. pt. i. p. 930, the sins of believers in this , as making them humiliores et doctiores, is manifestly to introduce an element which did not enter into the Apostles consideration; for he is here already viewing the believer as justified by faith, dwelt in by the Spirit, dead to sin) work together (, absolute, or implied: not, work together for good with those who love God,-loving God being a working for good: which, though upheld by Thol., seems to me harsh, and inconsistent with the emphatic position of . . . Surely also in that case would have been , all things, as one party working, set over against . ., the other party working: whereas gives rather the sense of all things co-operating one with another.
[56] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430
If the reading of [57] [58] be adopted, we should understand either (1) that God causeth all things to work, &c.: taking as from , concludo: or (2) that, as Syr. renders it, in every thing He helpeth them for good. But in this last case, we should require ) for (towards, to bring about) good (their eternal welfare;-the fulfilment of the purpose of the . . . , Rom 8:39),-to those who are called (not only invited, but effectually called-see below) according to (His) purpose.
[57] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 :-as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50,-to , Joh 8:52. It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria;-it does not, however, in the Gospels, represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century.
[58] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle;-it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon;-nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as Verc): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are-(1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as Blc); (2) that of Birch (Bch), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798,-Apocalypse, 1800,-Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (Btly), by the Abbate Mico,-published in Fords Appendix to Woides edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentleys books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (Rl), and are preserved amongst Bentleys papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20)1. The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgons Letters from Rome, London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).
In this further description the Apostle designates the believers as not merely loving God, but being beloved by God. The divine side of their security from harm is brought out, as combining with and ensuring the other. They are sure that all things work for their good, not only because they love Him who worketh all things, but also because He who worketh all things hath loved and chosen them, and carried them through the successive steps of their spiritual life. The calling here and elsewhere spoken of by the Apostle (compare especially ch. Rom 9:11) is the working, in men, of the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the foundations of the world were laid, He hath decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation. Art. X. of the Church of England. To specify the various ways in which this calling has been understood, would far exceed the limits of a general commentary. It may suffice to say, that on the one hand, Scripture bears constant testimony to the fact that all believers are chosen and called by God,-their whole spiritual life in its origin, progress, and completion, being from Him:-while on the other hand its testimony is no less precise that He willeth all to be saved, and that none shall perish except by wilful rejection of the truth. So that, on the one side, GODS SOVEREIGNTY,-on the other, MANS FREE WILL,-is plainly declared to us. To receive, believe, and act on both these, is our duty, and our wisdom. They belong, as truths, no less to natural than to revealed religion: and every one who believes in a God must acknowledge both. But all attempts to bridge over the gulf between the two are futile in the present imperfect condition of man. The very reasonings used for this purpose are clothed in language framed on the analogies of this lower world, and wholly inadequate to describe God regarded as He is in Himself. Hence arises confusion, misapprehension of God, and unbelief. I have therefore simply, in this commentary, endeavoured to enter into the full meaning of the sacred text, whenever one or other of these great truths is brought forward; not explaining either of them away on account of possible difficulties arising from the recognition of the other, but recognizing as fully the elective and predestinating decree of God where it is treated of, as I have done, in other places, the free will of man. If there be an inconsistency in this course, it is at least one in which the nature of things, the conditions of human thought, and Scripture itself, participate, and from which no Commentator that I have seen, however anxious to avoid it by extreme views one way or the other, has been able to escape. See, for a full treatment of the subject, Tholucks Comm. in loc.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 8:28-30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
No breaks between the links of this chain. Foreknowledge is welded to the predestination: the predestination is infallibly linked with the calling, the calling with the justification, and the justification with the glorification. There is no hint given that there may be a flaw or break in the series. Get a hold of any one, and you possess the whole. The called man is the predestinated man. Let him be sure of that. And the justified man shall be a glorified man. Let him have no doubt whatever about that.
Rom 8:31. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
A great many, but they are all nothing. If God be for us, all they that be against us are not worth mentioning: they are ciphers. If he were on their side, then the one would swell the ciphers to the full, but if he be not there, we may put them all into the scale and reckon them as less than nothing.
Rom 8:32-33. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect?
Who, indeed.
Rom 8:33-34. It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?
No one can, for:
Rom 8:34. It is Christ that died,
And so put our sins to death.
Rom 8:34. Yea rather, that is risen again,
And so hath justified us.
Rom 8:34. Who is even at the right hand of God,
And so has carried us into heaven by his representing us there.
Rom 8:34. Who also maketh intercession for us.
Whose everlasting plea, therefore, silences all the accusations of the devil.
Rom 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril, or sword?
They have all been tried. In different ages of the world, the saints have undergone all these, and yet has never one of them been taken away from the love of Christ. They have not left off loving him, nor has he left off loving them. They have been tried, I say.
Rom 8:36. As it is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
What is the result of it?
Rom 8:37-39. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Halleluiah! Blessed be his name.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 138.; Isa 55:1-11; Rom 8:28-39.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Rom 8:28. , Moreover we know) An antithesis to, we know not, Rom 8:26.- , to them that love) The subject is here described from the fruit of those things, which have been hitherto mentioned,-namely, love to God; and this love also makes believers [by a happy art] dexterously to take in good part all things which God sends upon them, and perseveringly to overcome all difficulties and temptations, [Jam 1:12. Paul is an example, 2Co 1:3-11.-V. g.] Presently after, in the case of the called, the reason is given, why a predicate so excellent is attributed to this subject [why such blessed things are predicated of them who love God].- ) all things work together, by means of groanings, and in other ways. So 1Ma 12:1, , time works with (serves) him.- , for good) even as far as to [up to] their glorification, Rom 8:30, at the end.- , to those who are the called according to His purpose) This is a new proposition in reference to what follows. The apostle designs to give a recapitulation of all the advantages involved in justification and glorification, Rom 8:30, and accordingly returns now first of all to its deepest [most remote] roots, which only can be known from these their sweetest fruits themselves:[98] he at the same time hereby prepares us for the ninth chapter [which treats chiefly of Gods election and calling]: is the purpose, which God determined to carry into effect concerning the salvation of His own people. , the called, is a noun, not a participle; inasmuch as is added [which it would not be, if were a participial adjective], who are the called:-the purpose is unfolded, Rom 8:29, the called, Rom 8:30.
[98] i.e. the root, Gods calling and everlasting election, is known from the blessed fruits (all things working for their good) which it bears to the called.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 8:28
Rom 8:28
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good,-The purpose of God is to call the worthy and true souls of humanity into his church and to discipline and educate them so as to fit them to dwell with him in his eternal home; and to those who love him and are called in harmony with his purpose, all things work together for good. When he says all things, he means even things that are painful; for even if affliction, poverty, imprisonment, hunger, death, or any other thing, come upon them, God is able to turn all things to their good and fit them for his eternal home. If they are not able to bear the trials and afflictions that come upon them and accept them as means of discipline from the hand of the Father, they judge themselves unworthy of eternal life. If they fail to do his requirements, they deprive themselves of the education that will fit them for service in the eternal kingdom.
even to them that are called-These have been called by the gospel, and accepted it. Many others are called, Jews and Gentiles; but only those who hear and obey are Gods chosen ones. (Mat 22:14).
according to his purpose.-God determined that man should be called by the gospel; hence, to be called according to Gods purpose is to be called by the gospel. In speaking of this call, Paul said: But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2Th 2:13-14).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Loves Prosperity
We know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.Rom 8:28.
I
All for Good
All things work together for good.
i. All things
The phrase is to be taken in the widest possible sense. It includes everything mentioned in Rom 8:35; Rom 8:38-39. We naturally think of all things as sharply divided into two parts. There are the dark things of life and there are the bright things. But St. Paul says all things work together for good.
1. The dark things.The reference of the text is perhaps more especially to the dark side of things, because the early Christians were more familiar with this aspect. Now, St. Pauls philosophy of the facts of life is this, that, amid these earthly scenes, the upright, the humble, the pure are in process of being prepared for the power and glory of an endless life. This is his explanation of the world so far as the children of God are concerned with it. Bodily pain, mental disquiet, the secret grief, the burden, bitterness, heaviness that lies upon the heart, behind the mask, often, of a smiling face, the whole complement of experience, is steadily and surely leading up toward a day of interpretation.
When Jacobs sons returned to Canaan, and told him what had befallen them in Egypt, they seemed to infect him with their own fear. He refused to see anything but the dark side of things. There is a plaintive cadence in his words
Me have ye bereaved of my children:
Joseph is not, and Simeon is not,
And ye will take Benjamin away:
All these things are against me. (Gen 42:36.)
And he adds forebodings of mischief, grey hairs, sorrow, and Sheol (Rom 8:38). Melancholy Jacobs faith is not yet perfected. Nursing his sorrow, saturating his mind with self-pity, he finds a dreary pleasure in counting his troubles, and inferring that they are all (the grand total is three!) against him; while we, who know how the drama is unfolding, perceive that all the things in question, and many more, are working together for his good, and that he will live to confess that God has redeemed him out of all evil. God conceals His bright designs in order that His servants may learn to trust Him in the dark as well as in the light. It has been finely said, by George Macdonald, that the secrets God keeps must be as good as those He tells. And as our knowledge of Him increases, we find, with Whittier,
That more and more a providence
Of love is understood,
Making the springs of time and sense
Sweet with eternal good.1 [Note: J. Strachan, Hebrew Ideals, pt. ii. 125.]
Hours there will come of soulless night,
When all thats holy, all thats bright,
Seems gone for aye:
When truth and love, and hope and peace,
All vanish into nothingness,
And fade away.
Fear not the cloud that veils the skies,
Tis out of darkness light must rise,
As eer of old:
The true, the good, the fair endure,
And thou, with eyes less dim, more pure,
Shalt them behold.2 [Note: F. M. White.]
The Apostle does not ignore or belittle the disorder and evil that exist; he concedes that the constitution and course of things is not perfectly satisfactory, that man is born to trouble, and that society is full of confusion and sin; he only asks us to postpone sentence upon the facts until the time when an intelligent decision will be possible. The philosophical doctrine called Pessimism,that the world, if not the worst possible, is worse than none at allfinds no countenance in the Bible. Nevertheless the Bible recognizes the deep and awful disorder that prevails, and the evil that clings to both man and nature.
Love understands the mystery, whereof
We can but spell a surface history:
Love knows, remembers: let us trust in Love:
Love understands the mystery.
Love weighs the event, the long pre-history,
Measures the depth beneath, the height above,
The mystery, with the ante-mystery.
To love and to be grieved befits a dove
Silently telling her bead-history:
Trust all to Love, be patient and approve:
Love understands the mystery.1 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]
2. The bright things.When St. Paul says All things work together for good to them that love God, he is not taking a merely negative view of life. It is not only of trials and calamities, of losses and sufferings, that he is speaking. He does not say all trials, but all thingshealth, strength, youth, beauty and intellect, vigour of mind and vigour of body.
Do honour to your bodies. Reverence your physical natures, not simply for themselves. Only as ends they are not worthy of it, but because in health and strength lies the true basis of noble thought and glorious devotion. A man thinks well and loves well and prays well, because of the rich running of his blood.2 [Note: Phillips Brooks.]
We should be as happy as possible, and our happiness should last as long as possible; for those who can finally issue from self by the portal of happiness know infinitely wider freedom than those who pass through the gate of sadness.3 [Note: Maurice Maeterlinck.]
One shivering evening, cold enough for frost, but with too high a wind, and a little past sundown, when the lamps were beginning to enlarge their circles in the growing dusk, a brace of barefooted lassies were seen coming eastward in the teeth of the wind. If the one was as much as nine, the other was certainly not more than seven. They were miserably clad; and the pavement was so cold you would have thought no one could lay a naked foot on it unflinching. Yet they came along waltzing, if you please, while the elder sang a tune to give them music. The person who saw this, and whose heart was full of bitterness at the moment, pocketed a reproof which has been of use to him ever since, and which he now hands on, with his good wishes, to the reader.1 [Note: R. L. Stevenson, Notes on Edinburgh.]
Spirit of sacred happiness,
Who makest energy delight,
And love to be in weakness might;
Now with enlivening impulse bless,
Now re-confirm our steadfastness,
And make us vigorous and bright.2 [Note: T. T. Lynch, The Rivulet, 90.]
ii. Working together for Good
1. Now first observe a very important distinction. St. Paul does not assert that all things are good, but he does affirm that all things work together for the ultimate good. Even the most, apparently insignificant affairs in life work out for our greatest benefit in the future. Something that occurs to-day may be the beginning of a series of circumstances which will not come to fruition for the next twenty years, but the next twenty years will prove how essential the almost unnoticed circumstance was for our later good. One of the most interesting features of history is to observe how things of an apparently opposite nature have worked together for some universal benefitthings which at first sight could scarcely have been believed to have any possible connection with each other. And yet they have been as closely connected as the links of a chain or the cog-wheels that work into each other in a piece of machinery.
When the physician has prescribed some medicine, we go to the chemist to have it made up; and he takes one ingredient from this phial, and another from that, and another from elsewhere; any one of these taken alone might kill us outright, but when they have been well compounded and mixed they work together for a perfect cure.3 [Note: F. B. Meyer.]
All that is harmony for thee, O universe, is in harmony with me as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for thee is too early or too late for me.4 [Note: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.]
The Summum Pulchrum rests in heaven above;
Do thou, as best thou mayst, thy duty do;
Amid the things allowed thee live and love;
Some day thou shalt it view.5 [Note: Clough.]
2. In the second place, we must make no mistake about what St. Paul means by good. When the Apostle declares that all things work together for good, he is thinking of good in Gods sense of that word. Happiness is one thing, good is another and a very different thing. Good in this sense will, in the long-run, no doubt bring in its turn perfect blessedness; it will bring unsullied and unmixed joy; but good is not happiness, good is not freedom from strife, care, and pain. If we think that all things work together to give the godly man all he desires, to deliver him from trial, trouble, worry, and distress, to make him prosperous, smiling, contented with everything about him, and unruffled in temper, person, and estate, we entirely misread these words, and I we shall in all probability be woefully disappointed.
Many think that the chief end of life is to secure ease and happiness, and they say that the object of all our social and political endeavours should be to provide the greatest possible amount of happiness for the greatest number. That may be good utilitarianism, but it is not Christianity. It is not the Divine idea. If this world had been intended mainly to make the people who live in it perfectly happy, we can only say that it has been constructed on wrong principles. We can easily conceive of a world in which there would be much more happiness than there has ever been, or ever will be, in this. God has a higher purpose. It is to make the world a moral school, a training-place for character; a place in which patience may be learned, and righteousness and strength of soul, and Christ-likeness; a training-place which is to prepare for a better and fuller life hereafter. Those who are called after Gods purpose are called for thisto be conformed to the image of Christ. And St. Paul was thinking of this end, and of this end only, when he used the words, All things work together for good to them that love God.
For some of us, perhaps, those words may be associated with a feeling of impatience. We may have heard them used with a narrow view of good, and of the lovers of God, or with a deficient sense of the demand that is being made for faith and farsightedness, or with some lack of that deep and burning reality whereby heart speaks to heart, and wins an answering of assent. But they are among the words that experience fills with lightthe words that are real to us in proportion as we ourselves are real. Only lot us try to have a right judgment as to what good is, and we shall rind that there is no sort of trouble that may not work for good to those whose hearts are set, though it be but timidly, towards God; to those who love Him, though it be but vaguely, and who long to know and love Him more. If good meant only comfort and success and security and satisfaction with ones self, and a life without harassing or pain, the words would be false in principle and in fact. But if good means that for which men were made; if it means purity of heart, and unselfishness, and nearness and likeness to God and liberty and peace, and the power to help others, and the beginning or faint forecast of the life of heaven amidst the things of earth, then one need not live long to see how the words come true. Even the strangest miseries, the saddest hours, the bitterest disappointments, do work for good in this, the one true sense. God sees to it that those who want to serve Him better are not blinded or overborne by these things in His pity He shows them what the trouble really means, Ha releases for them the blessing that is hidden in it. And so that great love of His, which no violence can wrench aside from the souls He seeks, fulfils itself in many ways; even the wildest tumult of this world is constrained and overruled to do Him service; and men look back to the days that were full of anguish and perplexity as the very time when He did most for themthe dawn of clearer light within their hearts, the awaking to truer thoughts of life and higher aims, the first guiding of their feet into the way of peace.1 [Note: Francis Paget, The Redemption of War, 66.]
Have you seen that beautiful play called Eagerheart? The little heroine of the piece has set her heart on entertaining the King in her little room. When she has got everything ready, a poor tired workman comes with his wife and child, very badly dressed, looking very worn and footsore, and says: Will you take me in for to-night? Poor little Eagerheart, who has prepared everything for her King, says: Not to-night; any night except to-night. Oh, says the poor man, that is what they all say! I have been all through this city, and they have all said Any night except to-night. Then the poor little womans heart melts. Oh, well, come in, come in! Farewell, my idle dream! she cries, disappointed, broken-hearted, to think she has lost her chance. Then follow the shepherds and the wise men, and, to her astonishment, they come in their search for the Kingto her door; and she says: But there must be some mistake. This is my poor little humble dwelling; there is no King here. Yes, the wise men say, he is here. And there in a blaze of glory, was the infant King of Kings, whom she had taken in in her disappointment.1 [Note: Bishop Winnington Ingram.]
II
Reciprocal, Love
Them that love God. Them that are called.
Here St. Paul presents the two complementary aspects of the religious life. There is the human side of the relation, love, and the Divine side, the call. While St. Paul has already spoken of the love of God to us, he has not before mentioned our love to God, and this is the only instance in Romans. He speaks several times of love to others (Rom 12:9-10; Rom 13:8-9). He has mentioned faith again and again; hope has just been his theme; and now he completes the trinity of graces by mentioning love. It has been noted that he says much more about faith in God than love to God; but, in laying the foundation doctrines of the Christian life, faith must necessarily be more prominent, and faith in God must surely be accompanied by love to God. The grace which faith grasps shows and gives the love of God, and Gods love must needs awaken in man its own likeness, mans love, which cannot be directed merely outward to his fellows, but must also return upward to the Giver.
i. Our love to God
1. To them that love Godbut there are many who say, We do not, we cannot love God. We love wife, child, mother, friend, more, far more, than we love the Infinite Abstraction called God, whom no man hath seen at any time. Now, such people are making a difficulty which does not exist. God has not called upon us to love an Infinite Abstraction. Let them be thankful that they do know human love. Such love is no bad foundation; for this love, when real, is nature at her highest, and nature is also Divine, and is the pioneer to the higher. First that which is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual, is the Divine order. But the Invisible Parent Spirit has anticipated our objection. He has presented Himself to us under a form which, when recognized, must take our hearts captive, and which appeases the souls yearning desire for personality in the Being who is universal.
In Jesus, the whole moral life of the Absolute is manifested in integrity and completeness. Can we not love Him? Can we not go even as far as Renan, whom no man would accuse of superstition, credulity, or theological narrowness? And Renan, in his Vie de Jsus, apostrophizes the Incarnate One in these words: Thou Jesus shalt become the corner-stone of humanity, inasmuch as to tear Thy name from the world would be to shake it to its very foundations; no more shall men distinguish between Thee and God.1 [Note: B. Wilberforce.]
Begin from first when He encradled was
In simple cratch, wrapt in a wad of hay,
Between the toilful ox and humble ass,
And in what rags, and in how base array,
The glory of our heavenly riches lay,
When Him the silly shepherds came to see,
Whom greatest princes sought on lowest knee.
From thence read on the story of His life,
His humble carriage, His unfaulty ways,
His cancred foes, His flights, His toil, His strife,
His pains, His poverty, His sharp assayes,
Through which He passed His miserable days.
Offending none, and doing good to all,
Yet being maliced both of great and small.
Then thou shalt feel thy spirit so possessed
And ravished with devouring great desire
Of His dear self, that shall thy feeble breast
Inflame with love, and set them all on fire
With burning zeal, through every part entire,
That in no earthly thing shalt thou delight,
But in His sweet and amiable sight.2 [Note: Spenser.]
2. If at any time we should be shaken in our conviction of the blessed end of Gods dealing, by the fear that we do not satisfy the condition of loving Him, then let us remember that this love is not so much a feeling as a posture or habit of the soul. It is clinging to Him. And if He should seem too distant to be grasped, too remote for us to touch even the hem of His garment, so that we cry, Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! then let us still further remember that the essence of love is obedience: This is love, that we should walk after his commandments. And if we seek to follow His guidance, and submit ourselves to His hand, if we are willing to be made what we wish to become, and to be fashioned after the image of Christ, He will make good His word to us, and perfect that which concerneth us.
Perhaps there is no better daily prayer for the Christian than the collect of St. Gelasius: O God, who hast prepared for them that love Thee such good things as pass mans understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
3. It is the Divine love that draws the human. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. We love, because he first loved us. Our immediate consciousness is just this; we love. Not, we have read the book of life; we have had a glimpse of the eternal purpose in itself; we have heard our names recited in a roll of the chosen; but, we love. We have found in Him the eternal Love. In Him we have peace, purity, and that deep, final satisfaction, that view of the king in his beauty, which is the summum bonum of the creature. It was our fault that we saw it no sooner, that we loved Him no sooner. It is the duty of every soul that He has made to reflect upon its need of Him, and upon the fact that it owes it to Him to love Him in His holy beauty of eternal love. If we could not it was because we would not. If we cannot it is because, somehow or other, we will notwill not put ourselves without reserve in the way of the vision. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.
Because Love is the fountain, I discern
The stream as love: for what but love should flow
From fountain Love? not bitter from the sweet!
I ignorant, have I laid claim to know?
Oh teach me, Love, such knowledge as is meet
For one to know who is fain to love and learn.1 [Note: C. G. Rossetti.]
ii. Gods love to us
1. Those who simply and genuinely love God are also, on the other side, purpose-wise, His called ones. They are not merely invited, but brought in; not evangelized only, but converted. In the case of each of the happy companythe man, the woman, who came to Christ, came to love God with the freest possible coming of the will, the heart. Yet each, having come, had the Lord to thank for the coming. The human personality had traced its orbit of will and deed as truly as when it willed to sin and to rebel. But lo, in ways past our finding out, its free track lay along a previous track of the purpose of the Eternal; its free I will was the precise and fore-ordered correspondence to His Thou shalt. It was an act of man; it was the grace of God.
2. With this lesson of uttermost humiliation, the truth of the heavenly Choice, and its effectual Call, brings us also an encouragement altogether Divine. Such a purpose is no fluctuating thing, shifting with the currents of time. Such a call to such an embrace means a tenacity, as well as a welcome, worthy of God. Who shall separate us? And no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand. That is the motive of the words in this wonderful context, where everything is made to bear on the safety of the children of God, in the midst of all imaginable dangers.
Have you not stood sometimes amidst the scene of an awful tragedy; some ancient castle to which has clung the story of dreadful wrong? And, lo, about the walls the ivy creeps, and in the crevices the flowers cluster; and the happy song of the birds and the cooing of doves has gladdened the loneliness; and forth from the ancient towers you have looked across the meadows where the cattle lie, and past the winding river to the silvery sea. Over all the scene was sunshine, stillness, and beauty. Nature had bent in pity and covered up the shame, and breathed about it all a perfect peace. So is it that our Heavenly Father transforms us by His unceasing love and unwearied patience. He doth not slumber nor sleep. It means that no possibility of advantage is suffered to pass unused; no budding promise within us is neglected or withered by the frost; no lightest chance or opportunity of gain is thrown away. Ever watchful, ever careful, ever eager for our greatest good, He that keepeth thee shall neither slumber nor sleep.1 [Note: M. G. Pearse.]
On easy terms with law and fate,
For what must be I calmly wait,
And trust the path I cannot see,
That God is good sufficeth me.
III
Knowing
We Know.
In a life like this, where nobody seems able to do more than conjecture, surmise, suppose, imagine, or speculate, it is a comfort to find even one man who can honestly declare he knows. And it is still more remarkable, and still more comforting, to find that what he knows is exactly that about which we have had most doubt. Hence no words in the Bible come to us with more welcome or more wonder than the words of the text. We often quote the words, not so much because we believe them as because we should like to believe them. We may envy the man who could announce them, as St. Paul did, with unhesitating, unquestioning conviction. His grand certainty really startles us, as well as the sweeping universality of the statement: We know that to them that love God all things work together for good. If he had said most things we might have given a reluctant consent; but the all things puts a tremendous strain upon our faith.
There is an old German tale which might be a parable of the purpose in our life of the unintelligible things. The story is told of a baron who, having grown tired of the gay and idle life of the Court, asked leave of his King to withdraw from it. He built for himself a fort on a rugged rock, beneath which rolled the Rhine. There he dwelt alone. He hung wires from one wing of the fort to the other, making an olian harp, on which the winds might play to solace him. But many days and nights had passed, and winds had come and gone, yet never had there been music from that harp. And the baron interpreted the silence as the sign of Gods unremoved displeasure. One evening the sky was torn with wild hurrying clouds, the sun was borne away with a struggle, and as night fell a storm broke out which shook the very earth. The baron walked restlessly through his rooms in loneliness and disquiet. At length he went out into the night, but stopped short upon the threshold. He listened, and behold the air was full of music. His olian harp was singing with joy and passion high above the wildness and the storm. Then the baron knew. Those wires, which were too thick to give out music at the call of common days, had found their voice in a night of stress and storm.1 [Note: John A. Hutton, Guidance from Browning, 101.]
You doubt if there be any God?
Doubt is the torpid mans complaint;
Still hibernating neath your clod,
Your sins and virtues grow too faint.
But come where life is all ablow:
Be a murderer or a saint,
And you will know.2 [Note: Anna Bunston.]
Who of us, in the face of the broad features of everywhere-abounding suffering, dares to repeat the Apostles words, or is able to say that he partakes of the bold confidence of his assertion? And yet, how desirable to be able to do so! For that man is certainly to be envied who can contemplate impending famine, pestilence, and war with unmoved confidence as to the issue; who can call to mind all our military establishments armed for conflict, our gaols with their usual quota of men of violence and crime, our madhouses and their deplorable inmates, our hospitals and their patients, our poorhouses and their mass of pauperism, the accidents and fatalities that attend our life, the destitution that everywhere abounds; the different forms of vice and crime that roam at large unassailable by our laws, and, in the presence of all, maintain unmoved that all things work together for good to those who love God.
Fifty years or so before Christ, a cultivated Roman represents himself as discoursing pleasantly with his friends on the momentous question of the supreme good. With great skill and clearness he states and explains the views of the rival philosophers who had made this the subject of elaborate discussion. But, after a calm and dispassionate survey of the whole field, he puts down his pen without a word to indicate in which direction his own preference lay. In this, perhaps, he represented the majority of the thoughtful men of his time. To them, life was a problem without any sure key to its solution, an arena on which incongruous and conflicting forces, whose laws and tendencies were alike inscrutable, played themselves out. It baffled speculation. It refused to be amenable to any theory.
About fifty years after Christ, or a century later, there were living in Rome and its adjacent districts a community of men who had arrived at the most novel and astonishing conclusions on this very point. Though they were few in number, of insignificant position, and counting scarcely any of the learned in their ranks, they were persuaded that all the complex and varied experiences of life were specially disposed to enable them to reach the highest blessedness, and they were not in the least doubt as to what that blessedness was. We know, says the Apostle, speaking for his readers as well as for himself, that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.1 [Note: C. Moinet.]
1. How did St. Paul arrive at this state of certainty?When St. Paul says We know. he is speaking under a persuasion or conclusion to which he was compelled by his religious feeling rising to the degree and temperature of certainty. If God is such an one as we are obliged to believe Him to be, He will surely take care of His own. This is the argument. He frequently uses this formula, We know. Thus he says, We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Again, We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands. Again, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him. He calls these high matters subjects of knowledge, but in the last analysis they belong to faith, an inward persuasion carried clear up to the threshold of certainty. This spiritual instinct, inward witness, secret inspiration which enabled St. Paul to declare We know in relation to invisible, eternal things, is a highly important possession and a rare endowment. There is too much conjecture and doubt in the matter of religious truths, and too little conviction and certitude. We do not get joy out of religion because we are not sure enough about it. Most Christians lack that private assurance which with St. Paul was equivalent to knowledge. This is a great defect in current religious experience; we grope in a fog, we set foot on a void, we do not feel solidity and resistance beneath our tread.
2. How can we arrive at such a state of certainty?
(1) In the first place, we must find an answer to another questionHow do we know anything with certainty? Now, we can know a fact intuitively, such as that two straight lines having no inclination towards each other cannot intersect. Or we can know it upon premises of argument and deduction, as when a boy at school assents to a demonstration in Euclid. Or we may be said to know a fact by reason of confidence in the authority or veracity of others, belief in such a case becoming knowledge for all practical purposes.
(2) Now extend the same line of argument to the higher knowledge. It is noticeable that, as we approach the great leading principles and rules of life and conduct and the fundamental thinking that underlies our action, the mind is thrown more upon its own native original powers and capacities; it perceives, it seizes intuitively, in place of calling for laboured proofs and long deductions. For instance, take man himself, and what is good for him, what he ought to be, what type of character he ought to elaborate, how he ought to live and act; or take the idea of God, the Supreme Being, His existence, disposition, and attributes; or take nature, the external world of phenomena, its reality, its uses, value for man; take these large general conceptions that underlie all our life, and the nearer we approach them the more evident it becomes that if they are apprehended at all it must be by the quick instinct and native affinity of the mind for them. This was the origin of St. Pauls sanguine optimism. His conclusion was not a deliverance of any of the five organic senses; it was not necessarily supernatural inspiration; it was an inference from a set of rational premises. If there is a personal God, who loves rectitude, purity, goodness, then it follows that they also who love these things shall be at one with Him. This is surely a valid piece of reasoning, that God will not disown or ignore in the creature qualities which constitute His own essence and glory. Such moral inconsistency is not conceivable in a being worthy of reverence and worship.
We knowwe may say with St. Paulwith the cognition of faith; that is to say, because God, absolutely trustworthy, guarantees it by His character, and by His word. Deep, even insoluble, is the mystery, from every other point of view. The lovers of the Lord are indeed unable to explain, to themselves or to others, how this concurrence of all things works out its infallible issues in them. And the observer from outside cannot understand their certainty that it is so. But the fact is there, given and assured, not by speculation upon events, but by personal knowledge of an Eternal Person. Love God, and thou shalt know.1 [Note: Bishop Moule.]
Loves Prosperity
Literature
Albertson (C. C), The Gospel According to Christ, 127.
Banks (L. A.), Sermons which have won Souls, 144.
Bell (C. D.), The Name above every Name, 124.
Burrell (D. J.), The Cloister Book, 262.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, v. 250.
Dix (M.), Christ at the Door of the Heart, 27.
Forson (A. J.), The Law of Love, 3.
Gardner (C. E. L.), in A Book of Lay Sermons, 181.
Greenhough (J. G.), The Mind of Christ in St. Paul, 165.
Ingram (A. F. W.), The Mysteries of God, 66.
Jones (J. S.), The Invisible Things, 112.
Liddon (H. P.), Christmastide Sermons, 306.
Livesey (H.), The Silver Vein of Truth, 9.
Mackenzie (R.), The Loom of Providence, 9.
Meyer (F. B.), Present Tenses, 132.
Moinet (C.), The Great Alternative, 263.
Moule (H. C. G.), The Epistle to the Romans, 235.
Pearse (M. G.), Parables and Pictures, 59.
Potts (A. W.), School Sermons, 253.
Pulsford (W.), Trinity Church Sermons, 93.
Robinson (C. S.), Studies in the New Testament, 14.
Selby (T. G.), in Great Texts of the New Testament, 153.
Tulloch (J.), Some Facts of Religion and Life, 106.
Wellbeloved (C. H.), in The Outer and the Inner World, 103.
Wilberforce (B.), Feeling after Him, 65.
British Congregationalist, Jan. 16, 1908, 60 (Jowett).
Christian World Pulpit, lx. 294 (Norton); lxxiii. 56 (Marshall); lxxvii. 170 (Ingram); lxxix. 101 (Barson).
Homiletic Review, lii. 65.
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
we know: Rom 8:35-39, Rom 5:3, Rom 5:4, Gen 50:20, Deu 8:2, Deu 8:3, Deu 8:16, Psa 46:1, Psa 46:2, Jer 24:5-7, Zec 13:9, 2Co 4:15-17, 2Co 5:1, Phi 1:19-23, 2Th 1:5-7, Heb 12:6-12, Jam 1:3, Jam 1:4, 1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 1:8, Rev 3:19
them: Rom 5:5, Exo 20:6, Deu 6:5, Neh 1:5, Psa 69:36, Mar 12:30, 1Co 2:9, Jam 1:12, Jam 2:5, 1Jo 4:10, 1Jo 4:19, 1Jo 5:2, 1Jo 5:3
the called: Rom 8:30, Rom 1:6, Rom 1:7, Rom 9:11, Rom 9:23, Rom 9:24, Jer 51:29, Act 13:48, Gal 1:15, Eph 1:9, Eph 1:10, Eph 3:11, 1Th 5:9, 2Th 2:13, 2Th 2:14, 2Ti 2:19, 1Pe 5:10
Reciprocal: Gen 42:36 – all these things are against me Exo 1:12 – But the more Deu 5:10 – love me Deu 7:9 – which keepeth Deu 10:12 – love Deu 30:6 – to love the Lord Jos 22:5 – love Jos 23:11 – love Jdg 5:31 – them that 2Sa 16:12 – requite 1Ki 3:3 – loved Ezr 8:22 – The hand Psa 5:11 – love Psa 20:4 – General Psa 25:10 – the paths Psa 91:14 – set Psa 97:10 – Ye that Psa 103:17 – the mercy Psa 119:175 – and let thy Psa 121:7 – preserve Psa 138:8 – perfect Psa 145:20 – preserveth Pro 12:21 – no Pro 19:23 – he shall Son 2:4 – his banner Son 8:7 – waters Isa 14:27 – the Lord Isa 48:12 – my called Isa 54:17 – weapon Isa 56:6 – to love Jer 32:40 – that I Dan 2:30 – but Dan 9:4 – the great Joe 2:32 – and in Mal 3:6 – therefore Mat 18:14 – it is Mat 24:24 – insomuch Luk 12:32 – the kingdom Joh 5:24 – and shall not Joh 6:39 – this Joh 15:2 – and Joh 16:7 – It Joh 17:6 – thine Rom 8:32 – how Rom 11:7 – but the election 1Co 1:9 – by 1Co 1:24 – called 1Co 3:21 – For 1Co 8:3 – love 1Co 10:13 – who 2Co 1:6 – effectual Eph 1:4 – as Eph 1:18 – his calling Eph 4:1 – vocation Phi 1:6 – begun Phi 1:12 – rather Phi 3:14 – the high 1Th 1:4 – Knowing 2Th 3:5 – into 1Ti 4:8 – having 1Ti 6:6 – godliness 1Ti 6:12 – whereunto 2Ti 1:9 – called Heb 3:1 – the heavenly Heb 6:19 – both Heb 9:15 – they which 1Pe 1:15 – as 1Pe 3:9 – called 1Pe 3:13 – who 2Pe 1:3 – called 2Pe 1:10 – election
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:28
Rom 8:28. This verse does not teach “special providence” as some believe. It means that if a man loves the Lord, he will make “stepping-stones” out of his “stumbling-stones.” He will so work on the conditions of life (even his sufferings, verse 18), that they will assure him the good reward that God has promised to the faithful. The called refers to the men and women who have heard and accepted the call through the Gospel to serve the Lord. The final reward for such service will be to receive a body that can never die, fashioned after that of Christ. (Php 3:21); and as an evidence that God can do such a marvelous work, He decreed to bestow that very favor on some of the saints before the general resurrection, which is the subject of verses 29, 30.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 8:28. And we know. Comp. references under Rom 8:22. Here the context unmistakably indicates that this is an expression of Christian experience.
All things. All events, even afflictive ones (Rom 8:35), indeed all created things (Rom 8:38-39). Some ancient manuscripts insert God in this clause, giving the sense: God works all things together, etc. But the insertion can readily be accounted for; it gives a correct explanation of what is here implied, and the word God would naturally be taken from the context (In the Greek to them that love God comes first)
Work together. The usual sense: cooperate, combine to produce the result, is preferable. Others explain: contribute, help, work together with Christians.
For good. For their advantage, including their eternal welfare.
To them that love God. In emphatic position in the original. This distinguishes the class referred to; and is not in itself the main reason of their security. The love of believers for God is therefore not the ground of their confidence, but the sign and security that they were first loved of God (Lange).
Who are the called. Some would explain: who are called, which would be equivalent to since they are called, but it seems more in accordance with grammatical usage to take the phrase as a description of Christians from another point of view: as being those who are the called. The context shows that the call has been accepted, and hence that this is not a general expression for hearing the invitations of the gospel.
According to his purpose. The call is in accordance with the purpose (comp. Rom 8:29-30); the former becomes a fact we can perceive, the latter we cannot perceive, but receive as a fact, for all things cannot work together for good to them that love God, unless God has a purpose, with which what occurs accords. It should be remembered that to limit the efficacy of His purpose is to deny freedom to Him, in our anxiety to maintain our own freedom. If our hearts rest on HIM, in hope and trust and love, then we know that in order thus to rest, we must feel that He is infinitely free, strong, and right, as well as loving. The difficulty which arises in reconciling Gods sovereignty and mans free will confronts us whenever we accept the existence of a Personal God, and is not peculiar to Christianity, much less to some one school of Christian theology.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Subdivision 5. (Rom 8:28-39.)
The weak with the Strong.
The apostle concludes here with the assurance of the result for us of being thus with God, the weak with the strong. His purpose is being carried out in us and with us, and who shall gainsay it? Thus with the boldness which is simply that of faith, he can challenge everything, the whole universe, to disappoint this purpose.
1. The purpose itself is put clearly before us. Christ is of necessity in the forefront of it, and thus its justification, and the full assurance that it will be carried out. “We know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who are the called according to purpose.” The present is linked with the future in a most absolute way. From God’s foreknowledge of us in the past eternity to the accomplished glory of the future, there is a perfectly linked chain of blessing, no link of which can ever be sundered. God’s purpose is that Christ His Son, should be a First-born among many brethren. How blessed to see the grace which is necessarily manifested when Christ is thus in the forefront! It is not here, therefore, the “Only-Begotten,” of whom the apostle speaks. The Son is that; but He is here in human guise, a “Firstborn,” which implies others, and that is clearly expressed. He is found thus with those whom He is not ashamed to call His brethren. God’s purpose, therefore, includes, of necessity, these. If it failed as to the brethren, it would fail as to the Son of His love. They are bound up together in His thoughts.
We have, therefore, strong words here, words that are often somewhat too strong for the faith of His people. “Whom He foreknew, He also fore-ordained to be conformed to the image of His Son.” If Christ is, on the one hand, the image of God Himself, (and He alone can be that in the reality of all that is implied,) yet we are to be conformed to His image. That is God’s purpose as to us. He could not surely be without a purpose, and having the purpose, He could not be without the power of carrying this through. What comfort would there be for us in the midst of such a world as this, if it were not so? if God had not a purpose, or if He had one which could be set aside by man’s self-will? How blessed, when we know Himself, when we realize that His will is but the expression of His perfect nature, how blessed then to see His will in all its sovereignty! We may be sure, too, that He will respect all the powers with which He has endued His creatures. He will do violence to nothing, but while this is surely so, He will carry out in the most absolute way every part of His purpose. This is definitely asserted here. “Whom He foreordained, these He also called; whom He called, He justified; whom He justified, He glorified.” It is remarkable here that there is one thing left out which we should expect perhaps to have a foremost place. After justification, we are accustomed to say, comes sanctification, but where is sanctification here? We are indeed to be conformed to the image of His Son, and that, one may say, implies it fully; but in the chain of blessing which we are looking at now, sanctification seems, surely purposely, to be omitted; for it is just here that, alas, we perplex ourselves with all sorts of questions. We make of a condition, a doubt; and the legality natural to us will seek to intrude at any possible point; but between justification and glory here, there is absolutely no room left for it to come in.
Notice that we begin with fore-knowledge. None surely can deny this to Him. He could not create, plainly, not knowing the future of what He was creating. If He foreknew, then He could not possibly be without a will with regard to the future of that which He had created. Fore-ordination follows, therefore, foreknowledge. He will have things to be according to His own mind. From this, our calling follows, which is here, of course, not the general call of the gospel, not a call that can be refused at all, but on the other hand, the creative call, as God says by the prophet: “I call them, they stand up together”; and, as we see here, those who are called are justified. No one drops out. Justification follows the call. Identified as it is, and as we have seen, with the life which follows this, if one is called in this way to spiritual life, justification can never be apart front this. We are justified from the first moment, with the first breath that we draw of true life from God. Then notice that “glorified” seems to be put in the past, just as much as “justified.” It is the style of the prophets, -everything contemplated from God’s side, and, therefore, although in fact to be accomplished, yet seen as if it were already so. If God calls that which is not as if it were, its existence is by that absolutely pledged. This then is the purpose, and already He has said that, “All things work together for good,” let us remember, according to that purpose. If we have anything else before our eyes, it is no wonder that we question very much how things are working for good to us. If we fail to keep in mind that which is present to God, we fail to understand what He is doing; for the fulfilment of His purpose, not one thing necessary can possibly be absent.
2. Naturally, if this be so, the challenge with which the apostle closes is yet, after all, simple: “What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who shall be against us?” What He has already done is the assurance that He will leave nothing undone. He has not spared His Son but delivered Him up for us all. God’s holiness has been fully satisfied and God’s love has not shrunk from that which is needed to give it satisfaction. If He has not spared His Son, “how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?” A limitless blessing there, but what else could rightly measure the love which has given His Son? Then, what can be against this? “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” As we see in the prophet, if Satan stands at the right hand of Joshua, clothed in filthy garments, his sins upon him, to resist him, the word which settles all is, God has chosen to pluck a brand out of the burning. Certainly it is a brand. Certainly it was just the thing for burning. If God chooses to pluck it out, who shall say Him nay? How completely our sinful condition is passed over in this, or rather, it is made the means only the more of glorifying the grace which comes in for us! If, then, God has His chosen ones, who shall lay anything to their charge? It is God Himself who justifies. Who, then, shall condemn? That is the proper connection of these expressions. God is the only One who has title, in fact, to justify. He will do it, of course, according to absolute righteousness, nay, as this epistle has shown us, His very righteousness is displayed in doing it, and in heaven those that are in Christ will thus be made “the righteousness of God in Him.” But just on this very account, the thing is sure. “Who shall condemn when God is He who justifies?” Then “it is Christ who died, yea, rather, who was raised up and who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession (in the place of power) for us.” Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? The question speaks for itself. Put as a question, it is put in the strongest form. It is a challenge, as already said, that whoever or whatever can do this be produced. Yet there are many things that seem against us. So then, “tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?” can these? Nay, that was written and true of God’s saints of old; of them it was written: “For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long, we have been counted as sheep for slaughter.” Can we separate these suffering ones from Him for whose sake they suffer? Nay, in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us. “Conquer” by itself is too little to express it. We more than conquer; conquer in result, conquer in the endurance of the very sufferings which cannot prevail unless to bless and brighten us. Christ, though He may seem absent, is superintending it all in a love which mixes the whole cup for us, and every ingredient is blessing.
“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature:” -all these things are creatures. A promiscuous looking assemblage it may be, but he wants to sum up everything that could possibly be thought of. Nothing, then, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which in Christ Jesus our Lord has found a perfect title for its expression, and which in Him, as we look at Him, has found already perfect expression. Christ Jesus, our Lord, the Man Christ Jesus, already shows us God with man in the fullest possible and absolutely unchangeable blessing.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
That is, “All dispensations of providence whatsoever, whether they be ordinary afflictions, or extraordinary trials, which do befall the children of God in this life, shall certainly be directed by his wisdom, and overruled by his power and goodness, for the temporal, spiritual, and eternal good of his children and people.
Observe here, 1. What those things are, which are especially installed in that comprehensive term, All things.
By all things here, we are to understand, Omnia tristia, non Omnia turpia; “All the saints’ afflictions, not their sins;” for then they might rejoice in their sins and wickedness, which is damnable impiety, as well as in their sufferings for Christ, seeing they may rejoice in tht which by God’s designation tendeth to their good.
But by all things, the apostle means all providential occurrences and dispensations, all stations and conditions whatsoever; be it prosperity or adversity, health or sickness, liberty or captivity, life or death, God’s glory and his children’s good shall be certainly furthered and advanced by it.
Observe, 2. In what sense all things may be said to work for good to good men; namely, as they shall promote and further the temporal, spiritual, and eternal welfare, of the children of God.
If it be good for them to be rich, to be in honour, to be at liberty, they shall be so; if it be better for their souls, and more conducive to their eternal welfare, to be low in the world, to be frequently under the rod, to be harassed with afflictions, and assaulted with temptations, they shall have them.
Nothing that is needful shall be kept from them, only God must be judge what is needful and when ’tis needful.
He that thinks he can cut better for himself than God can carve for him, makes himself wiser than God, and has not only lost his faith, but his wits too.
Observe, 3. That all things are said to work together for good; not singly, separately, and apart, but as coadjutors, and adjuvant causes, and mutual helps.
Afflictions and temptations seem to work against us; but being put into the rank and order of causes, they work together with other blessed instruments, as the word and prayer, to an happy issue.
More particularly: they work together with God, they work together with us, and they work together one with another, for our good, sooner of later.
Observe, 4. How can all things be said to work for good: particularly evil things? sufferings from God, and sufferings from man for God’s sake?
What! must we call evil good? pain pleasure? torment ease? and loss gain? Must we disbelieve our senses that we may believe the scriptures?
Answer, Though affliction, which is evil in its own nature, cannot bring forth good; yet surely God can bring forth good out of evil, light out of the way to their triumph, and every cross providence a step to the accomplishment of his promise.
God suffers evil things to befall us, to keep out worse things, and causes evil things to prepare us for better things; the cross makes way of the crown.
For affliction, there is glory; for light affliction, a weight of glory; and for light affliction, which is but for a moment, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Observe, 5. The character of the persons to whom this privilege doth belong: they are described by their Christian affection, they love God, and by their effectual vocation, they are called according to his purpose.
They love God, and evidence their love to him by an high estimation of him, by their delight in him, by their desires after him, by their longings for the full fruition and final enjoyment of him.
And as they love God, so are they called of God; externally by the dispensation of the gospel, internally by the operation of his Holy Spirit: they are called out of darkness into light, out of bondage into liberty, and all this efficaciously and powerfully, yet sweetly, and freely, in a way congruous to the will’s liberty.
Observe, 6. The certainty and evidence of this proposition and assertion, That all things work together for good; it is not built upon conjecture, or bare probability, but upon certain knowledge, We know; partly by divine revelation, God has told us so; partly by experience, we find it so. And when the apostle speaks it out, We know, it is a word of confidence and assurance, it is a word of comfort and encouragement: all the saints of God to the end of the world, as well as the apostle himself, may depend upon it, live in the faith and assurance of it, and draw all that consolation from it, which may render their lives in some sort an heaven upon earth.
And now if this be an indubitable and undeniable truth, That whatever sufferings and afflictions a saint meets with shall work together for good: then we may infer, that a suffering condition is not so bad a condition as the world supposes it. The lion of affliction is not so fierce as he is painted. Times of difficulty and trial bring serious thought of God into our minds, who are too prone to forget both him and ourselves in affluence and quiet.
Blessed be God, the time of affliction is no unprofitable time, nor uncomfortable time neither. ‘Tis a thinking time, an awakening time, a teaching time, a repenting time, a weaning time; therfore blessed is the man whom God correcteth and teacheth.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rom 8:28. And we know Though we do not always know particularly what to pray for as we ought, yet this we know, that all things Namely, that occur in the course of divine providence, such as worldly losses or gains, poverty or riches, reproach or commendation, contempt or honour, pain or ease, sickness or health, and the ten thousand changes of life; work together Strongly and sweetly, in a variety of unthought-of and unexpected ways; for spiritual and eternal good to them Who, being justified by faith, and having peace with God, and access into a state of favour and acceptance with him, sincerely love him, having beheld what manner of love he hath bestowed upon them, 1Jn 3:1; or who have known and believed the love that he hath to them, and therefore love him who hath first loved them. It is so plain, says Dr. Doddridge, from the whole context, that the apostle only speaks of providential events, and it is so evident that the universal expression all is sometimes to be taken in a limited sense, that it must argue, I fear, something worse than weakness to pretend that sin is comprehended in the apostles assertion. This observation is as important as it is just: for sin, which is a real and positive evil, an evil of the worst kind, a moral evil, and an evil which is the source of all other evils, can, in itself considered, in no case whatever work for good. What may and does work for good with respect to it, is the punishment or chastisement of it, repentance for it, and the forgiveness of it. But providential dispensations, such as those just referred to, and especially those that are of an afflictive nature, may, and if received in a spirit of faith, humility, resignation, and patience, and used aright, assuredly will, work for our spiritual and eternal good. For whether they be considered, 1st, As the chastisements of our heavenly Father, by being chastised for our faults we are amended: or, 2d, As trials of our grace; being thus exercised, it is proved to be genuine, and increased. See on chap. Rom 5:4. Or, 3d, As purifying fires, they tend to purge us from our corrupt passions and lusts, as gold and silver are purified from their dross in the fire; and to cause us, who are naturally earthly, sensual, and devilish, to die to the world and sin, and become heavenly, holy, and divine. They tend, therefore, through the grace of God, without which they can do nothing, to increase our holiness and conformity to our living Head; and whatever increases these, must increase our happiness here and hereafter, especially hereafter. To which may be added, that God will as assuredly reward us in a future state for our sufferings in this life, if patiently endured, as for our labours faithfully and perseveringly performed. Hence even Plato, a heathen, could say, Whether a righteous man be in poverty, sickness, or any other calamity, we must conclude that it will turn to his advantage, either in life or death.
Observe, reader: these things we, true believers in Christ and his gospel, know, but on what ground? 1st, On the ground of the divine perfections, particularly Gods infinite wisdom, power, and love, which are all engaged for the good of his people. For as these dispensations do not happen to us by chance, but by the permission or appointment of Him who numbers the hairs of our head, and without whom a sparrow falleth not to the ground, his wisdom cannot but know what is best for us, his love must have our good in view; and what his wisdom sees will be for our good, and his love designs, his power permits or appoints to happen to us. 2d, On the ground of the relations in which he stands to us; not only as our Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer, but as our Friend, Father, and Husband, in Christ Jesus; all which relations lay a solid foundation for our expecting good, and only good at his hand, though sometimes afflictive good. 3d, On the ground of his faithful declarations and promises, particularly this by his inspired apostle. 4th, On that of the nature of things; the providential dispensations which are painful and distressing to us, being evidently calculated to mortify our inordinate attachment to things visible and temporal, to crucify our corrupt inclinations, and raise our thoughts and affections to another and a better state of existence. 5th, On the ground of observation and experience: we have seen trials, troubles, and afflictions of various kinds, to have a good effect upon others, and if we be the true disciples of Jesus, we have proved their salutary influence upon our own souls.
To them who are, , the called according to his purpose Or determination, of bestowing the title and privileges of sons on all, whether Jews or Gentiles, who turn to him in true repentance and faith, and obey him sincerely; or, as it is expressed Rom 8:29, are really conformed to the image of his Son; who indeed imitate the faith and obedience which the Son of God showed while he lived on the earth, as a man. This purpose, or determination, God made known to man in his covenant with Abraham. See on Rom 8:30. The words called and elect, or elected, frequently occur in the New Testament, and in some places one of them, as here and 1Pe 1:2, is put for them both. But in some passages they are distinguished the one from the other, as having different meanings; as where our Lord says, Many are called, but few chosen, or elected; and 2Pe 1:10, where that apostle exhorts us to make our calling and election sure. The meaning of both expressions is explained 2Th 2:13-14, where the Apostle Paul tells the believers at Thessalonica, that God, from the beginning, namely, of his preaching the gospel to them, had chosen them to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto, adds he, he called you by our gospel. By which words we learn, 1st, That they had been called by the gospel, namely, accompanied by divine grace, to believe the truth, and receive the sanctification of the Spirit. 2d, That in consequence of their obeying this call, and thereby making their calling sure, , firm, a glorious and blessed reality, they were chosen, or elected, namely, to be Gods people, or children; a chosen generation, and a peculiar people, 1Pe 2:9 : and now they had only to make their election sure, by being faithful unto death, in order to their obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. These, and only these, are the persons who truly love God, and therefore to whom all things work together for good. This is the sixth motive to holiness.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
On predestination as taught Rom 8:28-30.
Wherein consists the divine predestination undoubtedly taught by the apostle in this passage? Does it in his view exclude the free will of man, or, on the contrary, does it imply it? Two reasons seem to us to decide the question in favor of the second alternative:1. The act of foreknowing, which the apostle makes the basis of predestination, proves that the latter is determined by some fact or other, the object of this knowledge. It matters little that the knowledge is eternal, while the fact, which is its object, comes to pass only in time. It follows all the same from this relation, that the fact must be considered as due in some way to a factor distinct from divine causation, which can be nothing else than human liberty. 2. The apostle avoids making the act of believing the object of the decree of predestination. In the act of predestination faith is already assumed, and its sole object is, according to the apostle’s words, the final participation of believers in the glory of Christ. Not only then does Paul’s view imply that in the act of believing full human liberty is not excluded, but it is even implied. For it alone explains the distinction which he clearly establishes between the two divine acts of foreknowledge and predestination, both as to their nature (the one, an act of the understanding; the other, of the will) and as to their object (in the one case, faith; in the other, glory).
Human liberty in the acceptance of salvation being therefore admitted, in what will predestination, as understood by St. Paul, consist? It contains, we think, the three following elements:
1. The decree () whereby God has determined to bring to the perfect likeness of His Son every one who shall believe. What more in keeping with His grace and wisdom than such a decree: Thou dost adhere by faith to Him whom I give thee as thy Saviour; He will therefore belong to thee wholly, and I shall not leave thee till I have rendered thee perfectly like Him, the God-man?
2. The prevision (), in consequence of the divine foreknowledge, of all the individuals who shall freely adhere to the divine invitation to participate in this salvation. What more necessary than this second element? Would not God’s plan run the risk of coming to nought if He did not foresee both the perfect fidelity of the Elect One on whom its realization rests, and the faith of those who shall believe in Him? Without a Saviour and believers there would be no salvation. God’s plan therefore assumes the assured foreknowledge of both.
3. The arrangement of all the laws and all the circumstances of history with a view to realizing the glorious plan conceived in favor of those foreknown. It is this arrangement which St. Paul describes in Rom 8:28, when he says that all things must work together for good to them who are the called according to the eternal purpose. What more magnificent! Once believers, we may be tossed on the tempests of this present time; not only do we know that no wave can engulf us, but we are assured that every one of them has its place in the divine plan, and must hasten our course.
Thus we have three points: 1. The end indicated by the decree; 2. The personally known individuals who are to reach it; 3. The way by which they are to be led to it.
If any one does not find this predestination sufficient, he may make one to his taste; but, according to our conviction, it will not be that of the apostle.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. [In addition to the encouragements already mentioned, there is this: We know (partly by experience, but primarily by revelation) that all these present ills, hardships, adversities, afflictions, etc., are so overruled of God as to be made to combine to produce the permanent and eternal advantage and welfare of those who love God, even, I say, to those who love God, or who may otherwise be described as those that are called according to his purpose. “All things” evidently refers to all that class of events which threaten to result in evil. The phrase evidently is not to be pressed, for it can hardly include sin or any other thing which injures the soul. The apostle himself, in verses Rom 8:35-39; fully describes what he means by “all things.” “The love of believers for God,” says Lange, “is not the ground of their confidence, but the sign and security that they were first loved of God.” The gospel reveals God’s purpose to redeem, justify and glorify those who believe in Jesus. Those who accept this gospel through belief in Jesus are truly called of God according to the purpose for which he extended the call. Paul does not regard unbelievers as thus called, as the context shows, for the other descriptive clause which he here applies to the “called” (viz.: “those who love God”) would not be applicable to unbelievers. Therefore the two clauses taken together show that Paul is simply speaking of Christians, or those who have heard the gospel, and have accepted it, and have been saved by it. All such know assuredly that God will direct the events of life so that they shall result in good to those called according to his purpose; for his purpose is of such import, such magnitude, such eternal fixedness and perennial vitality, etc., as to be a guarantee that God will permit no temporal accidentals to thwart it.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
28. But we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, who are the elect according to his purpose. You see the climax, beginning with conviction, and running through justification, sanctification and glorification, finally culminates in election. This verse literally inundates Gods true people with floods of unutterable consolation, promoting them beyond all disappointment, and literally putting them out of reach of all evil, locating them in cloudless sunshine, even amid a world of storms. The simple solution of the whole matter hinges on the fundamental problem of this divine love, which is the nature of God, the only essential element in the plan of salvation experienced in the blessing of first love in conversion, and made perfect in sanctification, when all the antagonistic, malevolent affections are eliminated away. So long as this divine love is truly dominant in the heart, you are actually under the shadow of the Almighty, as safe on. earth as if in heaven, thus truly the elect of God according to his purpose that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, which is perfect love. Thus we are actually invulnerable by all the emissaries of Satan in earth and hell, the impregnable presence of God always intervening between us and every peril, making. everything indiscriminately incidental to us a blessing. This grand climactic truth is beautifully elucidated in the case of Balaam, Satans wicked, false prophet, whom Balak, the King of Moab, had hired with a princely fortune to come to his aid and curse Israel for him, as he feared to meet them on the battlefield, and believed that Balaam had such power with the gods that the people whom he anathematized were destined to fade from the face of the earth. If ever a man did his best to pronounce woes and curses on a people it was Balaam, when, the royal sacrifices having been sumptuously offered on the altars of Moab to the gods whom he believed to rule the universe, taking position on the pinnacle of Pisgah, and looking down upon the goodly tents of Jacob, spread out over the plains of Moab, standing on tiptoe and invoking the gods of the Orient, he opens his mouth with the avowed determination to pour the most withering and blighting anathemas on Israel. But, behold, blessings instead of curses pour out of his mouth. Balak rallies again and offers more sacrifices, thinking the matter will yet prove a success. Again Balaam, from the summit of Pisgah, opening wide his mouth, endeavors to curse Israel; but benedictions, richer and grander, only pour forth from his lips. Again they rally, offer sacrifices and try it again, thus repeating their diabolical orgies six times, not a single anathema ever escaping the lips of the prophet, but blessings, more and more copious, incessantly flowing from his eloquent lips. Finally, the royal patience utterly collapsing, the king, giving up in despair, flies into a rage and orders the prophet be gone like a dog. But he does not get rid of him so easily. Again he stands upon the summit of Pisgah, overlooking the goodly tents of Jacob, and, opening his mouth, blessings, more copious and eloquent than ever before, flow like rivers from his inspired lips. The spirit of prophecy mightily resting on him, he sweeps down the intervening ages, hails with triumphant gaudeamus the rising star of Bethlehem, and hears the seraphic song heralding upon earth the worlds Redeemer; on through the ages flash the splendors of his prophetic fire, reveling in the glorious millennial theocracy, girdling the world with the triumphs of the Second Advent. What lesson do we learn from this? Why, the clear and ostensible fact that it is utterly impossible for men or devils to inflict spiritual detriment on Gods true people, because he is always present with them, turning every curse into a blessing. Hence it makes no difference whether men bless or blame, God will make it a blessing to you if you truly love Him; hence the lonely pilgrim environed by millions of devils can shout and sing with utter and eternal impunity, there being no power in earth or hell competent to hurt him. You are truly immortal till your work is done. God can bless us through our enemies as well as our friends, Himself being the only source of blessing in all the universe.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Rom 8:28-39. The Christian Assurance.
Rom 8:28. One thing we do know, that all goes well for those that love Godincluding their worst sufferings (Rom 8:18; cf. Rom 5:3-5).
Rom 8:29 f. This assurance rests on Gods manifest purpose toward thema purpose disclosed in five successive steps: foreknowledge, pre-ordination, call, justification, glorification. The foreknowledge covers everything about the persons concerned; God never acts by guess (cf. Rom 3:3, Rom 11:29). The predestination aimed at the conforming of the chosen to the image of Gods Son, so that the Firstborn may be surrounded with many brothers; God designed that all those marked out for salvation should share His Sons likeness and be of His family. With this object He called them into His Sons fellowship (1Co 1:9); on their obeying that call, He cleared them of past sin, and shed His glory on them. Glorified is past in tense (future in Rom 8:18): despite humiliation, it is glorious to be sons of God (see Rom 8:14-17; cf. 2Co 3:18, Joh 17:22, etc.): the fathers kiss was justification for the Prodigal Son, the robe and ring were glorification.
Rom 8:31-34. The believers justification, the corner-stone of his security, supports the challenge of these verses. All goes to show that God is for usit matters nothing who is against us; cf. Psa 118:6. That God is for us He showed by the sacrifice of His own Sonhaving given Him, He can withhold nothing! (cf. 1Co 3:21). Who is going to impeach Gods elect? when God justifies, will anyone dare to condemn?If any should, there stands Christ Jesus to speak for us, He that diedbut, more than that, was raised from the dead and is now at Gods right hand.
Rom 8:35-37. From his present security the Christian looks on to the eternal future: the Love that bled for him on the Cross, and pleads for him on the throne, is his in deathless union (Rom 8:35; Rom 8:39; cf. Rom 5:5; cf. Rom 5:8; also Gal 2:20, Joh 10:28 f.).Affliction, distress, etc., resembling the cruel martyrdom of OT saints, tend to separate Christians now (cf. Rom 8:18) from Christs love, suggesting doubts of His sympathy or power to aid. Nay, but in all these things we gain a surpassing victory, etc.; Gods assured love silences the contradictions of life.
Rom 8:38 f. Paul defies all conceivable separators: death and life, things present and future, height and depth, represent the opposites of condition, time, and space. Angels are supernatural potencies, principalities the highest angels, powers being elsewhere coupled with these (Eph 1:21, Col 1:16*)so here in AV; the exacter order of RV associates powers with time and place; cf. 1Co 2:8, Eph 6:12.The passage has the lilt of Hebrew poetry; it was penned in a rapture, like Rom 11:33-36.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 28
The called according to his purpose. The doctrine of the passage introduced by this expression, and extending to Romans 8:32, seems plainly to be this,–that the redemption of the sinner is not a work which he performs upon himself, but one which God performs upon him,–being commenced and continued through its several successive steps, by divine power; and that, where it is once begun, it will be carried forward to its final consummation.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
SECTION 26 IN ALL THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS
CH. 8:28-39
Moreover, we know that with those that love God all things work together for good, with those that are called according to purpose. Because, us whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He may be firstborn among many brethren. But, whom He foreordained, these He also called: and, whom He called, these He also justified: but, whom He justified, these He also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God be on our side, who is against us? He that did not spare His own Son but on behalf of us all gave Him up, how shall He not also with him give us all things by His grace? Who will bring a charge against Gods chosen ones? It is God that justifies: who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died but rather that was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes on our behalf. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall affliction, or helplessness, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? According as it is written, On account of Thee we are put to death all the day: we have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter. Nay, in all these things we more than conquer, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things coming, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Rom 8:12-17, the Holy Spirit, by enabling us to conquer sin and call God our Father, gave proof that we are children of God and heirs of the glory of Christ. In Rom 8:18-27, the hope thus inspired was confirmed by our present sufferings; inasmuch as they force us to yearn with a divinely taught yearning, which in some sense even Nature itself shares, for the consummation of our sonship. We shall now learn that these sufferings are working out our good, and are powerless to injure us.
Rom 8:28. Another important point in our favour. Not only does the Spirit help us by prompting our groanings, but all things help us.
All things work together: harmonious co-operation, under apparent discord. The Vat. and Alex. MSS. read God works all things. But the weight of evidence is against the insertion, the context suggests that things around are here regarded as active rather than passive, and the insertion is easily explained by failure to appreciate Pauls personification of Nature.
For good: to do us good, as in Rom 13:4. Contrast Gen 42:36 : all these things are against me.
Those that love God: the normal relation of sons to their father, and of intelligent creatures to God. It is therefore a condition and limitation of this helpful co-operation of Nature: cp. 1Co 8:3.
With them or for them: the dative governed by – or the dative of advantage. Probably the former. We work, and all things help us in our work.
Those that are called according to purpose: further description of those who love God. These unexpected words prove, as we shall see, that all things work together with us.
Called: persons who have received a summons; in this case, as we read in Rom 8:30, from God. Same word in Rom 1:1; Rom 1:6-7; 1Co 1:1-2; 1Co 1:24; Mat 22:14; Jud 1:1; Rev 17:14. The Gospel is a divine call summoning men to the service of Christ: 2Th 2:14; 1Co 7:1; 1Co 7:8-22. The apostles had received a special call: Gal 1:15; Mat 4:21; Mat 9:9. That the word called is (e.g. 1Co 1:24) a distinctive title of believers, does not prove or even suggest that they have received a call not given to those who reject the Gospel. For the term is sufficiently accounted for by the infinite importance of the Gospel summons as the instrument of salvation. Paul never forgot that he was a called apostle, remembering the voice which arrested him on the way to Damascus. But doubtless Judas was called to the same office. Of any special call to repentance and faith given to some who hear the Gospel and not to all, and always effectual, we never read in the New Testament. In Mat 22:3-14, we read of some who were called and yet finally rejected; and in 2Th 1:8 of their destruction.
According to purpose: 2Ti 1:9; Eph 1:11; Eph 3:11. The Gospel corresponds with, and makes known, a purpose of God touching those to whom it is preached. In this purpose lies its real worth. Just so, when a king resolves to honour a man, and carrying out his resolve calls him into his presence, the importance of the royal summons depends on the royal purpose. So the real significance of the Gospel is measured by the divine purpose which prompted it. This purpose is universal: 1Ti 2:4. Consequently, all who hear the Gospel are called according to purpose. That God has thought fit that His purpose shall be accomplished only in those who believe and persevere, does not make the purpose less real and important, or less than universal.
On the importance of these last words of Rom 8:28, see under Rom 8:30.
Rom 8:29-30. Facts explaining the purpose just mentioned, and proving the assertion that all things work together for good.
Foreknew: same word in Rom 11:2; Act 2:23; Act 26:5; 1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 1:20; 2Pe 3:17; Wis 6:13; Wis 8:8; Wis 18:6 : simply, to know beforehand. There is nothing here to suggest any other than this simple meaning. In the everlasting past, we, our circumstances, disposition, and conduct, stood before the mind of God.
Us: added merely to make a complete English sentence. The rendering (R.V.) whom He foreknew may suggest that God foreordained to the image of Christ all whom He foreknew. But Paul merely asserts that those whom God foreordained were then present to His thought. So 1Pe 1:2. Nor does he say that God foreknew them in any sense other than that in which He foreknew all men. The reason for the insertion of these words will soon appear.
Foreordained or predestined: marked out beforehand, especially in ones mind: found in N.T. only in Eph 1:5; Eph 1:11; Act 4:28; 1Co 2:7. The simpler form ordained () is found in Rom 1:4; Luk 22:22; Act 2:23; Act 10:42; Act 11:29; Act 17:26; Act 17:31; Heb 4:7; and means to mark off some object by drawing a boundary-line around it. A parent who, before his child is old enough for a trade, chooses one for him predestines the boy. He marks out beforehand a path in which he would have him go. This purpose, whether accomplished or not, is predestination.
To be conformed etc.: Gods purpose for the persons here referred to.
Image: as in Rom 1:23; 1Co 11:7; 1Co 15:49; 2Co 3:18; 2Co 4:4; Col 1:15; Heb 10:1; Mat 22:20; Rev 13:14-15 : any mode in which an object presents itself to us, whether in essential relation to the object or a mere imitation of it. In the eternal past, before the eye of God stood His Son. That glorious image, His essential nature as contemplated by the Father, God resolved to make the pattern to which should be conformed those who in later days should put faith in Christ.
Conformed: sharing the same form, or mode of self-presentation. Same word in Php 3:21, cognate words in Php 3:10; Rom 12:2; 2Co 3:18. Gods eternal purpose was that His created sons should share, in created and finite form, the mode in which the eternal Son ever presents Himself to God: conformed to the image of His Son. The context suggests that Paul refers specially to the glory of Christ. But this involves moral likeness.
That He may be etc.: the ultimate aim of the purpose just mentioned.
Firstborn: Col 1:15; Col 1:18; Heb 1:6; Rev 1:5; Luk 2:7; Heb 11:28; Heb 12:23. God resolved to surround His eternal and only-begotten Son by many created sons whom He would not be ashamed to call brethren. These words suggest that the glorification of the sons of God will add glory to the eternal Son. And this is an additional assurance that this purpose will be accomplished.
Rom 8:30. Accomplishment of this purpose already begun.
He also called: by means of the Gospel: 2Th 2:14.
He also justified: through faith, as in Rom 3:30; Rom 4:5.
He also glorified: as in Rom 8:17. So certain to Paul is the glory awaiting the sons of God that he speaks of it as already theirs. So Eph 2:6. While he ponders the eternal purpose of God, he forgets distinctions of time, and looks back upon it as actually accomplished. The tense reveals the fulness of his confidence. These words do not imply or suggest that the predestination, call, justification, and glorification are co-extensive. Paul thinks only of his readers, of Gods eternal purpose to make them sharers of the glory of Christ, and of the steps by which He is accomplishing this purpose. All else is irrelevant to the matter in hand, which is not to teach further about the way of salvation, but to give additional proof of the glory awaiting the sons of God.
We see now the importance of the words whom He foreknew. If the accomplishment of a mans purpose depends on the action of another, he is uncertain about it. With us, contingency and certainty cannot go together: with God, they can. For God foreknew from eternity what every man will do. When the world was but a thought in the Creators mind, every man in all his circumstances and inward and outward conduct stood before His eye. He saw man in sin, and resolved to save (1Pe 1:20) through the blood of Christ and through the Gospel all whom He foresaw putting faith in Christ and walking perseveringly in His steps. He also resolved to change them into the moral likeness of Christ and to make them sharers of His eternal glory.
We must carefully avoid the error of supposing that our foreseen faith moved God to predestine us to salvation. He was moved to save us simply by our foreseen misery and His own mercy: 2Ti 1:9; Tit 3:5. Having resolved to save, He was moved by His infinite wisdom and undeserved favour to select persevering faith as the condition of salvation. And, having chosen this condition, He now uses means to lead men to repentance and faith. So far from our faith being a ground, it is a result, of Gods predestination. But although salvation is altogether a result of Gods eternal purpose, and in no way whatever a result of anything we have done or can do, God nevertheless permits man to resist effectually the influences which lead to salvation. He thus makes the salvation of each individual dependent on his self-surrender to these divine influences. But since this self-surrender or rejection was foreseen, God knew from the beginning the exact result of the death of Christ.
On Pauls doctrine of Predestination, see further in the note at end of Romans 9.
Such is Gods purpose. It is complete proof that He (Rom 8:31) is on our side. Now this purpose is earlier than the universe around us, earlier than the social and natural forces which sometimes press so heavily upon us, And even these social and natural forces sprang ultimately from Him who formed for us this eternal purpose of blessing and glory. They therefore cannot frustrate this purpose. Nay, more. God would not, without sufficient motive, permit suffering to fall on those whom from eternity He has resolved to bless. The only explanation of the hardships which now press so heavily on some servants of Christ is that they are the mysterious means by which God is working out His purpose of mercy for them. Thus the purpose which prompted the Gospel call assures us (see Rom 8:28) that all things are working together for our good.
Rom 8:31-39. A song of triumph, evoked by the statement in Rom 8:28 and the proof of it in Rom 8:29-30. In it culminates the exposition of the gospel given in Rom 3:21 to Rom 8:30.
Rom 8:31. What then shall we say? what inference shall we draw? as in Rom 3:5; Rom 4:1.
To these things: triumphant reference to Rom 8:29-30. An answer is implied in the next question. We shall infer that God is on our side, or acting on our behalf: and this will make needless the question who is against us? For all things and persons are under Gods control, and therefore cannot hinder the accomplishment of His eternal purpose: and this, we have just seen, is to make us sharers of the glory of Christ. The word who suggests that the hardships Paul has in view were in part caused by persons.
Rom 8:32. Another question, suggesting a proof, from the costliness of our salvation, how earnestly God is on our side.
He did not spare: so 2Pe 2:4-5; 1Co 7:28 : did not shield from suffering.
His own Son: the point of the argument. Cp. Rom 5:10.
Gave Him up: to suffering and death: as in Rom 4:25.
On behalf of us all: supporting the words on our behalf in Rom 8:31. In the words us all, Paul thinks probably only of himself and his readers; although his words here are true in a wider sense. His question here assumes, and uses as a ground for confident hope, the important teaching in Rom 3:25; Rom 5:6-10.
How shall he not etc.? practical inference from the foregoing words, put into the form of a question. If He has done the one, it is impossible to doubt that He will do the other.
With Him: the gift of Christ to die for us, and all other gifts, here placed in closest connection.
Give-by-His-grace: cognate to the word in Rom 1:11; Rom 5:15-16; Rom 6:23.
All things: i.e. all things good for us. The undeserved favour of God, which for our sake has already given up to death His own Son, will not hold back from us any good thing. For, compared with that supreme gift, all else is nothing.
Rom 8:33-34. The gift of Christ recalls our sins which made needful His death. The doubt thus suggested, Paul meets by reminding his readers that they are Gods chosen (or elect) ones. So Rom 9:11; Rom 11:5, and note under Rom 9:11.
To bring a charge against such, is to dispute the justice of Gods choice. For it is God who justifies. The second question, Who is he that condemns? supports who shall bring a charge? just as God that justifies supports Gods chosen ones. To bring a charge against believers, is to condemn those whom God has justified and chosen to be His own. Thus Gods decree of justification silences all doubt, even that suggested by memory of our past sin.
Christ who died: recalling the argument in Rom 8:32.
But rather: throwing into conspicuous prominence the fact that the crucified was also raised. The words from the dead (R.V.) found in some good MSS. are doubtful and do not add to the sense.
Who is at the right hand of God: following the risen One to His present place of glory: so Col 3:1-4.
Intercedes (same word in Rom 8:26-27) on our behalf: same phrase and thought in Heb 7:25. Notice the stately gradation: died was raised at the right hand of God intercedes for us. These great facts are abundant proof that (Rom 8:31) God is on our side and that therefore no one can injure us.
Rom 8:35-36. Two final and triumphant questions.
The love of Christ: His love to us: cp. Rom 8:37; Gal 2:20.
Who? as in Rom 8:31.
Who shall separate? put us beyond reach of Christ and thus deprive us of the practical effect of His love. The various hardships of the present life are paraded as powerless captives.
Affliction, helplessness: as in Rom 2:9. At the word sword, Paul breaks off his question to quote Psa 44:22, which reminds us that the death of Gods people by the sword is no new thing. The Psalm refers to men who, though faithful to God, suffered military disaster. Their enemies reckoned them as sheep ready for slaughter: and the work of death went on all the day. This destruction was a result of loyalty to God: on account of Thee. Although we do not know the facts referred to, we learn that there were men in that day who died because they served God, and were thus forerunners of the Christian martyrs. This is another harmony of the old and new.
Rom 8:37. We-more-than-conquer: for all things, including our enemies and hardships, are (Rom 8:28) working together with us for good.
Through Him that loved us: Christ: see Rom 8:35; 1Co 15:57 : cp. Gal 2:20; Eph 5:25. The victory is from God, through Christ, and through the death which reveals His love to us, Rom 8:38-39. A confident answer to the question in Rom 8:35.
Persuaded: deliberate conviction: same word in Rom 15:14; 2Ti 1:5; 2Ti 1:12.
Death: put first, because, to the early Christians, ever imminent. Yet life also has its perils.
Principalities: those who among angels hold superior rank, as angel-princes or archangels: as in Eph 1:21; Eph 3:10, Col 1:16; Col 2:10, of good angels; and in 1Co 15:24; Eph 6:12; Col 2:15, of bad ones. Doubtless they were the chief princes of Dan 10:13; Dan 10:21; Dan 12:1. It is not easy to decide whether Paul refers to good or bad angels, or angels without thought of moral character. Gal 1:8 makes even the first supposition possible. But since Paul uses the word for angels good or bad, leaving the context to determine which, he probably refers here simply to angelic power (cp. will be able) of whatever kind. Not even angels are strong enough to tear us from God.
Things present: be they what they may.
Things coming: the uncertain possibilities of the future.
Powers: kings, magistrates, etc.
Height: to which we look up with helpless fear.
Depth: the chasm which opens ready to engulf us: cp. Eph 3:18.
Able to separate us: stronger than will separate in Rom 8:35.
Love of God in Christ Jesus: the love of God to man manifested in the historic human personality of Christ and apprehended by inward contact with our risen Lord. Neither the hand of death nor the events of a prolonged life, nor angels of ordinary or extraordinary rank, neither the hardships of the present nor the uncertainties of the future, nor powers of any kind, neither exaltation or any exalted being nor deepest abasement, nor anything else which God has made, can put us beyond reach of that love of God which shone upon us in the person and from the cross of Christ and is with us now by vital union with Him. And, since our enemies cannot separate us from Him, they are powerless to hurt us. We are more than conquerors. That they are permitted by our Father in heaven to approach us, is proof that they are working out for us those purposes of mercy and glory which He formed for us before the world was, and for which He made the world. Thus, to us who love God, underneath apparent discord is profound harmony, a harmony of blessing.
We have in Rom 8:31-39 the first prolonged outburst of Christian emotion. It is evoked by contemplation of the hardships and perils of the present life. As Paul surveys his enemies, numerous and various, passing before him in long procession but unable to injure, he realises the completeness of the victory which God has given. So in all ages the loudest songs of triumph have been sung in the face of the fiercest foes by men who, while the powers of darkness were doing their worst, found themselves more than conquerors. But we have here much more than emotion. Each verse is full of argument: for Pauls exultation rests on solid objective grounds. He looks, not at himself, but at God and Christ; he remembers the purpose which God formed before the world was, and the price He paid to accomplish it; and from this infers that God is on his side and will withhold from him no good thing. The accusations of enemies and of conscience are silenced by the Gospel in which God proclaims our justification and by Pauls assured conviction that to save us from punishment Christ died, and now intercedes. Thus the historic facts of Christs death and resurrection attest the love of Christ and of God. And from that love no foe, human or superhuman, can tear us.
The relation between this confidence of final victory and Pauls solemn warning that unless his readers continue in faith they will fall and finally perish, will be discussed under Rom 11:24.
DIVISION III., and with it Pauls exposition of the Gospel, are now complete. In DIV. I., he proved that all men are exposed to punishment. In DIV. II., he asserted justification through faith, and through the death of Christ; and proved that justification through faith, which overthrows all Jewish boasting, is in harmony with Gods recorded treatment of Abraham, and that justification through the death of Christ gives us a hope of glory based on Gods love, and is a counterpart, and the only conceivable explanation, of the entrance of death through Adams sin. DIV. III. is introduced by an objection that the teaching of DIV. II. leads to immorality. This objection, Paul meets, not by guarding or qualifying the doctrine of justification, but by putting beside it the doctrine that God wills us to live, by inward union with Christ, a life like His life of devotion to God. This new life, we obtain by reckoning it to be ours. Paul justifies the gift of it to men condemned by the Law, by showing that in Christ we are set free from the dominion of the Law; and justifies the Law which condemns us by asserting that our own best intelligence approves its judgment. He goes on to say that of this new life the Spirit of God is the guiding principle; and proves that the Spirit within us is a sure pledge of the glory awaiting us. This is not disproved by our afflictions: for our present state is one, not of possession, but of hope. And our hope is confirmed by the state of the natural world around us, and by our divinely-taught yearnings for the accomplishment of the promises. God is on our side: therefore the hardships of life cannot hurt us, but are working out our good.
DIVISIONS II. and III. are a logical development of five great doctrines, viz. (1) that God accepts as righteous all who believe the Gospel, stated in Rom 3:21-22; (2) by means of the death of the Son of God, in Rom 3:24-26; (3) that God designs us to be, by union with Christ, sharers of the life of Christ, a life devoted to God, in Rom 6:3-10; (4) that this life becomes ours by the reckoning of faith, in Rom 6:11; (5) through the inward presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, in Rom 8:2-16. As thus stated, Doct. 1 implies a personal God who pardons sin; Doct. 2 implies that in a unique sense Christ is the Son of God, and Doct. 3 implies His unreserved devotion to God; Doctrines 1 and 4 assert comprehensively salvation through faith; and Doct. 5 assumes an inward consciousness of the presence of the Spirit of God. In other words, we have here Justification through Faith, and through the Death of Christ, Sanctification in Christ, through Faith, and in the Holy Spirit. We have also found abundant proof that each of these doctrines, or doctrine equivalent, was actually taught by Christ. And evidently they were accepted by Paul, and asserted without proof but with perfect confidence, because he believed that they had been previously taught by Christ. If we accept these doctrines, the reasoning in DIVISIONS II. and III. will compel us to accept the teaching of the whole epistle.
Only one subject remains: the bearing of these doctrines on the Old Covenant, and on the condition and prospects of the Jews, its living representatives.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
8:28 {25} And we know that {l} all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] {m} purpose.
(25) Eighthly, we are not afflicted, either by chance or to our harm, but by God’s providence for our great profit: who as he chose us from the beginning, so has he predestined us to be made similar to the image of his Son: and therefore will bring us in his time, being called and justified, to glory, by the cross.
(l) Not only afflictions, but whatever else.
(m) He calls that “purpose” which God has from everlasting appointed with himself, according to his good will and pleasure.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"We have been dealing in the first part of the chapter with the human will and its consent to walk by the Spirit. Not so from the 28th verse to the chapter’s end. It will be all God from now on!" [Note: Newell, p. 330.]
Different translators have interpreted this verse in different ways too. Some saw "God" as the subject and have translated it "God causes . . ." (NASB). Others believed that "all things" is the subject and rendered it "all things God works . . ." (NIV). However the differences are not significant. The whole chapter, even all of Scripture, presents God as sovereign over all the affairs of life. Consequently we know what Paul meant. God orders all the events of life, not just the intercession of the indwelling Spirit, so they culminate in the blessing of His children (cf. Rom 8:26-27).
"All things" means just that: all things. In the context these things include the adversities the believer experiences. The "good" is what is good from God’s perspective, and, in view of Rom 8:18-27, conformity to the Son of God is particularly prominent (Rom 8:29). Those who love God could be a group of believers who love God more than others. However since Paul described them from the divine side as the elect of God, those who love God must refer to all Christians (cf. 1Jn 4:19). This is the only place in Romans where Paul wrote of the believer’s love for God; everywhere else he referred to God’s love for the believer.
This verse does not say that God causes all things, period. Nowhere in Scripture do we read that God causes sin or evil. He permits these things, but that is much different than causing them. Therefore when tragedy touches a believer we should not conclude that this is one of the "all things" that God causes. Rather this verse says that God brings good out of all things, even tragedies, for the Christian. The causes of tragedy are Satan, the sinful choices of people, and the consequences of living in a sinful world (cf. Jas 1:13-14): Satan, sin, and sinners. Even though God permits or allows bad things to happen, Scripture never lays the blame for these things on God, and neither should we.