This is a very important article that deals with the b
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PFRS Commentary
Romans 8:28-30
By Tim Warner
Copyright � Pristine Faith Restoration Society
Romans 8:28-30 NKJV
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Because Calvinists rely so heavily on this passage as one of their primary proof texts, it deserves our careful analysis. Our approach requires a careful analysis of the context, the grammar, the historical setting, and any precedent available from
the earliest Christian writers.
According to Calvinists, from �predestination� to �glorification,� everything related to our salvation is determined and performed by God. Nothing man does can in any way affect his eternal destiny. All those �predestined� will also be �called.� All those �called� will also be �justified.� All those �justified� will also be �glorified.� None of those �predestined� will fail to be �glorified� in the end. Therefore, man�s will and response to God cannot be a determining factor regarding his salvation. To many Calvinists, this passage settles the issue decisively.
While their argument from this passage appears solid on the surface, we will demonstrate that it is not consistent with the grammatical, historical, contextual method of interpreting the Scriptures. It is flawed in its handling of the context as
well as the grammar.
To discover Paul�s meaning, it is necessary to understand the purpose of this passage in the overall context. What was Paul�s primary point here? Was it to lay out a theological defense of Calvinism? Was it to offer a glimpse into the secret
workings of the will of God? Or was it something much more practical? The 2 context shows plainly that Paul�s point was the encouragement of believers during severe persecution. This passage is about �hope� during the most difficult persecution, and looking past the present difficulty to the assurance of
an inheritance in Christ�s Kingdom. We therefore would expect verses 28-30 to follow the flow of Paul�s logic.
Verse 28. �And we know� (οιδαμεν δε οτι�) �But we have observed that��
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (NKJV)
28 But we have observed that, for those loving God, everything works together unto good, for those who are being called according to His purpose. (my translation)
The verb, rendered �we know� in the NKJV and �we have observed� in my translation is a perfect active indicative form of the verb meaning �to observe and therefore perceive.�1 The perfect tense indicates past completed action with
continuous results. Literally, �we have observed� (and therefore we know). The knowledge is the result of past observation. It is not something intuitive. The word �that� is �οτι,� a demonstrative conjunction, usually introducing the answer to the question �what.� When we see �οτι� we are prompted to ask �what?� (In this case, �What have we observed?�). The answer is given in the
remainder of the verse. Everything works together for the good of those loving God. This is what we have observed by experience.
Verse 29 begins with �οτι.� In addition to answering the question �what,� �οτι� frequently introduces the reason behind what was just stated. Essentially, this answers the question, �why.� A good translation would be �because.�
But we have observed [knowledge gained by observation] οτι [what have we observed? Answer:] for those loving God, everything works together unto good, for those who are
being called according to His purpose, οτι [why or how have we observed this?] because those He knew previously, He also previously ordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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In verses 29-30, Paul pointed to historical cases in support his claim in verse 28 that we have �observed� God�s working everything for the good of those who love Him. Remember, Paul was encouraging his readers during persecution to place their hope in the future resurrection and inheritance, and that God was at work in them even in their present situation. So, it is natural that he would offer some assessment from history to support this fact.
Verses 29-30 do not offer a theological argument, or insight into God�s secret purposes. Rather, they offer historical demonstration of what Paul and his readers had indeed observed. God works for the good of those who love Him.
And how did Paul come to this conclusion? Because �
�For whom He foreknew�� (ους προεγγω) �those He knew previously�� Paul was not referring to some kind of mystical �foreknowledge� of God before creation, or predestination of individuals before they were born. He was referring to those, in ages past, whom God knew personally and intimately, like
Abraham, Moses, and David. The term �foreknew� does not mean to have knowledge of someone before they were conceived. The verb �προεγνω� is the word for �know� (in the intimate sense) with the preposition �προ� (before)
prefixed to it. It refers to knowing and communing with someone in the past.
This meaning is confirmed by the use of the same verb in the following passage.
Acts 26:4-5
4 "My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.
5 They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
Paul meant that they knew him previously as a Pharisee, not that they had mystical foreknowledge of him before he was born! Literally, we could render Rom. 8:29 as follows: �For those God knew intimately previously, He previously determined to be conformed to the image of His Son.� The individual saints of old,
with whom God had a personal covenant relationship, were predestined by Him to be conformed to the image of Christ. That is, God predetermined to bring their salvation to completion by the sacrifice of Christ on their behalf. This is precisely what Hebrews 9:15 indicates. �And for this reason He [Jesus] is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.� 4
Notice the use of the term �called� in reference to these people who lived under the �first covenant.� And Paul used the same word �called� regarding his historical examples in Romans 8:29.
These people whom God had �called,� with whom He had a personal, intimate, covenant relationship, He predetermined that they should be confirmed to the image of Christ, even though they lived long before Christ was born. God called, justified, and glorified them by providing salvation for them through the work of
Christ many centuries later.
In Romans 11:2, Paul used the term �foreknew� again in reference to God�s past interaction and covenant relationship with the faithful remnant of Israel. �I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.� This �foreknowledge� refers exclusively to God�s intimate relationship with His covenant people in the past. It has nothing to do with a mystical premonition or predetermination before one is born.
Past Tense Verbs προεγνω, προωρισεν, εκαλεσεν, εδικαιωσεν, εδοξασεν The fatal mistake Calvinists make is failing to notice that these verbs in verse 29 are all in the past tense, including �glorified.� The Greek words translated �foreknew� (προεγνω), �predestinated� (προωρισεν), �called� (εκαλεσεν),
�justified� (εδικαιωσεν), and �glorified� (εδοξασεν), are all aorist indicative verbs. They describe historical events, not present or future realities.
Some Calvinists might argue that they are past tense grammatically because these things are so certain, it is as though they are all already accomplished. But, this is forcing the grammar. It is a well known device in Greek to use the present
tense regarding future events when something is being portrayed as absolutely certain, (cf. Hebrews 12:28). But this does not normally apply to the use of the past tense (aorist indicative).2 All of the things Paul mentioned were already past,
including the �glorification� of those whom God foreknew, predestined, called, and justified.3
Some might argue that being �glorified� is beyond what Christ has already accomplished for the Old Testament saints, and can therefore only refer to the future resurrection of the saints. Let�s not forget that Matthew�s Gospel records the bodily resurrection of �many� of the saints at Jesus� own resurrection. These
are most likely the �fathers,� Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and perhaps Moses, those 5 God Himself had appeared to and communed with throughout the Old Testament. In other words, those He �foreknew.� �Then, behold, the veil of the
temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep
were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.� (Matt 27:51-53).
Even if this resurrection is not what Paul had in mind when he wrote of the past �glorification� of the saints, the New Testament indicates that �glorification� is something that is ongoing now, not limited to the resurrection of the body. Jesus was said to be �glorified� through performing good works (John 11:4), through
His crucifixion (John 12:23 & 13:31), and in the fruit He produced in His disciples (John 17:10). Christians are glorified through understanding the mystery of the Gospel (1 Cor. 7-10), and are progressively being glorified by the sanctifying power of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:7-11 esp. v. 18).
2 Cor. 3:18
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
It is through the sanctification process, produced by the Spirit, that believers are currently being �glorified.� That process will conclude when we have finished the race. Ultimately, glorification will culminate in the resurrection, when we will �appear with Him in glory� (Col. 3:4).
Paul�s point in Romans 8:28-30 was that God�s history in His dealings with the fathers is adequate proof that He was committed to the Roman believers who were undergoing severe persecution for the cause of Christ. That we will all be
glorified together at the return of Christ (Rom. 8:17) in no way implies that we are not now being glorified, nor that the saints of the Old Testament have never been �glorified.� They have been glorified through their own sanctification process, and through the death of Christ on their behalf (applied retroactively �
Heb. 9:15). Their sanctification is now complete. Many of them have already been resurrected, perhaps all those with whom God had personally communed face to face. The rest await our sanctification so that we may all be glorified together
(Heb. 11:39-40).6
Calvinism�s �proof text� fails to support its major premise when we are careful to interpret it grammatically, historically, and contextually. It now remains for us to demonstrate a historical link between our interpretation and the early Church.
The Early Church
Exactly how the early Church understood this passage is difficult to say with any certainty, since no Ante Nicene writer seem to have commented on its interpretation. However, there was a definite consensus, from the time of the Apostles until the fourth century, that man had a free will and that his free response to the Gospel ultimately determined his destiny.4
John Chrysostom�s commentary (AD 400) is the earliest exposition of this passage of which we are aware. His view agrees with ours regarding the emphasis of the context, and the use of Old Testament examples to demonstrate God�s working all things to the good of those who love Him. He also viewed the
�glorification� as being something already demonstrated in the past. �Doubt not then about the future. For he showeth even upon other grounds His concern for us by saying, that things were foreordered in this way from the beginning. For men have to derive from things their conceptions about them, but
to God these things have been long determined upon, and from of old He bare goodwill toward us, he says. �Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified.� Now He justified them [past tense third person] by the regeneration of the laver. �And whom He justified,
them He also glorified� by the gift, by the adoption [something already bestowed upon Israel, cf. Rom. 9:4] � See how really no one is against us! For it was this which gave new luster to Job, the fact that the devil was in arms against him. For the devil moved at once friends against him, his wife against him, and wounds, and servants, and a thousand other machinations. And it turned out that none of them was against him on the whole. And yet this was no great thing to him, though it was great in itself, but what is a far greater thing is, that it turned out that they were all for him. For since God was for him, even things seemingly against him all became for him. And this happened with the Apostles also, inasmuch as both the Jews, and they of the Gentiles, and false brethren, and rulers, and peoples, and famines, and poverty, and ten thousand things were against them; and yet nothing was against them.� (Chrysostom,
Homily XV).7
It is apparent that John Chrysostom believed Paul was referring to past examples when He wrote that God has predestined, called, justified, and glorified, those whom he knew previously. Consistency with the context, the grammatical historical method, and early Church precedent, provides us with considerable
confidence in our exposition of this critical passage. Calvinists are not as careful in their exegesis, and their conclusion is not to be trusted.
Notes:
1. Thayer�s Greek Lexicon, #1492
2. Wallace (GGBB p. 564) argues for a category he calls �proleptic aorist,� in which he claims, �the aorist
indicative can be used to describe an event that is not yet past as though it were already completed.� He adds, �but this usage is not at all common.� He offers Mark 11:24, John 13:31, Rom. 8:30, and Rev. 10:7, as examples. But, his examples do not require this understanding except where the context transports the reader into the future, as in Mark 11:24, and Rev. 10:7. That is certainly not the case in Rom. 8:30. One would
have to force a theological construct onto the passage in order to support this usage here.
3. Additionally, Wallace (GGBB p. 562) argues for a category he calls the �gnomic aorist� ��to present a timeless general fact.� He adds, �this usage is quite rare in the NT.� Even if Rom. 8:29 uses the �gnomic aorist� (something that occurs, rather than something that has occurred), the sense would be no different
than what we have stated, because this knowledge is based on observation of consistent past patterns. The perfect tense of the verb �we have observed� already transports the reader into the past to ascertain exactly what has been observed. So, even with a �gnomic aorist,� Paul was describing what has always occurred in the past based on past observation. Therefore, even the �glorification� must be something that has been observed previously.
4. Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians, XI; Epistle of Barnabas, IV; Justin, First Apology, XLIII;
Justin Second Apology, VII; Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, 102,141; Justin, On the Sole Government of God,
VI; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Bk. IV, 37; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Bk. V, XXVII; Tatian, Address to the
Greeks, XI; Tertullian, Against Marcion, Bk. II, ch. vi, xxv; Tertullian, On Monogamy, XIV; Clement of
Alexandria, The Instructor, Bk. I, viii; Origen, De Principis, Preface; Origen, Bk. II ch. I; Hippolytus, Against
all Heresies, Bk. X, ch. xxix; Novatian, Trinity, ch. I; Archelaus, The Acts of the Disputation; Alexander,
Banquet of the Ten Virgins, Discourse VIII, ch. xii; Lactantius, Divine Institutes, Bk. II, ch. xv.
That was weird. I didn't finish writing my intro to the article and some how it got published. LOL
Ok.. I wanted to say that this is an important article in that is clears up what is a bad English translation of this passage. The reason why it was not translated correctly is due to the fact that the translators were Calvinists and because of theological bias they mishandled the Greek texts. I know the article is long but it is well worth the read. If you want to read the article online, then go here:
Yes it is. Sorry for all the numbers. I forget that this site cannot handle Greek fonts so I placed the link so it could be read properly.
It is amazing how one or two words placed correctly can give us a proper understanding of a passage while placing the word in the wrong place and twisting the meaning like the Calvinist translators did can pervert the entire passage.
1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5: For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6: For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8: So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9: But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10: And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11: But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12: Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13: For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18: For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19: For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20: For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21: Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22: For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23: And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
24: For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25: But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
26: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27: And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
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.
29: 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.
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.
31: What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32: 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?
33: Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
34: Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36: As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39: 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.
: I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2: That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3: For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5: Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6: Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8: That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9: For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
10: And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11: (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12: It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13: As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14: What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15: For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17: For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18: Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
19: Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21: Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22: What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24: Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25: As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26: And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27: Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29: And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
30: What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31: But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32: Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
33: As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
