Today is day seven of the #iheartBible challenge that I’m hosting. If you have joined up, hooray! I’m glad you’re here. If you want to join up, then awesomesauce. Check out the challenge post for details and join in on the linky so we can all read one another’s posts during the challenge. I love Jesus and blogging, so I’m glad to see people joining in. We’d love to have you join, too.
Today’s verse is Romans 8.28. Check it out in its context (Why do I care about context?):
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
This verse potentially holds a lot of promise–but I wonder if this verse is too often quoted without respect to the qualifier of people. Is Joe Schmo the recipient of this promise? Well, that depends. Is Mr. Schmo in love with God, which is to say, is he a Christian? Yeah? Well, then yes. No? Well, then no.
That last qualifier says “for those who are called according to his purpose.” At first glance, this may seem to say that all things work together for those who are called according to His purpose. But the placement of the last phrase has me thinking. It makes me wonder about predestination, which is not something I’m equipped to defend or refute. I do know that God knows everything that will happen before it happens; whether or not He decides what will happen is not the topic of this conversation.
But the question is this: What is His purpose? This is why context is so very important. The next verse gives us the answer: to be conformed to the image of His Son. And in the last verse of the context, the conclusion of our process it to be glorified in the image of His Son.
A word of caution: No where in this verse is there a promise that everything will turn out according to our definition of “good.” We often misuse the verse in attempt to claim this sort of promise.
That is the actual promise: That we will become conformed to the image of Christ if we believe in Him. This is the ultimate “good” the verse promises us believers.
That is definitely not what I expected.
Special thanks to The Husband, who helps me focus on the facts.
Love,
