“Well, things just have a way of working out.”
“You know, some good can come out of this bad situation.”
“I’m an optimist. I just believe that something better is just around the corner for you.”
Each statement is pretty common in American culture, especially in the South. It shows a way of thinking that once was turned toward Scripture, the gospel, and God’s purpose but now turned toward self-satisfaction. Hints of Romans 8:28 emerge but the distinct truths found in this notable passage remain trapped beneath layers of well-wishing and blind optimism.
Anyone that has attended church for even a short time has likely heard of Romans 8:28. It is often shortened in American parlance: “You know that “everything works together for good’.” The rest of the passage lies outside the mind, or so it seems. No mention is made of God’s sovereignty or of the parameters placed on the verb’s action or of the biblical context of assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ. It’s just a sense of entitlement to go along with the entitlement mentality prevalent in our society: we all deserve for everything to come up roses.
Yet Romans 8:28 has a biblical context. We’ve been studying it for the past few weeks. We might narrow it into a few themes:
Each theme relates directly to the believer’s assurance of salvation and the multiple ramifications of that assurance. Each reminds us that God is at work in those whom His Son redeems, and it is not a slight work, but a definite work of bringing us to glory.
Yet, the reality is that life is messy, often nasty. The nice way that we hope for everything to turn out for us just seems to go the other direction. We make poor decisions, sin against God, experience trials, deal with broken relationships, face illness and disease, while at the same time, try to read the Word, obey Christ, worship, attend church, fellowship with the saints, serve others, pray, witness, and give. How can these dissonant realities be the experience of the same persons? Will all of the seemingly evil experiences cancel out any future good in our lives? Not as long as God is on the throne, the redemption of Christ is in effect, and the Spirit dwells with the saints! Our God takes even the most dissonant, unharmonious issues of life and works them for eternal good in our lives. That’s what Romans 8:28 affirms for us. Yet our familiarity with it often breeds neglect of feeding on it as our life bread in the midst of a fallen world. What do we find in Romans 8:28 that liberates us from living under the misery of the fall?
I want to approach this text by looking at key phrases and words that keep us in the context while showing us how to apply this passage in the demands of daily life.
Paul bounces between two words translated as “know.” One word implies experiential knowledge or we might call it, relational knowledge. The other word focuses on the facts at hand. That’s the word in the emphatic position in this sentence. He is dealing with facts not suppositions or queries or vain hopes. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good…” The Apostle had not the slightest hesitation to make that kind of declaration even to people that would soon, if not already, face strong persecution. Some had been cast out of Rome during the time of Claudius, forced away from home, jobs, and any means of survival. Nero would be emperor in just a few years bringing the insane ways of persecution that characterized him.
Yet that has only to do with persecution and its consequences. Death reared its ugly head among young husbands, wives, and children. Disease had no cure but the mercy of God. Famines left the masses undernourished. Slavery robbed millions of making economic progress. Even the Christian faith divided homes and families, breaking relationships never to be repaired. Some among the church knew what it was to be disowned by family, cut off from every hope of inheritance. Believers fell back into old, wretched patterns of sin. Conflicts brewed over doctrine and practice, fracturing even the fellowship that had been the Christian’s refuge. How would these believers handle life?
“And we know” takes us from the realm of fear and anxiety, putting us on solid ground. “We know” that God is at work in every detail because “the Spirit also helps our weakness” (8:26). He does not depend on our success to work on our behalf but majors on helping us in the multiplied weaknesses we face in this fallen world. That’s why the conjunction, “and,” bears such importance in this verse. It connects us with the help and intercession of the Spirit for the saints. It describes what God does in response to the Spirit’s groaning intercession on our behalf.
“And we know” stands in contrast with “for we do not know how to pray as we should” in v. 26. Our praying is typically about immediate issues, the things that we face each day: crises, food, sickness, decisions, and trials. Yet in these situations “we do not know how to pray as we should.” So the Spirit prays on our behalf, correcting and supplementing our prayers, and always doing so in the will of God. Consequently, “God causes all things to work together for good” among believers. Paul declares, we know this! “He is a man who can be certain about the ultimate even when he is most uncertain about the immediate” [Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: An Exposition of 8:17-39, The Final Perseverance of the Saints, 177]. Do you have this same certainty? It begins with believing what God has declared of Himself in the Word. This certainty finds strength when we consider the cross of Christ. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (8:32)
Romans 8:28 is not about everyone. There are specific limits, a definite sphere in which God works for good. Paul explains this subjectively and objectively.
This puts limits to the casual Southern belief, “Now honey, you know that everything is just going to work out fine!” It is those that love God, or more correctly to show the present participle, “those loving God,” that benefit from this promise.
Yet is this not a problem for us? Do we not sometime struggle over the depth and consistency of our love for God? Some have taken this verse to mean that God works on our behalf corresponding to the degree that we love Him. So if we slack in our love then He slacks in His care for us. If we work hard at loving God then He works hard at caring for us. But that kind of mindset misses the focus on God’s action in grace, which the context strongly bears out. Plus it places emphasis on God’s actions on our behalf as a reward for our good works. If that were the case then grace would be unnecessary.
None of us would dare think that we love God as we ought or as consistently as we should. We are still in process of sanctification with regard to our love for Him. So what does Paul mean by this defining sphere of God’s kind action on behalf of Christians?
Lest each of us fall into a pit of despair, let us be reminded that we presently love imperfectly. Those who love God the most likely find the greatest faults in their present love for Him. Paul addresses the kind of love that characterizes the believer; it’s what he seeks to live in, grow in, and develop more perfectly. He has not arrived but he inches forward stage by stage in his growing love for God.
The subjective love for God has its roots in this objective saving action of God. He turns our attention back to the origin of our salvation rather than the evidences that result from it. Here we find Paul giving us yet another phrase that parallels with saved, redeemed, and justified. He is not defining a special category of Christians but rather all Christians. We see this clearly by the same term, “called,” used in the golden chain of redemption in verse 30. Believers are those effectually called out by the gospel. This is not a general call that happens every time that I preach the gospel or each occasion that you share the gospel with an unbelieving friend. In such cases, we call people to repentance and faith in Christ. Yet our calling cannot change anyone. We can do so fervently but it still cannot transfer one from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. The calling in our context, as we shall see when we investigate verses 29-30, follows predestination and precedes justification. It is what happens when the Spirit of God takes the gospel of Christ into the recesses of the sin-darkened mind and heart, and brings them to life so that they might believe the gospel and be saved. We know that this call is effectual, because Paul explains that God works all things together for good only in those who have received this objective work and, who consequently, demonstrate the subjective evidence of loving God. This is even more evident when we notice that the call of God through the gospel is “according to His purpose.”
What does Paul mean by “according to His purpose”? The word “purpose” implies God’s special plan or the divine resolve or God’s particular will. So what is that purpose with regard to those He calls out of sin through the gospel? It is explained in detail in the next verse: “to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” While we will consider this in more detail in our next study, keep in mind that there is a two-fold plan in this divine calling. (1) He conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ. That begins the work of sanctification that finds its completion in glorification. He saves us to shape our thinking, attitude, lifestyle, conversation, and life purpose into that of His Son! If you have in mind that being a Christian simply involves going to heaven after death then think again! It means that God brings to bear what is necessary to shape us into the image of Jesus Christ. (2) Jesus Christ, the Son, will have first place among all of us. He will have the preeminence, as Paul told the Colossians (1:18), which means that all eternity will focus on the glory of the Son.
If we go back to the creation story, we know that the first man was created in the image of God. But the fall marred that image in man. The new creation in Christ Jesus restores the image of God in man. Those who are in Christ are being conformed to His image as the “firstborn among many brethren.” What does this mean in the practical issues of life? It means that life is not about you but about Jesus Christ! Nothing more radically alters our lives than coming to terms with the gospel of Christ and seeing what God does in us through the gospel. Conformity to the image of Jesus Christ is totally counter-cultural. Yet that’s God’s purpose for those whom He calls: to live distinctly different from the world as those redeemed by Christ and reflecting Christ in daily life.
Life is not narrow. When we were born we did not have a contract with the Creator by which we would only experience what we deemed good, beneficial, healthy, and satisfying. Life comes at us full speed with more variety than we can swallow. In involves good & bad,
beautiful & ugly,
pure & debase,
right & wrong,
health & sickness,
positive & negative,
success & suffering,
wealth & poverty,
victory & defeat,
overcoming & temptation,
acceptance & rejection,
fair weather & foul weather,
plenty & want.
Yet it is in just such a world that “God causes all things [like this list] to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” So when the beautiful and pure Esther was taken into the harem of a godless Persian king, God was at work for good. When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, God was at work for good. When Peter fell through denying His Lord, God was at work for good. When the pope condemned Martin Luther, God was at work for good. When Charles Spurgeon suffered with attacks on his character, God was at work for good. When a saintly, servant of Christ was kidnapped by terrorists never to be heard from again, God continues to work for good!
How do we make sense of all this?
The “work together” described by the action of God is ongoing (shown by the present tense). The term means to “cooperate with, work together with, help someone to obtain something, or to bring something about” [BAG, 795]. Now, how does Paul use the term? Let’s try to get some comparisons. A machine has dozens, maybe even hundreds of parts that work together with each other to drive the machine. A fan belt is totally different than a battery, which is totally different from an axle. Yet each functions together to transport you. An orchestra is made up of different instruments that make very different sounds, yet when they work together, they produce incredibly harmonious tones that thrill us.
Yet the scene that Paul describes is even more intense. Musicians intend to harmonize. Automotive parts intend to work together. Life’s circumstances and actions do not. Like the old pocket watch that was my grandfather’s, the wheels in it move in different directions. You think that there is surely no way that this thing can keep time since the wheels are going in different directions. But in the wisdom of the watchmaker, he moves, adjusts, and places each item in just the right place to make them work together. Here is the glory of God. Conflicting situations and experiences in life—from good and bad, righteous and sinful, success and failure—are woven together into an instrument for good in the life of the believer.
Does this mean that we will face no suffering or backsliding or persecution or diseases or accidents or loss? On the contrary, these things are sure to come in a fallen world. But the unique certainty for Christians alone is that God makes a glorious concert for our good out of the dissonant experiences of life!
What does Paul mean by “good”? Does that mean that we will have all the money that we need, reach success in every endeavor, have robust health, be loved and accepted by everyone? Just take a look at the many characters we find in Scripture as well as in Christian history. Read the summary found in Hebrews 11 where there is both great gain and great loss. “Good” cannot be defined in terms of health, wealth, success, and acceptance. It is something much grander; something that cannot rust, rot, decay, or tarnish with age. The good is conformity to the image of Jesus Christ and the preeminence of Jesus Christ in all things. It contains both the present, ongoing process in sanctification and the ultimate conformity in future glory. When you are in the throes of life’s dissonance keep your eyes on the promise of God!
I’m sure that you were wondering why I did not begin at this point! I saved the best for last. When the dissonance of life confronts you, your mighty Sovereign causes the unharmonious to break forth into harmony, the opposite movements to work in the same direction, the good and the bad to partner for your good. Does it happen immediately? Joseph waited 17 years before seeing this harmony break forth. David did not get to see the harmony with earthly sight since it came a thousand years later in his greatest Son, the Messiah. A beloved missionary labored long without much fruit but at her tragic death, churches were begun where none have ever existed. Though she did not see it with her earthly eyes, the greater good of Christ’s glory resulted from the divinely orchestrated events that seemed only to be tragedy.
Greeks and Romans were like many modern Westerners: everything will work out. Fate will go your way. Try telling that to the millions that are dying of starvation or living in totalitarian states or devastated by natural disasters. Unless they have the eternal hope of future glory, then their tragedies are just that—tragedies, waste, ruin, destruction, despair, and hopelessness. There is no promise outside of Jesus Christ for those enduring the dissonant experiences of life.
Only when God works for good—the good that leads to glory—is sense made out of life’s infinite array of conflicts and issues. And He does that for those that love Him and those whom He has called according to His purpose. He does it; we don’t. Out of His kindness and mercy, overflowing from the wellspring of His delight in displaying glory in those who were once vessels of wrath awaiting destruction, He works the unharmonious into a symphony of glory.
But should you be surprised by any of this? Not at all if you consider that God did not spare His Son but delivered Him over for us all, so that He might freely give us all things, and consequently, that we might love and enjoy Him forever.
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