Yesterday a Christian brother in Iran stood trial before Muslim jurists. He found himself in that position after being previously arrested, imprisoned, and beaten for living out his faith in Christ. Though initially released after his ordeal, local religious leaders found brief imprisonment and beating unsatisfactory, so they pressed for more. What that implies, I do not know but if the court rules against him, at minimum, this brother will likely face a harsh prison sentence.
What goes through his mind in this setting? Does he say, ‘Why did I ever hear the gospel and think it to be good news? Why did God pursue me with saving grace if I am to encounter such affliction? Why did I become a Christian? Why could I not just keep the good news to myself instead of telling it to others?’
Or does he face it much differently in light of the God who causes all things to work together for good to those loving Him and those called according to His purpose? ‘Thank God that He set His affections on me long before this trial, even before time began.’ ‘Thank the Lord for pursuing me with redeeming love and matchless grace!’ ‘Bless the Lord, though they beat me, imprison me, or even kill me, they cannot separate me from God’s love or cheat me of His grace!’
None of us is in such straits. But we do face our own dilemmas whether with family issues, strained relationships, long-term sickness, tragedy, death, or a thousand other issues, perhaps even opposition to our faith in Christ. We encounter the pressures of living in a fallen world, experiencing its wretched fruit time and again. Does that lead to whining, complaints, bitterness, and even resentment toward the Lord’s providence?
Or does it lead you to a different point of reflection, one that focuses on the assurance of God’s sovereign grace at work in your life?
Far too many professing Christians know so little of the extent of God’s activity in sovereign grace. They cheat themselves of His provisions to assure their hearts of His steadfast love in the great trials of life. They fuss and fume against the very doctrines that intend to give the greatest comfort.
To say that the subject of this message and our text is controversial puts it mildly! Just this week I talked with a pastor who faced church members and even ministers in his community who are fighting ‘tooth and nail’ against these assuring doctrines. Strange, even tragic, isn’t it? The very truths given for assurance to believers living under the duress of a fallen world are rejected and denied. Rather than finding comfort in God’s sovereignty they insist upon personal control where God alone rules.
Foreknowledge and predestination are assuring doctrines. Paul has not switched subjects; he’s still bearing down on assurance! And what does he show us in these assuring truths? God’s grace to us is displayed by His actions toward us prior to our gospel response. How does this give the believer assurance? Think with me about the actions of sovereign grace.
Paul declares five aspects in what some call the golden chain of salvation. We will consider the first two links in this golden chain of salvation and look at the other three next week, Lord willing.
The one term that most often serves as a club for arguments regarding divine election is this word translated as foreknew. To investigate it, I want us to first consider what it means, then what it therefore cannot mean in this context, and finally, how it assures us of God’s saving grace.
Paul has just declared the most amazing work in daily life—that God, by sovereign might, works all things together as a symphony for good. Even the most difficult issues, He combines with the sweet works of providence for good. “For” is used as a conjunction or transition in this case. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” The same word is often translated as “because” or “that” or “since.” The King James follows the Geneva Bible translating it as “and.” Translators recognize that verse 29 adds explanation to the previous verse. Why is it that God “causes all things to work together for good to those who love” Him? It is because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to conformity to His Son.
How is foreknowledge used in the rest of the New Testament? It is used seven times: twice of man and the balance of God. It is safe to say that man’s foreknowledge differs infinitely from God’s. The word literally means, “to know before, know in advance.” Paul used it in Acts 26:5 to refer to the Jews’ knowledge of him prior to his faith in Christ. Peter used it to explain the warnings and knowledge he had given his readers, so that knowing beforehand about those who would distort Scripture, they could be on guard (2 Pet. 3:17).
How is foreknow used of God? “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew,” the Apostle wrote in Romans 11:2. Is that God’s general knowledge of all people? Rather the verse clearly means that this foreknowing focused in grace on a particular people. In Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, he declared, “This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death” (Acts 2:23). He posits two words together: “predetermined plan,” specifying that the death of Christ was not by chance but carefully worked out by God, and “foreknowledge,” amplifying the same focus that God purposed out of redemptive love to have His Son put to death. It is quite clear that this does not mean that God looked down the corridors of time and saw that Jesus would be crucified so He decided to put a plan into action as a consequence of what He saw. Instead, He planned the death of Christ. His foreknowledge, in this case, explains the nature of this plan with sovereign, redemptive love.
Similarly, Peter explains of Jesus Christ’s redemptive work, “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God…” (1 Pet. 1:20-21a). Was this general knowledge on God’s part prior to the historical advent of Jesus into the world? Of course not! It refers to a special affection on the part of the Father toward His Son whom He sent as our Redeemer. Peter used the same word (1:2) of the Father’s foreknowledge of believers: “To those who reside as aliens…who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.” His greeting explains the Trinitarian work in our salvation. Did the Father simply have prior knowledge of who would believe and so He therefore chose the ones He knew would believe? If so, then how does that kind of mere prior knowledge compare to the sanctifying work of the Spirit or sprinkling of the blood of Christ? It is apparent that Peter meant more than simply prior knowledge—it is setting of His affections upon a particular people He would choose to redeem through His Son.
Does this word mean merely prior knowledge? If it is used of men that would be the case but not when used of God; instead, it is “sovereign, distinguishing love,” as John Murray put it [quoted by J. Stott, Romans: God’s Good News for the World, 249]. It is used similarly in Amos 3:2, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth…” Does that mean that God had no knowledge of Canaanites or Egyptians or Assyrians? Certainly not but rather it is a special kind of knowledge: “sovereign, distinguishing love.”
I have heard it explained so many times. “Foreknowledge means that God looked down the corridors of time and saw that I would believe the gospel, therefore He chose me on the basis of my future commitment to Him.” What’s wrong with this explanation? Think about what that says concerning God’s sovereignty and His grace. John Stott offered two of the clearest points that I’ve read on the subject:
First, in this sense God foreknows everybody and everything, whereas Paul is referring to a particular group. Secondly, if God predestines people because they are going to believe, then the ground of their salvation is in themselves, and their merit, instead of in him and his mercy, whereas Paul’s whole emphasis is on God’s free initiative of grace [248-249].
The word cannot, therefore, imply a general knowledge that God has of everyone because Paul does not have everyone in mind in this context. He writes to believers to encourage them in assurance. Additionally, the relative pronoun, hous, implies particular knowledge of particular people, not simply God’s omniscience by which He knows all things. It is people not things in mind. God sets His knowledge on a people whom He also chooses for Himself. We see this in Deuteronomy 7:7, “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery…” In other words, God did not choose the people of Israel because He saw that they would believe. Instead, He set His love on them so that He might redeem them. Foreknowledge is about God’s initiating love not the content of what He perceives.
To further help us, the compound word proginosko, uses the word for “knowing” that implies more than knowing facts (that would be oida). It means intimate knowledge or relational knowledge. For Him to foreknow us demands that we see this as God setting His affections on us before the world began! His foreknowledge sets into motion the chain of redemption as shown in vv. 29-30. Because He foreknows us we have the assurance that He will not let us go; that He is for us and not against us; and that nothing can separate us from His love.
The word, predestinate, means to draw a boundary around or decide upon beforehand. It comes from a prefix—pro, before and root, horizo, from which we get the word horizon. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Conflated, it means to set limits before, determine before, define beforehand, fix before, and set before. In other words, the word clearly means that God draws boundaries concerning us before we do. We do not choose Him and then He chooses us (cf. John 15:16). We choose Him because He determined beforehand that we belong to Him. But just as surely as we bring up the subject there is reaction.
Every use of predestinate in the New Testament points to the sovereign action of God in deciding something beforehand, thus displaying His purpose, love, wisdom, judgment, and glory (Acts 4:28; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:5-6, 11-12). God alone gets the glory in our salvation from start to finish. Predestination heralds this truth. Yet many deny the doctrine altogether or else try to explain it away. Why try to mess with sovereign grace in action? Luther said that the arguments against predestination “proceed from the ‘prudence of the flesh’” [Luther’s Works: Lectures on Romans, vol. 25, 375]. It boils down to this. Some men do not want to rest in the sovereign grace of God but would rather be sovereign over their own lives.
I know that there is much controversy over this subject in our own denomination even though our doctrinal statement clearly affirms it as “a glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness,” and excluding boasting while promoting humility in those elected and redeemed [Baptist Faith & Message 2000, article 5]. Let me point out a few considerations to help us.
First, a person does not have to understand or even believe in predestination or election to be saved. It is not belief in election that saves but faith in Christ.
Second, belief in predestination does not exclude the necessity for evangelism and missions, as some claim. Instead, it gives a healthy motivation for taking the gospel to others with the assurance that God will indeed save some. This conviction spurred on many of our great missionary heroes, including William Carey and Adoniram Judson. To hide behind the doctrine of predestination against missions and evangelism demonstrates gross misunderstanding of the doctrine and the Christian’s call as ambassadors for Christ. I have met missionaries laboring in the most difficult areas of the world who believe passionately in predestination. The doctrine gives them hope that their labors will bear fruit for Christ’s kingdom.
Third, predestination is a pastoral doctrine rather than an evangelistic doctrine. By that I mean, when I share the gospel I do not try to bring up or convince someone of divine election. But when I’m helping a believer that struggles with assurance, I will gladly take him to this doctrine since it is given to aid our assurance. I will also utilize it when helping believers walk through difficulties.
Fourth, predestination does not stand alone; it is part of the chain of redemption but not the whole of it. Evidence of one’s election is not found by believing in election but by one’s repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fifth, predestination is a worshipful doctrine. Properly understood, it spurs Christians to worship the God who has shown such kindness to sinners as to determine before the world began that they would be His very own.
Sixth, it is a humbling doctrine. If you use predestination as a club to whack others over the head then you do not properly understand it. Think about it: nothing about you, nothing in you, and no potential in you moved God to choose you. Sovereign love alone moved Him to not only show you mercy but to embrace you and secure your redemption by sending His Son. That humbles us in the dust!
Seventh, predestination is an assuring doctrine. Don’t jump over the context of Romans 8! It is all about assurance which is why Luther wrote, it “is a wonderfully sweet thing for those who have the Spirit, but a bitter thing and harsh above all things for the prudence of the flesh” [vol. 25, 371].
Let me amplify on this point. If God did not predestinate conformity to Christ it would never happen. If He did not predestinate conformity to Christ we would continue following our self-centered and self-serving desires. If he did not predestine conformity to Christ we would have no longings to be like Christ nor longings to be imitators of Him nor desires to pursue His glory. If He did not predestinate conformity to Christ we would never conform to Him. If you doubt any of these statements then return to Romans 1-3 and investigate Paul’s analysis of human nature. If you think that you are so capable in your flesh to conform to the holiness and righteousness of Christ, then go back and read about Him in the four Gospels. Take another look at Him and see how you stack up apart from a constant supply of divine grace conforming us to Christ.
What is God doing in predestination? How does it affect us? “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” Just as surely as God set His affections on you before eternity began, and just as surely as He elected you out of sheer grace and kindness, then you can be certain that His electing love is not merely an affection. It is divine action to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. Here is a major evidence of assurance. The one predestined and then called at a point in time by the gospel through the Spirit will be justified by faith. The distinct evidence of this calling and justification is conformity to Christ. As we noted in our previous study, this is sanctification at work. Here is the definite aim and purpose of God in predestination before eternity and redemption at a point in time: for you to be like Jesus.
When God saves He does not have vague religious goals for you! He has one great goal for you—“to become conformed to the image of His Son.” Conformity involves inward and external reshaping and transformation. It implies that every believer—yes, every believer—is intentionally shaped by one standard: Jesus Christ. So while we have differing genders, personalities, cultural backgrounds, ethnicity, language, and traditions there is still a distinct, unrelenting aim assured by the redemptive work of Christ. Sanctification is never careless from God’s perspective. We may get careless and sloppy but the Lord does not. He has already determined that everyone that He foreknows, predestinates, calls, and justifies will one day be like His Son (1 John 3:1-3).
The verb “to be,” in verse 29, is added. Literally, Paul wrote, “For whom He foreknew, also He predestined conformity together with the image of His Son.” It is a corporate conformity—every believer, no exceptions—conformed to one Person, Jesus Christ. This is a distinct aspect of Christian unity with all genuine believers. God is doing a work in you that ultimately brings you together into conformity to Christ. There’s no grander point of unity! Yet at the same time, this work provokes a distinct disunity with those claiming to be Christian without truly knowing Christ. Quite obviously, there’s a difference between the church and the world, yet not only outside the visible church but also inside the visible church, the difference is unmistakable. Does this not account for many of the conflicts in churches?
Conformity to Christ must take on a sense of likeness to the patterns evident in Him. “The image of His Son,” points to the humanity of Jesus Christ. He is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). You cannot see the invisible God but you can see Him in Jesus Christ the Incarnate God. Recall how Jesus told us, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29). Learn from Him. Learn of His gentleness and humility. Follow the holiness in His behavior, as Peter told us, “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Pet. 1:15-16). Learn of His conformity to the law of God who though tempted in all points as we are yet He was without sin (Heb. 4:15). In that conformity learn obedience from Him who “although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). Learn to hate sin as our Lord hated sin. Conform to that holy hatred that was so sensitive to sin that He drove the moneychangers from the temple and called down woes upon the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matt. 21:12-13; 23:1-36). Learn from His submission to the Father’s authority so that He could do nothing unless He saw the Father doing it (John 5:19). Learn to love and apply the Scripture as Christ did when the devil assaulted Him (Matt. 4:1-11) and in countless situations where He taught and ministered He replied, “It is written.” Learn to have as your food to do the will of the Father (John 4:34). Learn to love the brethren as He did, showing gentleness, mercy, and grace toward the weakest of the brethren, forgiving the harlot, restoring Peter, touching the leper, feeding the hungry, welcoming little children into His bosom. Learn to depend on the Father in prayer as He did so that even after a busy day of ministry that lasted well into the night, He rose early the next morning, departing to a solitary place where He prayed (Mark 1:35). Learn to suffer as He did, “leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:21-23). Learn to preach and teach the gospel as He did, declaring the good news of the kingdom of God, calling sinners to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15).
Such a work of conformity is rigorous! It will not happen overnight or in a few months. Here is a lifetime calling—a lifetime work of grace: “to become conformed to the image of His Son.” If God has begun a good work in you then He you have the assurance that He is patiently, steadily shaping you to look like Christ. If there is no movement in conformity to Jesus Christ then you are unregenerate and in need of God’s saving mercy this very day. Turn to Him in repentance. Look to Christ and live.
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