Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Romans 8:28-30 | Date: December 6, 2020 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Redemption Planned

Romans chapter 8. Continuing a series this morning on the doctrine of salvation, remember I said that we will be looking at three broad categories, and under each category there’ll be a number of studies: redemption planned, redemption accomplished, and redemption applied. Redemption planned having to do with the sovereign election of God, his predestinating purpose, and we have looked at that in a couple of different angles from the scriptures. We’ll have today and I think just one more under that broad category of salvation planned, and then we will look at salvation accomplished, and there we’ll spend a good bit of time trying to explore the various aspects of the work of Christ and what he accomplished on the cross and in his resurrection. We’ll spend a good long time with that.

But today I want to look at one particular subject related to the doctrine of election, and that is the question that we have in verse 29 of Romans chapter 8: election according to the foreknowledge of God. I’ll explain more of that as we go. But to have the context in mind, I think it’s important that we read the entire passage. I’ll begin with verse 18. Beginning in verse 12, Paul has taken up the subject that we are heirs with Christ, and now verse 18:

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 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. And he who searches hearts knows what it is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God…”

We know that those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Now there is my text and I misread it. Let’s try again, verse 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. 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. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, as it is written, ‘for your sakes we are being killed all the day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, what a marvelous passage of Scripture this is. When we read it, we feel that we could spend our time here together each week exploring the glories of it. We ask that you would give us an understanding of this passage, and by that, give us a greater and more firm grasp of the glorious work you’ve accomplished for us in Christ. Help us to go from here with a new sense of your grace, and a new sense of confidence that this work that you have begun, you will complete for us. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Look again at verses 28 to 30, where we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 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. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

As I mentioned, this passage sets forth for us a great contrast, beginning with our identity with Christ and joined to him, the great hope that we have. We are, if joined to Christ, then sons of God. If sons of God, then heirs of God. No, verse 17, joint heirs with Jesus Christ—we will inherit with him all that he inherits. And then verses 18 and following begin to describe with a contrast that we have now in this present world, which is marked by weakness and suffering and various kinds of troubles that surround us in various kinds of ways. In all of that, we have the Holy Spirit who has been given to us as a kind of firstfruits, he calls it, firstfruits of the glory that we will receive finally. In inheriting with Christ in the day of Christ all that is His, the Holy Spirit is given to us as a firstfruits of that, a taste of it, a first installment of the glory that we will have, we’ve already received. But with all of that and the glory that is ours, having been joined to Christ and having received the Spirit as the first installment of glory, this life is still marked, he says, by groanings and sufferings. And we’re waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. We’re waiting for that better day to come. And so the passage is marked by this prospect that we have, this hope of glory that will come.

When we come to verse 28 and following, Paul turns to deal at length here with, more specifically, with the certainty of that hope that we have in Christ. The certainty that this hope that we have in Christ, in fact, will be achieved. And so in verse 28, Paul states the certainty of that hope as a self-evident conclusion. And I want you to see the reasoning of this in verse 28. What do we know and how do we know it? Answer: we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. How do we know it? Those who are called according to his purpose.

The reasoning here is that it is self-evident that this great glory will be achieved because we are in this as a result of God’s purpose for us. It is self-evident that if God has set out in his purpose to bring us to glory, it’s just self-evident that that goal will, in time, be achieved. We are called not according to our purpose. We’re called according to his purpose. And the success of this salvation thing, and the final success of it all, hinges ultimately not on us. It hinges on God. This is his purpose that he has set forth, and surely his purpose will be achieved. That’s, in a nutshell, the argument that he’s giving here.

But he expands on it in verses 29 and 30. Notice how he does it. He reasons from eternity to eternity. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Won’t that be good? Finally, we are all perfectly conformed to Christ. Verse 30, those whom he predestined he also called. Those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he glorified. Notice here, it’s been called for centuries a “golden chain,” a chain with five golden links in it. He foreknew us, and because he foreknew us, he predestined us. And because he predestined us, in time he called us. Because he called us unto faith in Christ, he justified us. And because he justified us, he glorified us in Christ as well. So there is the sequence of divine activity on our behalf from eternity past to eternity future. He foreknew us, and so he predestined us, and so he called us, and so he justified us, and so he glorified us. And Paul is speaking here in sweeping terms of God’s eternal purpose for us, his people, that runs from eternity to eternity. Way back in eternity past, he foreknew and predestined, and in time he called and justified and will glorify as well. All right, there, in broad overview, is Paul’s argument.

Now, I want to spend the bulk of our time this morning arguing something. And I hope this is not too tedious, but this is a pivotal passage in understanding the doctrine of election, particularly with regard to the Arminian take on the doctrine of election. And many of you will already have caught that. And the question focuses on verse 29: what does it mean to foreknow? “Whom he foreknew, he also predestined.” Now, we are going to take our time and argue this. Again, I hope it’s not too tedious. We’re going to be doing some word studies, some background theology to it all and matters that touch on this theme, and then we’ll come back and bring it all together. But such an important passage and such a pivotal passage, I decided it’s worth our time to do that, not only so that you can have an answer for your Arminian friends or for this faith that we have, but just so that through it, we will have a firmer grasp of the passage and the assurance and the confidence that Paul is offering to us through it.

So the question then is the Arminian take: God predestined those whom he foreknew. “Foreknew,” according to the Arminian interpretation, is: God looked ahead, saw that we would believe, and seeing that we would believe, predestined us. This is what’s historically known as conditional election. God chose us on the condition that he saw ahead and saw us believing. Now the Calvinistic doctrine of unconditional election is just the opposite of that: that God did not look ahead and see us believing; he saw us unbelieving and chose us anyway and chose a people whom he would save. And again, this passage is pivotal in that regard and I want to take our time examining it. There are many problems with the Arminian interpretation of this. I think it’s worth our time to answer it thoroughly. And we’re going to look at that in a broad way and then gradually narrowing way to the passage and we’ll come back to see then exactly what Paul’s argument here is.

So again, what we’re arguing against is this notion of conditional election that God looked ahead, saw us believing and therefore chose us and predestined us. There are a number of problems with that interpretation. I hope you can hang with me as we look through them.

There Is A Theological Problem

First of all, there is a theological problem. Again, we’re beginning on a broad scope here. There’s a theological problem with that position. And the theological problem is it renders God’s knowledge contingent on considerations that are outside of himself. Precise way to say it: it renders God’s knowledge contingent on considerations outside of himself. That is, God looks ahead, sees what we will be doing, and based on what he sees us doing, makes his decisions. Do you see a problem with that? Do you see the problem that touches on God’s omniscience? That God is eternally omniscient and the ground of God’s knowledge is not anything outside of himself. The ground of God’s knowledge is himself. He knows what will happen, of course, but he knows it because he himself determined it.

And one passage of scripture we won’t take time to go to, but I’m sure you’re familiar with it, is in Isaiah chapter 40. “With whom took he counsel? Who taught him knowledge?” That is, there was never a time in the experience of God where he looked ahead and said, “Oh, that’s what they’re going to do. Therefore, I will.” That renders God contingent on his creation. That’s an experience God never had. He is eternally omniscient, and the ground of his knowledge is himself. He is the one who brags in Isaiah’s prophecy, “I know the end from the beginning.” Not just the beginning from the end, but I know the end from the beginning. That is, I know it before it happens because I determined it. And no one can teach me anything. And there was never a moment when God learned anything. He is eternally omniscient. And the point here then is that God’s knowledge is either eternal or it is learned. And the whole of scripture comes to tell us that God’s knowledge is eternal. He’s not dependent on his creature to learn anything. So first of all, there’s a theological problem with the Arminian take that God looks ahead and on the basis of what he sees us doing, he chooses and predestines.

Not In Keeping With The Doctrine Of Election

Narrowing just a bit, the second problem is that that interpretation is not in keeping with the doctrine of election that is taught everywhere in the Bible. That take that God looked ahead, saw that we would believe, and therefore chose and predestined, it’s just not in keeping with the doctrine of election that’s presented everywhere in the scriptures. Now, we have already seen this, so I don’t have to do it at length, but just to call to your memory here of things that we have seen, that God chose us before the foundation of the world, and the whole point of that is to say it was before any consideration of our involvement. In Ephesians chapter 1, when Paul says that we were chosen before the foundation of the world, that is just rendered meaningless if it was contingent upon anything about us. The whole point is that before us, and before anything about us, God chose us. And in fact, that is exactly Paul’s argument that we’ll see next week in Romans chapter 9, that Isaac was chosen, and Jacob was chosen over Esau because of God’s own choice. And these two, Jacob and Esau, the choice was made before they were born, before either of them had done either good or evil. And everywhere in the scriptures, the doctrine of election is according to grace. It comes from God’s side. It is not a doctrine of rubber-stamping our choice. It is a doctrine of election and God does the choosing. So this Arminian take on this, that God looked ahead, saw us believing, and therefore chose us and predestined us, it’s not in keeping with the doctrine of God himself, and it’s not in keeping with the doctrine of election that we find everywhere else in the scripture.

What Does It Mean To Foreknow?

All right, that’s just broader considerations. And now I want you, third, to look at this word “foreknow.” And here I’m going to take a little bit of time and do a word study with you. What does it mean to foreknow? On one level, that seems easy enough. And of course, the Bible affirms that God knows things in advance. He knows everything in advance. We’ve already seen that from Isaiah’s prophecy. He knows the end from the beginning. He speaks of that in connection with the prophecy of Cyrus who is to come to bring Israel back to her homeland and so on. So certainly God knows ahead what is happening and what will happen.

But this word “foreknow” in scripture is used with other connotations. When this word “foreknow” is used with reference to men, well, it means they anticipate what will happen. But always when this word “foreknow,” and some related terms that we will see, when this word “foreknow” is used of God, it has other connotations, and I want you to see this. What does it mean then for God to foreknow something? Or in our case, “whom he foreknew, he predestined.” What does that mean? And actually this word “foreknow,” as it is used in the scriptures, has a couple of different connotations that are related.

Number one, with reference to God, when this word is used in the scriptures to “foreknow,” it is a functional equivalent to “predestined.” Sometimes that’s the connotation of it. If you look it up in the standard theological dictionary of the New Testament, that’s what they’ll tell you. It’s a functional equivalent of “to predestine” or “to decree ahead of time.” Let me give you an example of that. Look back a few pages at Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, verse 23. This is Peter’s sermon at Pentecost. Let’s start with verse 22:

“Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Notice that. “Delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Notice that there’s a—put it this way—a causative connotation to it. Delivered up by foreknowledge; that is, delivered up according to his previous decree, is clearly the idea.

Let me give you one more: 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1, beginning with verse 18, he’s speaking of the way we were ransomed, redeemed by God through Christ. Verse 18:

“We were not ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers with perishable things such as silver and gold, but were bought or ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, that of a lamb, without blemish or without spot. And here’s our verse, verse 20: He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for your sake.”

Now if you have a King James Version with you, you just read, “he was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” Or if you have the New International Version, “he was chosen before the foundation of the world.” The word here is “foreknown.” But our translators in those cases have sought to give a closer rendering of the sense of the word where foreknowledge or to foreknow something has the connotation of a previous decree. So Christ was delivered over by the foreknowledge or the decree of God himself.

All right, so that’s one connotation that this word has. It has a predestinarian connotation to it. But then, and I think this gets us closer to what we’ll see in Romans chapter 8, to “foreknow” has the connotation of to love, or to enter into relationship with, or to enter into fellowship with. And let me give you a couple of examples of this. Look at Amos chapter 3. Amos, it’s one of the minor prophets. I know you’re not supposed to assign people to turn to minor prophets unless you have a few minutes. I’ll wait. I’ll begin with verse 1. Amos chapter 3, verse 1:

“Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt. You only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

And he goes on to speak of the punishment and eventually the salvation that will come. But notice the expression in verse 2, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Now, does that mean that God did not know the Egyptians, or the Syrians, or the Assyrians, or the Mesopotamians? Clearly God knows them all. But here the sense of, “No, you only have I known of all the families of the earth” is, “You only have I favored. I’ve regarded with a special promise and love. You only have I entered this covenant relationship with.” That’s clearly the sense of what he’s saying here. There are causative connotations to it, but there’s also these overtones of love and favor. “You only have I known, you only have I loved of all the families of the earth.”

Let me give you a related one in the New Testament. Look at Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11, here Paul is taking up the theme of what are God’s plans for Israel? Has his promise to Israel failed? How will that come about and fulfill his promise after all? And Paul here is bringing up that problem because now it seems that Israel has fallen off. They are not believing. They’re not receiving the promise. The gospel has come. Israel is not being saved. They’re largely being rejected. So how do we answer the problem? Verse one:

“I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means, for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.”

“God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” Now clearly here the idea is that of election, choosing, predestining, but also it has the connotations of, “I favored them. I entered into covenant relationship with them. I foreknew these people.” And if I foreknew them in the sense that I loved them, I entered into covenant relationship with them, made promises to them—if I did all that for them, should I now reject these people whom I foreknew? Well, of course not. And on through the passage, he describes it in terms of his electing love that he has shown to Israel.

So this term to “foreknow” has the connotation of a causative decree. It has the connotation of to love, to regard with favor, to enter into a relationship with, and also the same, by the way, with the word to “know” in Scripture often has the connotations of more than just being aware of, but it means to regard with favor. So God can say, for example, of Abraham, “Now I know him.” Of course he knows him. He knows everybody in the world. But there’s a special kind of “know” for Abraham. He favors him and has made promises to them. Another example would be Psalm 1 verse 6: “The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Notice the contrast. “The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Well, God clearly knows, in some sense, the way of the ungodly. He knows it’s going to perish, right? But when he says, “The Lord knows the way of the righteous,” that is, he watches over it with a particular kind of favor and grace.

We have the same thing in Matthew chapter 7 in the Sermon on the Mount, a verse we pointed to briefly this morning in Sunday school. “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonderful works, we’ve prophesied in your name?'” And Christ will respond to them saying, “Depart from me, you that work iniquity. I never knew you.” So these people he will cast into hell, as he describes in the passage, he says he never knew them. Well, in some sense he clearly knew them, but clearly the connotation is he did not know them with favor and grace and love. Another example, 2nd Timothy chapter 2, “Having this seal, the Lord knows those who are his.” Well, he regards them with favor. That’s the connotation that’s given. We have that pervasively in the scriptures with regard to God. His knowing and his foreknowing have these connotations of love and entering into relationship.

Now then, finally, back to Romans chapter 8, we obviously have similar kinds of connotations that hold. All that we’ve been seeing with regard to the connotations of the word “foreknow” holds true here in Romans chapter 8. It’s associated explicitly with the idea of predestination, except that those two are distinguished. It’s “whom he foreknew, he also predestined.” So foreknow, again, connotes a previous regarding with favor, a love, and then he predestined—that has to do with the decree itself. Those whom he loved, he predestined. And the idea here of chosen because of foreseen faith is just not compatible with the use of the word everywhere else in scripture.

And that holds true now with one other related observation here, and that is notice here in verse 29, the object of God’s knowledge is not what people did. The object of God’s knowledge is “whom.” “Whom he foreknew,” not “what they did he foreknew.” “Whom he foreknew.” The object of God’s knowledge is the people themselves, not their behavior. Whom, not what, he foreknew, he predestined. And again, the notion of divine favor and love and divine initiative and electing grace, all of that’s evident here as well.

And now one more observation before we come right into the text here again itself, and that is with regard to the following context, and that is Romans chapter 9. In the immediately following context, and we’ll see this next time in a little bit more detail—I say a little bit because we’re going to do all of Romans 9 next time in one message, so in some survey way, at least, we will see this next time—that in that following context, everything points explicitly to a predestinarian kind of understanding. So if you want to just glance through Romans chapter 9, verses 6 to 24, he argues at length that the success of God’s saving program for Israel hinges on his electing grace. Because he chose them, he will complete his promise to them. Verses 6 to 9 he illustrates it was because of God’s sovereign choice that the promise belonged to Isaac and not Ishmael. That’s verses 6 to 9. Verses 10 to 13, the same is true with regard to God’s choice of Jacob over Esau. It was before they were born. It was unrelated to anything they had done, either good or bad. It was before they were born, apart from any considerations of them, but because God sovereignly chose, it was Jacob and not Esau.

And then notice verse 11 of Romans chapter 9. Here, the idea of foreseen faith is explicitly denied where he says, verse 11, “though they were not yet born and had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.” The whole point is—and here’s both the exclusion of the other interpretation—it’s not because of anything foreseen in them, but it was because of God’s own choice, and that’s it. We’ll see that next time. One more verse in Romans 9, and that is verse 16. And from all of that, Paul draws this broader application: “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.” That is, in context, Paul’s view of election excludes anything from the human side. It depends not on human will or effort, but on God who has mercy.

Now then, finally, back to Romans 8, verses 28 and following. What is Paul’s intent here? With all of that in mind, how can we understand this passage? Paul’s intent here, very obviously, is to encourage believers in light of their weaknesses, in light of the troubles that surround them, in all of this groaning universe; he wants to encourage them. And their confidence that all things will work together for good is grounded in the fact that God has called them according to His purpose, not theirs. Our confidence is grounded in the fact that this thing ultimately hinges on God’s purpose and not ours. The assurance he offers is that this thing all stems from God’s choice, God’s initiative, God’s power, God’s will, God’s purpose, and because it is his purpose, how can it possibly fail?

We are in this relationship because of God’s prior activity. He chose. He initiated in grace. And it is his initiative and his power. And it all rests on him from beginning to end. And so any notion here of conditional election, not only is contrary to the whole thrust of the passage, but it defeats the whole purpose that Paul has here in offering encouragement for the people of God. God’s love for you, he is saying, long preceded your love for him. God’s choice of you long predates your choice of Him. What he intends to offer us here is just this massive ground for assurance—not that God looked ahead and saw in our fickle little hearts some decision that was made to look toward him, but that God, in his own initiative and in his own grace, set his love upon us, determined to save us, and did the whole thing from beginning to end. He foreknew us. He set his love on us. Why in the world? I don’t know. He doesn’t tell us. He set His love on us, and because He set His love on us, He predestined us and set the end goal for us. And because He predestined us, in time, He called us to faith. And because He called us, He justified us and glorified us as well.

This thing does not hinge on anything about us from first to last. Our salvation did not hinge in its first instance on anything about us. God didn’t look ahead and see that we would this and such and therefore rubber-stamp, but the whole thrust of his argument is to offer assurance for the people of God that this whole thing from eternity past to eternity future is God’s doing. And so he foreknew, and so he predestined, and he called, and he justified, and he glorified. And here then is the ground of our assurance in this marvelous passage that we’ve taken our time to pick at in all of its detail. Whatever else about our circumstances is uncertain, this much is sure: and that is that God’s eternal purpose will be accomplished. We know, verse 28, that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we ask that you would bless this time to our encouragement. Give us, as I’ve asked before, give us a clear understanding of this, that it might shape our confidence and give us a robust assurance in your great work for us through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

To conclude our service this morning, please take out your Trinity hymnal, open to number 397, first tune. Let’s stand together and sing, “I Sought the Lord,” number 397. “And afterward I knew Him whom I sought to seek Him seeking me.”