Working Together for Good

Hey there all you out there in the internet world!

It's been quite a long time since I posted anything. But given personal circumstances, I wanted to do a post talking about my favourite verse from Scripture, Romans 8:28: "And we know that, for those who love God all things are working together for good, for those who are the called according to His purpose."

I mean, to just read that verse is a real blessing in and of itself. The clarity of the plain meaning of Scripture (perspicuity) is one of the key historical doctrines of orthodox Christendom. I recently, however, had the opportunity to preach from this verse at my home church, and I will tell you that as with any study of scripture, it was extremely rewarding.

The first thing to note is that context is key to understanding this verse. The verse is found in the book of Romans, one of the most theologically packed books in all of scripture, and particularly of the Epistles. Paul spends the first few chapters of the book driving home the doctrine of total depravity (or radical fallen-ness for those Sproul fans out there). Having left no room for the reader to misunderstand his point about the depraved and hopeless state of humanity, he then gets into an exposition of redemption as it is accomplished by Christ on the Cross, and applied to our lives, particularly what theologians refer to as the doctrine of justification by imputation brought about by repentance and faith in Christ. He then explains that, having been justified we are no longer under the law's power to condemn, but have a desire to keep the law as in our regenerate state our chief desire is to never want to sin again. However, as the full work of the process of redemption has not been fully accomplished (i.e. we are not yet glorified, but remain in our unredeemed flesh) we still continue to sin. There is then a struggle, a battle raging within the believer as they look forward to the day when their sin is fully dealt with, and grieve over the sin which they commit daily.

This the brings us to 8:28. We know carries with it a connotation of certainty. The tense which Paul uses with this word carries with it the sense that, the truth he is articulating in this verse is something that, based on all that we know of God and His sovereignty over all things, and His plan of redemption established before the foundations of the earth, we should know already. He is simply writing it here to emphasize it. To point out the comfort which comes from this truth.

English is funny with its use of words. In a variety of contexts, if you were to see the word "all" then you could interpret it any number of ways. It could mean most (hyperbole), or all of a particular group, or the entirety of something. The word Paul uses here actually means everything in its totality with emphasis on the individual parts. In other words, all things in this verse really does mean all things. But not only that, there is an emphasis on the fact that literally every single little thing that happens is encompassed by this verse.

And so every little thing that happens is working together for a common end, that is, good. Good is a rather ambiguous and difficult word to define. However, when this verse is put in light of the context, it is very simple. The good is victory in the struggle with sin. It is the process of sanctification and the final victory, glorification, which is the good to which this is referring. And so when we read the main body of the verse, it actually says that "It goes without saying that we are certain that every single thing which happens is working together for the common good of our sanctification and ultimately, our glorification."

The final piece of the puzzle is the question of "to whom does this assurance belong?" There are two pieces of evidence given. Those who love God, the word used implying a very specific kind of love, and those who are called according to His purpose, which the verses following 28 go on to describe, painting for us a picture of a very exclusive group indeed.

Life is a day to day struggle. We are all met by persecution, tragedy and strife with each passing day. But for those who are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, we need not be concerned about what happens to us, and what is caused by us. We need not be bogged down by our persistence in sin, but rather we can rejoice in knowing that we serve the Sovereign, Almighty King, who is transcendent above all creation, and yet who calls us His children, and who we may call "Father."

I've experienced trials of late, things happening in my life that I really wish would not happen. And yet, I have peace in knowing that no matter how bad it is, God is in control and He means it ultimately to draw me closer to Himself. Those bad things may even lead to our deaths (and no, none of my personal life circumstances are life-threatening. Inconvenient and very upsetting, but not life threatening) but even if that were the case, to die would simply hasten the ultimate victory over imperfection.

So oh you followers of Jesus Christ, take heart in knowing this: From circumstance to circumstance, God is in control!