Romans 8:29

For. Or, “because.” The confidence expressed in v. 28 is now justified and confirmed by an explanation of the way in which God’s purpose for those who love Him is developed. That purpose includes all the stages in the process of salvation (vs. 29, 30). Thus those who accept God’s call and submit to His purpose are here assured that He will complete for them each stage in His plan to save them. Afflictions are nothing else but the means by which they are “to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

The meaning of v. 29 has been the subject of prolonged discussion. When finite human minds attempt to look into the eternal purposes of the infinite God, it is well to heed this advice offered by one commentator on this passage: “On a path so high and slippery for human reason our safety lies in planting our steps only where the inspired Apostle has already planted his: if we venture, as too many have ventured, beyond the limits of his track, there are precipices and chasms on every side, which the most wary can hardly escape” (E. H. Gifford, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, p. 160).

Foreknow. Greek proginosko, “to know beforehand.” This word occurs elsewhere in the New Testament in Acts 26:5; Rom. 11:2; 1 Peter 1:20; 2 Peter 3:17. God foreknows because He is omniscient, that is, He knows all things. Of Him the Scriptures affirm: “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13); “declaring the end from the beginning” (Isa. 46:10); “known unto God are all his works from the beginning” (Acts 15:18). The past, present, and future are all equally known to Him. Nothing short of absolute knowledge would satisfy our fundamental concept of God’s perfection. Because He knows the future, He is never taken by surprise. The apostasy of Satan and the fall of man were both foreseen by Him and provision was made to meet the emergency (1 Peter 1:20; Rev. 13:8; DA 22). Predictive prophecy is the supreme evidence of His foreknowledge. Prophecy predicts what God’s foreknowledge has seen will be (see EGW RH Nov. 13, 1900). The forecasted events do not take place because they are foreseen; they are foreseen because they will take place. This truth has been well stated by Milton, who, in commenting on the fall of Satan and his angels, makes God declare:

“If I foreknew,

Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,

Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.

So without least impulse or shadow of fate,

Or aught by me immutably foreseen,

They trespass”

{Paradise Lost, Book III, lines 117 ff.}.

Predestinate. Greek proorizo, “to mark off beforehand.” The word is translated “determined before” in Acts 4:28, and “ordained” in 1 Cor. 2:7. God predestinated those whom He foreknew. To use human language, as God foresaw, and thus foreknew, each generation of men that would come upon the stage of this world’s action, He coupled immediately with His foreknowledge the decision to predestinate them all to be saved. God never had any other purpose than salvation for the members of the human family. For God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11). Christ Himself said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Salvation is offered freely to all. But not all accept the gospel invitation. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14; cf. ch. 20:16). Salvation is not forced upon us against our will. If we choose to oppose and resist God’s purpose, we shall be lost.

Divine foreknowledge and divine predestination in no way exclude human liberty. Nowhere does Paul, or any other Bible writer, suggest that God has predestined certain men to be saved and certain others to be lost, regardless of their own choice in the matter.

The purpose of this verse seems to be a practical one. Paul is trying to comfort and assure the afflicted people of God that their salvation rests in His hands and that it is in process of being accomplished in accordance with His eternal and changeless purpose for them. Salvation is, of course, dependent also upon their perseverance (Heb. 3:14; cf. 1 Cor. 9:27), but this is not Paul’s point of emphasis now.

Conformed. Greek summorphos. The only other New Testament occurrence of this Greek adjective is in Phil. 3:21, where it is translated “fashioned like unto,” and refers to the changing of our vile bodies into the likeness of Christ’s glorious body. The companion verb (summorphoo) is used in Phil. 3:10 in the phrase “being made conformable unto his death.” Our conformity is to be, not merely an outward and superficial resemblance, but an inward and essential likeness.

Image of his Son. Christ is the image of the Father, the visible manifestation of the invisible God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15). It is the glorious destiny of every Christian to be changed into the likeness of Christ, the Son of God (1 Cor. 15:49; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:10). How such a marvelous transformation may take place is the good news of the gospel, the message of forgiveness, rebirth, sanctification, and final glorification. The change is effected by the union of the human with the divine. As the Son of God took upon Himself our human nature, so Christians may become the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19), and Christ will dwell in them (John 14:23). Thus the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Then, under the influence of the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8:13, 14), and inspired by the example of Christ (John 15:12; Phil. 2:5), he is led to a new holiness of life. By patient endurance of suffering his character is continually made more and more like that of the Saviour (Rom. 5:3, 4; 1 Peter 2:21-24), until the day of final glorification, when the likeness will be made complete (1 John 3:2).

Firstborn. Greek prototokos, used elsewhere of Christ in Matt. 1:25; Luke 2:7; Col. 1:15, 18; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:5. Paul’s emphasis here is upon Christ’s position as the Eldest Brother in the family of the redeemed. The ultimate purpose of the plan of salvation is the restoration of unity in the family of God’s kingdom, so that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). In this family, Christ as the Eldest Brother has traveled the way before us and set the example. And though He is perfect and divine, He is not ashamed to call us who follow in His footsteps, “brethren” (Heb. 2:11). See Vol. V, p. 917; see on John 1:14.

Many brethren. Christ makes us His brethren by a new creation (see 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15), and thereby brings “many sons unto glory” (Heb. 2:10).

Being “born of water and of the Spirit” (John 3:5), we are adopted into the heavenly family (Eph. 1:5), enrolled in the “church of the firstborn [ones]” (see on Heb. 12:23), and “written” in the family register “in heaven” (Heb. 12:23) — the book of life.