All Things

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work for good for those who love God, to those that are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, those He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

In the deepest suffering, the Spirit prays through us and God is at work to make us like His Son.

Birth Pains and a Glorious Deliverance

Last time I moved quickly through verses 19 through 25, and we won't spend much time on them today, for they all point to the same truth—a truth easy to articulate. The hope mentioned in verses 19, 20, 24, and 25 is a hope for the revealing, the eager expectation of all creation. All of creation, which is in corruption, is eagerly anticipating deliverance from that corruption, which is the redemption and liberty of the adopted children of God.

Yes, there is severe suffering and deep difficulty because of the curse, because of sin upon this world. But the Bible reveals a certainty in Christ: these sufferings are the birth pains along the road to a glorious deliverance.

Since it's Mother's Day—moms, you remember the day of delivery, don't you? It's indelibly marked on your mind. Was there trouble and anguish? By observation, I think so. I've watched my wife go through it three times, and we're preparing for a fourth in just over a month. Right about the eighth or ninth month she starts saying, "I'm not looking forward to this." But Jesus, in John 16, highlights what I've seen three times now: after that baby is delivered, there is joy at the end of deliverance—so much so that my wife loses sight of the pain. Within an hour or two she's said to me, "I want to do it again." I say, "Weren't you just here?"

There is a way in which the pain is forgotten because the deliverance is so glorious. This is an illustration for us, church. Jesus said, "In the world you will have much tribulation," and the word for tribulation is the same word used of labor pains. When the deliverance comes, the pain is forgotten. "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." In 2 Corinthians 4 he says these are a momentary light affliction working out a far greater weight of glory. We long for the day when these lowly bodies are transformed like unto His glorious body, and the Spirit of God has borne witness in us that these things are so.

The Spirit Helps in Our Weakness

Look at verse 26: "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts"—that's God, as Jeremiah 17:10 says—"knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

There are about as many opinions on these verses as there are commentators; this is a debated passage. Notice that verse 26 picks up where verse 16 left off—"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." The Spirit is all but absent from verses 17 through 25, mentioned only briefly, though He appears in nearly every verse from 1 through 16. Yet in verses 16 and 26 we are shown what the Spirit Himself does.

First, He bears witness to our sonship. God doesn't send an angel or another messenger; He by His own Spirit testifies that we are His children. Second, He Himself helps in our weakness. What weakness? Verses 19 through 25 talk much about suffering. How does He help? He makes intercession on our behalf. This is God, by His Spirit, praying with and for us, enabling us to pray—"with groanings which cannot be uttered."

There is much debate about these groanings. Some say this is the gift of tongues from 1 Corinthians 12–14. But Paul makes clear there that not everyone has that gift, so I don't believe that's what this is. This is a deep, sighing groaning within us. Have you ever gone through a trial where you didn't know what to pray, and all you could do was sigh? You feel the heaviness, you want to cry out "God, help!"—but you don't know what to pray. We're told God helps in our weakness, enabling us, in some mystical way, to cry out with groanings that words could not suffice to express.

Why We Need This Help

Why do we need this witness and help? Because we are suffering the corruption and bondage of the curse. In the midst of it, the Spirit witnesses our position as God's adopted children—"You are Mine, you are Mine"—and witnesses to the certainty of our resurrected hope and inheritance. The Spirit also enables us to cry out even without words.

Psalm 103:14 says God knows our frame, that we are mere dust. The verse before says, "As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him." In the midst of difficulty, God sympathizes with what we're going through.

Notice what's implied in verse 26: there is a way we ought to pray in situations of suffering, but we don't always know what to pray. Can you relate? Often this comes in watching the pain of someone we love. When we ourselves suffer, we say, "I can handle this." But when someone who loves us sees it, they are more broken than we are, and we don't know how or what to pray.

Jesus, the Supreme Example in Gethsemane

Jesus is the supreme example of what to pray, and by His Spirit He enables us. He experienced extreme suffering in Gethsemane. What did He pray? Luke 22:42: "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup from Me." In His humanity—fully God and fully man—He did not want to go through suffering. I'm thankful God reveals that, because our humanity does not want to suffer either. I've never met anyone who says, "I really like suffering." Yet Jesus said, "Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." He submitted Himself to God, the perfect example for us.

In tribulation we know how to cry "God, help!"—but sometimes we don't know specifically what to pray. Our will is clear: we don't want to suffer. But we're not certain of God's will in that situation. God allows these things; in John 17 Jesus prayed, "Father, I pray that You not take them out of the world," immediately after promising tribulation. He doesn't remove us from difficulty—He is with us in the midst of it.

In Matthew 26:39 Jesus said, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me," and the heavens were silent. In suffering, we do not know what God is proposing to do, or why it's happening. How many times have I sat with someone going through difficulty who asks, "Why?" And I find myself saying, "No answer would take away the pain—even if it were theologically correct. All I can say is, God is here."

What We Do Know

We may not know why, but we do know this: we are God's children, because His Spirit bears witness with our spirit. By the new birth and by adoption we are His children, whatever suffering we endure. In Matthew 6 Jesus commands His disciples not to worry as unbelievers do about food and clothing, for "you have a Father in heaven." The unbelieving world does not have this reality. We can cry, "Abba, Father," even when we don't know exactly what to pray.

We also know we have an inheritance with Him forever, and that this suffering is temporary. 2 Corinthians 4:17–18: "these momentary light afflictions are working for us a far greater and more eternal weight of glory." Romans 5 tells us tribulation produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope—and hope does not disappoint. We know the Spirit helps us in weakness, for Jesus said in John 14–16, "I'm going to send you another Helper, the Spirit of God... He's with you and He shall be in you." We have the abiding presence of the Spirit, who bears witness that we're His children, that we have an inheritance, that our sufferings work hope, and that He is our Helper.

All Things Work for Good

Lastly, verse 28: "And we know that all things"—not some, not a few, but all things—"work for good to those who love God, and to those who are the called according to His purpose."

Remember, the context is suffering. If the context were joy, wealth, and abundant blessing, we'd easily say "amen." But here Paul says it in the midst of suffering—the context of verses 19 through 25 is trial, tribulation, distress, thlipsis in the Greek: hard pressing, like a grape in the press or an olive in the olive press. That is what Gethsemane is—the place of the olive press—and there was Jesus, hard pressed to the point that He sweat great drops of blood. It's an actual medical condition where the capillaries beneath the skin break forth. Jesus went through that, hard pressed: "Father, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from Me; not My will, Yours be done."

So Romans 8:28 is in the context of suffering. Many of you have said it's your favorite verse—here we are. The sufferings of this present life are ultimately working for good in the life of the follower of God. Not all things we go through are good things; not all things, in the existential moment, appear good. But we're assured they all work together for good.

There is a recipe God is working out. Some ingredients are sweet like honey; others are bitter. Sometimes it's baked at a hot temperature. Yet God says the outcome is good. What is the outcome? We are being conformed into the image of His Son—that's the final product. To get us there, Philippians 3:10 says there is the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. So along the path there are bitter, hard, hot things. But God is at work. We should wear shirts with construction signs: "Work in Progress—Expect Delays." It's a reality. He is fashioning us more and more into His likeness.

Foreknew and Predestined

How can we be certain this is true? Verse 29: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." God wants a large family conformed to the image of His Son. "Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

Two words here—foreknew and predestined—are sticking points in the American Evangelical Church of the 21st century. This is the issue between those who call themselves Calvinists, followers of John Calvin, and those who call themselves Arminians, followers of Jacob Arminius—both Reformers in the 16th century. We live in an argumentative culture; it's part of the American gene, a gene called dissent. How did we get here? A whole bunch of dissenters who said, "I don't like how things are here, I'm going over there." For 200-some years we've had that mentality.

Let me clue you in: it is our flesh. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3:3. Paul says, "For you are still carnal... For where there are envy and strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" Then verse 4: "For one says, 'I am of Calvin,' and another says, 'I am of Arminius'—are you not carnal?" Yes, I updated it. This argument that continually rages is of the flesh. I say this with a heavy heart—I love the Calvary Chapel movement, but for two years I've been personally maligned as a Calvinist, told I should be kicked out of the movement. Are we not carnal in this? It's sad, and it's the flesh. Pray for our movement.

What We Can Know With Humility

Amidst the views and opinions on these verses, there are important things we know. First, there will very likely be many things we realize we were a little off on when we get to heaven. There is so much division within the global body of Christ that we'll get up there and say, "Gosh, I'm sorry I called you a heretic and burned you at the stake in the 12th century." If there were no law against it, I suspect there would still be burnings over "heresy." Instead, we malign and fire people online—you can be a lion behind a keyboard, and I confess I've said things online I shouldn't have.

Second, God is a lot less concerned about these things than we are. Third, at the end of the day, Calvinists and Arminians are still brothers in Christ. On Mother's Day you'll spend time with family members you don't agree with on every point of faith and politics, and out of love you agree to disagree. So it should be in the larger family of the body of Christ—"You have your position, I have mine; we still love Jesus."

Now I'm not promoting an ecumenism where Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, with a totally different position on the deity of Christ or the way of atonement, are welcomed as though everything's fine. There are national borders and there are state borders. You don't go to war with another state—that's a civil war. There are things we stand our ground on, and others where there's flexibility within the body of Christ because they're not essential.

In Christ: The Boundaries of Romans 8

We cannot remove verses 29 and 30 from the contextual flow of Romans 8. The whole chapter is fixed between two boundaries—verses 1 and 2 at the beginning and verse 39 at the end—and those boundaries consist of two words: in Christ. Predestination, foreknowledge, and election are firmly fixed between the boundaries of in Christ. Whatever destiny God has for man is achieved only in Christ. Being conformed to His image happens only in Christ, not outside of it. God did not simply select people to receive a destiny; His whole eternal purpose is accomplished in and through Jesus and what Jesus did.

The wording of verse 29 answers an unuttered, inevitable question from verse 28. The word "for" at the start of verse 29 is the Greek hoti, most often translated because. We know all things work for good—how? "Because whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." Notice, the predestination is unto the ultimate destination: conformity to the image of Christ. It does not say we've been predestined to salvation; it says we've been predestined as those who are saved.

They got on the plane, as I mentioned last week. How they bought the ticket doesn't matter here; they're on the plane, and the destination is Cleveland. Because they're on the plane, they're going to reach the destiny. If you are in Christ, you are predestined by your position in Christ to reach the destination God has set: conformity to the image of His Son. How you came to be positioned in Christ is not the question in this passage; you might use other passages for that. The issue here is that those who are in Christ will ultimately be conformed to His image. "He who began a good work in us will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus"—the day when we behold Him, and seeing Him, we shall be like Him.

Foreknowledge and the Calvinist-Arminian Tension

The word foreknowledge is the Greek proginōskō, from which we get the English word prognosis. A prognosis is knowing something in advance by evaluation. If you go to the doctor and he says, "Because of your family history you're predisposed to heart disease, so I recommend you do this and this"—he is giving a prognosis. So In-N-Out Double Doubles, animal-style, three times a week is probably not the best idea. (Did you know this facility was supposed to be an In-N-Out, but the city of Escondido wouldn't let them have a sign, so we got it? We're dishing out spiritual food now.)

Proginōskō literally means to know in advance, and it is sometimes used of prophetic events: God knows in advance that something will happen, so He tells us and it happens. Does that mean He determined and forced it? If your doctor said you were predisposed to heart disease, and ten years later you got it, you wouldn't say, "Doctor, you made me get this!" He'd say, "No, I just gave you a prognosis." He didn't force it, but he knew about it.

Both Calvinists and Arminians agree that God knows all things—1 John 3:20 says so—including all future events and outcomes. Here is where they differ: the Calvinist says God knows all future events because He determined them, sovereignly directing that they happen. This is called predetermination; Calvinism sees predestination and foreknowledge as the same as predetermination.

Two Extremes and the Balance

My issue is this: if that's true, then it follows by necessity that double predestination is true. Double predestination is the concept that God elected some for heaven and elected all the rest—the overwhelming majority—for hell. A consistent Calvinist must concede this, and there are some very smart Calvinists. John Piper, whose writings I respect though I don't agree with all of them, has said the specks of dust flying in this room are there by God's determination. If that's true, then God has chosen a very small group for heaven and sent the overwhelming majority to hell, with nothing they can do about it—and they say this is all to His glory. I say it maligns and impugns the character of a holy God; it makes Him evil, whether you want to admit it or not.

Now a Calvinist will say, "See, you're an Arminian." No, not so fast—back the turnip truck up. I pick on all parties: many Arminians diminish God's sovereignty too much and essentially make man's will sovereign, making man more sovereign than God. These are the two extremes.

There is a tension here, and I recognize it. Where is the balance between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility? I suggest the balance is Romans 8:28: "all things work for good to those who love God"—man's responsibility—"and to those who are the called according to His purpose"—God's sovereign will. How can you divorce two things joined together? Some struggle because they can't explain the mystery of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility coexisting, yet they do in the Scriptures. You cannot diminish one without wrongly exalting the other. And when you take a truth and make it the truth, it becomes a lie.

The Certain Chain to Glory

"Whom He predestined, He called; whom He called, He justified; and whom He justified, He glorified." According to God's prognosis—His foreknowledge of all things—He chose us in Christ to be destined for conformity to His image. Therefore He has called us according to His purpose, and He also justifies us, making us right through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Righteous. Then He glorifies us.

Notice Paul speaks with such certainty that he uses the past tense—those He justified, He glorified. It is a settled fact: those who are in Christ shall be glorified, to the glory of the Father, which will bring about the redemption of the curse upon all humanity. In Christ today, whatever suffering you're going through, whatever difficulty you're facing, you can be certain He is going to get you to the final destiny. What a glorious reality.