Jan 11 2009
Do All Things Work Together For Good? (P2)
While many have heard, and even said, the words, “. . .all things work together for good to those who love God. . .”, few of us find true comfort in these words. Why? Usually, at the root of the problem we find a lack of understanding. Granted, we will never understand God’s ways. However, what has been revealed is for our instruction, that we might be enabled to stand in the day of trial.
A deeper look at this passage in Romans 8 will greatly expand our understanding. This entire passage is riddled with conjunctions. Almost every verse begins with ‘for’, ‘and’ ‘therefore’ ‘but’ ‘likewise’, ‘now’. As any student of grammar or the Bible will tell us, a statement which begins with a conjunction is just ‘adding to’ the primary thought. Thus we need to back up to the statement which does not begin with a conjunction.
If we do so in this passage, we find ourselves back at verse 16. To get a better understand of our ‘platitude’ statement, we need to look at the following verses as a whole.
“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits 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; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
“Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adopt, the redemption of of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spiriti Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searched th 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 together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
“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. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Although I have broken this passage into a few extra paragraphs for ease of reading, it is clear the entire section is intended to be understood as one complete thought. The leading thought, then is verse 16 - “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
Time does not allow us to dig deeply and mine all the nuggets in this passage. However, even an overview reveals some key truths. Verse 16 explains that part of our identification with Christ is expressed in suffering.
Since we are talking about something none of us desire, suffering, we need to focus on the amazing benefit - our connection with Christ. ‘Children of God’? What does this mean?
Children is defined in Paul’s writings as those who are led by the Spirit of God and thus closely related to God. Ponder this a moment. Remember Christ’s emphasis on the importance of the Spirit?
The Spirit gives life (Jn 6:63). Only those who believe receive the Spirit (Jn 7:39). He dwells in and with believers (Jn 14:17). He is truth (Jn 14:17). The Spirit teaches us and reminds us of the truths we know (Jn 14:26). Furthermore, the Spirit guides us into all truth (Jn 16:13). Thus, the benefit of being led by the Spirit of God cannot be underrated (although, I fear, many of us take this far too much for granted). Secondly, we are closely related to God. While no one cares for everyone, and few give more than passing thought to those who they know only from a distance, even the most hard-hearted amongst us usually shows some concern, even love, for at least some of those to whom they are closely related.
Thus, we can at least imagine that to be closely related to God must have immeasurable benefits. A closer inspection of Scripture’s whole teaching on this subject would be quite eye opening. And, this only scratches the surface. Next time, based on our cursory look at this ‘foundation’, we will dig more deeply into the specifics of our primary verse.
