Sermon 30 of the Series: “Romans: Gospel Blueprint.”
Review
Paul answered a tender question: what help do we have while we wait for the redemption of our bodies? He began with our weakness. Believers are already sons, yet still mortal and still groaning (8:23), and that weakness shows most clearly in prayer: we do not know what to pray for as we ought (8:26). But the Spirit helps us. He takes up our wordless groaning and intercedes for us (8:26). The Father, who searches hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (8:27). Paul then moved from what we do not know to what we do know: for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose (8:28). The “all things” include the sufferings of this present time (8:18), and the “good” is not comfort or wealth but final glory with Christ. That promise is breathtaking, but it raises a question for every believer who still suffers: how can we be sure God will finish what He has begun? Paul answers with five verbs, what has long been called the golden chain of redemption.[1]
Before Time: Foreknown and Predestined
Paul now unfolds the “purpose” he mentioned in verse 28. The chain begins before creation. God foreknew His people, and He predestined them to a goal: to be conformed to the image of His Son. Every link in the chain is God’s action. The believer is not the subject of a single verb.
Romans 8:29: 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.
To foreknow is more than knowing ahead of time what we would do. Paul says God foreknew “those whom,” that is, persons, not facts. In Scripture, God’s “knowing” often speaks of His choosing love (Amos 3:2; Jer 1:5; Rom 11:2). Some read “foreknew” as God foreseeing who would believe, but Paul does not say God foreknew our faith; he says God foreknew us. He set His love on His people before they ever loved Him.[2] That love has a destination. God predestined us “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” What was marred in Adam is restored in Christ, the second Adam, and those united to Him by faith are being changed into His likeness now (2 Cor 3:18) and will be fully conformed at the resurrection, when He transforms our lowly body to be like His glorious body (Phil 3:21).[3] Christ is “the firstborn among many brothers.” “Firstborn” speaks of both rank and priority: Christ is preeminent in God’s family, and He is the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18), the first to receive the resurrection body we will share. We are His brothers, God’s adopted sons (8:15-17).
In Time: Called and Justified
What God planned in eternity, He carries out in history. Paul repeats the verb “predestined” to begin the next link, so the chain does not break. Those predestined are called, and those called are justified.
Romans 8:30a: And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified,
This call is not merely an invitation that many hear and ignore. It is God’s effective call through the gospel. By His Word and Spirit, He enlightens our minds, takes away our heart of stone, and renews our will. He overcomes our resistance, yet we come to Christ freely, made willing by His grace. This is the same calling of verse 28: those “called according to his purpose.”[4] Those whom God calls, He declares righteous. This brings us back to the heart of Romans (3:21-26; 5:1): God justifies, yet it is the one who believes who is justified.[5] This verdict is why there is “no condemnation” for those in Christ Jesus (8:1).
Why is sanctification not a link? It is not part of justification, which is God’s once-for-all verdict that we are righteous in Christ. In one sense, believers are already sanctified, set apart in Christ (1 Cor 6:11), but the ongoing work of becoming holy lives between justification and glorification. It is the goal named in predestination, “conformed to the image of his Son,” and glorification is its completion (6:22). Every link in this chain is a decisive act of God, and Paul’s purpose is assurance. We take part in becoming like Christ by the Spirit (8:13), but the outcome is as certain as the chain itself.
Beyond Time: Glorified
The final link reaches into eternity future. Those whom God justified, He also glorified. Paul writes it in the past tense, just like the others, even though our glory is still to be revealed.
Romans 8:30b: and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Our glory is still future (8:18), yet Paul speaks of it as if it has already happened, because in God’s plan it is as good as done.[6] With this last word, Paul completes the believer’s journey from sharing in Christ’s sufferings to sharing in His glory (8:17). Notice also what is missing: there are no gaps. All whom He foreknew, He predestined; all He predestined, He called; all He called, He justified; all He justified, He glorified. No one falls out between the links. The God who began the chain in eternity past will finish it in eternity future.
Application
1. Let us rest in God’s choosing love. Our salvation did not begin with our decision; it began in God’s heart before time. This removes all boasting and comforts us, since He set His love on us before we ever loved Him. So let us embrace His goal, fully convinced, for us, and pursue likeness to Christ.
2. Let us live as those who have been called and justified. We do not try to earn a verdict God has already given. When the accuser reminds us of our sin, we answer with Romans 8:30: those whom He called, He also justified. We grow in holiness by the Spirit, not to gain acceptance, but because we are already accepted.
3. Let us face suffering with the certainty of glory. When we fear that we will not make it, we remember that no one falls out of God’s chain. Let us speak of our future glory the way Paul did, as already settled, and encourage weary believers with the same hope.
[1] Douglas J. Moo, The Letter to the Romans, 2nd ed. (Eerdmans, 2018), 553. Moo notes that Paul sets out God’s plan in a series of parallel verbs, repeating each one to begin the next clause, which is why the passage has been called a “golden chain.”
[2] Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), 2nd ed. (Baker Academic, 2018), 444. Schreiner argues that “foreknew” means God set His covenant affection on persons, as in Romans 11:2. God foreknows not merely facts but specific people.
[3] F. F. Bruce, Romans (IVP, 2015), 8:29. Bruce explains that God’s image in humanity was defaced by sin, but His purpose was not frustrated; those united to Christ by faith are progressively changed into His image.
[4] Schreiner, Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), 442. Schreiner holds that God’s calling must be understood as effectual: not merely an invitation people can reject, but a summons that overcomes human resistance. Compare the Second London Baptist Confession (1689), 10.1: God effectually draws His people to Christ, “yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.”
[5] Moo, The Letter to the Romans, 557. Moo reminds readers that Paul’s focus on God’s side of salvation does not lessen the human response: it is God who justifies, but it is the one who believes who is justified.
[6] Frank S. Thielman, Romans, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Zondervan Academic, 2018), 830. Thielman reads the past tense “glorified” as stressing the certainty of the believer’s future glorification, and notes that with it Paul completes the movement from union with Christ’s suffering to union with His glory (8:17).
GOLDEN CHAIN by Ed Pilapil Jr In a history beyond man The LORD clearly drew up His plan Before the world, before the dawn God set His love; His love was drawn He foreknew by grace, not our deed Predestined, by His will decreed Conformed to Christ, the Spirit’s work As we are enriched by His word In time, He called, we heard His voice And by His grace, we made our choice Then justified, the verdict's true No condemnation, all made new Then glorified, though not yet seen It's written past, as if it's been Glory to the firstborn of all It means highest, the only LORD
Study Guide
1. What does “foreknew” mean in this verse? Compare Ro 11:2 (see also Jeremiah 1:5). What is the goal of God’s predestining, and why does Paul call Christ “the firstborn among many brothers”? (Ro 8:29)
2. How is God’s call in this verse different from a general invitation? Why is sanctification not listed between “justified” and “glorified”? (Ro 8:30a; cf. 6:22)
3. Why does Paul say “glorified” in the past tense? How does the unbroken chain answer the believer’s fear of falling away in the midst of suffering? (Ro 8:30b; cf. 8:17-18)
