Mulling it Over - Romans 8:30

Last month we looked at Romans 8:29, and had a short discussion on the theological points of predestination and free will. We also looked at what followed this idea of predestination, that we are being conformed to the image of Christ.

Today we are going to look at verse 30. Once again, we are proceeding slowly, so that we might truly understand and let the Spirit drive home the truths revealed in these Scriptures.

30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
— Romans 8:30 (NASB 1995)

and these whom He predestined,

We discussed this in last month’s post. The end result is God is able to both predestine and give us a free will. We tend to limit God, because we think if it is beyond our understanding then it must not be the case. We need to recognize God’s wisdom is a mystery and is not always completely known to us.

6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
— I Corinthians 2:6-8 (NASB 1995)

For instance, a 7 day, literal creation has stumped many a Christian over the decades. This is not a problem for me. As my husband always says, “Seven days? What took Him so long?” Ha, ha. Unfortunately, rather than taking God at His word, and according to His word, man has come up with alternative theories to better coincide with the evolutionary theory touted by Darwin. The Day Age Theory, and The Gap Theory are two of the most popular.

Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay

I just wanted to reiterate, we are the Creation, not the Creator, and we are limited in our understanding of the many layers of God. With that said, lets move on.

He also called;

This idea of calling has also had its day on the debate floor. Questions that have been around for years include: Is everyone called? Is calling just for special people at certain times? Is calling only for people going into full time Christian service, like a missionary or a pastor, etc?

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

I see calling as a general term, much like predestination. We are all predestined, meaning God wants all of us to become His children by belief in Christ. In the same way we are all called. The difference lay in the fact that we must respond to His calling. We must choose to believe. Of course that presupposes you believe in free will. :)

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord..
— I Corinthians 1:9 (NASB 1995)

Let me reiterate, I am not a theologian. I had three years of Bible school, but that doesn’t mean I have exhaustively studied every topic. However, I do believe God gives us His wisdom, understanding and knowledge as we delve into His deeper layers through His Holy Spirit. That being said, if you ever think I am in error in the ideas I bring to you, I welcome your thoughts.

and these whom He called, He also justified;

The word justify is defined in several ways: to judge, regard or treat as worthy of salvation; to prove or show to be just, right, or reasonable. Justification is the process by which Christ takes on our sin through His death on the cross enabling us to be worthy of God’s calling. In essence Christ’s blood covered us so that we might be made right before God.

Image by Sang Hyun Cho from Pixabay

24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
— Romans 3:24 (NASB 1995)

…and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

The predestination, calling and justification all lead to the perfect end result, our glorification. The older I get, the more I look forward to this glorification process. At 60 I am experiencing all the things that age brings with it. I have become acquainted with chronic illness, my hair is thinning, my joints ache, and my brain is almost always in the phase of post menopausal fog.

Image by kapokia from Pixabay

Jesus told us we would have trouble in this world.

33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
— John 16:33 (NASB 1995)

We don’t have to look very far to see trouble. The southeast part of the U.S. has see two large hurricanes in the last two weeks. Out west there continue to be wildfires consuming thousands of acres of trees. We are entering in to flu and Corona season, in addition to that allergens are ever present and driving many of our sinus cavities wonky. We have political and societal unrest in the United States and there is still a war going on in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Jesus told us we would have trouble, but He didn’t want us to stay in that mindset. He told us He would give us peace, and He has overcome the world.

This mentality of looking towards glory is not a bad thing. Yes, we still need to be present. We need to live our lives as the brightest lights of Christ that we can be so others might come to know Him. How much easier it is to do this when we know that we are called, justified and one day will be glorified.

Just like the Morning Glory flower we need to turn our faces towards the light of God and His truth and open ourselves up completely to what He is trying to do in our lives. Only in doing that will we become the beautiful reflection of Him that we are meant to be.

Called and Glorified

I want to continue looking at our two verses from two weeks ago, Romans 8:29-30. We have been slowly moving through this chapter, mulling over each verse or a few verses at a time. Often when I am writing a post, I think to myself that I can get through a set number of verses, but then when I actually get to typing, I realize there is just too much, and I must cut back. As we saw two weeks ago, verse 29 is packed full of information including words that we don’t often use in our vocabularies. When is the last time you used a sentence with the words predestined or foreknew? I bet it wasn’t just yesterday. I hope that the definitions I gave you in the last post were helpful as we moved through the study.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay 

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Today we are going to focus on verse 30. Let’s take another look at both verses.

29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
— Romans 8:29-30 (NASB)

Without further ado, let’s jump in to our verse.

…and these whom He predestined…

Two weeks ago we learned that the word predestined means to “decree, determine, appoint or settle beforehand” (Webster’s Online Dictionary). The word these is referring to the people talked about in verse 29. Last week we came to understand that these are the followers of Christ. These are the ones that God drew to Himself and conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus. We also discussed that His knowledge of our choice to accept Him as our Lord, doesn’t not delete our free will. Foreknowledge, predestination and free will work together in a way that our limited minds cannot understand.

Image by ElisaRiva from Pixabay

Image by ElisaRiva from Pixabay

…He also called…

If you recall, the definition of the word called included words like summon, invite, and rouse. I like that idea of “to rouse from sleep,” (Webster’s Online Dictionary). When God calls He is trying to wake us up. He is trying to rouse us from the sleep of darkness. Much like that very curse that Maleficent cast on beautiful Aurora, we were unaware of our need for a Savior until God began to beckon and call, bidding us to rise from our slumber. Just like the young princess, we had to be rescued by a great warrior, one who was willing to sacrifice His life for our well being. It was the prince’s kiss that woke the princess and so too, our Lord’s Holy life touches our hearts with a gentleness and love, to which no other love can compare.

Image by Vane Monte from Pixabay 

Image by Vane Monte from Pixabay

…and these whom He called…

The ones who are called are those that have risen out of the dark sleep. Many are roused from their slumber, but not all actually get up and get out of bed. During this pandemic, I have found it very hard to get out of bed in the morning. I don’t want to get up and face the world that we are currently living in. If I chose to stay in bed, I would waste away, no longer wanting to eat, or drink or be a part of humanity. The same is true when we are called by the God of the universe. If we do not wake, we will never know the depth of the beauty of the world around us and of a relationship with Him. Perhaps you are wondering, why bother getting up.

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay 

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

…He also justified…

We get up because He justified us. Jesus, whose mercy is new every morning, was Himself, the surety for our salvation. It is because He justified us that we are able to have a relationship with this all powerful, magnificent being. Christ and His blood make us holy and because of that we are able to approach the throne of grace without trepidation.

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Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
— Hebrews 4:6 (NASB)

This verse tells us we can draw near to the throne with confidence. We can do that because of what Christ did on the cross. Jesus made us righteous. He made us worthy of salvation.

…and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

What does it mean for us to be glorified? The verse says that “these”, meaning us, as we are the ones He called and justified, He is going to glorify. Let’s go back to the definition of glorified: to make glorious by bestowing honor, praise, or admiration: to cause to be or seem to be better than the actual condition. I want to look at this definition in two ways as both are applicable to the fact that He glorifies us.

The first half of the definition is talking about honoring someone. We do honor people in many ways, but how does God honor us? We know that honor, and praise are words applied to Jesus and His Father. In fact, Jesus’ desire when He walked this earth was to honor and glorify His Father.

Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
— John 12:28 (NASB)
Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,
— John 17:1 (NASB)
Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
— John 17:5 (NASB)

In a similar way a child might desire to honor their parent on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, or a soldier might honor his commander and his country by living by a code of conduct becoming a soldier, and by being willing to give his life. We also honor those who have gone before us by putting up memorials and by setting aside days, like Memorial Day to remember the sacrifices that were made for our freedom.

Image by Mark Thomas from Pixabay 

Image by Mark Thomas from Pixabay

The Bible also says that God will honor us. What exactly does that look like? Let’s look at a few verses

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
— John 12:26 (NASB)
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
— Psalm 91:15 (NASB)

God can honor whom He choses to honor and part of that may have something to do with our standing in Christ.

The second part of the definition refers to the idea that to glorify someone causes them to be, or seem to be better than their actual condition. Isn’t this true of us? The reality is, Christ has caused us to be better than our actual condition. What was our condition? We were sinners, sleeping in the darkness. There is nothing about our condition that gives us the ability to be holy and pure as God is holy and pure. However, when we become Christ followers, our situation changes. His blood makes us holy. He has glorified us, making us capable of being called the children of God. One day we will be glorified with new bodies and we will walk in the presence of the Holy God. That will certainly be an honor for us.

I hope these verses have once again encouraged you in your relationship with Christ. He loves you and wants to make Himself known to you.

Until next time, keep laughing and keep looking up!