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All things work together for good for them that love God
Romans
8:28 Commentary
by
DR. MICHAEL L. WILLIAMS
Often when believers are going through tough times
they will hear someone say, “You know,
all things work together for good for them that love God.”
While
their encouragement is good, often we tend to use this verse as a way of saying
hang in there, things will get better.
However,
when looking at these words from Romans 8:28 in context, there is so much more
that we can learn that will encourage us.
What is the context of Romans 8:28?
Romans
8:1 begins with the word therefore,
which indicates that the chapter is a continuation of a subject from Romans 7.
Romans
7 contains a discussion on how the law has dominion over a person. However, the
law has a purpose – to teach us about sin and our need for a
Savior.
It
does this by making us aware of the war within ourselves between our mind and
our body.
This
war demonstrates itself in our body continually wanting to serve the law of sin
while our minds strive to serve the law of God.
As
we see our need for a Savior and trust Him to deliver us from the penalty of
our sins, we are delivered from the condemnation of the law by the Holy Spirit.
The
Holy Spirit also speaks to us, which inspires us to seek after the things of
the Spirit. This new nature also gives us the power to make positive changes in
our life.
The
certainty of the future and the ability to make positive changes in our life
gives us hope for the future. It is with this context that we come upon Romans
8:26-27, which tells us that the Holy Spirit also helps us with our infirmities
in concert with God the Father and God the Son.
These
infirmities are defined as weakness or feebleness in mind and body accompanied
by moral shortcomings resulting from our weakness of faith.
However, the Holy Spirit does a work in us that helps
us to see the reality of Romans 8:28, stated as follows: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Therefore, understanding the context of Romans 8:28 explained in how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together gives us hope.
How does Romans 8:28 give us hope?
In
Romans 8:26-28, we are told:
“Likewise the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of
the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will
of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
On
a deeper level, these verses show us that when we are struggling in our
infirmities and do not even know what we should pray for, that the Holy Spirit
makes intercession for us.
In other words, He prays for us. At the same time, “He that searches the hearts knoweth the
mind of the Spirit…”
This
is a reference to God the Son, Jesus Christ, Who knows what is on the mind of
the Spirit that lives in us (Psalms 44:21;
Jeremiah 17:10; John 14:15-29).
At the same time, God the Son, Jesus Christ, “Maketh intercession for the saints according
to the will of God.”
To
sum this up, we learn that when we do not even know what to pray for, the Holy
Spirit searches our hearts for those things that are of concern and
communicates those things to God the Son.
God
the Son then brings them before God the Father seeking His will in our
situation. All this communication between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
takes place with “groanings,” or
prayerful sighs, which cannot be uttered or spoken by humans .
This
context describes a communication that takes place between the Holy Trinity of
God in a language not able to be spoken by humans on our behalf without us even
knowing what is going on.
It is with this context that we can fully appreciate
Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose.”
Knowing
that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are already working on our
infirmities even when we do not know what to do should give those whom love God
peace and comfort that He has all things under control.
Finally,
we see in Romans 8:29-30 that God foreknew before the foundations of the earth
that whatever situation we are in would happen and that He had a plan.
“For whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified:
and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
Of
particular note is the phrase, “For whom
He did foreknow,” which refers to “them
that love God” in verse 28.
In
other words, God foreknew also who would love Him! And, if God foreknew who
would love Him, in eternity past, He also foreknew who would trust Christ as
their Savior. We know this because we are told in 1 John 5:1-5 that those who
love God are believers.
Therefore,
God foreknew who would trust Him and love Him so He had a plan to intercede in
our infirmities.
Yet,
we also see from Romans 8:29-30 that He also predestined those whom He foreknew
to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus in salvation and eventually
perfection so that we may one day stand before Him perfect, as His Son is
perfect! Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!
Conclusion
Many times when believers are going through tough
times they will hear someone say, “You
know, all things work together for good for them that love God.”
Romans
8:26-27 tells us that the Holy Spirit helps us with our infirmities in concert
with God the Father and God the Son even when we do not know what to pray for.
With this in mind, we can have peace in knowing that God has a plan for us that will one day result in us standing before Him in a state of perfection, just as His Son Jesus is perfect.
Dr. Michael L. Williams is a pastor, author, Christian educator and
Biblical counselor who has served in ministry since 2001. Dr. Mike holds
under-graduate through post graduate degrees in Christian Education and
formerly worked as a nurse. He is a Christ-centered counselor and in addition
to counseling, he teaches how to overcome life issues Biblically on topics such
as anger management, marriage, addictions, and other subjects typically
referred to as mental illnesses. Dr. Mike has worked in the information
technology field for many years and he uses his talents and experience in the
ministry for the glory of the Lord. Dr. Mike and his wife, Pamela Rose, live in
Northeast Ohio and they have children and grandchildren that live in various
states. Learn more about Dr. Mike at Christianity Every Day.
https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/romans-828-commentary/
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