CF Bible Study: Salvation for All Nations—the Message of Romans

Kolb’s basement, March 26, 2008

It is God’s plan to magnify Himself by redeeming a unified people from every nation. My prayer is that tonight God will open our eyes to see that plan in the book of Romans and ignite in us a love and a passion for it.

Paul wrote his letter to the Roman church to drive home one point and produce two results. There is salvation in Christ for people from all nations. That is the one point of Romans. Two results should come from it: (1) Missions outside of the Church and (2) cross-cultural, God-magnifying, unified worship within it. Perhaps this diagram will help us understand what Romans is all about.

Salvation in Christ for all nations
/                                   \
Missions                  Unified Worship

Tonight I want to prove that salvation for all nations is the theme of Romans by looking at chapters 1-5, with a view to establishing in us a passion for it that results in missions and unified worship.

Salvation for All Nations in Romans 1-5

There were two reasons that Paul desired to come to the church in Rome. He wanted to unite with them in mutual encouragement (1:11-12) and preach the gospel in a Gentile city (1:13-15). These two desires, for unified worship and missions, were founded on the doctrine that he lays out in chapters 1-5 (and throughout the rest of Romans)–that there is salvation in Christ for people from all nations. (For Paul in the first century, the emphasis was Jews and Gentiles. But I think we can legitimately have a broader emphasis, as sometimes Paul does.) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel,” he said, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (1:16).

1:18-3:20: All have sinned

Paul begins his explanation of this doctrine by addressing the universality of sin and condemnation. Verse 9 of chapter 2 is a good summary: “There will be tribulation and distress for every [notice that!] soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone [notice it again!] who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” To put it another way, it does not matter who you are–Jew or Greek–if you are sinner, you die, and if you are righteous, you live. And what we find in 3:9-10 is that none, neither Jew nor Gentile, is righteous: “. . . we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one . . .’”

3:21-4:25: All may be justified by faith

After three chapters of pounding home that nothing (not even the Law, circumcision, or any other part of Jewishness) can secure salvation, Paul points us to what does–the redemptive death of Jesus, taken hold of by faith. “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested . . . even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (3:21-24). Everyone (Jews, Gentiles–all nations) has sinned, and God has sent Christ into the world to provide justification for everyone (Jews, Gentiles–all nations) who will put faith in Him. Salvation does not come through the Jewish Law, it comes through faith in Christ–and that means that salvation is not just for Jews, it is for all nations. “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised (Jews) by faith and the uncircumcised (Gentiles) through faith is one” (3:28-30).

The theme of salvation by faith for all nations continues throughout chapter 4, in which Paul contends that Abraham, the forefather of the Jews, was justified by faith. The climax of the chapter is in verse 16: “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it might be in accordance with grace, so that the promise [God's promise to Abraham and his descendants] will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law [believing Jews], but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham [believers from all nations], who is the father of us all, (as it is written, ‘a father of many nations I have made you’) . . .” The true descendants of Abraham, who will receive the promises, are not the ethnic Jews, they are the people from every nation who will believe as Abraham did. “As it is written, “A father of many nations I have made you.’”

5:12-21: All men in Adam, all men in Christ

In chapter 5, Paul takes us to an even deeper level and pushes home his point. He does this by paralleling the work of Christ and the sin of Adam. “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.” What is the object of this parallel? Why has Paul taken us down this road? Two words: all men.

This is not teaching universal salvation in the sense that every single person will be saved. But it is teaching universal salvation in another sense; people from all nations will be saved. This is the object of the comparison between Jesus and Adam. In the same way that the whole world was condemned in Adam, the whole world will be justified in Christ. Here is what Romans is all about: salvation for all nations.

The Glory of God in a Church of All Nations

Why was Paul so passionate about this fact? I believe he saw the glory of God in it. There are at least two reasons that God is glorified in a Church made of every nation. First, to transcend and penetrate the whole world is simply a testimony to the breadth of God’s power, grace, and love. That the grace and might of God would be that deep and that wide is heart-stopping. Second, to secure the unified worship of every kind of person proves the worth of God. If you can get one group of people to praise you, you might be worth something. If you get every single group of people in the world to unite in praise of you, it proves you are worth something. This is the aim God has in creating and then securing the worship of people from every nation–to prove how worthy of worship He is!

Get a passion for God’s plan to redeem people from every nation. The 24 elders in Revelation 5 were awestruck not simply by the fact that the Lamb had purchased a people, but that He had purchased a people from every tribe and tongue and nation! Get a passion for the glory of Christ in the redemption of a cross-cultural Church. That is what Romans is about.

The Results: Missions and Unified Worship

If we truly understand and love this as Paul did, two results should be produced in us: a drive for missions and a drive for diverse, but unified worship. Both are logical and commanded products of a real knowledge of God’s plan to save people of all nations.

1. Missions

We must understand the plan of God to redeem an every-nation-Church. We must also understand that we are a part of that plan. Our preaching to every nation is the means by which every nation will come to faith in Christ. That should give us a drive to preach.

This is exactly what Paul felt in Romans 10:14-15 after again presenting the culture-penetrating nature of salvation for all who will call upon Him (11-13):

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’”

Preach to all the nations and fulfill this plan of God to make His name famous.

2. Unified worship

God is glorified in the unified worship of different people. As I said before, it is a tremendous testimony of His worth before the world, and even if the world did not see it, for people of every culture in the world to unify in worship.

Paul had a vision for this within the Jew and Gentile Roman church. We must get a vision for this within our own church and even within the Church worldwide. Let’s become known for our passion to cross cultures and unite with the Church around the world. Let’s take practical steps to pray for, encourage, and worship with believers from different cultures. I can think of few things in light of Romans that would be more honoring to God.

“Now may God . . . grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5-6).

Bryan Elliff © 2008 www.bryanelliff.wordpress.com

CF Bible Study, Romans 8:35-39: Suffering and the Solidity of Justification

Kolb’s basement, March 19, 2008

35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 But in all theses things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39

Solid Enough for Suffering

John and Betty Stam were missionaries to China in the early 1900s. One morning, in 1934, the communist red army entered the small village in which they were working. Because they were foreigners and Christians, the Stams (including their baby) were taken hostage and held for a $20,000 ransom. Two days later, in another village 12 miles away, they were executed. John was told to kneel first and his head was severed from his body with a sword. Betty and another man died in the same way a few moments later.

Is justification solid enough for that? This is the most pressing question. Is the cross of Christ strong enough and trustworthy enough for that kind of suffering? Or is it like an old wooden bridge? It is easy to walk on. But anything too heavy it will cause it to crack and fall.

I am asking this now because, while currently most of us are walking on the bridge, one day we will be carrying hundreds of pounds of suffering onto it, and the question in our minds will be: can it hold? Is it solid enough for tribulation, and war, and starvation, and death?

In the Irish potato famine, 1,100,000 people died because of starvation or hunger-related diseases. World War I killed 20,000,000 people. Imagine the population of greater Kansas City being completely wiped out about 15 times and you have the picture. Is justification strong enough for massive suffering like that? Can you trust it, or will it crack underneath the weight?

This is the issue that our text addresses. Last week we said that there are four primary, pillar-like truths that Paul pulls from Romans 8 and summarizes here at the end of the chapter. The first three are “nothing is against us” (v. 31), “inheritance is coming” (v. 32), and “there is no condemnation” (v. 33-34). The fourth one, found in today’s passage, is “justification is rock-solid” (v. 35-39). This flows right out of number three. There is no condemnation (three)–and that is true and solid even in suffering (four).

Why Justification and not the Love of God?

Right now you are probably thinking, “But this text seems to be about God’s love, not justification. It says, ‘Who will separate us from the love of Christ?’ So why are you talking about justification?” I am talking about justification because I believe that Paul has a specific emphasis with the words “the love of Christ” (v. 35) and “the love of God” (v. 39). He does not simply mean the broad, encompassing love of God. He means the love of God in the death, resurrection, and mediation of Jesus Christ-the love of God in justification.

Two interesting word usages point us this direction. First, verse 37: “we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” Why does Paul say that Christ “loved us?” Why not just say “loves us.” I think it is because he has a specific emphasis: the love of Christ in the cross. His emphasis is justification. Second, verse 39: “the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our lord.” Why does Paul say that the love of God is in Jesus Christ our Lord? Why not just say “the love of God” and leave off “which is in Jesus Christ our lord?” Again the reason is that he is not thinking broadly, but specifically. He is talking about the love of God in the crucified, risen, mediating Jesus Christ.

So this passage is really about whether justification is proven to be untrustworthy and flimsy or remains solid in suffering. I have three points to help us draw out Paul’s ideas.

1. You will suffer.

Suffering for the Christian is promised. It is not optional. Paul’s quote from Psalm 44 makes this abundantly plain, “For your sake we are put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (v. 36). Christian, that is your identity–a sheep to be slaughtered and put to death all day long. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). It’s a promise. This is who we are.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,” Jesus told His followers (Matt. 10:16). “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). Do not water this down. It is not about facing small inconveniences and trials or carrying little “crosses” throughout you life. Jesus’ first-century hearers knew that is not what He meant. They knew that on a cross, you get physically crucified. If you would be His disciple, you must pick up your cross, get behind Him, and be crucified for His name’s sake. “If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul [ruler of demons], how much more will they malign the members of His household” (Matt. 10:25b)? Affliction is coming.

If this is true, one of the most pressing, life-affecting issues for us is this: can suffering and death separate us from salvation? Is justification still strong and true when there is a sword six inches above your head? We must learn how to die well. Romans 8:35-39 is where it begins.

2. Suffering cannot separate us from the justifying love of Christ

Justification is rock-solid. That is the point of this passage. It is trustworthy and strong even though we are put to death all day long and considered as sheep to be slaughtered. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” (v. 35)? That is not a question seeking an answer. It is a question that is giving the answer. Nothing on this earth can take away our justification and the inheritance that it secures. “I am convinced that neither death, not life, nor angels, nor principalities, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [justifying] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 39).

So if you are Betty Stam (and if you would follow after Christ, you will be), in a small village in the middle of China, looking at your husband’s head as it rolls a few feet away from his body, you will need Romans 8. I want you to be clinging to the simple, indestructible fact that nothing (especially suffering) can separate you from the death, resurrection, and mediation of Jesus.

3. Because of justification, suffering actually becomes a means by which we conquer.

Not only is justification rock-solid. With it, suffering becomes a means by which we overcome the world. “In all these things [the tribulation, distress, famine etc. from verse 35] we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (v. 37). Why does Paul declare that we “overwhelmingly conquer” (or “are more than conquerors”) rather than simply say that we conquer? In my opinion, he is thinking back to verse 28, that God causes all things work together for our good. We do not just conquer, we overwhelmingly conquer because tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword are all for us. They are a means that God uses to bring about, among other things, the sanctification of the Church, the spread of the gospel, and especially the glorious inheritance of believers. It is “in” all these things that we conquer. Not “despite,” not “in the face of,” but “in” suffering, we become overcomers.

It is no accident that where the Church suffers the most, it flourishes the most, or that where Jim Eliot is martyred, a whole South American tribe comes to faith in Jesus. It is a design. Through Him who loved us, suffering is a means by which we conquer. To die is gain. All things are better!

So again if you are Betty Stam watching your husband being killed and knowing that you are next, I want you to turn first to the fact that nothing can separate you from justification, and second to the fact that, because of justification, death is actually gain. “In” all these things we are more than conquerors!

Love is what makes it solid

I have been telling you that this is about the love of God with emphasis on justification (“in Christ Jesus”). If that is the case, we have to ask a final question. Why does Paul use the words, “the love of God” instead of simply, “justification?” I think he does so in order to draw our attention to the reason that justification is as solid as it is. Justification is trustworthy because, through and through, it is love. Love is the steel reinforcement in every board of the bridge. Do not trust a God to never condemn you who does not love you. And do not trust a mediator who is not for you. With that kind of God, you can have no confidence in freedom from death and future glory. You don’t know what He will do. Trust a God who loves you and has proven it by dying in your place while you hated Him. You can put total confidence in that kind of God to do what He has promised.

This is where missionaries and martyrs and exceptional Christ Fellowship church members are born–in this rock-solid assurance that, even though we are slaughtered like sheep, we overwhelmingly conquer through the justifying, glorifying love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Bryan Elliff © 2008 www.bryanelliff.wordpress.com

CF Bible Study, Romans 8:31-34: God is For Us

Kolb’s Basement, March 12, 2008

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right of God, who also intercedes for us.
Romans 8:31-34

In the Bible, you find a couple of different kinds of truth, on a couple of different levels. On one side and on one level there is practical specific truth such as “the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (James 5:16),” or Christians ought to “serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13).” It is direct, helpful, and true.

But the biblical burden is to accent another kind of truth on a deeper level. These are realities like God is glorified in His church (the book of Ephesians) or Christ loves His people (Romans 5:6-9). These are foundational, broad, and glorious. This level of truth is more important than the other.

Many people try to put everything on top of the first, practical level of truth. That doesn’t work. It is not that those things are not true, but that they are meant come out of and to be supported by something deeper. The truth that Christians ought to “serve one another in love” or that “the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much,” must flow from and be founded on the deeper, broader idea that God is glorified in His church and that Christ loves His people, delighting to give them good gifts. The second level of truth is what we ought to put everything on top of. It is deep, solid, and sustaining.

Holding on to Concrete Pillars with White Knuckles

I often hear myself speak to you about “grabbing on to truth.” I use those words often because that is the picture I have in my mind. It is as if we are in the middle of the Missouri river and the fundamental, deeper-level realities that we have seen Romans are like concrete pillars stuck in the bedrock. The only way to stand firmly in the current is to grab on to them and hold them so tightly that your knuckles turn white.

The end of Romans 8 is a summary of the whole chapter (v. 31: “What then shall we say to these things?”). Paul is directing us to the most foundational, glorious, pillar-like truths that he has brought forward in the chapter. There are four. Tonight, we will look at the first three. These are the realities we should love the most and these are the pillars that we must hold on to with white knuckles.

My goal is not to tell you anything new. My goal is for us to leave this room awed at the vastness of grace, the goodness and security of salvation, grabbing these things and trusting God more.

1. Nothing is against us.
“If God is for us, who is against us” (v. 31)?

Paul has never left the ideas of the first 13 verses of the chapter. This is still about walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. It is about resting you hope in God for salvation and not anything else–even through suffering (In my opinion, this is the emphasis of “who is against us?” Paul uses the personal pronoun as part of an elevated style of language. He does the same thing later when he asks, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” and then lists seven things such as “famine” and “nakedness” that are not personal.)

It is easy to trust God for salvation in 70-degree weather. But when you have cancer and a six-month life expectancy it is not easy. In the gut-level pain that will inevitably come, you will question the trustworthiness of Christ and His cross because it will not look or feel, on the surface, like you are being saved. Trusting Jesus who “sets you free from . . . death,” when you are dying, is tough.

The natural response to suffering is, “Do something!” It is to seek some way to set yourself free from sin and death rather than trust Jesus to do it. It is to do away with confidence in justification and salvation by grace, which seems to have failed, and turn to anything else. So, in all of Romans 8, Paul is leading us to a concrete, pillar-like truth about suffering.

Here it is: suffering is not against you. Why not? Because God, who controls everything, is working all things in a plan to glorify Himself by redeeming His Son’s bride (v. 28)–and “all things” especially includes suffering. Therefore, your cancer is not against you. In fact, it is not just not against you, it is for you. Like the ingredients in a loaf of bread, it is making your future glory what is it going to be. All things are better! Love and cling to this from now until the day you die.

2. Inheritance is coming.
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things (v. 32)?”

The second certainty that we are to celebrate and hold tightly is the sureness of future inheritance. I believe this is what Paul has in mind when he proclaims that God will give us “all things” because it is in that context (throughout chapter 8 and especially the previous verses 28-31) that he does so. In Christ, believers will inherit new bodies, a new heavens, new earth, and rulership of all things (Hebrews 2:5-9). The most important of these, at least to Paul in this chapter, is the inheritance of glorified bodies or conformity to the image of Jesus.

One of the firmest bedrock moorings of this pillar is found here and, in a very similar way, in Romans chapter 5. Paul’s argument in both places is that if God has shown His love toward us in the sacrifice of His Son, He will fulfill the object of that sacrifice which is to purchase for us eternal inheritance. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things (v. 32)?” We have seen the love of God in Christ’s death for us while we were sinners (5:8). We can have unbending confidence that His love will complete what it has begun!

I pray that we will have the kind of assurance in what is hoped for and is un-seen found in those the writer of Hebrews speaks of.

“By faith [in un-seen promises] [they] conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn it two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and caves and holes in the ground” (Hebrews 11:33-40)

Following Jesus will mean mockings, imprisonment, torture, affliction, and destitution. Hardship will come. You must hold on to future glory with white knuckles. Fix your hope on indelible, un-seen inheritance.

3. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
“Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right of God, who also intercedes for us (v. 33-34).”

Justification should be the core of our rejoicing, trust, and love. Everything comes out of it–including the facts that nothing is against us and that we will experience future glorification. And it is in this that God is most glorified.

The very identity of Jesus in Revelation is meant to turn us in this direction–a slain Lamb (Revelation 5:6). He is presented as a risen substitution sacrifice who has taken away all our condemnation. This is who He is! This is at the heart of His glory! “Worthy are You . . . for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood me from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). Even the salvation and glorification of the Church is meant to point back to the justification that has brought it about, to the glory of God’s grace.

Love this truth above all. And hold it with whiter knuckles than any of the others. Jesus Christ became perfect man. On the cross he took our blame. In three days, he rose again. And now he stands at the right hand of the Father as our spotless mediator. For those who are in Him, there is absolutely no condemnation.

God is For Us

All of these four ideas (we have looked at the first three) can go together under one encompassing head: God is for us and not against us. He has a preordained plan that He is working out for the good of the church and His name. It is centered in justification, and includes suffering, and final glorification. Believer, trust Him and magnify Him because He is for you.

Bryan Elliff © 2008 www.bryanelliff.wordpress.com

CF Bible Study, Romans 8:28-30: All Things are Better

Elliff’s Living Room, March 5, 2008

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
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 8:28-30

Around the year 60 A.D. the apostle Paul was seized by a mob of Jews in Jerusalem. This led him to a number of trials before Roman and Jewish authorities and, eventually, to Rome for a trial before Caesar. Paul was imprisoned in Rome for two years, near the end of which time he wrote a letter to the church in the city of Philippi. It is a remarkable letter.

It is remarkable because it was penned to a church that was under persecution by a man who was in prison and was facing the very real possibility of death in order mainly to tell them one thing: “rejoice always!” This man had a radical view of the world and particularly of suffering. It is seen in the truth of Romans 8:28.

There are few people who really get Romans 8:28. Plenty of people get it on a surface level when they read it and hear it taught, but when they sprain their ankle or lose a child because of cancer it dissolves and slips through their fingers. Not many get it then. One of my deepest desires for our group, because I think it is so fundamental to God’s glory in His Church, is that we will get Romans 8:28 and live it out like few people ever have.

There are two simple questions I want to ask about this passage tonight. First: What is the core truth that is presented in Romans 8:28-30? And second: What is the underpinning of our assurance that it is true?

Everything is Better

The answer to the first question (What is the main truth that is presented in Romans 8:28-30?) comes in verse 28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.”

First, here is what Paul is not saying in this verse. He is not saying that there are certain things that happen in the universe that are outside the plan of God which He takes and molds so that they actually turn out for good. Paul has gone out of his way in the previous verses to say something deeper. The creation was subjected to futility “because of Him who subjected it” (8:20). And the same is true, by implication, of the futility and suffering of believers (8:23). We must understand the thrust of Romans 8:28 to be that God controls all things, making them work together in a plan, for the good of those who love Him.

The implications of Paul’s statement are gigantic and are not often fully thought out. So, in order to capture the breadth of it, let’s reflect on the meaning of the words “all things.”

The far-reaching nature of those words is often missed. It extends from occurrences and realities that seem to be completely unrelated to the Church, to your own battle with sickness and suffering. Consider the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. The fact that he was the leader of Iraq for so many years seems very disconnected from Christians in America. And if not disconnected, at least not connected for any good. But the biblical view is quite different. We must say first, that God caused him to be dictator of Iraq, and second, that God caused it for the good of His worldwide Church.

The collapse of the Minneapolis bridge last year also was caused by God for a specific purpose: the good of the Church. Or, to bring it closer to home, your asthma is caused by God for the good of the Church. It is for your good and my good and for the good of Christians worldwide that you struggle with that. The same is true of the fact that do I not have asthma. The universe revolves around the Church and, as we will see, God’s glory in the Church. This is the radically different vision of the world that Paul is begging us to take hold of. “God causes all things to work together for good.”

It is important to note here that Paul specifically has in mind the ultimate good that believer’s will experience when they are glorified in the future. The context from verses 17-25 (we have been saved in hope) dictates this and it becomes clearly defined in verses 29-30 which speak of our future conformity to the image of Christ. Everything that happens is a part of God’s plan to make our future good, as good as it is going to be. It is like a baking a loaf of bread. You must have all of the ingredients to make it what it is.

Let me put this thought in terms that have often helped me in the past: For the Christian, all things are better. No alternative option for anything could be as good as what God has chosen. Looking back, it would not have been as good for the Church if the bridge in Minneapolis had not collapsed. It’s just better. Hussein’s brutal regime was so much better for the worldwide Church’s future. Your struggle with asthma is so much better than freedom from it. And my freedom from it is so much better than a struggle with it.

This is a jaw-droppingly different view of the world. I pray that we will have it. We must rejoice that all things are better. When you sprain an ankle or when 10 years from now two of your children die, you must understand that it is not a breakdown of our salvation. Rather, it is a part of your salvation that is making the end glory as good as it is going to be.

That was Paul’s point in his letter to the Philippians. “Rejoice always” because “to die is gain” (not just not bad–gain!), because his imprisonment had turned out for the progress of the gospel, and because suffering in this life will result in a glorious future resurrection! All things, sufferings included, are better!

The Romans 8:28-30 Theology of Glorification

Now for the second question: What is the underpinning of our assurance that what Romans 8:28 says is true? Verses 29-30 hold the key. Observe the word “for” at the beginning. “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; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” God’s predestination of the Church to glorification is the support of Paul’s assurance that “God causes all things to work together for good.” In order to make this more understandable, I am going to systematically build a theology of glorification from these verses in five statements. And then I will try to fasten it to verse 28.

1. The glorification of the Church is all about holiness and blamelessness before God.
We are “predestined to become conformed to the image of” Christ. This is a reference to the resurrection and redemption of our bodies. Christ will “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Philippians 3:21). That is really what salvation is all about.

2. It begins in the foreknowledge and predestination of God.
“Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined . . .” The word “foreknow” should not be confused with “foresee.” It does not mean to “view beforehand.” It means to “set one’s affections on beforehand.” This is the basis of our future glory-God’s eternal love and purpose.

3. It is wrapped up in justification and its application by the Holy Spirit.
Paul again uses adoption as a picture of justification. We were predestined to glory “so that [Christ] would be the firstborn among many brethren.” Christ is the representative firstborn for his people in receiving the inheritance that they will receive by being “in Him.” This justification is applied to us by the “calling” (v. 28, 30) of the Holy Spirit.

4. It is certain.
It is to make the certainty of it unmistakable that Paul puts the verb “glorified” in the past tense at the end of verse 30. In the mind of God, our glorification is so sure that it can be considered as having been done already.

5. It is for the glory of Christ.
Paul says that our predestination to glory is “so that [Christ] would be the firstborn among many brethren.” In the end this is reason that all things work together for our future good–that Christ might be the preeminent firstborn whose grace, and love, and power is seen in the very existence of the many sons that He has brought to glory through His death and resurrection.

Our Predestination to Good Means that All Things are Better

Here is why all of that matters. Our future good for His glory is the plan! And if God controls everything with our good as His ultimate aim, all things must move toward it. God cannot work against Himself in anything. Therefore He must be working all things for Himself, which means that God causes all things for our good. Everything is better.

The knowledge of this should cause two life-long reactions in us: more trust in Christ and continual rejoicing!

Bryan Elliff © 2008 www.bryanelliff.wordpress.com

A Plea to Christian Young People to Be Fools

The people of God are called to be fools for the sake of Christ. Many Christian young people are not.

When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he was fighting this very battle. He brought into sharp contrast the wisdom of the world and the foolishness of God. To the world in their wisdom, he said in chapter 1, the cross of Christ is utter stupidity. It is bloody, dirty, poor, and intellectually bankrupt–the historical execution of a Jewish, religious criminal. “But,” he said, “to those who are the called . . . [it is] Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1:24).” The cross does not cease to be dirty, and bloody, and poor, but to the called, this “foolishness” is seen as the glorious power and wisdom of the omnipotent and omniscient God.

The world hates the gospel. How else can you explain the martyrdom of the many early Christians in the Roman Coliseum, or the beheading of John and Betty Stam, missionaries to China, in 1934, or the brutal torture and death of three missionaries in Asia this past year? To the world in their wisdom, the cross of Jesus Christ is still dirty, bloody, poor, and stupid. And, possibly what is the most hateful of all, it demands of them absolute submission. That is the gospel that you are called to preach and live.

When I travel with my father, I have the opportunity to meet many people, in churches and conferences, who are near my age (18). I am very weary of seeing so many young people who are completely enamored with living and preaching a gospel that is cool. The true gospel is not cool. It is foolishness. Jesus Christ is not cool. To the world, He is a fool. If He had been wise in the world’s opinion, they would not have murdered Him. And if Jesus Christ came back today to live among the Western church, I think it possible that many youth groups, discovering that He is not the Jesus Christ they had created, would crucify Him again.

Much of the problem is that many young people are holding a rope that is not held by God on the other end. They are resting in a salvation that is based, not God’s grace and Christ’s work, but on family tradition or one-time experiences. My object, however, is not to deal with that problem. My object is to plead with genuine Christian teenagers and college students to be fools for the sake of Christ.

Ultimately, I am saying this: if you are a true follower of Christ, you are not called to be cool. You are called to preach and live out a gospel that is hated by many of your friends–maybe even some in your church. Christians are not supposed to be loved by the world. Christians are supposed to be like those in Hebrews 11 who were “stoned . . . sawn in two . . . tempted . . . put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground (11:37-38).” They were men of whom the world was not worthy.

I yearn for an army of young people who are world-hated, Christ-exalting fools–young men and women of whom the world is not worthy.

Bryan Elliff © 2007 www.bryanelliff.wordpress.com