Romans 8:29

Had already chosen. Lipscomb understands this in the sense of Hebrews 11:39-40.That is, the men of the Old Testament who "would be made perfect only with us." Add to this the men of old who raised from death after Jesus' resurrection (Matthew 27:52-53), who Lipscomb thinks went into Eternity with Jesus. All this, then, is strong proof that "God works for good with those who love him. "Johnson sees in this a "choosing on the basis of foreknowledge," Compare Psalms 139:16: "You saw me before I was born. The days that had been created for me had all been recorded in your book, before any of them had ever begun." See also Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 21:27. A third factor is that we had nothing to do with the planning of God's act in Christ to set us free. In this sense, the whole thing is taken out of our hands. The truth of Romans 5:18 was an accomplished fact before mankind found out about it. Compare 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10.