Romans 8:29

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. FOR - as touching this "calling according to His purpose," WHOM HE DID FOREKNOW, HE ALSO DID PREDESTINATE - or 'fore-ordain.' In what sense are we to take the word "foreknow" here? 'Those who He foreknew would repent and believe,' say Pelagians of every age and every hue. But this is to thrust into the text what is contrary to the whole spirit, and even letter, of the apostle's teaching, as will appear from the following chapter; see also 2 Timothy 1:9. In Romans 11:2 and Psalms 1:6 God's "knowledge" of His peop...

29._For whom he has foreknown_, _etc. _He then shows, by the very order of election, that the afflictions of the faithful are nothing else than the manner by which they are conformed to the image of Christ; and that this was necessary, he had before declared. There is therefore no reason for us to be grieved, or to think it hard and grievous, that we are afflicted, unless we disapprove of the Lord’s election, by which we have been foreordained to life, and unless we are unwilling to bear the image of the Son of God, by which we are to be prepared for celestial glory. But the foreknowledge of God, which Paul mentions, is not a bare prescience, as some unwise persons absurdly imagine, but the adoption by which he had always distinguished his children from the reprobate. (269) In the same sense Peter says, that the faithful had been elected to the sanctification of the Spirit according to t...

28-31 That is good for the saints which does their souls good. Every providence tends to the spiritual good of those that love God; in breaking them off from sin, bringing them nearer to God, weaning them from the world, and fitting them for heaven. When the saints act out of character, corrections will be employed to bring them back again. And here is the order of the causes of our salvation, a golden chain, one which cannot be broken. 1. Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. All that God designed for glory and happiness as the end, he decreed to grace and holiness as the way. The whole human race deserved destruction; but for reasons not perfectly known to us, God determined to recover some by regeneration and the power of his grace. He predestinated, or before decreed, that they should be conformed to the image of his Son. In this lif...

Verse 29. _FOR WHOM HE DID FOREKNOW_, c.] "In this and the following verse the apostle shows _how_ our _calling_ is an argument that all things work together to advance our eternal happiness, by showing the several _steps_ which the wisdom and goodness of God have settled, in order to complete our salvation. In order to this he first gives us, in this verse, the _foundation_ and _finishing_, or the _beginning_ and _end_, of the scheme of our redemption: _For whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to_ _be conformed to the image of his Son_. To _foreknow_, here signifies to _design before_, or at the first forming of the scheme to bestow the _favour_ and _privilege_ of being God's people upon any set of men, Romans 11:2. This is the _foundation_ or first step of our salvation; namely, the _purpose_ and...

FOR WHOM HE DID FOREKNOW - The word used here προέγνω proegnō has been the subject of almost endless disputes in regard to its meaning in this place. The literal meaning of the word cannot be a matter of dispute. It denotes properly to “know beforehand;” to be acquainted with future events. But whether it means here simply to know that certain persons would become Christians; or to ordain, and constitute them to be Christians, and to be saved, has been a subject of almost endless discussion. Without entering at large into an investigation of the word, perhaps the following remarks may throw light on it. (1) It does not here have reference to all the human family; for all are not, and have not, been conformed to the image of his Son. It has reference therefore only to those who would become Christians, and be saved. (2

EXPOSITION ROMANS 8:1 (_c_) _The blessed condition and assured hope of such as are in Christ _Jesus. The summary of the contents of this chapter, which follows the Exposition, may be referred to in the first place by the student, so as to assist comprehension of the line of thought. ROMANS 8:1 THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHICH ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. (The additional words of this verse in the Textus Receptus have but slight support, having probably been supplied from Romans 8:4. They are out of place here.) "Nunc venit ad liberationem et libertatem. Non autem ponit adversativam δὲ, _autem,_ sed conclusivam a!ra, erg

FOR WHOM HE DID FOREKNOW,.... The foreknowledge of God here, does not intend his prescience of all things future; by which he foreknows and foretells things to come, and which distinguishes him from all other gods; and is so called, not with respect to himself, with whom all things are present, but with respect to us, and which is eternal, universal, certain, and infallible; for in this sense he foreknows all men, and if this was the meaning here, then all men would be predestinated, conformed to the image of Christ, called by grace, justified and glorified; whereas they are a special people, whom God has foreknown: nor is this foreknowledge to be understood of any provision or foresight of the good works, holiness, faith, and perseverance of men therein, upon which God predestinates them to happiness; since this would make something out of God, and not his good pleasure, the cause of pr...

Romans 8:1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit._ To my mind one of the sweetest words of that verse is that little word now. «There is, therefore, now no condemnation» at this very moment. Walking under the power of the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus, there is, therefore, now no condemnation to believers. It is a logical conclusion, too, from something that went before. You and I are not absolved from sin apart from the truth, but there is a great truth at the back of it which necessitates it. «There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.» Romans 8:2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Je

CHAPTER 8 _ 1. In Christ; no Condemnation but Deliverance. (Romans 8:1 .)_ 2. Flesh and Spirit. (Romans 8:5 .) 3. The Body and the Spirit. (Romans 8:9 .) 4. Sons and Heirs of God. (Romans 8:12 .) 5. The Time of Travail and Groaning; the Future Redemption. (Romans 8:18 .) 6. The intercession of the Spirit. (Romans 8:26 .) 7. The Saints Calling; the Challenge and the Assurance. ...

THE CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE. Romans 8:28. One thing we do know, that all goes well for those that love God including their worst sufferings (Romans 8:18; cf. Romans 5:3). Romans 8:29 f. This assurance rests on God's manifest purpose toward them a purpose disclosed in five successive steps: foreknowledge, pre-ordination, call, justification, glorification. The foreknowledge covers everything about the persons concerned; God never acts by guess (_cf. Romans 3:3_, Romans 11:2