#39 Top 40 New Testament Passages: All Things Work Together for Good (Romans 8:28)

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, 

who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Today we climb the Mount Everest of the New Testament. Romans chapter 8 has the distinction of being considered the best summation of a Christian worldview. The chapter shouts hope! The letter to the Romans is considered to be Paul's best work, his magnum opus. It is the most systematic discussion of the Christian faith in the New Testament. One verse in the latter third of the chapter is a beacon for Christian hope. All things in this life God works together for good. 

In order for the glorious crescendo, which is Romans 8, to be properly heard, we must work our way through the previous 7 chapters. Paul opens the letter to the Roman church by expressing his desire to visit them, for he has heard of them, but has not yet been able to come to Rome on his missionary travels. Paul declares himself an apostle to the Gentiles through Christ and for Christ. Read how Paul describes Jesus.

...the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord... (Romans 1:3-4)

Jesus is the promised messiah, the Son of David, and the Son of God by the Holy Spirit empowering His ministry and His resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is vindication and proof of His divinity and status as Son of God. The resurrection of Jesus is the prime example of God working all things together for good. For the cross was meant to be a shameful execution, utter humiliation and defeat, but God turned the cross into the glorious symbol of salvation. Even death could not defeat the the life that is Jesus Christ. God turned an ugly curse into a beautiful blessing for the whole cosmos.

Paul speaks of his ministry saying,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

These two verses become the platform from which Paul will begin his discourse on righteousness by faith. The good news about Jesus is powerful enough to save. Those who trust the message of the gospel are given power to become the righteousness of God.

Paul turns his thoughts to the wrath of God upon humankind because of idolatry and wickedness. Paul argues that everyone knows God exists because God has made it plain through what God created. 

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. (Romans 1:19-23)

Abandoned to their own imagination, pagans worshiped in ignorance and sinful passions. The very definition of idolatry is "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." (Romans 1:25) We can see plenty of contemporary examples of idolatry. We may not think of it as worship, but consider where most of your money and time goes, and you will see what you prize above God. As Jesus said, "Where your money is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21) We give too much of ourselves to things, places and people. Idolatry is a trap that does not lead to life. Rather it leads to enslavement, like any addiction.

The selfish pursuits of idol worship spawned all manner of sinful behavior. As Paul lists the sins of humanity, his Jewish Christian audience might see themselves as better than the Gentile Christians, because they observe God's Law. But if they are honest with themselves they will acknowledge that they too have fallen short. Paul makes it clear that the law exposes sin. The law does not make one righteous.

For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20)

Then Paul introduces the righteousness that comes by faith. If the Law exists to make us aware of sin, then how are we saved? We are saved by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus... (Romans 3:22b-24)

Salvation is a gift freely given to all who believe. And because salvation is the free gift of God's righteous mercy, who can boast about any spiritual or religious achievement? Who can consider themselves superior? No one.

Paul will continue to argue the point that no one is made right in God's sight by observing the law, for all who attempt to keep the law find that they cannot do so without failure. Trying and failing to follow all the rules makes us aware of sin at work in us. 

For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:14-20)

Because all humanity suffers the same enslavement to sin's power, God acted in Jesus Christ to set us free. Faith in the gospel message that Christ died for us upon the cross and rose in victory over death. is the key to freedom from sin and death.

Right standing before God will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. (Romans 4:24) 

Salvation doesn't stop with atonement. God forgives our sin and cancels our debt through the cross of Christ. But the real redemption comes from the power of God given to those who hope in Christ. It is  a power greater than sinful temptation and greater than death. Grace is God's love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Grace empowers us to live according to the Spirit's guidance and leave behind sinful inclinations. By learning to live by the Spirit, we become the very righteousness of God that law obedience intended. Our baptism symbolizes our dying with Christ to sin's power over us, and our rising with Christ into a new life empowered by grace. Living by the Spirit we become more and more like Jesus, who is life.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22)

And so Paul reminds us that we are freed from sin, so don't continue to live under sin's control. Instead embrace the new reality which is life lived in freedom through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  

So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. (Romans 8:12-14)

Paul tells us that we know we are God's children because the Spirit of God speaks to our spirit. The Spirit fills us with desire for our Father in heaven, such that we cry out Abba Father! As beloved children of God we share in the Christ's glorious inheritance, that is heaven! Our hope in heaven, the new creation, makes the sufferings of mortal life seem not so important. The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of redemption for all creation, a glorious freedom we will experience as new creatures in Christ!

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved.

Paul tells us that creation is about to be set free from its bondage to decay. All creation will share in the resurrection of Jesus, for it means new creation! The old life with its bondage to sin and death, to suffering and tragedy, disease and melancholy is gone! A new heaven and earth are coming and Christ and His Church are the firstfruits! Though we suffer and groan under the weight of mortality in this life, hope revives us. Knowledge of our promised future enlivens us. We await resurrection in hopeful expectation!

And we are not alone in our mortal groaning, our anguished pining for our future home. The Spirit of Christ fill us and helps us. In Him we have a continual reminder of our promised future. Sometimes life can be so hard that we even find it difficult to pray. How wonderful to know the Spirit helps us to pray with sighs too deep for words! (Romans 8:26-27)

Knowing that God is always working to free creation from death's grip, we can trust that everything that happens in life is something God will use for good. The good, the bad, and even the ugly events in this world God can redeem. God can turn our worst nightmares and biggest setbacks into something good, just as God turned the shameful cross into our symbol of hope.

And so one of my all time favorite passages guides me through life.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

If you walk in the Spirit, and not in the flesh; If you align your life with God's redemptive mission; if you love God and follow the way of Jesus, then you can count on God working out His good purposes in your life through everything. All things, not just some things, but all things God works together for good for you!

Far from living abandoned like orphans in a broken world, we are adopted children of God and co-heirs with Christ to all the riches of the world to come. God is with us! And God is working to set all of life free. With such a hopeful worldview we can understand why some have called Romans 8 the Mount Everest of the New Testament.

Paul brings this hope filled chapter to a glorious finale.

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31, 35, 37-39)

Nothing in the universe can separate us from the love of God, not even death. And certainly not the next frustration in your life. Consider it all, even the difficulties, to be good in the hands of your loving Father. 

For all shall be well. 

And all shall be well. 

And all manner of thing shall be well.

- Julian of Norwich