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In our verse-by-verse study of Romans we are in Rom 8:28; at the phrase "God causes all things to work together for good."
We noted that the "all things" include the undeserved suffering of the mature believer in producing the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of doctrinal reality.
"for good" is the preposition "eis" (to, for or for the purpose of) with the accusative singular of "agathos" (good) so it is "for the purpose or for the object of good." "Agthos" is used for intrinsic good from God.
It is used here to describe intrinsic value in terms of the advantages, the privileges, and the rights from that hope of blessing from God in the eternal state.
There is no definite article making it anartharos so it emphasizes the quality of the good produced by God's plan for the believer.
From biological birth humanity has three hopes. The first hope is salvation, and that hope becomes a reality when one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. The second hope is blessing from God in time, and this is for the believer only because it requires the imputation of God's perfect righteousness.
Each successive hope is replaced by a reality. The second hope is blessing in time, and as the believer advances to spiritual maturity there is blessing from God so it is no longer a hope because it is a reality.
That puts the believer into the third hope of blessing in eternity, but that will not become reality until the judgment seat of Christ following the exit resurrection of the Church at which time it becomes reality.
But right now in time all maturing believers in time are anticipating the third hope, and so this is for them because all things, including undeserved suffering and God is working all of those blessings together with the suffering for good.
Combining Rom 8:28; with Rom 8:23-25; inserts the predicate of undeserved suffering at spiritual maturity. Biological birth is condemnation from spiritual death with the potential of salvation where hope is replaced by reality of faith in Christ and eternal life.
When hope for blessings from God in time is replaced by the reality of spiritual maturity there is a new hope of blessing from God in eternity that is the third hope that is the prosperity of blessing from God in eternity imputed to the eternal resurrection body.
The prosperity and undeserved suffering of spiritual maturity is a down payment that is the guarantee of eternal prosperity.
"to those who love God" is a dative plural indirect object from the definite article "ho" (those) that is used as a demonstrative pronoun, calling special attention to the mature believer. The indirect object refers exclusively to mature believers who are the beneficiaries of the plan so it is also a dative of advantage.
Plus the present active participle of "agapo" (love) that refers to personal love for God and, the mature believer's occupation with the person of Jesus Christ as their role model. The retroactive positional present tense describes what started in the past, at spiritual maturity, and continues into the present with awareness of the third hope.
The third hope is subject of Rom 8:28; The active voice: the mature believer produces the action of the verb as a result of developing maximum doctrine in the soul. The participle is circumstantial, emphasizing the fact that in this verse only applies to mature believers.
The accusative singular direct object of "Theos" (God) with the definite article "ho" (the) that emphasizes God the Father the author of God's unique plan for "those who love the God." To love the God is to know the God referring to the sum total of the God's attributes as well as details regarding His plan, purpose and will and how it all works.
"to them who are the called" starts with the dative plural of advantage and indirect object from the definite article "ho" (them) that is used as a demonstrative pronoun. The demonstrative pronoun calls special attention to mature believers.
Next is the present active participle from "eimi" (being or to be), that is a static present tense that describes something that always exists.
The active voice: the in this case mature believers produce the action of the verb although all believers are called because God has a plan for every believer to do this. 1Tim 2:3-4;
Rom 8:28; The participle is circumstantial for the fact that mature believers have acquired and deployed the doctrine under the principle of election. God desires every believer to attain this doctrinal status.
Plus the dative plural of "kletos" (called) that means "called to privilege." It is used technically to refer to the doctrine of election.
"according to his purpose" the preposition "kata" (according or according to) plus the accusative singular of "prothesis" (purpose), referring to both the purpose and plan of God and a good translation is "according to a predetermined plan."
The participle is circumstantial for the fact that mature believers are under the principle of election, as are all believers "to those who are." Plus the dative plural of "kletos" (called) that means "called to special privilege." It is used technically to refer to the doctrine of election.
Notice the similarity between this and "the all things." of Eph 1:11;
Expanded Translation Rom 8:28; "We know in fact that to those who love the God (mature believers), all things work together for the purpose of good to those who are the called ones according to the predetermined plan."
Rom 8:29; starts with the first step in God's plan called "thinking." The believer was in the thinking of God in eternity past and therefore thinking must be a part of our function, God must come into our thinking.
"Because those whom He foreknow" starts with the conjunction "hoti" (for or because) that is used after verbs of cognizance in order to express the content of what was understood. It indicates a knowledge of doctrine, that includes the understanding of Romans 8:28.
Then "hos" (whom) used as a direct object. Then the aorist active indicative of the verb "proginosko" (ginsko = to know + pro = before) that means to know beforehand, to know in advance, or to have foreknowledge of something.
In the New Testament this verb is only used with God as the subject. The aorist tense is a constantive aorist that gathers into one entirety God's foreknowledge. The next two verses are an outline of the various steps in God's predetermined plan.
The active voice: since the suffix of the verb is in the third person singular, the subject is God the Father, the author of the God's plan. However God the Son and the God the Holy Spirit also possess this foreknowledge.
First of all there was God's omniscience where He knew everything that would ever happen, as well as all of the alternatives. However reality that is only what actually does happen is all that goes into the God's decree.
Then comes foreknowledge or foreordination. Foreknowledge deals only with what is in the decree. Omniscience deals with not only what is in the decree but everything that could have possibly happened.
So it all goes together in chronological order. "For we know that whom he foreknew." The active voice explains that God the Father produces the action.
Here step one describes reality in the God's thinking in terms of omniscience, but omniscience includes other things, and so omniscience leads to the decree that result in foreknowledge. The indicative mood is the declarative indicative for the reality of the function of God's foreknowledge.
God's Foreknowledge is far more limited in its scope than God's omniscience. Omniscience knows the alternatives; foreknowledge only deals with reality because omniscience precedes the decree and foreknowledge follows the decree.
In omniscience God knows perfectly and eternally all that is knowable, whether it is actual or possible. Omniscience knows reality and all of the alternatives to reality. However, in foreknowledge we are only dealing with reality because foreknowledge comes after the decree.
Foreknowledge, therefore, refers only to those things that are adopted within God's plan as reality. In omniscience God knows all that become reality and He also knows the infinite number of alternatives regarding what could have become reality but did not. It must be understood that chronologically there is an order, but Romans 8 does not factor in chronological order.
Therefore it is important to understand that election, foreknowledge, and predestination (also called foreordination), are coincidental with respect to the objects so there is no chronology expressed in Rom 8:29; but there is coincidence. In the Church Age God's object is God's royal family, the church.
It must be clearly understood that the use of foreknowledge in this passage means that it only addresses believers it is not even cognizant of unbelievers because unbelievers are not in God's decree.
In Rom 8 rather than chronological order we have the doctrinal principle that the foreknown, the predestined, and the elect happen to the same person. There is no chronological order here because all that is being said is that the Church Age believer is the beneficiary of being foreknown, predestined and elected.
Placing foreknowledge before the decree chronologically would imply that there is another cause and God is merely aware of it, and that would be blasphemy because it contradicts God's essence.
Simultaneously things are broken down into steps to indicate that believers are the object or product of these mechanics, thus demonstrating once again that God's ultimate objective is God's glory that is the ultimate intrinsic good.
Only the God's decree establishes reality so nothing can be foreknown until it is first decreed. When we get down to the decree only what actually occurs is fed from the omniscience of God into the decree so foreknowledge only deals with cognizance of what actually happens in the decree.
When it comes to chronology we must conclude that God's omniscience and God's self-knowledge precede the decree but election and foreknowledge are part of the decree.
Since the God's decree establishes certainty, nothing can be foreknown until it is first decreed. So the order is omniscience, then the decree, then foreknowledge.
Since foreknowledge deals only with what God decrees it emphasizes to us that in eternity past every believer in Jesus was in God's thinking.
God's thinking included every believer. No believer is left out of the first step: God's thinking. God's thinking related to foreknowledge indicates that God has a plan for your life.
Everything was decreed simultaneously, not in stages so the mechanical breakdown in this context is designed to relate believers to God's plan giving them confidence and assurance by setting them up for a system of potentials in a system of hope under God's grace policy.
Rom 8:29; "Because those whom he foreknew." Step 1 is reality in God's thinking from the decree that is described as foreknowledge.