https://youtu.be/WptP2GeOYh0
In our verse by verse study of Romans last time we started with Rom 8:29; that starts with explaining the first step in God's plan called "thinking." Every believer was in the thinking of God in eternity past and therefore thinking must be a part of our function because God must come into our thinking for us to be saved.
"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 what God does in Romans 8:28.
Then "hos" (whom) used as a direct object with the aorist active indicative of the verb "proginosko" (ginsko = to know + pro = before) that means to know beforehand, to know in advance, that means 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 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 information.
First of all there was God's omniscience where He knew everything that would ever happen, as well as all of the alternatives. However it is reality that is comprised only of what actually does happen is all that goes into the God's decree.
Then comes foreknowledge or foreordination. Foreknowledge only deals only with the information that is in the decree. Omniscience deals with everything that could have possibly happened but foreknowledge only deals with what will happen.
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.
Step one only describes reality in the God's thinking in terms of omniscience, but omniscience includes other things, and so omniscience leads to the decree that results 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 comes before God's decree whereas foreknowledge comes after God's decree.
God's omniscience knows perfectly and eternally all that is knowable, whether 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 God's decree.
Foreknowledge, therefore, refers only to those things that are ratified 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 actions that occur to the objects but there is no chronology regarding the order of the actions expressed in Rom 8:29; In the Church Age God's object is God's royal family, the church so these actions will occur for the church.
It must be clearly understood that the use of foreknowledge in this passage means that it addresses believers only because believers comprise God's royal family it is not 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 individuals. There is no chronological order here because all that is being said is that every Church Age believer is the beneficiary of being foreknown, predestined and elected nothing else is discussed.
Placing foreknowledge before the decree chronologically would imply that there is another cause and God is only aware of it, and that would be blasphemy because it contradicts God's essence.
Actions are broken down into steps to explain how believers are the objects or products of these actions demonstrating that God's ultimate objective is God's glory that results in ultimate intrinsic good for those who are in God's plan.
God's decree establishes reality so nothing is foreknown until it is decreed. When we get down to the decree only what actually occurs is fed from God's omniscience into the decree so foreknowledge only deals with reality.
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. No believer is left out of the first step: God's thinking. God's thinking related to foreknowledge tells us that God has a plan for every believer's 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. Step 2 is the God's purpose: reality is in the decree of God's plan.
"He also predestinated" - the adjunctive use of the conjunction "kai" (and or also). The verb is the aorist active indicative of "proorizo" (predestine) it means to decide upon something before hand, to predestinate someone as something, to predesign, or to foreordain.
The verb refers to God's decree that is His plan from eternity past. As the next few words indicate we are dealing with that part of the God's decree or plan that is connected with God's royal family in the Church Age.
The culminative aorist tense views God's decree for the Church Age believer in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of the existing results of the last three steps.
The active voice: God the Father the author of the God's plan, produces the action of the verb in eternity past. The indicative mood is declarative for the doctrinal reality of God's decree and its action on Church Age believers.
"to be conformed to the image of his Son" 'to become" is added in the English translation so the phrase starts with the accusative masculine plural from an adjective, "symmorphos" (conformed).
This is the formation of God's royal family from the imputation of God's righteousness as salvation combined with being conformed to the thinking of Jesus from metabolized doctrine in the soul.
"to the image of the Son" the descriptive genitive singular from the noun "eikon" (image or copy). With it is a possessive genitive from "huios" (Son) with the definite article "ho" (of the) referring specifically to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Plus the possessive genitive from the intensive pronoun "autos" (His) is used as a personal pronoun. This is a reference to God's unique Son Jesus Christ in a perfect resurrection body.
It is a reference to ultimate sanctification that is the future of every Church Age believer. We see here how God creates the target, the home that is the antecedents for the blessings and the rewards of eternity that will be imputed at the judgment seat of Christ.
This is another way of stating the glory of God's plan that is described in Rom 8:28. We are conformed to the image of His Son. That means we have the resurrection body as the target, home, or system of affinity.
There is an affinity between the rewards and blessings of eternity imputed to that resurrection body because hey fit together perfectly.
"that he would be the firstborn" "eis" (to) plus the accusative plural from the definite article, "ho (the) plus the present active infinitive of the verb "eimi" (to be). The static present is for a condition that perpetually exists.
The active voice describes Jesus Christ in a resurrection body as producing the action of the verb in His ascension and session. Then infinitive is a part of the idiom that is the infinitive of purpose.
The word "he" comes from the accusative singular of the pronoun "autos" (he) that is used as the third person pronoun. It is in the singular so it is a third person singular pronoun "that He would be."
Next is the object of the infinitive in the idiom, the accusative singular direct object from "prototokos" (firstborn). Being the firstborn involves rulership Christ is the ruler of the Church at present and will be the ruler of the world at the Second Advent.
Christ is a priest ordained as a royal priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
And the double portion Christ has two kingdoms of believers: Israel that He rules as the son of David and the Church that He rules as the King of kings. This verse emphasizes Jesus' rulership of the Church, God's royal family.
"with many brethren" the preposition "eis" (with) plus the locative plural of the adjective "polys" (many) plus the noun "adelphos" (brothers) referring to God's royal family.
Expanded Translation Rom 8:29;"We know that whom he foreknew, he also foreordained (predestinated) conformed ones to the image of his Son, that he would be the firstborn with many brothers."
Here we see that God's royal family was established in eternity past. Jesus is the firstborn of the royal family, therefore its ruler, its high priest, as well as possessing the double portion heritage of the first-born.
The many brothers are Church Age believers that comprise God's royal family. All of this is designed to explain God's overall plan for Church Age believers as members of God's royal family so they can understand how God's decree relates His imputations.