Romans 8.28a-The Spirit Works Together All The Christian's Circumstances For The Good, i.e. Conformity To The Image Of Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday January 7, 2009
Romans: Romans 8:28a-On Behalf Of The Christian, The Spirit Works All Things Together For Good
Lesson # 274
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:28.
This evening we will begin a three part study of Romans 8:28.
The verse is composed of three parts and over the next three Bible classes we will study each part.
Paul teaches in Romans 8:28 that for those characterized by love for God, namely, the Christian, the Spirit works all things together for good, i.e. conformity to the image of Christ, for the chosen ones in accordance with God’s predetermined plan
This evening we will study Romans 8:28a and in this passage, Paul teaches that on behalf of the Christian, the Spirit works all things together for good, which refers to conformity to the image of Christ.
Then, we will note Romans 8:28b, in which Paul teaches that the Christian is characterized by love for God.
We will complete the verse by noting Romans 8:28c, which teaches that the Christian is chosen by God in accordance with God’s predetermined plan.
Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
“And” is the “emphatic” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which introduces a statement that advances upon Paul’s statement in Romans 8:26-27 and intensifies it.
In Romans 8:26, Paul teaches that the Holy Spirit assists the Christian in his weakness because many times in adversity the Christian is totally uncertain as to what to pray for in accordance with the will of the Father but the Spirit Himself intercedes for the Christian with inexpressible groanings.
In Romans 8:27, Paul provides information regarding the Spirit’s intercession, which explains or clarifies how the Spirit’s intercession can be heard by the Father when this intercession is with inexpressible groanings.
He teaches that God the Father knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of the Father.
Now, here in Romans 8:28, the apostle Paul develops further this statement in verse 27 by advancing upon it and intensifying it.
He does this by presenting the ultimate purpose of the Spirit’s intercessory ministry, namely to accomplish the Father’s eternal purpose for the Christian, which is to conform the Christian into the image of Christ according to Romans 8:29.
Romans 8:29, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Paul’s statement in Romans 8:28 concludes his teaching regarding the Spirit’s various ministries on behalf of the Christian, which appear in Romans 8:1-27.
In Romans 8:28, we have the “emphatic” use of the conjunction de, which introduces a statement that advances upon Paul’s statement in Romans 8:26-27 regarding the intercessory prayer ministry of the Spirit on behalf of the Christian and intensifies it.
The apostle Paul develops further this statement in verse 27 by advancing upon it and intensifying it in verse 28 by presenting the ultimate purpose of the Spirit’s intercessory ministry, namely to accomplish the Father’s eternal purpose, which is to conform the Christian into the image of Christ according to Romans 8:29.
Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
“We know” is the verb oida (oi‚da) which denotes that Paul and his fellow Christians in Rome to whom he was writing this epistle “knew without a doubt” that the Spirit works all things together for good for those who love God, to those called in keeping with the Father’s purpose.
The revelation that Paul received from the Spirit is recorded in Romans 5:1-8:27 is the basis for his and his readers’ confidence that the Spirit was working together all things for the good, which refers to conformity to the image of Christ.
Paul and his readers knew for certain that the Spirit works all things together for good for those who love God because the Father’s purpose for delivering them from sin through the death and resurrection of Christ and affecting that deliverance through the Holy Spirit was that they would rule over creation with Christ.
“That” is the conjunction hoti (o^ti) (hot-ee), which is used with the indicative mood of the verbs sunergeo, “works together” in order to form an appositional clause that it is presenting the content of what Paul and his fellow Christians in Rome were totally certain and confident of.
“Work together” is the verb sunergeo (sunergevw) (soon-erg-eh-o), which is a compound word composed of the preposition sun, “with” and the verb ergazomai, “to work,” thus the word literally means, “to work with.”
There has been a long and considerable debate concerning the subject “God.”
The debate is regarding whether or not Paul intended to say in original text of Romans 8:28 that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good” or did he say, “we know that for those who love God, He works all things together for their good.”
If the latter is the case, then who is “He,” the Father or the Spirit?
There are several factors that indicate that the traditional reading is incorrect and that the latter reading is correct and that “He” is a reference to the Spirit rather than the Father.
First of all, as Gordon Fee points out Paul never uses panta, “all things” as the subject of an active verb (Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, page 588).
He states that the only exceptions are in response to the slogan, “all things are permitted” where Paul keeps the “formula” intact with “but not all things profit/edify” (1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23) (Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, page 588).
Fee also points out that where panta appears as the object of a personal verb, it almost always precedes the verb as we have here in Romans 8:28 (See 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 2:10; 9:12, 23, 25; 10:31; 11:2; 13:7 [4x]; 14:26; 15:27; 16:14; 2 Corinthians 6:10; 7:14; Ephesians 1:22; 6:21) (Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, page 588).
Furthermore, he states that in the two other occurrences of this verb sunergeo in the writings of Paul (1 Corinthians 16:16; 2 Corinthians 6:1), this verb has a personal subject (Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, page 588).
This leaves us with the question as to whether “God (the Father)” or “the Spirit” is the more natural antecedent to the “He” that functions as the subject of the verb sunergeo, “works together.”
The evidence for “God (the Father)” is the fact that God is most recently mentioned personal noun since it is found in the phrase “those who love God,” thus, it would function as the natural antecedent.
Further support for “God” is that God is clearly the subject in the verbs that appear in Romans 8:29.
However, there is weighty evidence for “the Spirit” as the subject of the verb sunergeo in Romans 8:28.
First of all, in Romans 8:1-27, the Holy Spirit has been the conceptual subject throughout.
In these verses Paul has been teaching and reminding his readers as to the various ministries of the Holy Spirit on their behalf.
In fact, in the immediate context in Romans 8:26-27, the Spirit is the grammatical subject where Paul has been discussing the intercessory prayer ministry of the Spirit on behalf of the Christian.
The most natural way to read Romans 8:28 would be to assume the continuation of the same subject, the Spirit as in Romans 8:26-27.
Also we must take into consideration that beginning in Romans 8:16-27, Paul has been using sun-compound verbs, which carry through to Romans 9:1.
In several of these verbs, the Holy Spirit is the subject.
This is the case in Romans 8:16 where the Spirit is the subject of the verb summartureo, “bears witness to.”
In Romans 8:26, the Spirit is the subject of the verb sunantilambanomai, “assists.”
Therefore, in Romans 8:28, it is not unreasonable to assume that Paul is continuing his discussion regarding the work of the Spirit by using the Spirit as the subject of the sunergeo, “works together.”
Now, it must be noted that if the Father was the subject of sunergeo in Romans 8:28, the Christian would still have the same assurance.
Also, further indicating that the Spirit is the subject of the verb sunergeo in Romans 8:28 and not God the Father is that in Scripture the Father is always seen active or working in the life of the Christian through the agency of the Spirit!
In Romans chapter eight, Paul has been discussing that God works in the life of the Christian through the Spirit who appropriates the Christian’s deliverance from the sin nature accomplished by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Romans chapter eight clearly teaches that it is the Spirit and not the Father or the Son who enables or empowers the Christian to experience sanctification.
The Father completes the Christian’s sanctification through the omnipotence of the Spirit as clearly taught by Paul in Romans 8:11.
Therefore, since God works on behalf of the Christian through the agency of His Son and the Spirit, the verb sunergeo could not have the Father as the subject.
Also, it was the Father’s plan for the Christian to become conformed to the image of Christ but it is the Spirit who is the agency the Father uses to accomplish this for the Christian.
So in Romans 8:28, the verb sunergeo has the Spirit as its subject and denotes that the Spirit works through the adverse and prosperous circumstances in the Christian’s life for good in the sense of conforming the Christian into the image of Christ.
Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
“All things” is the adjective pas (pa$), which refers to the various circumstances in life and not simply adversity since any circumstance or anything in life, even the Christian’s sins, can by God’s grace contribute toward the “good,” which refers to conforming the Christian into the image of Christ.
“For good” is composed of the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), “for” and the accusative neuter singular form of the adjective agathos (a)gaqov$) (ag-ath-os), “good.”
In Romans 8:28, the adjective agathos means, “divine good of intrinsic quality and character” and refers to conforming the Christian into the image of Jesus Christ as indicated by the prepositional phrase kata prothesin, “according to His purpose” that appears in Romans 8:28 and by Paul’s statements in Romans 8:29-30.
Romans 8:29-30, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
In Romans 8:28, the preposition eis functions as a marker of purpose indicating that for those who love the Father, the Spirit works each and every circumstance in life together “for the purpose” of good, i.e. conformity to the image of Christ.