Why We Believe

(1) The foreknowledge of God is part of God’s electing process. The call of God is not based in foreknowledge but in his purpose.

(2) The purpose of God is that we be conformed to the image of Jesus (v. 29 summorphous tēs eikonos “that we might take on the same appearance as”). We shall not just be similar but we will come into the “same realm of power” as he (cf. 2 Peter 1:4 theias koinõnoi phuseõs “fellowship in the divine nature”). Christ keeps his special position as firstborn, but we share with him the same Father.

(3) Romans 8:28-30 contain a series of past tense verbs—foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified. All of these events happened before this present time including glorification. Throughout Scripture glorification (doxaxõ) means “praise, honor, and magnify” and is always directed toward God. Only with reference to resurrection is it directed to men, first with Jesus in John 7:39, John 12:23, Acts 3:13, 1 Peter 1:21 and finally with Romans 8:30. However, we have not yet been glorified in time. Still, God sees it as a fait acompli! He knows the outcome of events before they happen.

Ephesians 1:3-5. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will (NIV). The blessing is initiated by the Father in Christ (Christ is our blessing, v. 3)

(1) Our election (eklegomai verb indicative aorist middle 3rd person singular “he choose/ elected for Himself”) was made “before the foundation of the world (supralapsarianism).”

(2) “In love” belongs with v. 5. Our predestination was an act of God’s love in accordance with His kind intention (eudokian noun accusative feminine singular common--eudokia, good will, pleasure, favor; desire, purpose, choice)

Everything Operates in Our Universe According to the Divine Will

Psalm 139:14-16. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (NIV)” In God’s book all the parts of David were formed before they existed. It is God’s providential work that leads David, in a state of awe, to praise and glorify God.

Romans 9:14-29. How is the will of God on the one hand, and the will of his creation (man) on the other hand, related to each other? “It is not human volition which is decisive for God’s action; it is God’s saving will which is the pre-condition for all human volition.”⁷ This passage is not about individual salvation, but the larger picture of God excercising His sovereign will to shift focus from the Jews to the grafting in of gentiles. The responsibility of men to act on God’s word is not even discussed here.

The point is that God uses both the responsive and the unresponsive in His plan of salvation in which though all act out the script of God, only those whose part it is to honor God reap the benefit of His plan. The question must not be how God can fault disobedience if it fits into His plan, but why He endures for so long all those who are disobedient!! That God saves anyone is the real mystery—the very emphasis of this passage is that God wills to act in mercy at all.

In Scripture, the essential difference from Stoicism is the teaching that God is involved in the actions of men. God is not aloof and uninvolved with men’s actions. He is not a force that runs its course. The Providence of God is the outworking of God’s purposes in the actions of men. The actions of men do make a difference but in the end God’s purposes are made known.