Romans 8:29 - Meaning and Application

The apostle has already listed many parts of the happiness of true believers. Here he shows the ground of all of them, and he places it in predestination, meaning God’s choice beforehand. These great blessings come to us through the covenant promise, but they rest on God’s purpose, which surely brings everything to pass.

Christ, the one who purchased salvation, was not meant to labor in vain or spend his life for nothing. Instead, God gave him a remnant, a people who will belong to him, so that the Lord’s good purpose would succeed through him. To explain this, Paul gives the order of the causes of salvation, like a golden chain that cannot be broken. It has four links.

“Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” God planned from eternity that all whom he intended for glory and happiness would first be led through grace and holiness. This does not mean he foresaw they would be holy, and then chose them because of that. God’s counsel does not depend on the weak and changing will of people. His foreknowledge of his saints is the same as his everlasting love for them (Jeremiah 31:3).

In Scripture, God’s knowing often means his loving and acknowledging as his own. So it says, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God” (1 Peter 1:2). The same word is also used for “foreordained” (1 Peter 1:20). When God says, “I know you by name” (Exodus 33:12), he means more than bare knowledge. He means special favor. So those whom God foreknew, he chose beforehand to be like Christ.

Holiness means being shaped to match the image of Christ. This includes the whole work of sanctification, which means being made holy. Christ is the great pattern for believers. To think like Christ, live like Christ, and bear suffering patiently like Christ, this is holiness. Christ is the exact image of the Father, and believers are to be shaped into Christ’s image. Through Christ, God’s love is restored to us and God’s likeness is renewed in us. These two things are part of human happiness.

All whom God has loved in this way from eternity, he has also marked out beforehand for this likeness. We cannot make ourselves like Christ on our own. Our giving ourselves to Christ begins with God’s giving us to Christ. In giving us to Christ, God also planned that we should become like him. So it is wrong to say that election, God’s choosing, encourages sin, as if the goal and the path were separate, or happiness and holiness were separate. No one can know their election except by seeing whether they are becoming like Christ. All the chosen are chosen to holiness (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Surely it cannot tempt anyone to live like the world to learn that they were predestined to be like Christ.

The main purpose here is to honor Jesus Christ, so that he would be “the firstborn among many brothers.” That means Christ has the honor of being both the great pattern and the great ruler, and in this, as in all things, he has first place. Under the law, the firstborn was dedicated to God, and he stood as the head of the family, with the rest depending on him. In the family of believers, Christ must have that place.

And we should thank God that there are many brothers. They may seem few in one place at one time, but together they will be a great number. So there is a set number chosen beforehand, and this makes Christ’s work certain to succeed. If the outcome had been left uncertain, depending on the changing will of man, Christ might have ended up the firstborn among only a few brothers, or none at all, like a captain without soldiers or a prince without subjects. To prevent that, and to make sure he would have many brothers, the decree is sure and absolute. He will certainly see his seed. There is a remnant chosen to be like his image, and God’s purpose for them will surely be fulfilled in their holiness and happiness. So, despite all the opposition of darkness, Christ will be the firstborn among many, very many brothers.

“Those whom he predestined he also called.” This is not only the outward call of the gospel, which reaches many who are not chosen (Matthew 20:16; Matthew 22:14). It is the inward, effective call, which reaches the heart. The outward call comes to the ear only, but this call reaches the heart. All whom God marked out beforehand for grace and glory, he also calls in time.

This call is effective when we actually respond to it. We respond when the Spirit draws us, convicts our conscience of guilt and judgment, opens our understanding, bends our will, persuades us, and gives us strength to receive Christ in the promises. He makes us willing on the day of his power. It is a call that turns us from self and the world to God, Christ, and heaven as our goal. It also turns us from sin and empty living to grace, holiness, and seriousness as our path. This is the gospel call.

God called them so that his purpose, according to election, would stand. We are called to the same thing for which we were chosen. So the way to make our election sure is to make our calling sure (2 Peter 1:10).

“Those whom he called he also justified.” To justify means to declare righteous. All who are truly called are justified, forgiven of guilt, and accepted as righteous through Jesus Christ. They are right in God’s court. No sin they have ever committed will rise up to condemn them. The record is crossed out, the bond is canceled, the sentence is removed, and the charge is reversed. They are no longer treated as criminals, but are received and loved as friends and favorites. Blessed is the person whose sin is forgiven in this way.

No one is justified except those who are truly called. Those who resist the gospel call remain under guilt and judgment. “Those whom he justified he also glorified.” When the power of sin is broken in effective calling, and the guilt of sin is removed in justification, what remains to block the way to glory is taken away. Nothing can then stand between that soul and glory.

Paul speaks of glorification as if it were already done, because it is so certain. God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling.” In the eternal glorification of all the elect, God’s loving purpose is fully completed. This was his aim all along, to bring them to heaven. Nothing less than that glory could fill out his covenant relationship with them as their God. So in all he does for them and in them, he keeps that goal in view. Are they chosen? It is for salvation. Are they called? It is to his kingdom and glory. Are they born again? It is for an inheritance that cannot fade. Are they afflicted? It is to work for them an eternal weight of glory. And the one who began all this is the same throughout.

It is God himself who predestined, called, justified, and glorified. The Lord alone led his people, and no foreign god shared in his work. Human wills change so easily, and human strength is so weak, that if any part of this depended on us, the whole work would fail.

But God has taken the whole work on himself, from beginning to end. He does this so we may keep depending on him alone, stay under his rule, and give all the praise to him. In the end, every crown will be laid before his throne. This should greatly strengthen our faith and hope, because God’s way and work are perfect.

He who laid the foundation will also finish the building. The final stone will be set in place with joyful shouts, and our eternal work will be to cry, “Grace, grace to it.”