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Romans 8:29-30
Romans 8:29 begins with the word “For” (NKJV) and indicates that this verse is a continuance or result of the preceding verses. In this case Romans 8:29-30 is an explanation of what is stated in Romans 8:28. We know from Romans 8:28, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Paul explains this in Romans 8:29-30 as he states, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” The LORD spoke to the prophet Jeremiah and said to him in Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV), “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” And the LORD spoke to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 44:2 (ESV) saying, “Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you;”.
This is a promise of God’s supreme authority over all creation.
Many people believe that God’s calling is ultimate and irreversible on the lives of those whom He calls. Others believe that as God calls us, it is our responsibility to decide for ourselves if we desire to follow His calling or not. The Bible teaches us in the words of Jesus in John 6:44 (NKJV), “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” And in John 6:65, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” In these two verses it appears that God has the ultimate authority and is responsible to “call” us to Him unto salvation. But in this “calling” is the need for a response to the calling. John 1:11-13 (HCSB) declares, “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.” The Apostle Paul proclaims in Romans 10:9-10 (ESV), “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
I believe in this mystery that there is some amount of responsibility on both parts of God’s ultimate authority and in the role of man’s responsibility to God in recognizing Him as the ultimate authority in our lives. 1 John 4:10 (NKJV) declares, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” And in 1 John 4:16 the Apostle John states, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” We learn here that God is love. True love cannot be forced but is offered; and to make the circle of love complete it must be freely accepted and offered back to its originator. “God is love” (1 John 4:16b). We are not robots; God has given us a mind of our own, that in this sinful world we might choose to return His great love for us back to Him by putting our faith in His Son, whom He offered to us in love that we might be saved from the sin of this world – and the next – in Christ.
Dear LORD,
We know that You are the ultimate authority, and we cannot come to You unless You initiate within us through Your Holy Spirit the desire to receive forgiveness through our Savior Jesus whom You sent to save the world from sin. But we also know that once You call us through Your saving grace to us that we must return to You the love in Christ that You initiated within us by opening our hearts to Jesus and the forgiveness that only He can give. Jesus proclaims in John 14:6 that He is the way, the truth, and the life. And that no one can come to You Father except through Him. Please help us to understand and accept this – in Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.