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Main point summary

All things work together for good (namely for the conforming of those who love God into the image of his Son).

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Romans 8:28-29

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Οἴδαμεν δὲ

And we know

ὅτι τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν τὸν θεὸν

that for those who love God

πάντα συνεργεῖ εἰς ἀγαθόν,

all things work together h for good, 1

conditional

τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν.

for i those who are called according to his purpose.

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ὅτι οὓς προέγνω,

For those whom he j foreknew

καὶ προώρισεν συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ,

he also k predestined l to be conformed to the image of his Son,

εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πρωτότοκον ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς•

in order that he might be m the firstborn among many brothers.

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Notes

Big Idea of the Text: God works all things together for good. What "good" means here, can be found in verse 29 "being conformed to the image of his Son." This working of all things for good is for those who love God, and those who are called according to his purpose. If you love God, that means you are called according to his purpose, and then if these things are true of you, then all things are working together for your good. This is more than just each individual thing in your life (good and bad) working for your good. That is true, but what's more is that all of these things work together. This is something that God has been showing me recently. A couple of friends of mine are expecting to have children born around the time of finals and graduation next semester. My first thoughts when I hear about the timing (after the initial excitement over the child) are that it would be a little bit better if it were just a bit earlier or later than that. One month in either direction would have been great. In other words, yes it is easy to see how a new child being born into the family will be work for their good. And although maybe not as easy to see, I am able to admit that despite the struggle and stress of finals week, even that is working for good. But what I fail to thank God for in that moment is the togetherness of these two things working for good. These two seemingly unrelated events (birth and finals) have become related in a very pressing way because of their timing. And this relationship of time in our lives is also working together for our good. Not only are those two events good, but the fact that they are happening together is a good thing. Another example for myself is the overwhelming amount of projects due this semester. BATS CCM students (all 4 of you), know what I am talking about. But HOI students, you all have several interviews to do on top of your papers and presentations. And BATS Exegesis, the fact that you all have to take an additional class this semester is difficult in itself. But what I want all of us to fight for in this season of life, is for joy and gratitude in the midst of this crazy semester. Take comfort in the fact that God is using all of these assignments together for our good. Yes, each and every assignment is for our good, but also the fact that all of these assignments are crammed into one semester is for our good. There are unique things that come about as a result of all these assignments being in the same semester. These are things that God is using now in ways that will not happen in our lives next year, or even next semester when things look different on the calendar. So let us not grumble at the work God has given us, but fighting for joy in the midst of stress, let us cry out to God for grace, and rejoice in the fact that God is using this to conform us more into the image of his Son!