Predestination is a scary word for some and a fighting word for others. Today, Christians will fuss over this topic ad nauseum. I want to look at Romans 8:29 for a moment today. Several words pop in this verse at a casual reading.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29)
“Foreknow” simply means that God, if omniscient, knows everything, period! That is straightforward enough that there is nothing that God doesn’t know from eternity past to eternity future. We believe that this all-encompassing knowledge is one of the many attributes of God. The next word, “Predestinate,” is where the arguments begin to arise. What does the word mean? “To foreordain by divine decree or purpose” is the meaning of the word. “First-born” is the last word that causes trouble. Was Jesus born like other people? Wasn’t he always existing like the Father and the Spirit? When we read the phrase “first-born among many brethren” how do we understand it? The word finds its root back in the Old Testament. The first-born son received twice the inheritance as any other sibling by virtue of his place in the family line. He was to receive the blessing as well, think Esau and Jacob. The proper understanding of this phrase is he is the “first-born” in position and preeminence. Jesus is our elder brother (Hebrews 2:11-15) so he has the position in the family of God and the preeminence in the family. There is none like our wonderful Lord.
Back to the second word, “predestinate.” The assumption made by some Christians is that God simply said, “I’ll save this woman but that man, I won’t. She can be my child but he doesn’t get the opportunity.” They might not say it in such a crass way but that is the crux of their belief. Our verse today, Romans 8:29, is one of the proof texts used because of the single word, “predestinate.” Take your Bible and look at the verse. Focus on the phrase and not just the single word. “…he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” The predestination is not for our salvation but for our conformity. When you first trusted Christ, the Lord began a good work in you. Philippians 1:6 is a beautiful verse you should remember. “Being confident of this very thing, that he (God) which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Picture Michelangelo when he first began with his hammer and chisel. For over two years he worked with a huge piece of marble and finally the world was blessed by the sculpture of King David. In the beginning others saw a block of marble but Michelangelo had the image in his mind and knew what result he desired. The Lord has one major desire for every Christian; that we be conformed to the image of Christ. The problems, the circumstances, the experiences are all allowed by God to conform us and one day when Christ returns that process will be complete. I personally don’t like the process, especially in my own life. None of us like trouble, suffering or heartache. Look back at Romans 8:28, and see how that hammers home the truth. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Those times when the water is deep and we are barely keeping our nose above the water line, God is using that to conform us to the image of Christ.
For the Christian, we are like the potter and the clay that Jeremiah wrote about. The Lord is the potter and we are the clay. He spins the wheel, he puts pressure on the clay, and he takes sticks and rocks out of the lump. His fingers prod the clay and sometimes water needs to be added. He knows what is best; he has a beautiful vessel in his mind. At the end of the process, the Lord has already seen the finished product. We are like the Lord Jesus.
One final thought about this topic. How do I reconcile God’s foreknowledge and the multiple verses offering salvation to “whosoever will may come?” I don’t think there needs to be a reconciliation. When I was in Bible college one of the professors used a word picture trying to help we students understand. This is how he described it. You are standing at a doorway. Written above the door is “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” You are happy. You can have your sins forgiven and know heaven is your home. Stepping through the door you turn and look back. Above the door after salvation you see written, “saved from the foundation of the world.” God knew and chose you because of the free will choice you made, which he knew about ions ago. Here is one final illustration for you to think about. Consider you are playing chess and your opponent is Gary Kasparov, the greatest chess player of all time. You make a move using your own free will. He makes a move. You make another move using again your own free will. Each time you move, the decision is your own, but in short order he has checkmated you because he’s the greatest chess master of all time. God allows us to decide things with our free will but for the child of God ultimately you will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.