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The Love of God the Father
Romans 8:28
Authorized (King James) Version
28 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.
Keep the Verse in Context
With the Topic & Subject of the Passage
You Can Tell What a Verse Means
By Looking at the Verses Around it
Romans 8:26-30
Authorized (King James) Version
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 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. 29 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. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
The Context of Romans 8:28
Is to Love God
"All things work together for good to those that love God"
Romans 8:28
Authorized (King James) Version
28 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.
There're a lot of good things said in context with Rom. 8:28 that makes all things work together for our good. We'll get to that later. But there is one thing that we need to do to make all things work together for our good. Love God. V. 28 says "them that love God". All things work together for our good to them that love God. Got it?
Jesus Said Those that Love Him
Obey His Commands
John 14:15, 21
Authorized (King James) Version
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them,
He it is that loveth me:
When we love Jesus, we listen to Jesus. When we listen to Jesus, God works all things together for our good. The angels rejoice when we listen to Jesus because they see everything working together for our good, and they say to us,
"You're listening to Jesus"!
I experienced an angel saying this to me. In fact, I got the understanding of this message from his statement. He said,
"Everything is working together for your good because you're listening to Jesus"!
The job of angels is to help us for God in our weak times because we're not listening to God, just like the Holy Spirit does. Our lives become bad without the intercession of God and the angels of Light. The angels are sent by God to bring you back to Him by helping you when you don't listen to God. In Ps. 91 the Holy Spirit through David says,
Psalm 91:8-13
Authorized (King James) Version
{Paraphrased}
God Sends the Guardian Angels When We Need Help Listening to God
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to {guard} thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder:
The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
When everything works together for our good the angels just commend us because God & you gave them a break by listening to God. They don't have to guard you no more because you listened and the Lord is making all things work together for your good, and they see it and say, "Good job"! Back to Romans 8:28.
That is what Rom. 8:28 is talking about. That's what God wants us to know today. That all things work together for our good because we listen to Jesus. That's our part. To love & listen to Jesus. But now let's get to the verses around it to get it into context about what happens when God works all things together for our good. Let's start with Rom. 8:26.
Romans 8:26
Authorized (King James) Version
{Paraphrased}
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: But the Spirit {Himself} maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Did you see it? All things work together for our good because the Holy Spirit is praying for us in tongues in our weaknesses and if He didn't, we would fail God, and nothing would work together for our good...the Holy Spirit loves us so much!!!
Romans 8:27...
Romans 8:27
Authorized (King James) Version
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
Because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
The Holy Spirit and the angels aren't the only ones that make intercession for us. The Lord Jesus also prays for us (Heb. 7:25). I need to paraphrase this verse so that you understand it. He that searches the hearts is Jesus. See also Rev. 2:23. People think that Rom. 8:27 is talking about God the Father as the one that searches the hearts. But Rev. 2:23 says that God's Son Jesus is the one that searches our hearts. Also, the end of Rom 8:27 is referring to someone other than God the Father, because it says that He makes intercession for us according to the will of God the Father for us. It's saying that Jesus also prays for us. Let me paraphrase it for your understanding.
Romans 8:27
Authorized (King James) Version
{Paraphrased}
27 And {Christ} that {searches} the hearts {knows} what is the mind of the Spirit,
Because {Christ also makes} intercession for the saints according to the will of God {the Father}.
Understand it now? Romans 8:27 is saying that Jesus knows what the Spirit is praying for because He, Jesus, also makes intercession for us like the Holy Spirit does. The Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit both pray for all things to work together for our good because that is the will of God the Father for us. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all involved in working everything together for our good.
Romans 8:26, 27 are saying, paraphrased, that God the Father wants all things to work together for our good, and the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus pray for this to happen to us when we love & listen to Them.
The Lord; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, along with the Angels of Light in heaven; the hosts of heaven, are all involved in working everything together for our good on one condition: that we listen to God. To listen to God means to love Him. The Holy Spirit puts love for God in our hearts when we get born again.
Romans 5:1-5
Authorized (King James) Version
5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 and patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 and hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 8:29...
Romans 8:29
Authorized (King James) Version
Jesus is the Reason
29 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.
Who is God's Son? Jesus. Romans 8:26-28 say that God the Father wants all things to work together for our good, so He sent the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus to pray for this. Rom. 8:29 reveals the reason why God wants all things to work together for our good. Jesus is the reason. It's so that Jesus might become the first born of a huge international family called The Christian Brotherhood.
When we love & listen to God, we are like Jesus. God's word conforms us into Christ's image when we listen to it (Rom. 12:1, 2). God is birthing His Son in us with His word. It's Jesus in us that makes us love and listen to God so that we might become like Him so that He, Jesus, becomes the first born. The Head of the church to glorify God (Col. 2:9, 10). God glorifies His Son and His Son glorifies Him back (1 Cor. 15:20-28).
What is predestination? God's will for us in Christ in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:14, 15). When the serpent tricked Adam & Eve, God made a plan right there to bring us back. He said that Christ, His Son, would bruise his head after he bruised Christ's heel. This is talking about Jesus dying on the Cross for us and defeating Satan with it (1 Jn. 3:8/ Heb. 2:14, 15/ Col. 2:14).
Back in Gen. 3, God the Father predestined everyone to be conformed to the image of Jesus by listening to He, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The predestination is referring to God's plan or will to bring us back from sin, death and the devil. Though everyone is welcome in heaven, not everyone will make it there (Mt. 7 & 25). We need to listen to God, or love God.
This is what God wants. This is what He sent Jesus for and the Holy Spirit and the angels. God wants everything to work together for our good back in the image of God through His Son as it was in the beginning.
Romans 8:29 also mentions purpose. God the Father's purpose in working all things together for our good. It is revealed in verse 30. Basically, God's purpose is to remake us into His image through Jesus' death on the Cross by working all things together for our good as we love & listen to Him.
Romans 8:30...
Romans 8:30
Authorized (King James) Version
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called,
them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Romans 8:30 is revealing God's will for us since Gen. 3. It's called predestination. It's God's call on your life. We're all called to be justified by faith in Christ's blood (Jn. 3:9-21). So, that when we make it to heaven, we are glorified as God's special creation as it was in the beginning. We will be forever in the image of God through His Son Christ as it was in the beginning.
Got it? Since the beginning, God's plan and will for us humans is to be in His image as His special love child, loving Him back by listening to Him and when we do, all things work together for our good.
All things working together for our good is God's plan and will since Gen 1 and Gen 3, the trickery of the serpent, didn't change this. Now through faith in Jesus you get this fellowship back with God. God's plan is for us to get saved by faith in Jesus' work on the Cross, and then baptized into the Holy Spirit by that faith so that the Holy Spirit can create us in God's image once again by putting in us love for God and obedience to His word. All this for one reason: that we are back in God's Image. God's purpose is to bring us back into His Image through His Son, Jesus, by making Jesus the first born of us.
Romans 8:28 in context, is talking about the Gospel of Jesus. The Gospel is what the Bible is all about from Genesis to Revelation. I close with a Bible passage where the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul describes what the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is about.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Authorized (King James) Version
{Paraphrased}
15 Moreover, brethren, I {the Apostle Paul} declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 and that he was seen of {Peter}, then of the twelve {disciples}: 6 after that, he was seen of above five hundred {Christians} at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some {have died}. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am {the apostle to the Gentiles {Acts 9:15/ Rom. 11:13/ Gal. 1:16; 2:2}: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
World without end. Amen.