Romans 38 The Five Steps of God’s Salvation (Rom 8:28-30)

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Rm 8:28-30)

Christians’ Hope
For Christians, hope is very important because we’re caught between ‘already’ and ‘not yet.’ What’s promised in the Bible hasn’t been fully fulfilled yet. In regard to Christian hope, Paul said,
 
“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Rom 8:24-25)
 
Here, this hope refers to the complete redemption of our bodies. Paul said that we were saved in hope. This means that even though we were saved, our salvation hasn’t been completed yet. With regard to this matter, we already talked about past, present, and future salvation in Romans 5.
 
Justification is our past salvation, sanctification is the present salvation, and glorification is the future salvation. Among these three, we haven’t experienced the last one yet because it will only happen when Jesus comes back to the world. On that day, we’ll join in His resurrection and see Him face to face, and enjoy eternal life with Him in the kingdom of God. That’s the hope we have as Christians.
 
Nevertheless, it’s still just hope now. No one has experienced these wonderful blessings yet. As Paul said, we were saved in hope.
 
However, that doesn’t mean that it’s uncertain. One of the important characteristics of Christian hope lies in its certainty because the basis of our hope is God’s promise and His unfailing love. That distinguishes Christian hope from earthly hope.
 
We hope for many things in the world, like our future job, academic degree, house, wealth, fame, happiness, and so on. However, we know that they are not 100-percent guaranteed. We hope for things but we still know that there’s a possibility that we won’t get them.
 
However, the hope we have as Christians, the hope we put in God, is different. It’s 100-percent certain. It’s so certain that we don’t have to worry about the possibility that we won’t get it. That’s because the One who is faithful to His promises gives us hope and works on our salvation. He is the almighty God who never fails to do what He says.
 
The Five Steps of God’s Salvation
That’s what Paul addresses in the latter part of Romans 8. He approaches this subject from two perspectives. The first one is in verses 28-30. Let’s read them together.
 
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Rm 8:28-30)
 
Here, we find what it means to be Christians. It means that we love God and are called by Him. Christians can be defined as those who are called by God according to His purpose. So, what is God’s purpose for us? Paul explains this further in the two verses that follow verse 28.
 
God’s ultimate purpose is our complete salvation. It’s for our broken relationship with Him to be recovered. It’s for us to have an everlasting and joyful relationship with Him in His eternal kingdom. That’s the good that God is working toward.
 
In verses 29-30, Paul briefly summarizes the five steps in which God works on our salvation. He uses five important verbs—foreknow, predestine, call, justify, and glorify. Each one explains how God works on our salvation from beginning to end.
 
1) God Foreknew Us
The first step is that God foreknew us. The verb ‘foreknow’ is used when we know something in advance. So, because of this word, some theologians insist that God foreknows who will be saved and who will not and conclude that this is the basis of the doctrine of predestination.
 
However, we should think about this word not in the modern sense, but in the Hebrew language. In Hebrew, the verb ‘know’ has a much deeper meaning. It’s much more than knowledge or perception. It is often used to describe a very intimate relationship.
 
Specifically, when this verb is used to describe the relationship between God and His people, it has a very profound meaning. In Hebrew, the synonym of the verb ‘know’ is ‘love.’
 
So, I think what Paul is trying to emphasize by saying “God foreknew us” is not the fact that God foreknew who would be saved and who would not but that He foreloved us even before we came to exist.
 
As God said to the prophet Jeremiah,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jr 1:5)
 
That’s the truth we should believe. Even before we were born, God saw us, knew us, and loved us just as parents love their children, not because we did something good for Him but just because of our being. We are worthy of love in God’s eyes just the way we are.
 
2) God Predestined Salvation
The second step Paul mentions is that God predestined us. Again, I don’t think this means that God really predestined those who would be saved or not. In fact, the predestination of God is a mystery that we can’t fully understand. I believe that God doesn’t predestine people’s salvation. The Bible says,
 
“[Christ] died for all” (2 Co 5:14), “[Christ] gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Tm 2:6)
 
“The grace of God… offers salvation to all people,” (Ti 2:11) “[God] wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tm 2:4).
 
The Scriptures don’t say that Christ died for some people or that God’s grace only offers salvation to those predestined by God. Rather, Paul clarifies the fact that God wants all people to be saved and come to know Him.
 
So, what it means for God to have predestined us is that He decided in advance to save us. It reveals the truth that for us to become Christians is actually based on God’s decision, not ours. It doesn’t mean that our decision to believe in Jesus is not important. It is important.
 
What I mean is that God’s decision to save us precedes our decision to believe in Jesus.. Just as we can love God because He first loved us, we can make the decision to be Christians because from the beginning, God predestined for everyone to have the chance to be saved.
 
So, all those who are saved and truly experience God’s grace can’t help but ascribe their forgiveness, righteousness, and salvation to God, not to their own merits.
 
In verse 29, we also find God’s purpose for predestination. Paul said that God foreknew and predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. I said that that’s what God really wants to see from us. He wants us to recover His image by taking after Jesus.
 
This amazing change in our character and behavior starts with the help of the Holy Spirit and will ultimately be fulfilled when Jesus comes back. We will see Him face to face, and our bodies will be like His glorious, resurrected body. That’s what sanctification and glorification are about.
 
3) God Called us
The third step of God’s salvation is that He called us. God calls us through the gospel of Jesus Christ and when we respond to it, His will for us becomes realized in our lives.
 
In God’s active calling, we also see that He is in control and takes the lead of our salvation. When we didn’t seek God, but turned our back on Him, God prepared the way to save us from our sin and death through Jesus Christ and warmly invited us into His open arms.
 
4) God Justified Us
The next step is that God justified us. God’s calling includes the solution to the problem of sin and death. The basis of God’s calling is the gospel of Jesus Christ, in which God’s grace and righteousness are freely given to all those who believe in Him. When we believe in Jesus and accept everything about Him as truth in our hearts, God’s justification starts to be in effect in us.
 
We should be reminded that this justification is much more than just forgiveness of our sins. God’s justification always leads to a change in our very nature.
 
Our sins are forgiven, we’re justified by God’s grace, and we become His children. Now, we look righteous to God not because we’ve done righteous things, but because God made perfect righteousness through Jesus’ death and granted us that righteousness. That’s the fourth step. This is the point where our salvation really starts.
 
5) God Glorified Us
Now, let’s move on to the last step of God’s salvation. Paul said that God glorified those whom He justified. This refers to the glorification that we’re waiting for.
 
As we’ve discussed before, our salvation is between already and not yet. Our salvation started when we believed in Jesus but it’s not complete yet. Even though we don’t know exactly how we will be changed, the one thing we can be sure of is the fact that we will surely be glorified like Jesus.
 
What’s interesting is the tense Paul used. Even though glorification is a future thing, Paul used the past tense as if God had already glorified us. By describing our glorification as a past event, Paul gives readers conviction that it will surely happen. That’s the ultimate hope we have in God.
 
Conclusion
Today, we talked about the five steps of God’s salvation. Even before we were born, God foreloved us and predestined the means for salvation. God prepared the perfect way to save us through Jesus and called us to His righteousness by faith. In our faith in Jesus God justified us and He will glorify us when Jesus comes back to earth.
 
That’s the unique and certain hope we have as Christians. What Paul is talking about in this passage is the hope of our salvation. It is certain and secure because it’s not based on who we are or what we do, but on what God does for us.
 
God prepares our salvation, takes the lead, and accomplishes it. The only thing we can do is believe in and follow Him, giving Him control of our lives.