Romans 8:28 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. I. THE END TO BE ACCOMPLISHED The "good" here spoken of does not apply to our health, ease, or fortune, but to our eternal interest. Who does not see that afflictions have a beneficial tendency? They bring us to reflection; they quicken prayer; they wean us from the world, etc. But even spiritual good is not the highest reference. "Good" looks to heaven and points to eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17). II. THE MEANS WHICH ARE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS END. "All things," as the subject-matter in hand, and by the context. The apostle is here speaking of afflictions: and of those that will ultimately be beneficial are — 1. The trials of those who are called to bear the cross for Christ's sake. Those losses that you may now be called to endure for the sake of religious principle will inevitably enrich the inheritance which grace has prepared for you above all things. If you suffer with Christ, you shall reign with Him. 2. The ordinary calamities which we are all more or less called to endure. The painful sickness, borne with unmurmuring resignation; the loss of property, submitted to with the knowledge that we have a higher treasure the departure of friends, whom we have given up without rebellion to the will of Him who had a better right to them than ourselves — all the trials of life enter within the compass of this delightful expression. 3. But observe the words, "work together." The believer's history is not an unconnected series of events; they form a perfect scheme. His life, death, infancy, old age, all enter into the one grand scheme which Providence is causing to produce his spiritual benefit. How many influences strive, even in reference to our temporal comforts, to promote our enjoyment in this world. The sun, the moon, the stars, the elements; food, raiment, habitation, etc. And so it is with respect to our spiritual welfare. How many aids, instruments, influences, are perpetually provided to promote our spiritual welfare? The Deity — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; angels, patriarchs, etc.; the Bible, the Sabbath, the fellowship of the saints — all concurring to promote our spiritual welfare. The believer, looking at the scheme of providence, is not unlike an individual surveying some complicated piece of machinery, where the manufacturer himself stands by holding in his hand the articles which this mechanism has produced, and saying to the spectator, "See these apparently contradictory movements; hear this noise and confusion: you cannot tell the design, perhaps, of one of the wheels, much less enter into the combination of the whole; but I can, and here are the results of these various movements." So does God speak to His people, surveying the mechanism of providence, the wheels of which are so varied, and in some of its movements so apparently contradictory. III. THE CERTAINTY WITH WHICH WE MAY CALCULATE UPON THE PRODUCTION OF THIS END BY THESE MEANS. "We know." It is not a mere conjecture; an opinion; it is a declaration of absolute certainty. We have the promise of a God that cannot lie; and we have the power of a God who can do all things that He wills to accomplish His promise. IV. THE INFERENCES FROM THIS SUBJECT. 1. What is true in reference to the individual Christian must, of course, be true in reference to the Church at large. "Christ is exalted to be head over all things to His Church." The rise and fall of empires, the setting up and the pulling down of monarchies, the progress of arms, of commerce, of arts, the collision of human passions and human interests that is perpetually going forward — all these things are working together for good to the Church. 2. The unspeakable value of that sacred volume which contains such a discovery as this. Who could have made it but God Himself? Who that looks abroad upon the chequered scene of human affairs can presume to tell whether good or evil preponderates? And even if they could advance so far as to pronounce a decision, that good now preponderates, yet who, without some infallible oracle to determine the question, can declare whether ultimately good or evil will prevail? But the Bible comes in, and sets the matter at rest, and tells us that "all things work together for good," etc. Nay, without the Bible who can tell us what good is, or how it is to be obtained? 3. The necessity of faith, to rise to the standard of our privileges, and receive that abundance of consolation which God has provided for us. (J. Angell James.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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