Christian Life

Is Romans 8:28 applicable to all Christians? 

/ Lee A. Robinson / Leave a comment

Romans 8:28 must be considered one of the most precious promises in all of the Bible: “And we know (for certain) that all things (ALL things) work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (God has a good, glorious plan for our lives and He will accomplish it).” Talk about an all-encompassing, hope-filled, victorious promise! What is the promise? It is that we have a deep, abiding confidence that everything that happens in our lives – whether positive or the worst kind of negative we could imagine – all of it comes into our lives only with the authorization of our loving heavenly Father, and that His design for allowing it to come into our life is to bless us. No wonder Romans chapter 8 ends by saying that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us! 

But the big question we want to tackle here is this – Does this promise apply to all Christians? It doesn’t say that all things work together for good “Christians,” but rather for those who “love God.” So the main question that is really being answered is, “Who are these ones that are referred to that ‘love God.’” Either someone can be a genuine Christian and not be in the category of those who “love God.” Or, all Christians “love God” (at least in the sense of what is referred to in Romans 8:28). That’s what this article is about. I would like to attempt to prove that those who “love God” refers to all Christians. The ramifications I think are huge and pretty obvious: it is of untold assurance for us if it does apply to all Christians. If not, then it is not a little unsettling. The promise has been a high tower that many a Christian have run to, and the ones who probably need the promise the most are not those who are very mature and “have it all together,” but rather those believers who are weak, struggling and weary on the journey.  

Our main consideration in answering this questions will be to look at the context of Romans 8. It seems clear to me that the whole chapter is talking about characteristics of and promises for all genuine believers. 

In the beginning of the chapter there is a discussion about people who walk according to the flesh versus those who walk according to the spirit. Romans 8:1 teaches that all true believers in Jesus “walk according to the spirit, not according to the flesh.” Jesus said that those who are born of the flesh are flesh and those who are born of the Spirit are spirit. In other words, the fundamental nature of an unregenerate person is that of the flesh – they are fleshly, or “in the flesh.” Contrariwise, the fundamental nature of a regenerate person is that of the Spirit – they are spiritual, or “in the Spirit.” Of course, Christians can act fleshly, but to one degree or another they have to war against their own nature to act that way; they have to wrestle with the Spirit in them first. 

Romans 8:4 says that the law is fulfilled in us (regenerate believers) “who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.” So Paul reasons that all believers “walk after the Spirit.” Again, it’s not saying that we are sinless, but rather that it is our nature to be spiritual. If you’re still skeptical I think verses 8 and 9 seal the deal: “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.” So, if you are a regenerated believer in Jesus then you are never “in the flesh,” but are rather “in the Spirit” (at least as is defined by Paul here in Romans 8). 

Romans 8:14 continues by saying, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Again, no Christian is flawless in following or submitting to the Holy Spirit, but the prevailing character of our life is that we do follow Him. If you examine your life and it doesn’t seem like there is any difference between the direction of your life and that of the world – if there is no higher level of concern for purity and doing the will of God – then you simply just may not have been regenerated by the Spirit of God. For the true Christian there is something deep down inside of us constantly crying out “Abba, Father!” When you sin as a Christian what is the deep cry of your heart? Is it not, “God please forgive me. God please help me. God have mercy upon me. God I wish this was not the case?” That is the Spirit of God in you, convicting you. 

These sons and daughters of God – those who are spiritual in nature & those who do know God as Father – those sons and daughters who often find themselves weak and disobedient, and perhaps even at times rebellious – what is their hope? What is their destiny? Verse 17 says, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” The necessary future for the sons of God is that they are heirs of God, and will be glorified together with Christ! This is the bunch of people who are being talked about in Romans 8. 

Now, trace with me who is being spoken of in this passage. Starting in verse 16, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Who is the “we” in verse 16? – the children of God. 

Verse 17 – we are heirs of God, we suffer with him, and also we will be glorified together with Him. 

Verse 18 says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Who is the “us?” The same group in verses 16-17: regenerated believers. 

Verses 19-22 introduce a parenthetical, relevant side note about the natural creation: in the same way believers have hope of an ultimate glorification, so too nature itself is longing for the time when it will be completely released from the curse and set free from the effects of sin. But in verse 23 we are back to the main people under discussion. Notice who is being spoken of: “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit (regenerated believers in Jesus), even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved (Christians) by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. 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. 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.” (Romans 8:23-27) 

A review so far from Romans 8:1 up to this point (verse 27) shows that there is one group under discussion: those who are “in Christ;” those who are “in the Spirit;” they are “led by the Spirit;” they are heirs of God; they will be glorified together with Christ; the Spirit intercedes for them according to the will of God; they are called “saints.” 

So it is very clear that all the way up until verse 28 we are specifically talking about Christians – saved people – not a special class among Christians who are particularly, uniquely godly. So then the recipients of the promise of 8:28 is to same group of people, unless we are to think for some reason Paul changed his mind at this point about who he was referring to? I think this can be shown to absolutely NOT be the case by continuing on after the phrase “to them that love God…” 

It says, “to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” So those who “love God” is also the same group as those who are “the called.” This then is connected with verses 29-30. Those who were foreknown, were predestined, were called, were justified and were glorified. This is all talking about various marvelous things that have happened to the same group of people – Christians – all Christians.   

Verse 31 then concludes “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Who is the “us?” It is the same group being talked about all along. This is where it really starts to make sense of it all in light of Romans 8:28. If God is for us Christians then certainly all things are going to work together for good for all Christians. 

Verse 32 – God spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. Did God only give his Son for mature Christians or for all Christians? 

Verse 33 – Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Who are the elect? Are the elect only mature Christians who are especially obedient to the Father? No. God’s elect are Christians: those whom He has chosen to save and ultimately conform to the image of his Son. 

Needless to say the rest of the chapter is pretty clear from here on out that the glorious, wonderful promises of God’s love and faithfulness apply to all who are in Christ. 

I would like to end though with some thoughts on why I think Paul did use the phrase, “to them that love God,” as opposed to just saying something like “Christians.” I think he described it like this because you cannot truly be a genuine Christian and not love God, at least in some ssense. Loving God and the brethren are some of the main assurances of Salvation that John spoke about in his epistles. The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5). Deep down every Christian loves God. I believe my children truly do love me and they prove it most of the time in their life, but they are certainly weak and fail often. Put bluntly, if someone says they are a Christian but there’s no evidence in their life that they love God, but rather that they love the world and sin, then they cannot have assurance that they are Christian, and therefore not only does Romans 8:28 not apply to them, but none of any of the promises of this whole chapter apply to them either.

Romans 8:28 is glorious. It is even more glorious to realize that this promise is ours not ultimately on the basis of us earning it by being good kids, but on the basis of God’s goodness towards us in Christ – even as we struggle with indwelling sin, with this evil world, and with dark evil powers. We are sheep, God knows this. The Shepherd takes care of his sheep even when they don’t ask. If they were super awesome sheep then they wouldn’t need such a glorious Shepherd. God sent His Son to die for us while we were sinners. How much more now that we know God and love God can we be assured that His goodness and mercy will pursue after us all the days of our life? 

So the main point of this article if you have made it this far is this, don’t read Romans 8:28 and think to yourself, “I don’t live up to God’s standard of perfection, therefore some things in my life will not work for my good. The problems in my life are ultimately the creation of the choices of my own fallen nature.” Don’t say that and don’t think that. What kind of hope, joy and encouragement is that going to bring into you? Rather, read Romans 8:28 this way: “I do love God. Deep down it breaks my heart when I sin. I shouldn’t sin and God help me not to sin anymore. But thank you, God, that I didn’t earn your grace from the beginning based on me being good and by being perfect. You gave me this amazing grace because you Loved me and gave yourself for me. Thank you, God, that I can trust you that you love me more than I love me, and that you want my good more than I want my good. I can trust that you are in control of my life and all the circumstances of it, and that you will leave me and guide me in a perfect way.” All glory to God! 

Christian Perfection

/ Lee A. Robinson / Leave a comment

In Matthew 5:48 Jesus commanded his followers, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” So the question is, “Can a Christian be perfect?” The simple answer is, “Yes!” Jesus’s clear command is for us to be perfect. He’s not going to command his people to do something that they are not capable of doing. But not only is perfection possible, it is also the standard at which we must continually live as Christians. Perfection is possible, yes, but it is also the requirement. Anything less than perfection is unacceptable to God. The key idea in this article is understanding what is meant by perfection. It is clear that Jesus taught perfection, so let’s say it like it is, and then strive to come to a balanced understanding of what he means. 

Some people wrongly teach that a Christian can arrive at a state of spiritual maturity where they will never sin again, but this is an extreme, unbiblical position. We live in a fallen world, filled with wickedness, and we – though saints of the most High – still reside in fallen, fleshly bodies. As Christians we are washed in the blood of the Lamb, Amen! But our “feet get dirty” as we walk through this life and need to be washed often (John 13). Even the most godly Christians on the planet find themselves continually in this struggle between the flesh and the Spirit. In fact, it often seems the more holy a person truly is, the more unholy they feel, because they have a heightened sensitivity to the enormous standard of absolute holiness and perfection that God dwells in, and also their own spiritual weaknesses. 

But then there is another extreme, I believe, which is to lower the standard away from perfection, and conceive that God’s expectation for the Christian is just a little better than the world, or to live up to what the church or your family or friends expect. The misconception runs like this: “Perfection? Well, no one is going to be able to do that,” and then the person moves on without clearly defining how holy we need to be in order to please God. This is an error and has negative consequences as well as extreme forms of “Christian Perfectionism.” If the Christian doesn’t have a clear standard then they are going to make their own- what they think is holy enough – which is inevitably going to be less holy than the standard. So let’s see if we can arrive at a balanced, Biblical understanding of this topic…

What is the Standard? 

I want to press a little more on this, because I think many Christians are not willing to confess that perfection is the standard. Jesus said, “Be perfect,” so if that doesn’t mean perfection then what does it mean? Consider also 1 Peter 1:14-16 which says, “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Here, the apostle Peter reminds us of God’s Law that we are to be holy as God is holy. Now, how holy is God? God is totally holy. So, again, the standard is absolute purity – a life in total dedication and consecration to God – anything less is sinful and unacceptable to God…Do you believe this? If we want to be right with God, we must make sure that we are doing and being what he says. Don’t be afraid of how some people abuse a doctrine. Confess it, open your heart, and ask God to teach you. 

How are we to understand Perfection? 

We know from all over Scripture that true righteousness is not attained by works or human effort, but rather by faith. The unbeliever must first recognize that they have already sinned and are worthy of Hell; that God’s standard for justification, for union with God, and for acceptance into heaven is total purity; and then they must realize that the only way to achieve that level of righteousness is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It must be a righteousness that is not their own, an imputed righteousness (a righteousness that is applied to their moral account by someone outside of themselves). So righteousness, holiness, perfection and related qualities are NOT to be seen as achieved through human effort (at least not our own effort, but rather Jesus’s effort). We must understand Jesus’ teachings on Perfection in light of this fuller, more fundamental teaching of Scripture, about the way of righteousness & holiness – that of faith. Following Jesus’ command to “be perfect” does not mean that I am never going to sin again. What it does mean is that whenever I do sin, I quickly and humbly confess that sin to God and ask for cleansing with gratefulness to Jesus Christ for his all-sufficient blood that was shed for that sin. This is the foundation of perfection – having a broken heart about your sins, moment by moment; walking humbly with your God; not making any excuses for your sins, but quickly acknowledging and confessing. We could call this imputed holiness. It is a holiness, or perfection that comes to us from outside of ourselves. Yes, it does change us, but there is also an immediate sanctification that comes when a Christian is broken and repenting of their sins. 

Other ways that the word “perfect” in the New Testament could be translated would be that of “maturity” or “completeness.” This is helpful, because we can say that someone is mature, even though we know that in some way, shape or form they probably have some kinds of “imperfections” in their life. But, it may be objected, the standard is perfection from God’s perspective, not man’s perspective. I agree, and I think we’re getting at the heart of something here. There is at least some sense in which we can say that God would consider someone spiritually mature, even though He clearly knows that they are flesh and bones- weak and faulty, and will forever be less than God Himself. Perfection cannot mean equality with God in all of His divine attributes – or else we would be God! So, in what way would it be proper for God to see a man as being “mature” or “complete” even though he has imperfections, as compared with God?

King David

We remember verses in the Bible like the following, “and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.” (1 Kings 15:3) God used David’s life as a standard or ruler by which to measure the success or failure of the kings that followed him. Buuuut, we know that David wasn’t all that great, on more than one occasion. So in what sense did God consider David a perfect man? What God was really looking for (perfection) was not that David would never sin, but rather that David was a man after God’s own heart. David loved God with all of his heart, and wanted to please Him more than anything else – and God could see that in him! Additionally, when David sinned and he was confronted about it, how did he respond? Just read Psalm 51 – David’s Psalm of Repentance. In this Psalm we find this powerful and related verse: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalms 51:17) God is not looking for people who He knows will never sin again. He is looking for people who never want to sin again, and for Christian who, when they sin, readily and humbly confess those sins. Perfection is not being a spiritual machine that constantly is on their knees praying, serving the poor, loving their wife, teaching their kids, displaying kindness and compassion, preaching a sermon, and working diligently at work all at the same time! Of course I am exaggerating, but there are some people (maybe even yourself) who live under a weight of thinking that God will only be happy with them if they were as powerful, wise, and industrious as God Himself is! 

As A Man Thinketh In His Heart So Is He

If we live this kind of life – a life where our heart’s desire is to wholeheartedly please God, and then when we find ourselves overwhelmed by sin and we quickly repent – what do you think is going to be the trajectory of that person’s spiritual life? Are they going to be thriving spiritually, or be wilting? Are they going to sin more or sin less as time goes on? We are never going to arrive at a perpetually and permanently sinless condition (not on this side of the grave anyway), but if we have a perfect heart towards God we will sin less.  

I also want to mention that we have to keep in mind the Biblical doctrine of Progressive Sanctification – which is the idea that when we are Born Again, we are not immediately, in every way totally perfected. Our standing with God is that of perfection (positional righteousness), but practically, the New Birth is just the beginning of a new spiritual life and relationship with God, in which we must grow spiritually. There are new Chrisitans, who know little of the Word, who must be weaned on the milk first. But the main thing to point out is that this idea of being perfect or not, in practice, begins at day one. Is the new believer obeying what they know? They may know little, and have little experience, but are they being faithful to God according to what they know? If so, they are walking perfectly before God. Contrarily, if an old timer in the faith is not walking humbly; has perhaps allowed some strongholds to form into his life; and has developed the ability to be somewhat calloused to it – this brother is not walking perfectly with God. He may be actually stronger than the newborn Christian in many areas of life, because of knowledge and experience, but this brother is not pleasing God as well as the younger, because he is not currently walking perfectly before God.   

God is expecting us to be sinless. Period. And the way to do that is by confessing any known sin, right now to God. His promise is that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) God is faithful. If we repent and confess, then right now, we are sinless. If we truly have a humble heart like this, consistently, the natural outgrowth is that the actions themselves are going to follow. 

I hope this has brought you some clarity on this subject. I don’t claim to understand this doctrine perfectly, but I have not heard much spoken on it from a balanced perspective and haven’t heard explanations that give a satisfactory answer to what Jesus’ idea of perfection is, while at the same time to caution against extremes on both sides of the issue. It is impossible to please God if you are half-hearted. He wants your whole heart.