Romans 8:29-30
Lesson
To allow our diagram to portray the specific context of Romans 8:29-30, the J (“justified”), C
(“called”), G (“glorified”), and P (“predestined”) of Romans 8:30 are associated with a particular point on
the following timeline. After all, New Testament believers are “predestined,” “called,” and “glorified”
the instant they are “justified.”
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Romans 8:29-30
Lesson
This contextual view allows God’s foreknowledge to precede that moment when we repented and
believed while depraved—at which time we were “predestined” (to receive a glorified body), “called” (to
office), “justified” (made not guilty), and “glorified” (in soul and spirit) through the Spirit placing us in
Christ. Simple—nothing to it!
The next portion of the course will verify how a correct view of the identity of the New Testament
believer (what God makes New Testament believers into the moment they repent and believe while
depraved) supplies proper context to these highly debated and often misinterpreted passages. Remember,
we are allowing God’s Word to make the profound simple, so buckle up. It will take a majority of what
we have studied previously to comprehend what follows, but the journey is breathtaking!
We have proven that Arminianism and all forms of Calvinism perceive Romans 8:29-30 as teaching that
believers are predestined and elected to salvation before they are born (from eternity past by means of an
eternal decree). As has been verified, such an arrangement would allow Romans 8:29-30 to teach that the
“predestined” of Arminianism and Calvinism who are not yet in existence are presently “called,”
“justified,” and “glorified”—since “predestined,” “called,” “justified,” and “glorified” are all in the past
tense. Impossible! Stated differently, had future believers been “predestined” to salvation from eternity
past, they would presently be “called,” “justified,” and “glorified.” This arrangement, however, would
cause them to not only be “justified” and “glorified” prior to existing, but “justified” and “glorified” at
physical birth. Passages such as Ephesians 2:3, therefore, discredit both Arminianism and all forms of
Calvinism (including Reformed Theology), for all persons arrive on the earth “children of wrath.”
In an attempt to circumvent the inconsistencies surrounding their view of foreknowledge and
predestination, Reformed Theology (extreme and hyper-Calvinism) teaches that Paul (by inserting the
past action “glorified” in Romans 8:29-30) is actually stressing the certainty of a future event. No way!
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Romans 8:29-30
Lesson
In fact, they view Romans 8:29-30 as providing the chronological order of events experienced by the elect
in regard to salvation. Yet, the truths associated with the identity of the New Testament believer totally
discredit their reasoning. This fact is validated below by first listing the Reformed view and presenting a
rebuttal:
The Reformed View of Romans 8:29-30
1. God can’t foreknow what He has not caused. Therefore, “foreknew” (Romans 8:29) can
be redefined as “foreordained” or “predestined.”
2. God predestines the elect to salvation from eternity past by means of an eternal decree.
Thus, all of the elect were “predestined” (Romans 8:29-30) to be saved.
3. When the time arrives for the elect to be saved, they are “called” (Romans 8:30) by God
through irresistible grace. God then spiritually regenerates them and gives them the gifts
of repentance and faith. This repentance and faith become the possession of the
recipients.
4. The elect exercise the repentance and faith supplied by God and they are “justified”
(Romans 8:30).
5. Once the elect are released from their earthy bodies (at physical death), they are
“glorified” (Romans 8:30). Although this “event” transpires in the future for the elect
living on the earth, the certainty of the action allows the Scriptures to perceive it as
having already occurred.
Are these five conclusions valid? Let’s allow God’s Word to answer this question by examining the
five—one at a time.
The Scriptural Rebuttal to the Reformed View of Romans 8:29-30
1. The Reformed view: God can’t foreknow what He has not caused. Therefore,
“foreknew” (Romans 8:29) can be redefined as “foreordained” or “predestined.”
Rebuttal: Reformed Theology’s unhealthy view of God’s sovereignty (where His sovereignty is elevated
above all His wonderful attributes, including His love) can’t allow God to foreknow what He does not
cause. Hence, Reformed theologians perceive God as causing all things, including man’s destiny. Thus,
they redefine “foreknew” (Romans 8:29) as “foreordained” or “predestined.”
Words can’t be redefined in an attempt to uphold a contradictory presupposition. In fact, should this
redefinition of terms be valid, Romans 8:29 would read: “For whom he predestined he also predestined.”
This arrangement of terms would not only be redundant, but totally nonsensical. Paul would never yield
to redundancy and senseless verbiage while addressing such vital matters.
The context of “foreknew” in Romans 8:29 points to God’s foreknowledge (pre-knowledge) of the
believers inhabiting the earth when this epistle was written. Therefore, the aorist tense (past tense)
“foreknew” applies void of contradiction, for the recipients of this epistle were not only believers, but
were “foreknown” by God prior to receiving Paul’s words—thus “foreknew” is in the aorist tense (past
tense). For God to foreknow these believers in the sense of knowing their thoughts, deeds, etc. prior to
their being saved (the full counsel, contextual view) is a far cry from the Reformed view—that God
predetermined every deed they would perform.) The “foreknew” of Romans 8:29 by no means
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Romans 8:29-30
Lesson
communicates that God “foreknew” believers in the sense of predestining them to salvation from eternity
past and by means of an eternal decree.
2. The Reformed view: God predestines the elect to salvation from eternity past by means
of an eternal decree. Thus, all of the elect were “predestined” (Romans 8:29-30) to be
saved.
Rebuttal: (The following subject matter has been addressed previously, but a review is necessary.)
Should the elect have been predestined to salvation from eternity past by means of an eternal decree (as
Reformed Theology supposes), God’s foreknowledge could not precede such an arrangement due to
foreknowledge meaning “to know beforehand.” God cannot foreknow what has always existed, yet
eternal decrees have always existed. Hence, Reformed Theology is forced to redefine “foreknew” of
Romans 8:29 as “foreordained” or “predestined,” which was earlier proven inconsistent.
Subsequent to exercising repentance and faith while depraved, New Testament believers are
“predestined” (Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:5) to receive a glorified body (Romans 8:23) at the Rapture
of the church—as was validated earlier in our study. This order allows the aorist tense (past tense)
“predestined” to apply void of contradiction. How so? The believers addressed in the book of Romans
had been “predestined” to receive a glorified body the instant they had been placed in Christ (subsequent
to repenting and believing while depraved.) Thus, they were “predestined” prior to receiving this epistle,
allowing the “past tense” context to remain uncompromised.
3. The Reformed view: When the time arrives for the elect to be saved, they are “called”
(Romans 8:30) by God through irresistible grace. God then spiritually regenerates the
elect and gives them the gifts of repentance and faith. This repentance and faith become
the possession of the elect.
Rebuttal: God calls everyone to be saved (Matthew 22:14), not desiring that any “perish” (1Timothy 2:4;
2Peter 3:9)—although the majority reject His free offer. We have determined that the word “called”
(Romans 8:30) can also mean “called to a position or office within the body of Christ” in conjunction
with being made new—subsequent to exercising repentance and faith while depraved. In fact, this usage
of the term “called” seems to be the most prevalent in Scripture. No doubt, the believers in Paul’s day
were “called” to office the moment they placed faith in Christ and were made new. Thus, the aorist (past
tense) fits this view of the Scriptures, for they were saved (and “called”) prior to receiving this epistle but
subsequent to exercising repentance and faith while depraved.
Of course, deceased New Testament believers who had been “called” to office (after repenting and
believing while depraved) had been “called” in the aorist tense (past tense) as well. We confirmed
earlier, however, that the context of “called” in Romans 8:28 (being in the present tense) points to New
Testament believers who remained in their physical bodies when this epistle was penned. We can
conclude, therefore, that “called” in Romans 8:30 points to the same group of individuals—the “whom”
addressed on four different occasions in Romans 8:29-30.
4. The Reformed View: The elect exercise the repentance and faith supplied by God and
they are “justified” (Romans 8:30).
Rebuttal: Due to the term “justified” being in the aorist tense (past tense), we can conclude that Paul is
describing believers who graced the earth in his day—who had been “justified” prior to receiving this
epistle but subsequent to exercising repentance and faith while depraved. As was established earlier,
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Romans 8:29-30
Lesson
should the Reformed view be correct (a view which has the elect predestined to salvation from eternity
past by means of an eternal decree), all of the elect of Reformed Theology (including those not yet born)
would have been “justified” as early as Paul’s day—“justified” being in the aorist tense (past action) in
the Greek. Impossible! The Scriptures teach that the New Testament believer is predestined to receive a
glorified body (Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:23) in conjunction with being justified—after repenting and
believing while depraved. This arrangement allows the aorist tense (past tense) “justified” in Romans
8:30 to apply void of contradiction.
5. The Reformed View: Once the elect are released from their earthy bodies (at physical
death), they are “glorified” (Romans 8:30). Although this “event” transpires in the future
for the elect living on the earth, the certainty of the action allows the Scriptures to
perceive it as having already occurred.
Rebuttal: The term “glorified,” being in the aorist tense (the past tense), must point to what had
previously occurred in the souls and spirits of the readers receiving this epistle—who were already saved
yet remained on the earth. After all, the “called” (aorist tense, past tense) of this same passage, who thus
functioned in their calling prior to receiving this epistle, were individuals living in physical bodies—who
had also been “glorified” in soul and spirit. Consequently, the fact that “called” in Romans 8:30 is in the
past tense, while “called” in Romans 8:28 is in the present tense, is not inconsistent. How so? Those
receiving this epistle had been “called” (Romans 8:30) to office in the past (when they were
“justified”/saved), and remained “called” (Romans 8:28) in the present, due to living on the earth. As was
confirmed earlier, a New Testament believer ceases to function in the office to which he/she was “called”
once in heaven.
The fact that a New Testament believer is made into a finished product (in spirit and soul) at the point of
justification/salvation allows the aorist tense (past tense) to apply in Romans 8:30 void of irregularity.
Therefore, the recipients of this epistle had been “glorified” in their spirits and souls prior to receiving this
epistle, allowing the past tense to fit the context perfectly—refuting the Reformed view, which has
believers glorified in the future (after experiencing physical death). Of course, New Testament believers’
glorified bodies will not be obtained until the Rapture of the church, but that event is not the subject of
Romans 8:30. Clearly, Reformed Theology’s idea that “glorified” is stressing the certainty of a future
event is proven invalid.
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