Romans 8:30

And whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified,: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The last clause of this great statement of the apostle, through its use of the past tense with the ultimate glory of the child of God, is plainly prophetic, viewing the entire scheme of redemption, from the beginning plan in the purpose of God before the world was created, to the final glory, as a single great design, encompassing within one grand operation the whole of time and temporal things.

The predestined include all people, although many refuse their destiny: the called include all people, although many shall not heed it; the justified are they alone who through the obedience of faith are transferred into Christ, in whom alone justification is possible; and the glorified are those finally redeemed above.

In view of these considerations, the mysterious doctrines of predestination, calling, election, etc., dissolve into this: God's eternal purpose from times eternal, before the world was, determined that his Son, Jesus Christ, should lead an innumerable company of the redeemed out of earth's populations, that these should be made righteous through perfect identification with Christ, as being truly "in him," identifiable as his brethren, conformed to his likeness, and obedient to his will, this summing up of all thing in Christ being precisely the thing foreordained to happen. That body of Christ, the church, is destined to eternal glory, and to be presented before the throne of God's glory in exceeding joy in absolute perfection; and all hell shall not prevent it, such having been foreordained from all eternity. All that is said in the New Testament regarding predestination refers to this eventual triumph of the redeemed" in Christ," absolutely nothing whatever being able to forbid or prevent it; but all this has nothing at all to do with any individual person, as an individual, of whom nothing could be predestined, due to the freedom of his will. The predestined are those found "in Christ"; and the fairness and justice of this is inherent in the right of "whosoever will" to enter that company destined for eternal glory.

Before taking up the study of the next part of this chapter, one other word regarding predestination is in order. Sanday has this:

All we can say is that it (predestination) must not be interpreted in any sense that excludes free will. Free will is a postulate upon which all the superstructure of morals and religion must rest. The religious mind, looking back over the course by which it has been brought, sees in it the predominating hand of God; but. however large the divine element in salvation may be, it must in the end be apprehended by faith, which is an act of the free will.[58]

Lard commented upon these two great errors often committed in the exposition of these verses, thus:

These two great errors ... consist, first, in assuming that an act of foreknowledge necessarily implies an act of unalterable pre-fixture by decree of every act of human life; and, secondly, that the predicates of "called," "justified," and "glorified" refer to (individual) human beings. If the reader will free his mind of these two errors, he will have no serious trouble in discovering the meaning of, perhaps, the sublimest passage in the Letter; but, unless he does this, he will find it a hopeless enigma. The ordinary modes of explaining this passage neither extract a ray of light from it, nor shed a ray of light upon it.[59]

[58] W. Sanday, op. cit., p. 238.

[59] Moses E. Lard, op. cit., p. 285.