Romans 8:28
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.”
Where this sits
This sits in the middle of a chapter about suffering, in which Paul has just described creation groaning and the Spirit praying on our behalf with groans that cannot be put into words.
Reflection
This verse is quoted badly more often than almost any other, usually at funerals, usually too soon. So it is worth being precise about what it claims.
It does not say all things are good. Paul, of all people, knew otherwise; he lists shipwrecks, beatings, and betrayals in his own letters without once calling them good. It says all things *work together* for good — a phrase about combination, not about the individual ingredients. Flour is not cake. Raw egg is not cake. Neither is the heat of the oven. Something is being made that none of the components resembles.
It also does not say you will see the working. The verse says “we know,” not “we observe.” Knowing here is a settled conviction held against present evidence, which is the only kind of knowing that is any use in a bad year.
And note the definition of “good” Paul supplies three verses later: conformity to the image of Christ. That is the good in view. Not comfort, not a restored situation, not the outcome you would have chosen. Something is being formed in you that outlasts the circumstance that formed it.
If you are in the middle of something you cannot make sense of, this verse is not asking you to call it good. It is asking you to believe it is not wasted.
- Theme:
- Providence
- Book:
- Romans