The salvation of God (1)
[Romans 8:29-30]
Look at Romans 8:29-30: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
First, who “God” in “The salvation of God”?
God is the God of salvation. Look at Romans 8:3-4: “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” “God did” salvation that “the Law” could not do (v. 3). In other words, God saves. Therefore, God is the God of salvation. So how did God save us? By sending His own Son, His Only Begotten Son (God the Son) in the likeness of sinful flesh, He condemned the sin of the flesh to save us (v. 3). The Bible does not say that He sent His Son in the form of sinful flesh, but that He sent Him “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (v. 3). The reason is because Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was without sin. Jesus, the only begotten Son who is the Word, is God (Jn. 1:1). The Word, God the Son, became flesh (v. 14). He became a person. How? Jesus, the Son of God, the only begotten Son, was born of the Virgin Mary, the descendant of David (Rom. 1:3) and was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Mt. 1:18). So, Jesus is without sin. The phrase “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:3) means that He came in the form of sin even though there was no sin. So, if Jesus could not sleep, he was tired (Mk. 4:38). If he did not drink, he was thirsty. If he could not eat, he was hungry. And when he was crucified, he suffered very much. Satan did not miss this opportunity to tempt Jesus. For example, after Jesus fasted for 40 days, the devil tempted Jesus (Mt. 4:1-11). Besides, Jesus was tempted by Satan many times, but He was victorious. Look at Hebrews 4:15 – “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” Although God sent His only begotten Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to save us, Jesus is without sin because He overcame all those temptations. A lot of times we are weak too. Then Satan, the tempter, is tempting us. At that time, we have to fight Satan's temptation with the Word with the assurance of victory because Jesus has won.
Second, what is “salvation” in “The salvation of God”?
The “salvation” in Romans 8:29-30 refers to salvation in a broad sense. God created the first Adam in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). And God planted a garden in Eden in the east and put Adam there (2:8). And God commanded Adam, “From every tree in the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (vv. 16-17). He said, “in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (v. 17). However, Adam sinned by disobeying God's command. Therefore, he has come to death. There are 3 types of death here: (1) Spiritual Death: Loss of fellowship with God. Adam lost fellowship with God. So, Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden (3:23). (2) Physical death: Adam died at the age of 930 (5:5). (3) Eternal Death: When Adam died at the age of 930, his body was buried in a tomb and his soul was bound to suffer eternally in hell. Then, when Jesus came again, his body was resurrected from the grave, and his spirit and body were united, and he had no choice but to be punished forever in hell. There, salvation is “God’s salvation”!
God saved Adam. First, his salvation is spiritual salvation. Look at Genesis 3:21 – “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” God made clothes of skins for Adam and his wife and clothed them. To do this, he killed an animal (by shedding blood), dried the animal's skin, made clothes, and put Adam and Eve on them. This was to cover all the uncleanness of Adam (and Eve). This is “justification”. The beast represents Jesus Christ. God made Adam (and Eve) clothed in skins by slaughtering an animal, so Adam was righteous in God's sight. Therefore, although Adam's body went to the grave, Adam's soul went to heaven. When Jesus returns, his soul in heaven and his body in the tomb will be resurrected and united with the soul to enjoy eternal life in heaven. This is God's salvation!
God saved us. Just as sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned (Rom. 5:12). Although as descendants of Adam, as those who died in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), we were eternally punished and condemned to live in hell forever but were forgiven and justified (Roma. 4:25). In saving us, God also called those whom God foreknew and foreordained, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified also glorified (8:29-30). The glorification here is the perfection of salvation. Although we are not yet glorified, the Bible uses past tense to glorify. Look at Ephesians 2:4-6: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The word “seated us” in “seated us with Him in the heavenly places” here is also a past tense.
The Apostle Paul speaks of “those whom He foreknew” in Romans 8:29. The meaning of the word ‘know’ here has a special meaning beyond ‘knowing’. Look at Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” Although Jesus knows everything, He said, “I never knew you” to the false prophets (v. 15), who deceive and harass the saints and practice lawlessness. What that means is that Jesus does not love the false prophets. As a result, the false prophets will be away from Jesus (v. 23). That is, they will be destroyed, and they will be punished forever in hell. Look at Amos 3:2 – “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” To say that God only have chosen the Israelites among all the families of the earth means that God only loved the Israelites. God knew all the sins they had committed until the days of the prophet Amos when they came out of Egypt and said that He would punish them. When they did not repent, God would punish them because He loved them (Heb. 12:5-6). Those whom God foreknew (Rom. 8:29) are those whom God loves. God loves His children. Therefore, God disciplines us because He loves us when we, the children of God, are weak and fall into temptation by Satan, the tempter, and do not repent even after we sin (Heb. 12:5-6).
We need to know this God's salvation more and more. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, will be our teacher and help us understand each word of this truth. In particular, when we learn about the salvation of God, we need to know the God of salvation and also know more about His salvation. In particular, as we come to know the broad meaning of God's salvation, we must experience and be supremely amazed at how great, amazing, and wonderful God's love and grace of salvation are. At that time, we will not end up learning and hearing this wonderful, good news of salvation from the Bible. But we will be forced to preach the gospel of salvation. May the Lord use our gospel preaching as a tool to save souls.