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Clichés are an unfortunate inevitability. For example, if you’re a Boston Red Sox fan
like I am, you’re nauseatingly familiar with the phrase “we’ll get ‘em next
year!” Sadly, however, most of the time
it seems like clichés ring hollow. They
provide little to no satisfaction when it comes to meeting the real needs that
they are intended to address, and both the user and the hearer gain little
benefit out of the exchange. For
instance, last fall when the Red Sox fell out of playoff contention with an
epic September collapse, highlighted fittingly by a blown save against the
Orioles, and a walk-off homer by Evan Longoria of the Rays in the space of
about two minutes that cemented their fate, I wouldn’t have wanted to hear the
phrase “we’ll get ‘em next year!” In
fact, I remember crawling in bed next to my wife who was nine months pregnant
at the time, and telling her that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue my
love-affair with New England sports. I
told her I couldn't bear to bring my son into this cold, dark world. Seven months later, Chase inhabits a New England
sports-themed nursery. Obviously my steely resolve quickly faded, but the
original point still stands. At times, clichés are a bummer.
Sadly, clichés sometimes find their way into our Christian
walk. They can come from well-intended
messages, sincere counselors, and even verses of Scripture that, when divorced
from their context and separated from authorial intent, ring with a hollowness
that was surely never the intention of the inspiring Holy Spirit. Perhaps no Scriptural cliché has been
(over)used as much as one of the dearest passages of Scripture that we hold in
our New Testament. In Romans 8:28, Paul finishes his discussion of the future
glories that await those who suffer well by saying “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for
good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” Inspired by my current personal journey through
Romans as well a coinciding lecture from Dr. Greg Mazak in a course that I am
currently enrolled in at Bob Jones Seminary, I would like to take the next
series of blog posts and focus on this phenomenal text of Scripture. Together, we’ll answer some important
questions that come from this text in order to unearth exactly what Paul’s
argument is. Our intent will be to
abolish any cliché nature that this text may hold, and to bask in the glory of
what the Holy Spirit intended for us to understand from this magnificent verse. We’ll answer several key questions including who
this passage was intended for, what the “good” promised in this verse refers
to, and what God’s ultimate purpose is.
Prior to taking the class mentioned above, I had already
decided to spend the summer in Romans, encountering several key passages head-on,
and learning from this doctrinally rich book.
Providentially, I had been reveling in this text the week of Dr. Mazak’s
lecture on this passage, with no prior knowledge of what he would be teaching
on. Thankfully, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief when I discovered that
his much more profound exegetical work squired up quite nicely with my feeble
attempts to make sense of what Paul was trying to convey.
Romans 8:28 should never be a cliché. It carries too much
tremendous weight to ever ring with the hollowness usually reserved for the
genre of the cliché. I’m really enjoying
my study, and I hope you’ll join me in this journey. I’m excited to share what the goodness of God
has allowed me to be learning.
Grace to you.
