{"id":1819,"date":"2010-06-29T18:26:55","date_gmt":"2010-06-29T23:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1819"},"modified":"2010-06-29T18:26:55","modified_gmt":"2010-06-29T23:26:55","slug":"romans-829-who-chose-whom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-829-who-chose-whom\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 8:29 – Who Chose Whom?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Romans 8:29 – Who Chose Whom?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be<\/em> conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

God chose us to be Christ-like before He created anything.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word \u201cforeknew\u201d is the Greek word progin\u014dsk\u014d<\/em>, which is a compound word made up of pro<\/em>, meaning \u201cbefore, in place or time\u201d and gin\u014dsk\u014d<\/em>, meaning \u201cto know in a completed sense, that is, to have full knowledge of.\u201d<\/p>\n

This word translated \u201cpredestined\u201d is the Greek word, prooridz\u014d<\/em>, which is made up of pro<\/em>, meaning \u201cbefore, in place or time\u201d and horidzo<\/em>, meaning \u201cto mark out, appoint, or determine.\u201d Thus we see that prooridz\u014d<\/em> means \u201cto predetermine\u201d or \u201cto decree beforehand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Entire chapters of theological books have been written on the subject matter of this verse, but I will attempt to give the meat of the meaning as clearly and concisely as I can. The controversy of this verse revolves around a single Greek word. Its meaning and proper interpretation, though much debated, is very clear and uncontestable, and yet there are still many Bible-believing Christians who choose not to accept it. The word I\u2019m talking about is progin\u014dsk\u014d<\/em>, translated \u201cforeknew.\u201d Foreknowledge means that God had full, intimate knowledge of us before we were born. In Ephesians 1:3-5<\/strong> Paul tells us:<\/p>\n

Blessed be<\/em> the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places<\/em> in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,<\/p>\n

God\u2019s foreknowledge and choosing of us as his adopted children actually happened before the world was created.<\/p>\n

I have heard competent, sound, fundamental Christians say to this, \u201cYes, of course. God foreknew who would accept Christ as Savior and chose them.\u201d In fact, if this were true, then it would also be true that He foreknew who would not accept Christ as Savior, and according to the current verse in Romans He would have to predestinate them to be conformed to the image of His son as well (whom He foreknew, He also predestined). Hence, everyone would be saved. But this simply isn\u2019t true. This faulty type of reasoning speaks of God\u2019s foresight, not His foreknowledge. Also, if God chose us based on our decision to accept Christ as Savior, then in reality we chose Him, and He had no choice<\/strong> in the matter. That\u2019s a big man, little god theology, which simply isn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s foreknowledge and His choosing flow directly from one another. According to the current verse, as a result of His foreknowledge of us He predestined us to be like His son Jesus.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is hard for us to accept the fact that God chose us for salvation while He allowed others, as a result of their sins, to suffer in Hell for eternity. However, that\u2019s exactly what the Bible teaches. So, instead of fighting against God (a futile activity, at best) let us praise Him for having chosen us to be conformed to the image of Christ and to be adopted as His children!<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –<\/p>\n

If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, send an e-mail to:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 8:29 – Who Chose Whom? For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Truth to Learn God chose us to be Christ-like before He created anything. Behind the Words The word \u201cforeknew\u201d is the Greek word progin\u014dsk\u014d, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[991,992,993,994,995],"class_list":["post-1819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-foreknew","tag-foreknowledge","tag-predestined","tag-proginosko","tag-prooridzo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-tl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}