Thomas Aquinas Commentary Romans 8:28-32

"And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, [even] to them that are called according to [his] purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God [is] for us, who [is] against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" — Romans 8:28-32 (ASV)

1. Having shown that the Holy Spirit helps us in the weaknesses of the present life regarding the fulfillment of our desires, the Apostle now shows how He helps us in relation to external events by directing them for our good.

The Apostle's argument proceeds in three steps:

1. He states his proposition.
2. He proves it, beginning with the words, for whom he foreknew.
3. He draws a conclusion, beginning with, who then will separate us? (Romans 8:35).

2. Regarding the first point, there are two things to consider.

1. First is the greatness of the benefit conferred on us by the Holy Spirit: that all things work together for good for us.

To understand this, we should consider that whatever happens in the world, even if it is evil, works for the good of the universe. As Augustine says in his Enchiridion, God is so good that He would permit no evil, unless He were powerful enough to draw some good out of any evil.

However, an evil does not always work for the good of the particular thing in which it exists. For example, the death of one animal works for the good of the universe, since by the destruction of one thing, something else comes into being. But this does not work for the good of the animal that ceases to exist. This is because the good of the universe is willed by God for its own sake, and all parts of the universe are ordered toward this good.

3. The same principle seems to apply to the relationship between the noblest parts of the universe and the other parts. The evil affecting the lesser parts is ordered for the good of the noblest parts. But whatever happens to the noblest parts is ordered only for their own good, because God’s care for them is for their own sake, whereas His care for the others is for the sake of the noblest. This is like a physician who allows a sickness in the foot in order to cure the head.

The most excellent parts of the universe are God’s saints, to each of whom the words of Matthew apply: he will set him over all his goods (Matthew 25:23). Therefore, whatever happens, whether to them or to other things, it all works for the benefit of the saints. This confirms the statement in Proverbs: the fool will be servant to the wise (Proverbs 11:29). This is because even the evil of sinners works for the good of the righteous. Hence, God is said to exercise a special care over the righteous: the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous (Psalms 34:15), since He cares for them in such a way that He permits no evil to affect them without converting it to their good.

This is obvious regarding the punishments they suffer. As the Gloss says, in their weakness humility is exercised, in affliction patience, in contradictions wisdom, and in hatred good will. Thus, it says in 1 Peter: if you suffer for justice’s sake, you will be blessed (1 Peter 3:14).

4. It might be asked whether the sins of the saints also work together for their good.

Some say that sins are not included in the phrase all things, because, according to Augustine, sin is nothing, and men become nothing when they sin.

But contrary to this, a Gloss says, God makes all things work together for their good to the extent that if they deviate and stray from the path, He even makes this contribute to their good. Hence it is said: though the just man fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord is the stay of his hand (Psalms 37:24).

If this is so, it would seem that they always rise with greater love, because a person’s good consists in love, so much so that without it the Apostle says that he is nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2).

The answer is that a person’s good consists not only in the amount of love but especially in perseverance until death, as it says in Matthew: he who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13). Furthermore, because the righteous person has fallen, he rises more cautious and more humble. The Gloss adds that this makes them progress, because they return to themselves more humble and wiser, for they fear exalting themselves or trusting in their own power to persevere.

5.

2. Second, we consider the recipients of this benefit, looking at it from both God’s part and man’s part.

The author indicates what is involved on man’s part when he says, to those who love God.

The love of God is in us through the indwelling Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit who directs us in the right path: set me, O Lord, a law in your way, and guide me in the right path (Psalms 27:11). Hence it says in 1 Peter: who is there to harm you, if you are zealous for what is right? (1 Peter 3:13); and also, great peace have they who love your law; nothing can make them stumble (Psalms 119:165).

This is reasonable because, as it says in Proverbs, I love those who love me (Proverbs 8:17). To love is to will good to the one who is loved. For God, to will something is to accomplish it, for whatever the Lord wills he does (Psalms 135:6). Therefore, God turns all things to the good of those who love Him.

6. Then the author considers what is involved on God’s part. God, first, predestined believers from all eternity; second, calls them in time; and third, sanctifies them. He touches on these three things when he says, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints. This refers to the predestined, the called, and the sanctified.

Here, purpose refers to predestination, which, according to Augustine, is the resolve to be merciful: according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11). Called refers to calling: he called him to follow him (Isaiah 41:2). Saints refers to sanctification: I am the Lord who sanctifies you (Leviticus 21:8).

The Apostle says that he knows this, stating, we know, for he gave him knowledge of holy things . This knowledge arises from experience and from considering the power of love—love is as strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6)—and of eternal predestination: my counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose (Isaiah 46:10).

7. Then he proves what he had said with the following argument, when he says, for whom he foreknew.

No one can harm those whom God advances, but God advances the predestined who love Him. Therefore, nothing can harm them; instead, everything works for their good.

The argument proceeds as follows:

1. First, he proves the minor premise, namely, that God advances them.
2. Second, he proves the major premise, namely, that nothing can be harmful to those advanced by God, beginning with, what shall we then say?

Regarding the first point, he does two things:

1. First, he mentions things that refer to the advancement of the saints from all eternity.
2. Second, he mentions those that occur in time, beginning with, and whom he predestined.

8. First, therefore, he presents two concepts, namely, foreknowledge and predestination, when he says, whom he foreknew, he also predestined.

Now, some say that predestination is taken here for the preparation that occurs in time, during which God prepares the saints for grace. They say this in order to distinguish foreknowledge from predestination.

But closer examination shows that both are eternal and that they differ in concept. As was stated above, predestination implies the mental pre-ordering of things that a person intends to do. From all eternity, God has predestined the benefits He intends to give His saints. Hence, predestination is eternal. But foreknowledge differs conceptually from predestination, because foreknowledge implies only the knowledge of future things, whereas predestination implies causality regarding them. Consequently, God has foreknowledge even of sins, but predestination bears only on saving goods. Hence the Apostle says in Ephesians: predestined according to the purpose of his will, to the praise and glorious grace which he freely bestowed (Ephesians 1:5).

9. Regarding the order between foreknowledge and predestination, some say that foreknowledge of good and evil merits is the reason for predestination and reprobation. In this view, God predestines certain ones because He foresees that they will act well and believe in Christ. According to this interpretation, the present text reads: those whom he foreknew to be conformed to the image of his Son, he also predestined.

This interpretation would be reasonable if predestination were restricted to eternal life, which is bestowed for merits. But predestination includes every saving benefit prepared for humanity from all eternity by God. Therefore, all the benefits He confers on us in time, He prepared for us from all eternity. To claim that some merit on our part is presupposed—the foreknowledge of which is the reason for predestination—is nothing less than to claim that grace is given because of our merits, and that the source of our good works is from us and their completion is from God.

Therefore, it is more suitable to interpret the present text as stating that whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be made conformed to the image of his Son. In this case, this conformity is not the reason for predestination, but its end or effect. For the Apostle says, he destined us to be his adopted sons through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5).

10. For adoption as sons is nothing other than that conformity, because a person adopted into the sonship of God is conformed to His true Son.

This conformity exists first in the right to the inheritance, as was stated above: if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ. Second, it exists in sharing His splendor. For He is begotten of the Father as the splendor of his glory (Hebrews 1:3). Hence, by enlightening the saints with the light of wisdom and grace, He makes them conformed to Himself. This is why it is said: in the brightness of the saints: from the womb before the day star I begot you (Psalms 110:3), which means pouring out all the brightness of the saints.

11. The phrase to the image of his Son can be interpreted in two ways. One way is that it means conformed to the image of His Son, who is an image: he is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Another way is that the sense is this: He predestined us to be conformed to His Son in the fact that we bear His image: just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:49).

He says, whom he foreknew, he also predestined, not because He predestines all the foreknown, but because He could not predestine them unless He foreknew them: before I formed you in the womb I knew you (Jeremiah 1:5).

12. Then he indicates what follows from this predestination, when he says, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

For just as God willed to communicate His natural goodness to others by imparting to them a likeness of His goodness, so that He is not only good but the author of good things, so the Son of God willed to communicate to others a conformity to His sonship, so that He would not only be the Son but also the firstborn among sons. Thus, He who is the only-begotten through an eternal origin, as it says in John, the only Son who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18), is the firstborn among many brethren by the bestowal of grace: he is the first-born of the dead, and ruler of kings on earth (Revelation 1:5).

Therefore, Christ has us as brothers, both because He communicated to us a likeness of His sonship and because He assumed the likeness of our nature, as it says in Hebrews: he had to be made like his brethren in every respect (Hebrews 2:17).

13. Then, when he says, and whom he predestined, he mentions what happens to the saint as a consequence of predestination.

First, he mentions the call, when he says, whom he predestined, them he also called. For predestination cannot be nullified: the Lord of hosts has sworn: as I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand (Isaiah 14:24).

Predestination begins to be carried out with the calling of the person. This call is twofold. One is external and is made by the mouth of a preacher: she has sent out her maids to call from the highest places (Proverbs 9:3). In this way, God called Peter and Andrew (Matthew 4:18). The other call is internal and is nothing less than an impulse of the mind by which a person’s heart is moved by God to consent to the things of faith or of virtue: who stirred up one from the east and called him to follow? (Isaiah 41:2).

This call is necessary, because our heart would not turn itself to God unless God Himself drew us to Him: no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44); turn us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be turned (Lamentations 5:21). Furthermore, this call is effective in the predestined, because they consent to the call: everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me (John 6:45).

14. Hence, second, he mentions justification, when he says, and whom he called, them he also justified, by infusing grace: they are justified by his grace as a gift (Romans 3:24).

Although this justification is thwarted in certain persons because they do not persevere to the end, in the predestined it is never thwarted.

15. Third, he mentions glorification, when he adds, them he also glorified. This occurs in two ways: by growth in virtue and grace, and by exaltation to glory: in all things, O Lord, you have exalted and glorified your people .

He uses the past tense for the future, if the glorification of glory is understood here, either because the future is certain, or because what is future in some is already fulfilled in others.

16. Then he clarifies the major premise—that nothing can harm those advanced by God—when he says, what shall we then say?

He shows that they cannot suffer any loss:

1. First, through the evil of punishment.
2. Second, through the evil of guilt, at who will accuse? (Romans 8:33).

17. The evil of punishment is twofold: one consists in the imposition of evils, the other in the removal of good things.

First, he shows that those who are advanced by God do not suffer harm from the efforts of persecutors, saying, what shall we then say? It is as if to say: since God bestows so many good things on His elect, what can be said against this to nullify it? The answer is: nothing. No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel, can avail against the Lord (Proverbs 21:30). Or, what shall we then say? For one is struck with amazement when considering these things: I considered your works and became terrified (Habakkuk 3:2). Or, what shall we then say to these things? This means, what return could we make to God for such great blessings? What shall I repay to the Lord for all his bounty to me? (Psalms 116:12).

Then he continues, if God is for us—by predestining, calling, justifying, and glorifying—who is against us successfully? Let us stand up together, who is my adversary? (Isaiah 50:8); place me next to you, and let anyone’s hand fight against me (Job 17:3).

18. Second, he shows that God’s holy ones cannot suffer loss by the removal of good things, saying, he who did not even spare his own Son.

Whereas he spoke earlier about adopted sons, saying, you have received the spirit of adoption of sons (Romans 8:15), he separates this Son from all others, saying, his own Son. This means He is not adopted, as heretics claim, but natural and co-eternal: that we may be in his true Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 5:20), of whom the Father says, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17).

19. He says, did not even spare, to indicate that He did not exempt Him from punishment. For there was no guilt in Him to forgive. He who spares the rod hates his son (Proverbs 13:24).

However, God the Father did not even spare his own Son, not as though to add something to Him who is in all things perfect God, but rather He subjected Him to the passion for our benefit. This is what he adds: but delivered him up for us all, that is, in expiation for our sins: he was put to death for our trespasses (Romans 4:25); the Lord put on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).

God the Father gave Him up to death by appointing Him to become incarnate and suffer, and by inspiring His human will with such love that He would willingly undergo the passion. Hence, Christ is said to have given Himself over: he gave himself up for us (Ephesians 5:2). Judas, too, and the Jews gave Him up, as was explained above.

20. It should be noted that in saying, he did not even spare his own Son, it is as though he were saying: He not only exposed other holy men to tribulation for their salvation—I have hewn them by the prophets (Hosea 6:5); if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation (2 Corinthians 1:6)—but even His own Son.

But in the Son of God all things exist as in their primordial and pre-operative cause: he is before all things and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:17). Therefore, when He was given up for us, all things were given to us. Hence he adds: how has not he also, with him, given us all things? This includes the highest things, namely, the divine persons to enjoy; rational spirits to live with; and all lower things to use, not only prosperity but adversity as well: all are yours and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 Corinthians 3:23). Hence, it is clear that, as it says in the Psalm, those who fear him have no lack (Psalms 34:9).