Does Romans 8:28 teach ‘God is in control’? -Brad Jersak

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QUESTION — ROMANS 8:28 –

I have appreciated your book, A More Christlike God. The concept I am finding more difficult to understand is regarding God’s control and plan. I follow you most of the way, but I can’t help by thinking that the Bible tells us that God has a plan for eternity, so I don’t see his intervention or lack of it as capricious or evil but rather, his wisdom that we cannot comprehend (and I agree with your point about God acting to human partners). What is your take on Romans 8:28. This verse has been a comfort for me and I believe for so many others through history: namely, that God is in ultimate control and is using everything to work towards his plan (even though he clearly is not behind acts of evils).

RESPONSE:

I’ll begin by affirming some key points, then nuance a few others.

First, I would concur without caveat that God has a plan for eternity and has even told us what it is on a number of occasions throughout Scripture. Ultimately (a very important word!), 1 Corinthians 15:25, lays out the End of all ends: “That God will be all in all (all creation and all people)”. Paul also tells us how that will happen: God’s plan for the ages is the summing up of all (all creation and all people) in Jesus Christ (from Ephesians 1) who has been given all authority (over all creation and all people) so that he can deliver that into the hands of his Father (back to 1 Cor. 15). And he has even told us how Jesus will be given that authority: that through his death and resurrection, Jesus promises to draw all people to himself (John 12:32), reconciling all (all creation and all people) to God through his blood (meaning, laying down his life in love for the world). That’s the plan and the means to the plan.

IS GOD IN CONTROL?

Second, doesn’t this mean that God is ‘in control.’ In a broader sense, sure. And that can be very comforting for people to hear in the face of chaos. God has not ‘lost control’ and no matter what, his eternal plan will not be stymied. God is sovereign, which is a kingly metaphor for ‘God reigns.’

However, the WAY God reigns is absolutely critical. God reigns by love. And love does not control, which is to say, God’s way of bringing about the eternal plan is entirely and always consistent with God’s nature: which is love. And while love never violates human agency, even when we are abusing our freedom and acting wickedly (obviously, if we look at the world today), love is very much at work in the world, participating in our lives through God’s redeeming love.

We prefer phrases like ‘participates’ and ‘redeems’ over ‘controls’ precisely because of your last point: to someone who has been traumatized, victimized, or violated, the word ‘control’ sounds like God is the agent behind the acts of evil. So when our worship leaders (who were suffering chaos in their lives) tried to comfort themselves and their congregation by seeing, ‘He is in control,’ what did that communicate to the victims of molestation, rape, domestic violence, and human trafficking (we had them all)? That is a description of how the men in their lives had controlled them. So ‘He is in control’ would trigger, “God caused my rape” or “If God is in control, he should have prevented my rape.” In other words, if God ‘intervenes’ but didn’t in their case, then God is complicit and capricious and I can’t trust that kind of God. So the intended comfort badly backfired.

PARTICIPATION & SOVEREIGN GRACE

Instead, we saw God’s participation and sovereign grace in their lives, redeeming them from those horrible evils and turning the wickedness on its head by restoring their lives and empowering them as partners in the redemption of others. The archetype of this in Scripture is ultimately the Cross, where God never justifies the murder of his Son but subverts our evil intent into his means of salvation. And we can experience this on a personal level, where some trial (even those caused by human sin) becomes an opportunity for redemption… but we would never make God the cause or agent of the sin. It sounds like you understand this. So I’m just explaining our choice of language.

My mom is a wonderful woman of prayer–my ‘go to’ call when I’m in chaos. And when she prays, “Lord, you are in control and we ask that you would intervene,” I feel no need to correct her because God knows exactly what she means and so do I. Mine is more of a pastoral concern for those who’ve been wounded by the language.

ROMANS 8:28

“God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God”(NRSV)

I think you get this, but perhaps I can offer an extra facet. The part of this that we are drawn to is the promise that God is actively involved in all circumstances to redeem them for our good. I think that’s right. However, we tend to misread this as, “God promises that everything will work out.” Then we expect it to work out now, in this life. We expect that God will intervene to fix it now or make it all okay. That’s not reality… and when reality crashes into us and family members are killed by a drunk driver, using Romans 8 for comfort not only rings hollow. It can become toxic.

Instead, let’s read the verse in context. Romans 8 tells us that all of creation is groaning under the catastrophe of human sin. And when the love of God fills our hearts, we begin to mourn too. We don’t even know how to pray. But the Holy Spirit in us cries out with ‘groans too deep for words’ and ‘we cry, ABBA!’ It appears that all is lost. It seems like evil reigns and death has defeated us. Now back to creation in Romans 8:

19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Creation is groaning and waiting for God’s children to ‘be revealed’ or ‘manifest’ — to ‘show up’ and participate in ‘your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ It’s waiting for us to step into our calling now through the labor pains of history, even as we await our final resurrection. The wholeness and freedom of eternity that we await begins now as healing and redemption. Here. In this life. “Today,” Jesus said, “this Scripture [Isaiah 61] is being fulfilled even as you hear it” (my translation of Luke 4).

Now, finally, to Romans 8. “All things work together” is NOT “everything works out.” Rather, “all things” refers to the whole of creation that is groaning and waiting for us. When we, as Christ’s royal priesthood, step into our vocation, we will discover “all things working together” — cooperating, participating, serving with us in the cause of redemption. We can’t manipulate (force, control) our circumstances to serve our ends. But when we live as God’s beloved children, serving divine love in this world, it’s amazing how ‘all things’ start diving in to help. I think that’s how to read and live Romans 8.

I’ve also witnessed it again and again, perhaps noticing it more as a pessimist who sometimes expects the worst. Far better if I remember that God reigns by love, has participated in our pain through the Incarnation, and as crucified and risen Lord can say, “Behold, I am making all things new!”

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