Paul now adds another ground for looking confidently to the future. It is our knowledge that, according to the eternal purpose of God, all things contribute to the welfare of those who love Him. Even the troubles and suffering of this life, far from hindering our salvation, may help it forward. At every step the Christian may be in the hands of God and be carrying out the divine purpose.

 Nothing can touch the Christian except by our Lord’s permission (see Job 1:12; 2:6), and all things that are permitted work together for good to those who love God. If God permits suffering and perplexity to come upon us, it is not to destroy us but to refine and sanctify us (see on Rom. 8:17). The troubles and disappointments of this life take our affections from the world and lead us to look to heaven for our home. They teach us the truth about our frail and dying condition and cause us to rely upon God for support and for salvation. They also produce in us a more humble and subdued spirit, a more patient and tender disposition. This has been the experience of God’s people throughout history, and at the end of their lives they have been able to say that it was good for them to have been so afflicted (see Ps. 119:67, 71; cf. Heb. 12:11). At the end of his life Joseph was able to say to his brothers, “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Gen. 50:20).

In the Greek this phrase is placed in a position of emphasis.

 The words describe the true followers of God, those who have real faith and who trust in God’s leading. Their love for God is in response to God’s love for them and His divine working in all things for their salvation. The love of God must first come to a man and enter his heart before he in turn can love God (1 John 4:19), as the Holy Spirit must first enlighten a man if he himself is to pray as he ought (Rom. 8:26).

 Paul has already spoken of God’s love toward us (ch. 5:5, 8), and he mentions it again in this chapter (ch. 8:39). He also speaks a number of times about our love for our fellow men (chs. 12:9, 10; 13:8, 9). But this is the most specific reference in the epistle to our love toward God. Faith has been frequently mentioned, and hope has been the subject of the preceding verses in this chapter (see ch. 8:24, 25). Now Paul adds to the list by mentioning love to God. Of course, every reference to faith throughout the epistle implies also love, for Christian faith is based upon love and admiration for God and for all that He is. For those who have such love, God is ever working for their good (see 1 Cor. 2:9; Eph. 6:24; 2 Tim. 4:8; James 1:12).

 The context implies that the call has been accepted (see Rom. 1:6, 7; 1 Cor. 1:2, 24; Jude 1; Rev. 17:14). Christians are termed “called” because God, through the gospel, has invited them to be saved. Salvation is never forced upon an unwilling sinner, but comes as the result of his freely accepting an invitation. Along with the call God sends into the heart the influence of the Holy Spirit to make the call effectual. Those who “love God” have in their own experience the evidence that they have been “called according to his purpose,” for the call has produced the intended effect (see Rom. 8:16).

 Gr. prothesis, meaning basically, a “proposition,” a setting forth of something in the sight of others. It is thus applied to the bread that was laid on the table of shewbread (Matt. 12:4; Mark 2:26; Luke 6:4). In Rom. 3:25 the verb from which this term is derived (protithēmi) is used to describe God’s act in “setting forth” His Son.

When applied to the mind, the term means a “plan,” or a “purpose.”

 It is God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:11) to save sinners by grace (2 Tim. 1:9). And since it is “the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:11), it follows that “all things” must “work together for good” to the “called” according to that purpose.

Paul fully recognizes the freedom of the human will. The large part that exhortation plays in his epistles is clear evidence of this. But behind it all he ever sees the sovereignty and purpose of God. And there is no contradiction in this. For God’s purpose to save man is realized through the proper exercise of man’s freedom.

 Evidently Paul intended this to be understood in the widest possible sense, to include everything mentioned in vs. 35, 38, 39. But he may be referring especially to “the sufferings of this present time” (v. 18).

Work together. Textual evidence is divided (cf. p. 10) between the reading, “all things work together for good,” and, “God works all things for good.” Whether or not the word “God” is introduced, this is Paul’s meaning anyway. It is God who causes all things to work together in our lives for ultimate good.