Many people (Calvinist AKA Reform Theology) use Romans 8:29-30 as an anchor to the doctrine of Limited Atonement (Christ only died for those who will be saved) and the doctrine of Election (Only those who are selected by God will be saved). They contend that God foreknew who would be His because He in His sovereignty chose who was to be His elect and who were not. Put another way, those who are going to heaven and those who are going to hell and this based completely on God’s sovereign will and not on man’s free will.

So the doctrine goes like this. Those whom God foreknew in His sovereign election, He predestines to be conformed in the image of His Son. Not only this, those He predestined, God calls them to be saved. Naturally those He calls He will justify with the blood of Christ. Those He has chosen and justified He will glorify when He comes.

Rom 8:29-31 KJV For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Many try to grapple with this verse when they find the doctrine of limited atonement and the doctrine of Election not only offensive, but in contradiction to the rest of what they read in scripture. But yet these verses seem to say what the Calvinist say it says. Is there any other way to look at these verses under the light of other scripture so it does not contradict what so many people believe scripture teaches about free will and Christ dying for all mankind? I would like to propose a fresh look at these verses and reset the table Calvinist have laid before us. Continue reading →