“For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s common for people to talk about what God’s plan for their life is. This happens both confidently in the sense that they believe themselves to be following it closely and accurately, but also questioningly in the sense that they don’t know what it is and want to. What exactly does God want from us? Many things could potentially serve as the answer to that question, but the more important thing is what He wants for us. Paul talks about that some here. Let’s explore what God wants for your life, and how these two verses help us better understand the last one.

The language shift I used there is subtle. Perhaps you didn’t notice at first read. Your brain may have just filled in words without paying much attention to the information your eyes sent it. I switched from the word “from” to the word “for.” So much of our thinking about what may or may not be God’s plan for our lives runs along the line of what God wants from us. God wants me to do this. God wants me to do that. And there are some places in the Scriptures where we find God expressing things He wants from us.

But more of the places that spell out in detail things related to God’s plan for our lives tend to be focused on the things God wants for us. That’s what Paul is talking about here. He doesn’t say anything about what God wants from us here at all. This is all about the for. God wants for us – He wants for you – to be “conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

Okay, but what does that mean? The simplest answer to that question is that God wants you to look more like Jesus. In fact, He wants you to look so much like Jesus that a stranger really couldn’t tell the difference between the two of you. And, of course, I’m not talking about physical resemblance. Neither is Paul. He’s talking about our reflecting the character of Christ in and through our lives.

Fine, but Jesus was perfect. He reflected the character of God perfectly in and through His life. As Paul put it for the Colossian believers, Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.” In other words, if you want to know what God is like, you simply need to look at Jesus. How are we supposed to reflect that standard? We can barely hit mediocre in terms of reflecting God’s image in our lives.

Well, we can’t do it on our own. We need help. Specifically, we need God’s help. We need His constant and abiding help in every circumstance and situation that we face. Without that, we won’t do it. Thankfully, God gives us this very help. When we place our faith in Jesus, as Jesus talked about and John recorded in John 15-16, and as Paul just mentioned earlier in the chapter here, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us. He moves in and begins to transform us from the inside out. He equips us to reflect God’s image and the image of Jesus in ways we previously couldn’t manage. So, God wants you to look like Jesus, and He gives you the best help possible so that you can achieve that goal.

That’s pretty incredible, but that’s not nearly the whole of what Paul says here. Let’s talk about that in just a second, but first let’s take a look at the context. These two verses come packaged with what we talked about last Thursday in v. 28. “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purposes.” In other words, what Paul says here is in the context of this awesome ability God has to work good out of whatever our circumstances happen to be. How does God work good out of everything? By seeing us conformed to the image of His Son.

How does that work? Well, the more we look like Jesus, the more our circumstances are going to reflect the circumstances of Jesus. Okay, but Jesus was persecuted, betrayed, abused, and He died. That doesn’t seem so good. It wasn’t, but then Jesus rose again. He undid all the evil that was planned for Him. He overcame it completely. He overcame death itself. And now, with a new and permanent body, He lives forever at the Father’s right hand. When we are conformed to the image of God’s son, our circumstances will come to resemble His. That means we will likely suffer as He did, yes, but we will also overcome all the trials and tribulations we face and walk in the newness of kingdom life as He does. Good indeed.

But again, this isn’t only what Paul says here. He says God knows this is going to happen for us. In fact, He planned for it. He planned for us. He planned for you. The word Paul uses here is that God “predestined” it. He knew about it beforehand, and has known about it since eternity past. And for those God knew – has known – would be conformed to the image of His Son, He also called them to it. He justified them. That is He made them right with Him. He did this through Jesus sacrificial death that paid the price for the sins of the world. And those He has made right in Christ He glorifies as well. That is, He makes them reflect His image. This completes the circle. He knows they will be conformed to the image of His Son, and so they are conformed to the image of His Son.

What about those He doesn’t so know? We don’t know who that is. We can’t. And the people we might be tempted to think are obviously outside of that knowledge often prove to be just the opposite. Take Paul himself. Prior to his conversion, anyone with eyes would have been as sure as the world that he was never going to be a follower of Jesus. Then He became the most ardent of His followers. God doesn’t share this particular knowledge with us, so we are best to just always assume He intends for the unbelievers around us and in our lives to be conformed to the image of His Son. They simply haven’t gotten there yet. It’s always better to err on the side of sharing the Gospel than withholding it.

Now, the language Paul uses here obviously invites us into a conversation about God’s foreknowledge and our ability to make meaningful and consequential choices. That’s more than we’re going to try and tackle today. Interestingly, the question just came up in our Sunday school class yesterday. With that in mind, I will say at least this on the matter for now. The New Testament authors consistently hold that God is totally sovereign and perfect in His knowledge. He knows all things that are capable of being known. That is, if something sits or even could sit in the realm of knowledge, God has that knowledge. What’s more, His knowledge is never in error. If He knows something, that thing is or yet will be.

At the same time, the New Testament authors consistently hold that we are all entirely responsible for our choices. We are accountable for our actions. If we do something wrong, the fault ultimately lies with us. There are no excuses we can rely on to justify our sin on our own. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Our decisions really are meaningful. They have real consequences.

There is a tension between these two positions. That’s entirely undeniable. It is a tension we would like to have resolved. Over the centuries of church history there have been many attempts to construct theological systems that resolve the tension in one direction or the other. Some lean toward emphasizing the sovereignty of God over and against full and meaningful human responsibility. Others diminish the full and total sovereignty and the comprehensiveness of God’s knowledge in favor of giving more attention to our freedom and the role we play in the process of salvation.

And yet, this troublesome thing remains: the New Testament authors consistently hold both positions in tension without resolving that tension. Given their inspiration by the Spirit, this means for us that there is something here we don’t fully understand, that we can’t fully wrap our minds around, but which is nonetheless fully true. Verses like this one emphasize God’s sovereignty. There are others that emphasize things in the other direction. This is one of those few places where for now we ultimately have to wave the mystery flag. God is bigger than we are, and that’s okay. We can still trust in Him. We can still trust in His good plans along with His ability to make them manifest. We can still trust in His intention and ability to conform us in the image of His Son. And because we can trust in that, we follow Him with faithfulness and courage.