The Believers Staircase: Predestinated, Called, Justified, Glorified

Romans 8:30 (KJV) 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.

• Paul adds to his previous thoughts on predestination with these words, ‘Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called.’
• I was reminded this past week of one of the reasons why it’s important to define words. When Sharon and I moved to Oklahoma from the right coast, the use of exact words became clearly apparent. We pulled into a gas station convenience store to get something to drink. The check-out clerk said to me, “Do you want me to put your pop in a sack?” I was flabbergasted. “You want to put my what in a what?” On the east coast carbonated beverages are called ‘soda’ not ‘pop’. Pop is a slang expression for your biological father. And a sack is a burlap bag used for potatoes. So I heard, ‘Do you want me to put your father in a potato sack. I remember this incident explicitly. I clearly saw the rustic burlap bag in my mind as the clerk uttered his version of courteous service.
• That’s why it’s important to define words.
• While I’m on this thread of defining words; you cannot take Webster’s dictionary and define a Bible word with it.
• Why?
• Because words change over time.
• Webster’s dictionary first came out in 1806. That’s seventeen hundred plus years after the New Testament was written.
• In order to define a word used in the New Testament, you must look at in it’s first century context.
• There are multiple resources which you can use which would do the job.
• The one I use the most is ‘A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition’ also known as BDAG.
• Now, that that’s out of my stem, the Greek word called or kaleō means to call, to summon, to invite. It means to choose for receipt of a special benefit or experience.
• Believer’s in Jesus have been summoned to partake of salvation free of charge.

2 Thessalonians 2:14 (KJV) 14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• The call, as all calls which come from God, are holy.
• God’s calling contains fullness of purpose and grace.

9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

• The invitation is a unilateral one made to both Jews and Gentiles.

1 Corinthians 1:24 (NKJV) 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

What Are the By-Products of the Calling?

Peace.

Colossians 3:15 (NKJV) 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Freedom

Galatians 5:13 (NKJV) 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Sanctification

1 Corinthians 1:7 (NKJV) 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

• The upward calling, as Philippians 3:14 has it, continues.
• In verse 29, it was ‘foreknew, predestined, and conformed’.
• Here in verse 30, it is ‘called, justified, and glorified’.
• The list starts before the ages began and all of it is by God’s foreknowledge of us.
• It ends in our final upward destination of being glorified.

Ephesians 1:18 (NKJV) 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

1 Thessalonians 2:12 (NKJV) 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

Justification and Glorification: The Pinnacle of It All

• Paul now adds the peak to this mountain of truth.
• He says, ‘Whom God called, He also justified.
• The word ‘justified’ means to have right-standing with.
• For more on this see the blog post on Romans 8:10.
• Whom God made to have righteous standing before Him, those people, He also glorified.
• Are you ready to shout about being glorified?
• The Greek word glorified means to cause to have splendid greatness, clothe in splendor, glorify.
• Because you have been made the righteousness of God in Christ, you have a new set of clothes.
• You have been ‘clothed in glory’.
• Clothes are one way the body is referred to in scripture.

2 Corinthians 5:4 (NKJV) 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

• Clothed in glory was Adam’s original state in the garden.

Psalm 8:5 (NKJV) 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

• Adam experienced such a clothing with God’s glory that he never knew he had no material clothing on.
• The only way he found out differently was when he sinned.

Genesis 3:9–11 (NKJV) 9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

• This glorification of the believer is out in the future and joins ‘conformed to His image’ as the only future occurrences in this list of six.
• Even though glorification is a future occurrence, yet we do get to have a taste of God’s glory in the ‘here and now.’

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Call to Action:

Your past is forgotten, your present is full of calling and purpose, your future is out of this world. Learn all you can about all of it. Grow in where you are in Christ and rejoice on the way to where your going in Him.

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