26/08/2026
The Golden Chain Of Our (Destiny) Salvation
Having determined our destiny ahead of time, he called us to Himself and transferred His perfect righteousness to everyone He called. And those who possess His perfect righteousness He co-glorified with His Son - Romans 8:30
The careful study of this verse reveals the four important chains of a believer's salvation or destiny so to say: predestination, vocation, justification and glorification. Notice also that all the verbs are past tense. In other words, the same faith that justifies us is the same faith that glorifies us. Meaning that every person God justified, by faith in Christ, He then glorified.
In the previous verse, Paul wrote that God predestined those who are now in Christ to be conformed to Christ's image. He made this choice about us before the world was formed [Ephesians 1:4]. God's purpose for our lives has ever and always been that we will become like Jesus. In some way, God both knew and chose those who would be saved, long before we even existed to make such a choice.
Now Paul writes that those God predestined for this purpose, He also called. Stated in reverse, God called every single person he predestined. As Paul uses the word in Romans, being "called" by God is about His breaking into our awareness of Him and drawing us toward Himself.
Next, God justified every single person He called. The first four chapters of Romans deal with the issues of God's justification. To be "justified" by God is to be made right with Him. We can never justify ourselves because of our sin, not even by following the law, since we can't keep the law perfectly. We can only be justified through faith in Christ [Romans 5:1].
Finally, Paul began this section in verses 18-19 by saying that all of creation is waiting for the children of God to be glorified. We are waiting for that, too, though our sure and confident hope is that it is coming in God's perfect timing.