God Causes All Things to Work Together! (Rom. 8:28)

Romans 8:28 (NAS): And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

As Christian lawyers, we need to understand the implications of this verse. We do not operate in a closed universe. The things that we do, and that our clients do, and that our clients have done to them, are not the ultimate determiners of what happens. All of those matter, of course. But there is a causal God behind everything, who is orchestrating His plans through us and even, if necessary, in spite of us. The whole of scripture teaches that God is causally active in all things, not just on behalf of those who love him. Romans 8:28 is just one slice of his omnipotent activity.

As a Christian lawyer, I am personally encouraged by this verse. I qualify, as you can, as someone who loves God (albeit imperfectly) and who is called (to the best of my faulty human ability) according to His purpose. So I can therefore go confidently about my days, trusting that He is faithful to His promise to work everything for my good. A couple of things to observe. First, in the Greek, “all things” means, “all things.” God isn’t just making a few things here and there work for my good. He is literally (if this verse is to be believed, and I think it is) making everything in the universe work toward my good. And not only that, all those trillions of things are working together! God makes them cooperate! I cannot usually make more than two or three things in my life cooperate together toward any single end. Yet God makes everything work together for my good, and for yours, and for everybody else who loves him, and is called according to his purpose. What a great God He is!

~ Associate Dean Doug Cook, Regent University School of Law