When I was a kid, I grew up in a family business. Our business was simple: jewelry. There were all sorts of gems and precious metals I encountered as a youngster that still boggle my mind. It was nothing to see on an ordinary Tuesday night to see diamond rings, expensive watches, and bedazzled earrings. But there is another item of jewelry that was an ordinary staple growing up and that was a golden chain.
Golden chains come in all sorts and sizes. There are whole host of varieties such as differences in style, length, quality of gold, etc. Each of these differences affect the cost of the piece. As you may know, a chain is made of links. If you have a pile of unconnected links, you do not have a chain. A link is not chain. The links must be connected until, at last, they arrive as a connected whole and then you have something amazing. You have something of value, something worth sharing, something even worth handing down as an heirloom.
Do you know that Scripture has such a chain? Romans 8:30 is known as the “golden chain of salvation”. There we read these words delivered to us by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (ESV) Now if you look at this text with me, you’ll notice that we do not find the words “gold” or “chain” or even “salvation”. These words are not explicitly found within our text. However, if like a jeweler you pull out a magnifying glass and examine the text more clearly, you’ll find a chain made of five links. These five links provide a helpful picture of our salvation. You will also find that salvation is wholly rooted in God’s actions towards us as His beloved people.
One of the great theologians of the Reformation was Francis Turretin, a gifted teacher from Geneva. When looking at this passage Turretin wrote, “It is evident from the golden chain of salvation … where the beginning is made from the eternal election of God, flowing thence through individual graces, proceeds to the last complement of salvation: from eternity to eternity—from eternity with respect to predestination, to eternity with respect to glorification.”
Turretin understood this passage as nothing short of a rich display of God’s electing grace. He reminded us that salvation is not the outworking of our plans but of the eternal plan of the living God. One other helpful observation which Turretin puts before us is that in Romans 8:30 we as humans are given a window to behold the plans of God from before there was a before. We learn of what occurs from eternity to eternity in our salvation. We learn of God’s foreknowledge and predestination in eternity past to God’s glorifying us forever into eternity future. We learn of this grace of God which spans all of time and even what came before and what follows that.
What do we learn about this golden chain of salvation? We learn most basically that it is the outworking of the plan and wisdom of God. It was His purpose unfolded in time and space. We read as much in Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (ESV) Salvation is the plan and purpose of God.
How does He do it? There are five links provide to us: 1) Foreknowledge; 2) Predestination; 3) Effectual Calling; 4) Justification; 5) Glorification. Clearly, each of these five links warrant their own complete study. However, given the limits of our medium can only allow for an incredibly short explanation of each link. For more information on each of these elements I commend you to consider an excellent work by John Murray, “Redemption Accomplished and Applied.”
1) Foreknowledge: Foreknowledge is not the act of God looking down the corridor of time choosing those who would choose Him. Instead, it is God’s free choice and desire to set His love and affection freely upon miserable sinners who would otherwise never love Him. A study on the Hebrew use of the word “to know” helps make plain that foreknowing involves a dynamic of intimacy and love beyond our simple cognitive comprehension.
2) Predestination: God’s unconditional election (or choice) of particular people to salvation for no reason found in them is presented here and more clearly in Romans 9. This subject requires much care and exposition, but I will simply quote two Scriptures for now “You did not choose me but I chose you…” (John 15:16) “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” (Eph. 1:4-5) Check out R. C. Sproul’s “Chosen by God” for further study.
3) Effectual Calling: Here the Lord summons His predestined people to life from their spiritual death by the Gospel. Unlike other external calls of the Gospel towards faith and repentance which can be rejected, at just the right time of God’s choosing His elect people respond in faith and repentance. They are effectually (or effectively) and irresistibly drawn to life by the Word of God through the Holy Spirit. (1 Thess. 1:4-5; 2 Thess. 2:13-14)
4) Justification: That act of God where He pardons a sinner for all their sins (past, present, and future) by faith in Christ and only because of Christ’s perfect obedience to the law and His substitutionary death for sinners. This act of God is not a process but an act of God which forever renders a sinner as one who is “not guilty” in the sight of God. They are perceived by God as righteous as Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 2:16)
5) Glorification: This future event speaks of the day when Christ returns and everything which has ever been made wrong will finally be made right. Glorification is nothing less than the remaking of the entire cosmos and especially the Christian free from sin and death. Christians will forever be glorified in a body like Christ’s and remain with Him, and the angels, and every Christian forever. (1 John 3:2)
Such truth must cause us to sing for each link displays God’s faithfulness, love, and undeserved mercy towards us. Christ willingly took every horror we deserved so that we might have life forever with Him. Why? For the sake of love. “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:2). These links are meant to be marveled at and celebrated. May we learn to do that ourselves.