ACC ~ Romans 8 v29

WHOM HE FOREKNEW HE PREDESTINED. ORIGEN: We know that Christ was in the form of God and took on himself the form of a servant also. Which of these two is it that the believer is to be conformed to? … In my opinion, new converts are conformed to the image of the servant, and as they progress in the faith, they become conformed to that image which is the image of God.

In Scripture, words like foreknew and predestined do not apply equally to both good and evil. For the careful student of the Bible will realize that these words are used only of the good. … When God speaks of evil people, he says that he “never knew” them. … They are not said to be foreknown, not because there is anything which can escape God’s knowledge, which is present everywhere and nowhere absent, but because everything which is evil is considered to be unworthy of his knowledge or of his foreknowledge. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

DIODORE: This text does not take away our free will. It uses the word foreknew before predestined. Now it is clear that “foreknowledge” does not by itself impose any particular kind of behavior. What is said here would be clearer if we started from the end and worked backwards. Whom did God glorify? Those whom he justified. Whom did he predestine? Those whom he foreknew, who were called according to his plan, i.e., who demonstrated that they were worthy to be called by his plan and made conformable to Christ. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

COUNTERING THE ARIAN VIEW OF FIRSTBORN. GREGORY OF NYSSA: For when the Arians say that the “only begotten” God, the Creator of all, … is the work and creation and product of God and therefore interpret the phrase “firstborn of every creature” to mean that he is the brother of every creature, taking precedence because of the rights of primogeniture, as Reuben did over his brothers, and that he is placed first not because of his nature but because of the rights of the eldest, this must be said to them first of all—it is not possible for the same person to be the only begotten and the firstborn as well. ON PERFECTION.

FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. AMBROSIASTER: Those whom God foreknew would believe in him he chose to receive the promises. But those who appear to believe yet do not persevere in the faith are not chosen by God, because whoever God chooses will persevere.

Christ is rightly called the “firstborn” because he was not made before the rest of creation but begotten, and God has chosen to adopt men as his children following Christ’s example. He is the firstborn in the regeneration of the Spirit, in the resurrection from the dead and in the ascension into heaven. Therefore, the firstborn in all things is said to be our brother, because he chose to be born as a man, but he is also Lord, because he is our God. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

CHRYSOSTOM: What a superb honor! For what the only begotten Son was by nature, we have become by grace. Christ in his human nature has become the firstborn of many brethren, even though in his divine nature he remains the only begotten. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 15.

FIRSTBORN, ONLY BEGOTTEN. AUGUSTINE: Not all who are called are called according to God’s purpose, for the purpose relates to God’s foreknowledge and predestination. God only predestined those whom he knew would believe and follow the call. Paul refers to them as the “elect.” For many do not come, even though they have been called, but no one comes who has not been called.

We should understand our Lord as “only begotten” in one sense and as “firstborn” in another. Christ is called “only begotten” because he has no brothers and is the Son of God by nature, the Word in the beginning by whom all things were made.But by his assumption of humanity and by the dispensation of the incarnation, through which even we who are not sons by nature have been called into the adoption of sons, he is said to be the “firstborn” of many brothers. For before him there was no resurrection of the dead … but now after him comes the resurrection of many saints, whom he does not hesitate to call “brothers” because he shares in their common humanity. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 55.

WHETHER WOMEN WILL CONFORM TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON. AUGUSTINE: There are some who think that in the resurrection all will be men and that women will lose their sex. This view springs from this text and Ephesians: “Until we all attain to perfect manhood.” … For my part, I think that those who believe that there will be two sexes in the resurrection are more sensible. THE CITY OF GOD 19.22.17.

PELAGIUS: God’s purpose is his plan to save by faith alone those whom he had known in advance would believe, and those whom he freely called to salvation he will glorify all the more as they work toward it. To predestine is the same as to know in advance. Those whom God foresaw would be conformed in life he intended to be conformed in glory so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

BEGOTTEN IN HIS DIVINITY, FIRSTBORN IN HIS HUMANITY. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Christ is the firstborn Son of God according to his incarnation and according to the grace that was in him. He intercedes for us not as God but as our High Priest. But when he is called “only begotten,”then it is his divinity which is being referred to. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: If as the only begotten he became the “firstborn among many brethren” and yet remains the only begotten, what is the paradox if, although suffering in the flesh according to his humanity, he is known to be impassible according to his divinity? LETTER 55.33.

CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON. THEODORET OF CYR: God did not simply predestine; he predestined those whom he foreknew. Paul says everything precisely and writes “conformed to the image of his Son” and not just “conformed to his Son.” … For our body is not conformed to Christ’s divinity but to his glorified body. It is as a man that Christ is the firstborn; as God he is the only begotten. Nor does Christ as God have brothers. It is as a man that he calls all men his brothers. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

SEVERIAN: Paul says “the image of the Son” meaning the Holy Spirit, because just as the Son is the immutable image of the Father, so the Spirit is of the Son. For those who have been made worthy by the Holy Spirit live according to the Spirit and are conformed to the Spirit, who is the image of the Son. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

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