All Things Work Together For Good?
IS “ALL THINGS” THE SUBJECT?
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28, KJV
The KJV is a solid translation of the Greek. It is not a wrong translation. In fact, it is a fairly literal rendering of the wording and can be read naturally in English.
This is how many of us learned Romans 8:28. And for good reason. But before we move toward a better rendering of the passage, we need to slow down and look at what this wording has done to the way many of us hear and apply the verse.
Many of us who memorized this verse have not actually locked the whole verse into our memory. Here’s how we know that is the case:
When something bad happens to us, or a difficult circumstance comes into our life, we reach for this part of the verse to muster assurance for ourselves or to offer it to someone else:
“All things work together for good for those who love God.”
In our partially memorized version of Romans 8:28, who is the actor? “All things.”
“All things,” good and bad, happen to all people. But if you love God, it is like “all things” runs through a Plinko board and drops into a “something good” slot for you.
So this partially memorized passage gets used for:
giving us assurance while we try to get through a particularly difficult week
assuring us that this job loss is secretly a blessing
believing this breakup will bring someone into our life who is kinder, hotter, richer, and, of course, even more Christian
It’s true that many Greek manuscripts do not include the word “God” here, before “all things”. But that does not automatically mean God is absent from the meaning. In Greek grammar, an implied subject does not always have to be restated the way it often does in English. So when this is translated into English without that implied subject, it can make it sound like events themselves are somehow doing the work, arranging themselves into good for those who love God.
But Paul’s larger argument through Romans 8 is not about the raw power of circumstances. It is about the purpose of God, the calling of God, and the saving action of God for his people, and how we participate in that through life in the Spirit.
THE SUBJECT IS GOD
So, let’s look at how this gets translated from the original Greek in the NLT and many other English translations.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28 NLT
English translations that put "God" as the subject usually do so for two important reasons.
One, the implied subject, “God,” is helpful here in English because in the Greek, Paul is saying God is the one doing the work, not “all things.” In other words, camel vs pedestrian accidents, leprosy, and Roman back taxes (bad things) didn’t have a mind of their own or work on behalf of the believer.
Two, here is a picture of Papyrus 46, the oldest surviving copy of Romans, usually dated to around AD 175 to 225. It, along with some other ancient manuscripts, includes the word “God” as the subject in Romans 8:28. In that reading, it is God who is doing the work of taking all of the difficult, terrible, and evil things of this fallen world and working them toward an ultimate good for those who are following Jesus.
So, if God is the one doing the work (not the circumstances), then the next question is obvious.
WHAT IS THE “GOOD”?
For the casual devotional reader:
The “good” is the result I hope for.
The better outcome I did not anticipate.
Or, circumstances eventually turning out the way I would have hoped if I could just see past this current trouble.
The text does not support that application.
The “good” in 8:28 for Paul is:
Being a part of the saving purpose of God.
Being formed into the image of the Son as we suffer, pray, groan, and are helped by the Spirit on the way to the glory God has prepared for his people.
In other words, Paul is saying their struggle, persecution, political oppression, and poverty matter. Their groaning matters. Their prayers matter. None of it is wasted. The Spirit’s work in them through those struggles is part of how God is working out his purpose right now.
It’s bigger, more beautiful, and more beneficial to all people and all creation, as we’ll see in a few moments. But before we move on to the application for us, we have one more small issue with the original Greek that draws us in even more.
“FOR” oR “WITH”?
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 RSV
The Greek word used in this passage is synergeō, which literally means ‘work with’. It’s where we get the word ‘synergism’.
Paul uses the same word here, which is translated as “co-workers”: “As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1, NIV). He is reminding the Corinthian Christians, who were being confused by false teachers, that part of their vocation is to be proclaimers of Christ. In 5:20, he just said, “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’”
So the RSV gets us even closer by saying “with those” instead of “for those”, “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him…” This translation is supported by the full context of chapters 6-8 and the way Paul uses synergeō in 8:28 and in 2 Corinthians 6:1. Because God is the one doing the work, not “all things,” He is working with those who love Him.
Paul is saying the Roman Jewish and Gentile Christians’ present struggles, suffering, and persecution, the very things he has been talking about, are part of how God is carrying out His purpose right now through their prayers and life in the Spirit.
This fits well with Paul’s teaching in chapters 6 and 7, where he insists that followers of Jesus are not just passive observers. We have to “walk in the Spirit.” God is not just fixing things from a distance. He is working alongside us in the middle of our pain. The assurance of v. 28 is a beautiful synergy in which God takes our suffering and works with us through our prayers, giving us his glory (v. 30) in a way that would not happen if we were just observers.
God is at work, and he is at work with his people.
ROMANS 8:28 IN CONTEXT
In Romans 8:1–30, Paul is talking about the calling, the vocation, of the redeemed community.
Not saved and sidelined. Not rescued and waiting.
Redeemed and sent.
The verdict is already in. No condemnation. That is settled. But that does not mean we sit back and wait. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in us, leading, shaping, pulling us into what God is doing. Not later. Now.
In the same way that we are God’s co-workers in spreading the Good News of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20-6:1), we are also called to participate in his suffering. For the Christian, suffering does not disappear. It gets put in its place. So this is not about escape. And it is not about survival. It is about participation. God is at work. In us. Through us. Right in the middle of everything we are walking through.
The Holy Spirit moves us outward, into the world, into the mess, into all creation, as people who live holy lives, as people who are Christ’s ambassadors, and as people who pray. Not polished, put-together prayers. Groaning prayers. Burdened prayers. The kind that come from standing right in the middle of what is broken.
Into the places where things are not as they should be.
Into the weight of suffering, pain and grieving.
Into the ache of creation itself.
Jesus has already accomplished the work. And now, in ways that don’t always feel clear or clean, God is carrying that work forward through a praying people who are willing to stand in the pain and not look away.
MOVING TOWARD GOOD FRIDAY
So yes, Romans 8:28 is personal assurance in the midst of suffering and difficult times. But it is not a mantra that boosts our mood and encourages us to sit back and wait to see what good thing might come our way.
Do you remember what Paul said about suffering in Chapter 5:3-4?
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”
And how about in 8:17-18?
“And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”
Yes, our prayer life is celebration, adoration, and petition. But it is also lament. Without lament, prayer skips over part of the work God wants to do with us. Romans 8:28 calls us deeper into life in the Spirit, through prayer, in the middle of our suffering, the suffering of others, and the groaning of all creation.
So, as we move toward our Good Friday service this week at 6:00 PM, this is where it gets practical.
We do not show up just to remember something that happened.
We step into it.
Good Friday is not distant history. It is the place where all the suffering Paul has been talking about comes into focus. The weight of sin. The pain of the world. The groaning of creation. All of it gathers at the cross.
And this week, we do not avoid that.
We pay attention to what is broken around us.
We let ourselves feel the weight of it.
We bring it before God, not with polished words, but with honest, sometimes wordless prayer.
Because this is how the Spirit works.
Not by pulling us out of the pain, but by meeting us in it.
Not by numbing us to it, but by drawing us deeper into it with Him.
So this week, prepare by praying.
Pray for what you are carrying.
Pray for what others are carrying.
Pray for the places where things are not as they should be.
And do not rush past it.
Let it press in on you a little.
Because when we gather on Good Friday, we are not just observing the cross.
We are joining Jesus at it.
Standing there.
Feeling the weight of it.
And trusting that God is at work, even here, even now, doing what only He can do.
Your suffering matters, but it sits within God’s redemptive work: the Spirit is already at work; your body will be redeemed; creation itself will be liberated; and God is determined to conform his people to the image of his Son, especially as we live and pray through suffering.
Romans 8:26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. (NLT) 28 We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (RSV)
I know some of you are walking through trials, suffering, and diagnoses this week. The kind of stuff that makes you wonder what God is doing, or if He is doing anything at all.
Paul does not step around that. He says, “We know.” Not “we feel.” Not “we hope” things turn out. We know that God is at work in all of it.
Some of what you are going through is evil thrown on you by others through the abuse of their free will. What you are facing might be unfair and should not be happening. Paul is not calling it good. He is saying God is working with a purpose right now, in the middle of it.
And although God has not caused the terrible things happening to you, He is taking all of it, even the parts that feel like they are breaking you, and shaping you into the likeness of His Son, toward a future that ends in life, not loss, in glory, not defeat.
You are not alone in your suffering, pain, or grief.
God has not stepped back from it.
And this is not wasted.
Even if you cannot see it yet.
Even if it does not feel like it.
Even if nothing changes this week.
God is still at work.
So hold your ground.
Keep praying, even if the words are hard to find.
Keep bringing it to Him.
And do not do this alone.
Suffering was never meant to be carried in isolation. The same Spirit at work in you is at work in the people around you. Let someone in. Let them pray with you. Let them sit with you in it. Let them carry part of the weight when you are tired.
So stay connected.
Stay honest.
Stay present with God and with others.
Because, according to Paul, even here, even now, God is already doing something that is moving you toward everlasting life and toward His glory.
CONGREGATIONAL BLESSING
May you go from this place not feeling pressure
to clean up your pain
before you bring it to God.
May the Holy Spirit meet you in the grief.
In the waiting.
In the prayers that come out as groans more than words.
May you remember
God is not watching from a distance.
He is at work in your suffering.
He is at work with you.
May God give you the strength to stay present
where things are broken.
May your prayers lament the pain around you
and the groaning of all creation.
May He form you,
even through your suffering,
into the image of His Son.
Go in His peace that passes all understanding.
©2026 Greg McNichols, All rights reserved.
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