Paul’s readiness to share in Christ’s sufferings. One was his belief that they were necessary for the evangelization of the lost. The world could not understand the message of the cross unless those who preached it were themselves marked by its suffering and shame. This is the meaning—at least in part—of Paul’s enigmatic claim “in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col. 1:24).  This verse has nothing to do with the extent of the atonement, of course, but everything to do with missions and evangelism. What is still lacking is the communication of the gospel by a suffering church. The unsaved people of the world cannot see Jesus hanging on the cross, but they can see a community that shares in his sufferings and thus confirms the truth of his passion. The sufferings of the apostles—and, by implication, of the church and its ministers today—were public exhibitions of Christ and his cross.  Paul thus described himself as part of a procession being led out t

  Rom 8 v 29 (CSB)       29       For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  Verse 29 is sometimes interpreted to mean that God predestines on the basis of his prior knowledge about how each of us will in fact respond. But this would mean that in election God would not be sovereign; he would be dependent upon what he would see happening in the future. Theologians rightly point out that prior to knowledge must be the divine decree. Unless God determines in some sense that something will happen, he cannot “know” that it will. For God to foreknow requires an earlier decree. Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 188–189.

  Charles Hodge on why "foreknew" does not mean foreknowing what people would have faith.  It contradicts the apostle’s teaching. It makes the reason for our calling and election the result of something in us, our works, whereas Paul says that this is not the reason for our being chosen: “… who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:9; see Romans 9:11, where the opposite doctrine is not only asserted but proved and defended).  To say that faith as distinct from works is what is foreseen and constitutes the basis of election does not help the matter. For faith is a work or act, and it is the gift of God, the result of election, and therefore not its foundation. Charles Hodge, Romans, Crossway Classic Commentaries (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), Ro 8:29.

  God “foreknew” (ginōskō [1097] (which is the equivalent of the Hebrew verb ad [H3045]) describes a scrutinizing knowledge that goes beyond mere awareness. When used of people, the verb depicts thorough knowledge of one person by another. In fact, it was a common euphemism for sexual intimacy shared between a married couple. Those God foreknew in this intimate, active sense does not include everyone. This has led some to suggest that God deliberately passed over some, electing them to damnation. That may be a logical inference, but we must be careful not to take Scripture beyond what it actually says. This is Paul’s teaching about believers; he wasn’t commenting on nonbelievers at this point. Charles R. Swindoll, Romans, vol. 6, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2016), 192.

  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 [Matt 7:23; Luke 13:27].…  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. Origen, Ad Romanos, CER 4.86, 88, 90. Cited in Richard N. Longenecker, The Epistle to the Romans: A Commentary on the Greek Text, ed. I. Howard Marshall and Donald A. Hagner, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016).Richard N. Longenecker, The Epistle to the Romans: A Commentary on the Greek Text, ed. I. Howard Marshall and Donald A. Hagner, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Gran

  It is never easy to be a Christian.  The Christian life can still bring its own loneliness, unpopularity, and problems. It is human nature to dislike, resent, or regard with suspicion anyone who is “different.” This is one of the great problems of the world today.  Tribal differences, class differences, ethnic differences, cultural differences separate people. Such differences often lead not only to misunderstanding, but to war. When the Christian brings the standards of Jesus Christ to bear upon life in a materialistic and secularistic world, it is often resented. Because the moral and spiritual demands of Jesus Christ are so high, they often set the Christian “apart.” This can bring about misunderstanding, fear, and resentment. Billy Graham and Franklin Graham, Who’s In Charge of a World That Suffers? Trusting God in Difficult Circumstances (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2021), 99.