Good morning. One of the most memorized and recognized verses of scripture comes to us from Romans 8:28. The following are a few of the translations of the verse with their translator reference: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. NIV
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
We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. CEB
Those translations are each a bit different, but I think that we could agree that what they are saying is very much the same. What I am going to say next is…different. Please know that my opinion for the translation of this verse is not purely my own, I come by it through a number of excellent translators whose work I respect. What I am getting at is that this wonderful verse of scripture, one that is memorized and quoted by many Christian people, may be a bit misunderstood. To make my case I am going to have to subject you to a bit of Greek language study, but not too much, so please hang in there.
The key to understanding, or misunderstanding, this verse is recognizing the verb that is used, and is translated “work.” Work is usually translated into English from the Greek word ergazomai. This Greek word is translated into English as: labor, work, effort, toil, etc. Pretty standard stuff. The problem is, ergazomai isn’t the word used in Romans 8:28.
The word used in Romans 8:28 is συνεργεῖ which in English letters is synergy. If that word sounds familiar, well it should. We use the word synergy regularly in our English language, having not translated it, but transliterated it. This means that we haven taken the word from the original language and brought it into our English language without change. My favorite example of this is dumb koph from the German language. Koph we translate into the word head, while dumb we transliterate because dumb means dumb in either language. What is being said is “dumb head.”
Synergy is defined as: the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
So, what is actually being said to us in Romans 8:28? The following is not my translation, but as I mentioned earlier it is the work of several excellent translators whose work I respect: Now we know that God works together with all those who love Him for good. He works together with all those who are called according to His purpose. The use of He works together in the second sentence is not repeated in the Greek text, but it is written this way for clarity because it is the intention of the sentence.
You may or may not be wondering why I am making a big deal out of this translation difference. The reason is that the use of the word synergy means that it makes much more sense to say that God is working with us (synergizing with us) to accomplish what is good, according to His will (purpose).
I think that many times Christian people read Romans 8:28 and feel as though our part in what is promised is to sit back and wait for God to come through with “what is good.” That is not the promise. What is said is that God promises to work with us in the full application of synergy to bring about what is good. Our part in what is promised is not to sit back as an uninvolved spectator and/or recipient, our part is to pray to God as to how we may work together with Him—synergize with Him to see that the good happens.
So, the next time you are experiencing difficult circumstances and seek comfort from God’s promise as revealed in Romans 8:28, know that God is with you. More specifically, God is with you and is working with you in powerful synergy to see that those difficult circumstances turn into wonderful blessings. We need to pray to the Father to seek His will and to understand what our part in the equation might be.
God bless!
Vern