“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, THEM HE ALSO GLORIFIED” (Romans 8:28-30).
Seems mighty clear, doesn’t it. It is all past tense, isn’t it? We have already been predestined to be saved and granted eternal life. We have already been called to both hear and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. We have already been justified by the merits of His sacrifice. And we have already been glorified!
But in what sense have we already been glorified? Ah, that’s the question. Have we been glorified in the sense that we have put off our physical bodies and have become immortal, incorruptible spirit beings? Well, of course not. That is still future and will not occur until our resurrection from the dead. (See I Corinthians 15:40-58)
So HOW have believers already been glorified? We have already been glorified by the forgiveness of our past sins, by God imparting His powerful Holy Spirit to us, and by our being incorporated into the body of Christ, the family of God. In that sense we have already been glorified and in no other. We can still fall away, return to the world and abandon our walk with the Lord. It happens daily, around-the-clock. And the old argument, “Well, they were never really saved in the first place” is without a shred of scripture support. God help us all to understand and accept the truth.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley