Reading with cross references, commentaries and the original languages
Cross-references, commentaries and the original languages do not replace the Bible; they are hands that send the reader back to the text. Reading Romans 8:28-30 together, we follow cross-references and check them in context, compare commentaries, and sort out what a word in the original can tell us and what it cannot.
Helpers, not masters
When Paul preached in Berea, his hearers "examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true" (Acts 17:11), and Luke counts it to their credit. If an apostle's words were tested by Scripture, every later explanation is too. Yet there is no reason to push the helpers away, for teachers are Christ's gift to his church:
And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ,
Ephesians 4:11-12
The commentators in this app were pastors and preachers, and reading them is reading with the church. But there is an order. Read the passage yourself first, observe it, and ask what it meant then; then open the helpers; then come back to the text. The Westminster Confession of the Presbyterian churches teaches that even the opinions of ancient writers are examined by the Supreme Judge, ‘the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture’ ch. 1.10. How to read a commentary is set out in the guide to commentaries.
These are the app's helpers:
| Helper | What it is | What it can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-refs | The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, about 1880 | Shows other places with the same word or thought, but explains nothing; some links share only a word |
| Commentary | Matthew Henry, Wesley's Notes, and the Catena Aurea of the Fathers on the Gospels | Tells how the church has read a passage, but each is one voice of one age and tradition |
| Original | The Greek or Hebrew words of a verse, with a lexicon | Shows a word's meaning and where else it is used, but one word does not settle a sentence or a doctrine |
| Topics | Nave's topical index | Gathers the verses on a subject, but its headings carry the compiler's reading |
| Theological Glossary | The words the church uses for its faith, explained | Explains doctrinal terms, but does not stand in for the text |
| Compare | Translations side by side | Shows where translations part, and so where to look at the original |
The app has no modern commentary. A modern guide such as Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart's How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth teaches readers to ask first what a text meant then, and only then what it means now Fee and Stuart; books like it stand in the same place, as helpers.
Romans 8:28 with the helpers
And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
Romans 8:28-30
Look for yourself first. The promise of verse 28 is for those who love God, who are called. In verses 29-30 God's acts follow one another: he foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified, and the calling of verse 28 comes back in verse 30.
Next, the cross-references. Tap verse 28, open Study and its Cross-refs tab: under ‘we know’ there are sixteen references, Joseph's words among them: "As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good" (Genesis 50:20). Open that place and read around it, and you see that the good came through the brothers' evil and Joseph's suffering, by God's purpose "to preserve the lives of many people" (v. 20). Cross-references let Scripture explain Scripture, but they give no reasons; check each link in its own context like this.
Then the commentaries. The English minister Matthew Henry writes, "That is good for the saints which does their souls good" Matthew Henry, Romans 8:28-31. John Wesley, the Anglican priest who led the eighteenth-century Methodist revival, reads it as working "for spiritual and eternal good" Wesley, Romans 8:28. They agree that the promise is not that everything will be comfortable. They part at ‘his purpose’. Henry reads verses 29-30 as the order of the causes of salvation, "a golden chain, one which cannot be broken" Matthew Henry, in which "God determined to recover some by regeneration and the power of his grace" Matthew Henry; Wesley takes the purpose as "His gracious design of saving a lost world by the death of his Son" Wesley. Henry reads from the Reformed tradition of the Puritans, Wesley from the Methodist tradition, which teaches a prevenient grace that comes first to every person. The Reformed confessions teach that God, ‘by the eternal and most free purpose of his will’, has fore-ordained not only the glory of the elect but all the means to it: they are redeemed by Christ, effectually called by his Spirit, justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power through faith unto salvation Westminster Confession, ch. 3.6; the doctrine course takes this up in Grace and election.
Last, the original. In the Original tab, the verb of verse 28 is , to work with, and its entry shows the five verses of the New Testament where it is used; in James, faith "was working with his actions" (James 2:22). But a gloss does not tell everything. The BSB reads "God works all things together" (v. 28); set the King James Version beside it in Compare, and there all things themselves work together for good, as in the two Korean translations. The Greek word for ‘all things’ has the same form whether it is the subject or the object; the Original tab labels it accusative, the object, as the BSB reads it, but that label is a scholar's judgement, and the lexicon entry itself gives both readings of this verse. Here the context answers. Either way the work follows the purpose of the God who calls, and every verb of verses 29-30 is his.
The Topics tab lists Nave's topics for the verse, among them Afflictions and Adversities, a reminder that this promise was given to people who suffer. The words of verse 30 are explained in the Theological Glossary under effectual calling, justification and glorification.
Try it
Open Romans 8 on the map. In the map under the Jesus tab, open Romans and tap chapter 8: it has a ‘One-line summary’ and ‘Notes’. ‘Read Romans 8’ opens the text.
Read verses 29-30 without helpers first, and write what you see. Note God's acts in order, and keep your questions. Then tap verse 29, open the Original tab and the word for ‘conformed’, , and find the one other place it is used: ‘v. 29: conformed to the image of his Son; the same word in Philippians 3:21’.
Read both commentaries on verse 30 and compare them. Note where Matthew Henry and Wesley agree, where they part, and what the text itself says. Then write a one-line summary of the whole chapter.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 7
In Acts 17:11, what did the Bereans do with Paul's preaching?
- Practice 2 of 7
In what order are helpers such as cross-references and commentaries best used?
- Practice 3 of 7
What does a cross-reference give you?
- Practice 4 of 7
What does Joseph say to his brothers in Genesis 50:20?
- Practice 5 of 7
On what do Matthew Henry and Wesley agree about the ‘good’ of Romans 8:28?
- Practice 6 of 7
What can the meaning of a word in the Original tab not settle by itself?
- Practice 7 of 7
According to Ephesians 4:11-12, why did Christ give pastors and teachers?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Source
- Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth 1981 — 1981. An introduction to reading each genre (letters, narrative, law, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, the Gospels, parables, apocalyptic): ask first what a text meant then, and then what it means now.
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and the Fathers and classic commentary. They take the church's long rule of reading, that Scripture explains Scripture, as their standard, bring out the Reformed confessions' teaching, and present each tradition's way of reading fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.