“All things work together for good”

The actual verse

Romans 8:28 in the BSB:

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

The KJV (1769):

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.

The two renderings differ on what — or who — is the subject of the verb “work together.” The KJV makes “all things” the subject. The BSB makes “God” the subject. This is not a translator preference; it reflects a difference in the Greek manuscripts.

The surrounding passage

The verse appears within Romans 8:18–39, a passage on suffering, hope, and the assurance that nothing can separate believers from God’s love. The full immediate context (Romans 8:26–30, BSB):

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. 27 And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. 29 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. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

The verse is qualified in two ways: the “good” applies to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose. Both qualifications are in every translation.

Original language

The Greek of the verse appears in two forms in the manuscript tradition:

Form 1 (Textus Receptus, source of the KJV):

πάντα συνεργεῖ εἰς ἀγαθόν

Literally: “all things work together for good.” The subject of the verb is panta (“all things”).

Form 2 (critical editions, source of the BSB and most modern translations):

πάντα συνεργεῖ ὁ θεὸς εἰς ἀγαθόν

Literally: “God works all things together for good.” The subject of the verb is ho theos (“God”), and panta (“all things”) is the object.

The earliest extant manuscript, Papyrus 46 (c. AD 200), contains the explicit ho theos. So do Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Vaticanus. Many later manuscripts omit it. Modern critical editions (Nestle-Aland 28th edition, United Bible Societies 5th edition) include ho theos on the strength of the early witnesses; the Textus Receptus on which the KJV is based does not.

The Greek verb συνεργεῖ (synergei) can grammatically take either panta or ho theos as its subject. Both renderings are within the lexical and grammatical range of the verse.

Two further wording notes

The tense. Συνεργεῖ (synergei) is a present-tense form — “works together,” an ongoing action — not a future-tense promise. The verse describes a present working rather than predicting a future resolution. Both the KJV and the BSB preserve the present tense.

The verse that follows. Romans 8:29 continues directly: “For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…” Many commentators read verse 29 as the passage’s own specification of the “good” of verse 28 — conformity to the image of the Son — rather than leaving “good” undefined. The two verses are connected by “For” in both display translations.