Ann Voskamp Message Review (IF:Gathering Series Pt.3-Teaching cont.)

S. 2 Ep. 12 Thoroughly Equipped Transcript

Ann Voskamp Rom 8:32 Message Critique

Introduction

Hello Ladies and welcome back to another episode of Thoroughly Equipped. I thank you for joining me, and am impressed if you have stuck with me on this journey through the IF:Gathering Conference. I honestly, am questioning my own sanity right now and we haven’t even gotten into some of the real issues with this ministry in this part of the series. But if you are new WELCOME! 

For those of you who are new, I’ll just lay a little background into this season of Thoroughly Equipped and how we got here. Back in February I had planned to go through Rachel Hollis’s book “Girl, Stop Apologizing” when I got the promo clip for the 2022 If:Gathering Conference. Last season, I had done a critique on Jennie Allen (the founder and visionary of the IF parachurch women’s ministry), on her book “Get Out of Your Head: A Study in Philippians”. I had a big issue with how she brought in positive psychological tools such as “cognitive behavior techniques”, “mind mapping”, using “awe” to diminish the self, and implementing so called weapons such as silence, intentionality, connection, humility, etc, as tools to sanctify our thought spirals. It bothered me greatly that she 1) imposed her psychological ideas within the text of Philippians, and 2) that she undermines the authority and sufficiency of Scripture to sanctify God’s women and their thoughts by incorporating these techniques into her book and encouraging the women reading it to implement them. And with that in my mind, I decided to check out the IF:Conference. Finding out I had access to watch the last couple of years conferences I dived in. And boy was I troubled by what I saw and heard. 

I decided that it was time to tackle this deeply and thoroughly. And that’s what I am doing here. 

At this point I have watched 40 hours of conference sessions, that’s 3 years of conferences- 2020, 2021, and 2022. And just cause I’m a glutton for punishment, I am now watching some of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020’s IF:LEAD Conferences as well. There is a lot we will be discussing in the coming episodes of T.E.

But to lay out the way I am attacking this critique, I have split it into portions or parts if you wanna call it that. The first part was addressing the purpose of the IF ministry itself. The second part I addressed the speakers that are popular and repeatedly teach at this conference. I also gave a short synopsis of these women’s ministries and looked at their titles at the churches they minister to. I wanted to present a litmus test for you to be able to see just how authoritative they believe Scripture is. Determining if they submit to the clear directives given to women in Scripture on their roles in ministry is a clear way by which we can judge whether we should come up under their teaching. For they make disciples after either themselves or Christ, that is the effect of their work. It was clear from most of these women’s ministries that they have no qualms about undermining the instructions given to women by God that they are not to teach or hold authority over men in the church congregation. For most of these women they call themselves pastors and preach over men and women in local congregations.

We are currently in part 3, looking at how these popular female speakers, who call themselves prominent leaders within the typical evangelical women’s ministry, how they handle Scripture. And the IF:Gathering 2020 conference was a great way to asess this, as Jennie Allen had each speaker give a message on a portion of Romans 8. She rightfully described this chapter in Romans as one of the most theologically rich chapters in all of Scripture. So if this is the case we should be learning a lot about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. But I have to say, the theology has been very lacking. We have heard alot about what we should and shouldn’t be doing such as, acknowledging that God satisfied our greatest need so we can live our lives with no condemnation (never actually going into HOW God satisfied our greatest need), we’ve heard how we need to take control of our negative thoughts, that we need to cherish what is in us so we can live supernatural lives, that we are not to be slaves to our fears but are to open up our inheritance to accomplish our callings, to not count our resources and trust in Christ even when we feel lost in our callings, and that we are to be onguard for what God wants to do in our lives and know we are more than conquerors in this life. 

Today’s message is given by Ann Voskamp on Romans 8:32. So before we dive into her session, let’s look at the verse in context. And we are going to go way back to the end of Romans 7 and the beginning of Rom 8 to really get the context of this verse.

Paul has just explained how NO man is righteous before God, that ALL have sinned and are destined for God’s wrath. And then he looks inward at his own life, seeing the war that rages between his flesh and his spirit, and acknowledges that he does not have the ability, within his flesh, to obey the law of God like he desires to. After identifying the sin that is within him he states this:

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Here is the verse Voskamp is to teach on³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom.7:24-8:39

Now, the reason I wanted to go that far back into the text was because Paul in this verse is pointing back to WHAT GOD DID THROUGH THE GIVING OF HIS SON, and How Christ gave His life for us, AND all the things that come with Christ. Those details were given through the whole chapter. 

First we see that we are set free from condemnation because God gave us his Son, who willingly came to live a perfect life of obedience to the Father and in that same obedience go to the cross to become sin for us. And He is raised for our justification; conquering sin, death and the devil. And we who are in Christ are conquerors over sin, death and the devil as well. For those whom God foreknew he predestined to be conformed into the image of his Son. God predestined his people, he calls his people, he justifies his people, and glorifies his people. God, by the Holy Spirit indwells in his people to put to death the deeds of the body, to suffer with them in this sin infested world, to pray and intercede for them when they are weak, and will one day raise them up with new bodies, glorified and without sin. God really does give us all things. All things needed to reconcile us to God, all things needed to thoroughly equip us for every good work, all things needed to overcome sin, all things needed to fight this evil age, and all things needed to bring us into the next, into eternity.

Now let’s look specifically at the verse that Ann Voskamp is to teach on. Romans 8:32 

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

This is a wonderful verse. There is so much Mrs. Voskamp can dive into from this verse. First, she can talk about how God did not spare his own Son, she could talk about the sending of his Son, the plan from eternity past to give his Son (1Pet.1:20). For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all— the testimony that was given at just the right time (1Tim.2:6). She could talk about God’s giving of the Son, why Christ was given, and what for. 

That…

”he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

(Is.53:2-12)

She could go into this and from it show us since God the Father sent forth his Son, to pour out His wrath upon HIm, and the Son willing went to the cross to pay for our iniquities, there is nothing God will not do to keep His people. He will give them all things to equip, guide, instruct, strengthen, etc to keep them and bring them to glory, to bring them to Himself. Nothing can keep us from the love of Christ. All these things could be brought to our attention by Ann Voskamp. So, is this what she will present to us?

Let’s dive into her message and find out.

Mrs Voskamp starts her message sorrowfully stating how one of her children confessed to not wanting to follow Jesus anymore. She explains that there is no greater joy than to quote “see your people walk with Jesus and no greater anguish than to see your people walk away from Jesus. And wonder if it’s because of the way you are walking” end quote. She proclaims that at any point there may be times when we are desperate for someone to hand us a compass to show us the way through because we don’t know how to change who we are. And then she talks about her own struggles in the past. Let’s listen in because this is her set up for her message.

Play clip 1

Ok, She’s right here. This is what our sinful nature does. This is the curse we, who were born from Adam, deal with. ALWAY looking inward, always loving ourselves, naturally born to desire our will not God’s. This is not just her sin, but the sin nature that we all have. Is she going to state this? Is she going to call out how the believers are to wrestle with this sin and how the unbelievers are to repent of this sin?

Let’s keep listening

Play clip 2

So the first thing she states there is that when we turn inward then nothing turns out the way we hope. Basically, the problem of this sinful nature is that it keeps things from turning out the way we hope, not that it is an affront to a Holy God, not that the result of this sin nature to turn inward is death and eternal torment and hell, but  it is merely a disruption of our hopes. But what if our hopes were turned inward to? What if the things we hope for are selfish and self-centered, for our comfort, and done in love of our sinful desires?

Now she relays how we in our sinful nature have a tendency to turn to the law to save us as she says, Quote: I’ll hustle, if You (God) help. And it does tend to make one a hero in their story. Thinking that one is made right with God by obeying the Law (if this is what she means by “hustle”) will either bring one into despair (if they understand the Law rightly) or pride, because they actually think they keep it like the rich young ruler proclaims in Matt 19:16-22. But is the Hustle that she talks about here in regards to obedience to the Law or is it hustling for something else? Hustling to accomplish our hopes, perhaps?

Play clip 3

Ok, some of you may be scratching your heads here. I know I was. And it took me a bit to figure out what she was talking about. She’s so flowery with her words here, using parables as metaphors and phrases that are confused in meaning. But one of the problems here is that she seems to equate being a lost sheep with being disciples of Christ whose hopes don’t turn out as they plan. The parable of the prodigal son is related to the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. They were told in response to the grumbling of the Pharisees, saying “This Man receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). These stories were told to reveal how the Messiah was sent not to call the righteous but to call the sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31). The prodigal son parable is about the repentance of the sins this dishonoring son committed and the mercy and forgiveness granted by the Father. It’s not about how God makes, quote “a way for the prodigals, makes a way for the impossibles”. The goal is very vague. Make a way for WHAT? Make a way for salvation? Make a way to be made right with God? Make a way to end the curse of sin? What is Mrs. Voskamp’s end goal? Is it these things? Or is the goal our hopes and dreams coming to pass? And what does this have to do with our walk? Or the faith of those who observe our walk as stated in the beginning  of her message?

She continues on talking about how in this time of despair she found herself lost, driving a rental car in the middle of Tennessee on the way to a women’s conference, when (she claims) her phone miraculously connects to this rental car’s bluetooth and plays a download she was trying to get. It plays John 14 where Thomas asks Jesus “How can we know the way?”

On this ride she states that she was praying and begging God to show her the way.                      

Play clip 4

Now I’m not going to exegete her experience. Neither will I question that it even happened. But I do wonder why this experience is what brought her hope. Why did God’s Word not bring her the hope and comfort that she sought, but this experience did? I do find comfort, and my faith does grow in providential experiences. When we understand that God is at work in providence, it solidifies our faith that God is Sovereign and does all He pleases. But why use her experience to encourage women who are lost, who are like the prodigal son and lost sheep? Why talk about her experience and not talk about God’s word? And especially not talk about THE WAY that Christ reconciled His lost Sheep to Himself.

Listens to where she goes here:

Play clip 5

“What impossible you are begging God for right now”…This is left open to WAY to much personal interpretation. One woman can interpret her “impossible” to be some worldly thing. A job, her weight, her family issues, some type of political issues she wants to see fixed. I mean this could be all sorts of things to women. The issue is what did Thomas mean by “the way” and what does Jesus mean by “the way”? The way TO WHAT? Let’s look at this passage in John 14.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.” ⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.⁴ From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

(John 14:1-7)

So when Thomas is asking to know the way, he’s asking to know the way to where Jesus is going. And Jesus says here that he is going to the Father. So Thomas is asking for Jesus to show them the way to the Father. Not just a way to or through the impossible that we are begging God for. And this is why her message is going to only get more and more confusing because she will continue to say Jesus is the way but make the goal or the endpoint of that  way the “impossible that we are begging Jesus for”. The end point of the “Way” is subjective and determined by the individual, when “the Way” that Jesus is talking about in Scripture is Himself, and the destination is the Father.

Now here’s another thing about what she said in the last part of this clip. Is God’s love lavish and wasteful? Lavish means sumptuously rich, elaborate, or luxurious. This I would agree with, but wasteful? No. wasteful means using or expending something of value carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose. Everything God does is to accomplish his purposes, there is a reason and there is a goal, and all is for his glory, even the works he does in his love (Isa.46:8-11). 

I am not fond of the sensual description of God’s love. Now from here she gets even more flowery in her words describing the Father in the parable as defying the Patriarchy at the time, by running to the prodigal, and in doing so casting shame upon himself. She describes herself as the prodigal, coming back to game plan to work it all out.

Play clip 6

Ok, digging through all the flowery, poetic, sensual speech, and it’s really hard to know what she is talking about. She keeps talking about “the Way” but the way to what? It’s not clear. Using flowery speech may sound good and tickle our ears but it has no meaning if she is not defining her terms here. For some the way could mean that The Father makes a way through our troubles and pains. And that sounds a lot like what she is trying to say here. And I would agree with her, in a way, if this IS what she means, but what is the connection in what she is teaching to what Paul is teaching in Romans 8:32? Is the way she talks about here, the way TO THE FATHER. She mentions the “Waymaker” as having a plan to stretch out his hands on the cross, complete all the work and come after you like a Mother who will shower you with kisses. 

There is strange new talk coming into the church that we need to be on our guard, and looking out for. Now I’m not saying she is speaking in this way but it is a very fine line to walk here. There is this talk about exposing the church to a “feminine expression of God”. And this is what Mrs. Voskamp has done here, either in ignorance or on purpose. This new talk, wants to press on the point that God is neither male nor female and pose a sort of gender fluidity within the text. Meaning they take license with it to change the metaphors God uses for Himself, as Father and change it to “Mother” in hopes to bring in a more egalitarian view of the Trinity, and His word. Ann Voskamp has, right here, changed the gender description of the Father in the parable to being quote- “like a Mother” running to her prodigals to lavish them with kisses. This is a problem. Though God is Spirit and has not a body like humans, Jesus does. Jesus took on flesh, human flesh, and more specifically, he took on MALE flesh. Jesus describes God as a Father, as one with all Authority, and THE Patriarch, the Head of all creation. It is no neglect on God’s part to use male pronouns when talking about himself in His revelation of himself. Each person of the Trinity is described with male pronouns when referring to Himself. There are occasions in Scripture where female pronouns are used to describe wisdom, or are used to give metaphors to expound upon a trait, action, or way God behaves, but it is not in reference to His person. If you start hearing teachers talk about God as mother, run. These are sparks of an egalitarian teaching called the “divine feminine” and are rooted in new age and pagan spiritism. 

While Mrs. Voskamp has not out rightly changed the parable by using the words “like a mother ” to describe the way God comes to us, why did she even change it at all? Why not continue with the parable and describe God as Jesus gives us in his story, a Father who runs to us to restore the prodigal to the family. Why change the gender? This causes me to be suspicious.

She continues by saying that this is what repentance is: accepting that we are accepted and found.

Play clip 7

Is this true? Is this what the Scriptures mean by repentance or it’s how we find our way? Do we find the “Way Maker” by surrendering and accepting that we are accepted? Nope. And this is a HUGE problem. This is an entirely different Gospel. Ann Voskamp is saying that we are accepted by God when we surrender and accept being accepted by Him. First there is a problem that there is an underlying assumption that God merely accepts people and that their problem is not their sin and lack of faith in Christ but that they just don’t know that God accepts them. Over and over again, Scripture describes God as being angry at sinners, that his wrath will one day be poured out on all who transgress his Law (Rom.1:18; Rom.2:5). More specifically, God’s wrath will be poured out on those who do NOT believe in his Son (John 3:36). Those who do NOT accept Jesus as the Son of God, and His death and resurrection.  

God, in His love and justice, cannot merely accept a sinner. Justice must be given. And that is where repentance comes in.  Repentance is acknowledging that God, by his righteous law, has told us what righteousness looks like. By this holy Law, we are exposed to our sin (Rom.3:20; 7:7), and rightly understand that those who do not keep the law will be held accountable on the day of Judgment (Rom.2:1-29; Jam 2:10; Gal.3:10). Repentance is confessing our sins, acknowledging that we are deserving of God’s righteous wrath and in this knowledge, crying out for mercy. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.(1 John 1:9).

Jesus did not call people to accept that they are accepted. He came to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). Christ is the way to God. He is the way because, for those who repent of their sin and trust in Christ’s work, their sins are placed on Him. And He bore the wrath of God. For our sake he made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.(2 Corin.5:21). 

Our greatest act is NOT the act of surrender. Our greatest act is faith. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.(Heb.11:6). God rewards those who seek him. It doesn’t say that God rewards those who accept being accepted by him. No but those who long for HIM because He is the goal. Those who merely want to be accepted by him, without acknowledging their rebellion against Him, don’t actually want holiness and righteousness, don’t actually want God because holiness and righteousness are his nature. 

And isn’t that where Mrs. Voskamp is going with this? Describing being wayward/prodigal/sinful, and yet telling her audience that God accepts you and wants to lavish you with love and kisses like a mother? You just merely need to accept His love?

She transitions to telling the audience that she has a compass that she keeps with her at her desk. On it is engraved “Be strong and courageous, for the Lord is with you”. And this word is for those listening. Even if things have not gone the way they’ve hoped, whether they have gone wayward or not, the Lord is with them. And the way-finder rests in the love of the way-maker.

She states that on the other side of the compass the word God is where North would be and tells the audience that God is our true North, that any other magnetic force placed near the compass will hinder it from pointing true north. In the same way, when we are distracted or putting hope in other things our compass will not point the way.

Play clip 8

Did you notice what she did there? She gave warning that if we are letting certain things pull us like comparison and competition then the compass of our soul will not help us find the way. She then turns around and says that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Well… except being pulled or guided by things such as comparison and competition, right? Or any other thing that would draw our heart away from true North. So which is it? 

I tell ya, she is so confusing..  These words she is using. And so I don’t know if she misspoke or is twisting around words but she says there is quote “one way, and only one way that Jesus will not make” and then proceeds to talk about how nothing can separate us from God because Jesus is sticking up for us. There is “no way that Even that thing that went down that makes you want to “throw up” will not get in the way. My brain is doing flip flops and I’m not sure if that is her intention or not, but it’s so very confusing.

It is at this point that she quotes Rom. 8:32.

Play clip 9

That’s true. And that’s the end of the message. She restates, quote “The wayward turn inward, the way finders turn and accept being found, and the way maker turns everything around” end quote and then asks the audience to stand, hold the compass of their soul and let the way maker hold them as they pray, completely surrendered to him. The entire message, talking about being wayward, about compasses, true north and God as way-maker, and at the end we get about 45 seconds actually talking about the text. A lot of talk about God making a way, but never actually describing the way He made. 

My brain had to do gymnastics to really grasp what she was trying to teach. And it’s because she talks in metaphors and rhymes. Using metaphors to describe God and Christ as True North and Way-makers, describing us as wayward/ prodigals/ way-finders, and souls as compasses, these may make someone sound so enlightened, yet what sense or understanding does it  bring? What meaning and what knowledge have we gained from this message? Just accept being accepted by the Way-maker who has given us all things? Is that what Paul is trying to communicate to Christ’s disciples as well? 

No, it’s not. Paul is writing to the Christian church, people who are sinners, who’ve confessed that they are sinners and are hungering for righteousness, groaning inwardly for a sinless world, sinless bodies, and a great desire to be with the Holy and righteous God. The quote un quote “way” that they are looking for is righteousness, because they know that that is the way to God, and God is their goal. Christ is the “way-maker” if you wish to use this type of terminology. He is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6). Because our sin was cast upon him, we, by faith, are clothed with His righteousness, making our way to God, through it, through Christ’s righteousness. And Paul is saying that because God foreknew us he predestined that we be conformed to the image of Christ. God did not spare his own Son to accomplish all we need to be made right with Him. The ultimate price was paid and therefore there is nothing else that can keep us from that which God has predestined for us- the being conformed to Christ image- for in the end we will be glorified and like our Master.

 The Gospel is at the center of this verse. When we worry that something, anything has kept or will keep us from the love of God, the Gospel shouts that nothing will separate us. Oh, the understanding that comes from that one statement: that God did not spare his Son, the greatest act of love displayed on the part of both the Father and the Son. How then can we be anxious or fearful that anything will come between us and God?

So much she could have said, so much she could have shown us in just that small statement in just this one verse. 

And that’s what I pray for ladies, that you see the great love that God has for his people, that he did not spare his Son, but gave Him up for us all, and God will also give us all things. He will accomplish all his holy will. I pray that in this knowledge, your love will abound more and more. For this knowledge, that God gave his Son for us, drives us to give back to Him. It is faith in this that we love God and love our neighbor, love our husbands, and children. For what can we not give, that God has not already given to us? By his Son, we have eternal life. I pray you rest in it.

I pray you are in His word.