Romans 8:28
Romans 8:2828And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
Jehovah's Witnesses readily quote — "God makes all his works cooperate for the good of those who love God" — but restrict its scope to the 144,000 anointed class. The Watchtower teaches that Romans 8 was written to anointed Christians in the first century, and its promises of calling, foreknowledge, and guaranteed good do not extend to the "great crowd" or "other sheep," who have a separate earthly hope. This two-class reading allows the organisation to affirm the verse while denying its assurance to the vast majority of Jehovah's Witnesses.
is the opening declaration of the golden chain (vv. 28-30). Paul addresses the letter "to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people" () — he never limits these promises to a special subset. The verse teaches that God sovereignly orchestrates all circumstances for the good of those he has called according to his purpose. This calling flows directly into the unbreakable chain of verse 30: foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified — the same group at every link. If applies only to the 144,000, then God does not work all things for good for the other sheep. The two-class restriction creates an impossible position: either the other sheep are outside God's providential care, or the restriction is wrong and the promise belongs to every believer.