TEXT
Romans 8:18-25
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits 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 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of [f]corruption[decay] into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Romans 8:18-25
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
According to Guzik …
Life in the Spirit makes us able to understand and endure suffering.
Paul’s analysis: present suffering and future glory cannot be compared.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared: Paul was not ignorant or blind to the sufferings of human existence; he experienced more of them than most any of us today. Yet he still considered that the future glory far outweighed the present sufferings.
the glory which shall be revealed in us: Without a heavenly hope, Paul considered the Christian life foolish and tragic (1 Corinthians 15:19). Yet in light of eternity it is the wisest and best choice anyone can make.
revealed in us: This coming glory will not only be revealed to us, but it will actually be revealed in us. The implication is that the glory will be revealed IN us because it is already IN us … just not revealed as yet.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
- IOW … The creation waits for the “sons of God” to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of [f]corruption[decay] into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
All of creation is awaiting and anticipating this coming glory.
the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits: Paul considers that creation itself is eagerly awaiting the revealing of the sons of God. This is because the creation was subjected to futility on account of man’s sin, and will benefit from the ultimate redemption of men.
Isaiah 11:6-9 describes this redemption of creation in that day: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Him who subjected it in hope: Only God could subject creation in hope. This was not ultimately the work of either man or Satan.
the glorious liberty of the children of God: This benefits not only the children of God themselves, but also all of creation. Until that day, creation groans and labors with birth pangs.
the revealing of the sons of God: Certain groups with a “super-Christian” mentality take the idea of the revealing of the sons of God to say that all creation is waiting for their particular group of super-spiritual Christians to be revealed in an incredibly powerful fashion. This is a purely egotistical fantasy.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now: “Creation is not undergoing death pangs… but birth pangs.” (Morris)
According to Barclay …
The dream of the renovated world was dear to the Jews. Paul knew that, and here he, as it were, endows creation with consciousness. He thinks of nature longing for the day when sin’s dominion would be broken, death and decay would be gone, and God’s glory would come. With a touch of imaginative insight, he says that the state of nature was even worse than the state of men. Man had sinned deliberately; but it was involuntarily that nature was subjected. Unwittingly she was involved in the consequences of the sin of man. “Cursed is the ground because of you,” God said to Adam after his sin ( Genesis 3:17). So here, with a poet’s eye, Paul sees nature waiting for liberation from the death and decay that man’s sin had brought into the world.
If that is true of nature, it is still truer of man. So Paul goes on to think of human longing. In the experience of the Holy Spirit men had a foretaste, a first instalment, of the glory that shall be; now they long with all their hearts for the full realization of what adoption into the family of God means. That final adoption will be the redemption of their bodies. In the state of glory Paul did not think of man as a disembodied spirit. Man in this world is a body and a spirit; and in the world of glory the total man will be saved. But his body will no longer be the victim of decay and the instrument of sin; it will be a spiritual body fit for the life of a spiritual man.
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
- our body = Gk., the body of us (body is singular)
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit: This means we have a taste of the glory to come. Can we be faulted if we long for the fulfillment of what we have received in the firstfruits?
- We also groan and wait … for the coming glory.
eagerly waiting for the adoption: We are waiting for our adoption. Although there is a sense in which we are already adopted (Romans 8:15), there is also a sense in which we wait for the consummation of our adoption which will happen at the redemption of our body.
- God does not ignore our physical bodies in His plan of redemption. His plan for these bodies is resurrection, when this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53).
24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
According to Guzik …
we eagerly wait for it with perseverance: The fulfillment of our redemption is something still distant, yet we hope for it in faith and perseverance, trusting that God is faithful to His word and the promised glory will be a reality.
i. Morris on perseverance: “It is the attitude of the soldier who in the thick of battle is not dismayed but fights on stoutly whatever the difficulties.”
According to Barclay …
Then comes a great saying. “We are saved by hope.” The blazing truth that lit life for Paul was that the human situation is not hopeless. Paul was no pessimist. H. G. Wells once said: “Man, who began in a cave behind a windbreak, will end in the disease soaked ruins of a slum.” Not so Paul. He saw man’s sin and the state of the world; but he also saw God’s redeeming power; and the end of it all for him was hope. Because of that, to Paul life was not a despairing waiting for an inevitable end in a world encompassed by sin and death and decay; life was an eager anticipation of a liberation, a renovation and a recreation wrought by the glory and the power of God.
In Romans 8:19 he uses a wonderful word for eager expectation. It is apokaradokia and it describes the attitude of a man who scans the horizon with head thrust forward, eagerly searching the distance for the first signs of the dawn break of glory. To Paul life was not a weary, defeated waiting; it was a throbbing, vivid expectation. The Christian is involved in the human situation.
- Within he must battle with his own evil human nature;
- without he must live in a world of death and decay.
Nonetheless, the Christian does not live only in the world; he also lives in Christ.
- He does not see only the world; he looks beyond it to God.
- He does not see only the consequences of man’s sin; he sees the power of God’s mercy and love.
Therefore, the keynote of the Christian life is always hope and never despair. The Christian waits, not for death, but for life.
8:18-25 For I am convinced that the sufferings of this present age cannot be compared with the glory which is destined to be disclosed to us. The created world awaits with eager expectation the day when those who are the sons of God will be displayed in all their glory. For the created world has been subjected to chaos, not because of its own choice, but through him who passed the sentence of such subjugation upon it, and yet it still has the hope that the created world also will be liberated from this slavery to decay and will be brought to the freedom of the glory of the children of God; for we know that the whole creation unites together in groans and agonies. Not only does the created world do so, but so do we, even though we have received the first-fruits of the spirit as a foretaste of the coming glory, yes, we too groan within ourselves earnestly awaiting the full realization of our adoption into the family of God. I mean the redemption of our body. For it is by hope that we are saved; but a hope which is already visible is not a hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, then in patience we eagerly wait for it.