Romans 8:22-8:25 - Hope of Redemption

Calvin (11/14/01)

8:22: Creation being appointed by God to corruption, yet also appointed for deliverance by His hand, groans as if in labor to know that deliverance. And that labor is not in vain, it will bear fruit. If creation has continued so long under its trials without complaint, what will be said of us, when we complain about our brief tribulations in this life? Footnote: It is possible that this and the preceding section (beginning at v18) are a lengthy parallelism, which would not be unusual for Paul. If that be the case, it would be reasonable to take 'creation' as referring to the Christian, the one who for the present remains subject to the corruptions of life, and groans in anticipation of the life to come. This view would hold that the first half of the parallelism runs from v18 to v22, with v23 through v25 restating the thought.
8:23: If all creation groans with the anticipation of the coming restoration, how much more ought we to groan with regard to our present lessened state, and wait patiently for the fullness of blessing to come? The expectation of that coming blessing ought to cause our spirits to rise so as to strongly meet any present circumstance. We ought to 'consider not what [we] are now, but what [we] are to be.' Some have taken the 'first fruits of the Spirit' to mean the Apostles, but it ought to be clear that all Christians are included in the phrase. The idea is that no matter how far we have proceeded in this faith, we remain far short of the perfection that will come, and this causes us to groan with ardent desire to know that fullness. The concept of adoption is not completely appropriate to describe our future estate, but it is reasonable. God, our Father, will certainly receive us into His celestial estates when our time here is done. The redemption that was paid for us would be incomplete if any lesser end were all that was obtained.
8:24: Our hope is salvation, and as that is a hope, it cannot be completely fulfilled this side of the grave. Our salvation requires our death. Those who consider the groaning of the last verse inappropriate reject God's order. For He "does not call His people to victory before He exercises them in the warfare of patience." Knowing this, it is good for us to labor, to deal with oppression in this life, to mourn in afflictions and be worn to the point of death by our trials. "They who seek a visible salvation reject it, as they renounce hope which has been appointed by God as its guardian." Footnote: Salvation refers both to present state and future state. This particular passage speaks to the future, perfected salvation. (Mk 13:13 - You will be hated by all because of My name, but those who endure to the end will be saved. Ro 10:9 - If you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved.) Other passages consider the present state of salvation. (Eph 2:8 - By grace you have been saved through faith, that faith not even yours, but a gift to you from God. Ti 3:4-5 - When God's kindness appeared in the appearance of our Savior, He saved us not for our own righteous deeds, but because of His mercy. We were washed by the Holy Spirit for regeneration and renewal.)
8:25: "Hope then ever draws patience with it." Since the hoped for is not present, its opposite is, and unless we have patience to endure, we will faint rather than know the thing hoped for. "Patience is an inseparable companion of faith." The patience of hope allows us to bear our present miseries with less difficulty, knowing the salvation that is by faith will come. Footnote: Pareus has written that "Patience is needful for three reasons, the good expected is absent, there is delay, and many difficulties intervene."

Matthew Henry (11/14/01)

8:22 (11/9/01): Sin burdens all of creation. When Christ was crucified, the sin of that event caused the very earth to shake. (Is 46:1c - Your idols, which you carry, are a burden that you load upon your beasts, and weary them. Hab 2:11 - [Because of your sins] the very stones of the wall cry out, and the rafters answer them back. Job 31:38 - The very land cries out against you, it weeps because of your sins.)
8:23: "Grace is the first-fruits of glory, it is glory begun." In having the Spirit, we have a precious gift indeed, yet we still don't have all that we would have. Our groanings are not the loud noises of the hypocrite, not the hankerings of the glutton after a meal. Rather, they are the silent inward groans of longing and earnest desire, the cry of a 'soul pained with the delay' of His coming. These groans are not symptoms of death, but of life, as are the groans of a woman in labor. Although the soul is the better part of man, God has also declared salvation for the body. (Php 3:21 - He will transform our body so as to conform it to His glory, by the exertion of His power, by which He subjects all things to Himself. 1Co 15:42 - The body is sown as a perishable thing, but is raised to an imperishable state.) It is this bodily redemption that is considered in adoption. At present, the honor of our redemption is not clear for all to see, but then it will be. We, too, will be declared sons of God with power. (Ro 1:4 - Christ was declared the Son of God with power, by the fact of His resurrection.) No room will remain for dispute. God's children have bodies and souls. Until the bodies are brought to the same liberty as the soul, the adoption is incomplete. (Heb 2:10 - It was fitting for Him, for and through whom are all things, to perfect the Author of our salvation through sufferings; He who will bring many sons to glory. Ps 16:9-10 - Therefore is my heart glad, and my soul rejoices because my flesh will also be secure. For You will not abandon my soul, nor will You allow Your Holy One to decay. Job 14:14-15 - If we die, will we live again? All my life, through all my struggles, I will wait until change comes. You will call, and I will answer; for You will desire the work of Your hands.)
8:24-8:25: This happy state is not yet ours. We are still on probation. We must trust Him. (1Co 13:13 - Now abide faith, hope, and love; of which the greatest is love.) But, hope is also a principal grace. "Faith respects the promise, hope the thing promised. Faith is the evidence, hope the expectation." Hope needs patience to bear up with the delays. Our way may be long, but we know He will come, so we wait in patience for Him.

Adam Clarke (11/15/01)

8:22: Where those who think of creation as referring to the creation must take this phrase to be an allusion, understanding it to refer to the Gentiles allows this verse to be taken literally.
8:23: The Jews long for this bodily redemption as much as the Gentiles ever did. All peoples have suffered the penalty of Adam's fall; not willingly, as they had no hand in that action, but by God's plan. All peoples have also had within a hope for better days to come, planted by God, and fulfilled by Him in the coming of Christ. The believer, freed from sin's bondage, knows his soul redeemed here and now, and longs for his body to join that redemption, which will come in heaven. It is indeed the Christian state that all peoples long for, whether they know that to be their object or not. (Hag 2:7 - I will shake the nations, and they will come, bringing their wealth to fill this house. I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD.) This was written when no nation outside of Israel knew God. Yet, it is truth.
8:24: Our support and comfort are in knowing God's hand will provide all necessary good in this life, and will raise our bodies from death in the resurrection. Hope, being future, clearly doesn't have the hoped for object in hand. We don't enjoy our objective at the moment. (Job 7:7 - Remember that my life is brief, and my eyes will not see good again. Job 9:25 - My days pass quickly, like a runner, seeing no good. Ps 50:23 - The one who offers a thanksgiving sacrifice honors Me, and I will show My salvation to him who walks in righteousness. Mt 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Jn 3:36 - He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the disobedient will not see life, but wrath abiding on him. Heb 12:14 - Pursue peace and sanctification, without which one won't see the Lord. 1Jn 3:2b - We know we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He truly is.) Hope seen is fruition, it is already in one's possession.
8:25: Having a well founded expectation of our final glorification, we wait patiently for it to come, enduring the ills of this life, for He who has promised is faithful. Life without hope is intolerable. Hope enables us to bear up under the trials of our days, trusting in God's mercies.

Barnes' Notes (11/16/01)

8:22: Here, creation clearly refers to all created things, for all created things suffer pain and disorder in this life, and all created things die. Paul brings this up to keep the Christian from thinking his suffering is somehow special and unique. No, it is the same condition that everything suffers. By this, we see ourselves united with all creation in lamenting our condition. The suffering is indeed intense, but we are united in our pain to every age. Note that no suggestion is made that the bulk of creation will somehow be delivered. They are brought up simply to keep us from thinking too highly of our own trials.
8:23: The first-fruits are the initial harvest, the first to be collected, and consecrated to God as a thanks offering. (Dt 26:2 - You are to take from the first produce of the ground that the LORD gives you, put it in a basket, and take it to the place He chooses for His name. Ex 23:19 - You will bring the first produce of your soil into the house of the LORD. Nu 18:13 - These first ripe fruits, brought to the LORD, are given to the use of the Levites and their families. Ro 11:16 - If the first piece of dough is holy, the remainder is, too. As the root, so the branches. Ro 16:5 - Epaenetus is the first convert from Asia. 1Co 15:20 - Christ has been raised, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 1Co 15:23 - All things in order: Christ the first fruits, and after Him all that are His at His coming. 1Co 16:15 - Stephanas and his family were the first fruits of Achaia. Jas 1:18 - By His will, He brought us out by the word of truth. This was done so that we could be the first fruits among His creation. Rev 14:4 - These ones remained chaste in life, and follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were bought from mankind as the first fruits to God and the Lamb.) In all these places, the first fruits are spoken of as a matter of sequence or order, not as a pledge. Deliverance is the strong desire of our heart. Although our adoption came at conversion (Ro 8:15 - We received a spirit of adoption, not slavery. So, we can cry out to God as our Father,) we don't yet enjoy the full privileges of that adoption. That completion comes at the judgment, before the whole universe. At that time, the body will join the renewed state of the soul. "The Christian has joys which the world does not know; but he has also sorrows." The hope of being acknowledged a child of God before the universe is a value that cannot be matched by any offer of this life.
8:24: Hope does not save us per se. It might better be understood that our salvation, being incomplete as yet, is ours only in hope at the moment. Or, the idea may be that hope sustains us in this present trial, and the concept of salvation may not be included in the current context. Knowing our future goal suffices to keep us strong in trial. (Mt 8:25 - They came to Him, saying "Save us, Lord! We are dying!" Mt 16:25, Mk 8:35 - Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for Me will find it. Mk 3:4 - Is it lawful to save a life on the Sabbath, or only to kill it? Is good allowed, or only harm?) Hope sustains, and enables us not to complain. What we already possess, we no longer hope for, for hope is a matter of desire and expectation, and possession is the completion of those longings.
8:25: By contrast, true hope gives us patience. Where desire has no real expectation of fulfillment, there is impatience. But our hope is sure, and we can bear our persecutions with patience, knowing that glory will be ours. (2Co 4:17 - These momentary and light afflictions are producing an eternal, weighty glory that is beyond all compare.) We can endure without complaint.

Wycliffe (11/17/01)

8:22-8:23: The freedom that belongs to God's children could not be more different than the agonies currently suffered by man and creation now.
8:24: Hope is not a wish for that which cannot happen, it is the hope for a real and distinct object that simply has not been gained yet. In our case, it is the hope of the body freed from its mortality, cleansed to join our soul in eternity.
8:25: Knowing that the body redeemed will be free of sin, we await that redemption 'with fortitude.'

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (11/17/01)

8:22: No comments.
8:23: We are as anxious for the day of redemption as creation is, even though we have now the Holy Spirit as the first fruits of that coming event. (2Co 1:22 - He has sealed us, giving the Spirit into our hearts as a pledge. Eph 1:13 - You, too, after hearing the gospel, have believed, and were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Eph 4:30 - Don't grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.) He is not the author of that seal, but the seal itself, and He molds the heart in preparation. Even with this first portion in possession, we yet groan to have the whole. We wait for our adopted status to be manifest to all. (Ro 8:19 - Creation anxiously awaits the revealing of the sons of God.) How are we to understand this whole passage? Three major views hold. First, that the whole creation refers to the entirety of the universe, which would require that the whole universe shared in the punishment of man's sin. This is rejected. Second, there is a view of this creation as consisting in all rational beings; i.e. - man. But, to this comes the objection that we are said to groan together with them, as well as the prior argument of Paul that our own sins are the cause of our condition. (Ro 5:12 - Through one man, sin entered, bringing death. And death spread to all, because all sinned.) That indicates a willing commission of sin, resulting in vanity, not the unwilling submission spoken of in this passage. Since taking creation to refer to Christians is ruled out by their being singled out for inclusion, it remains that creation must refer to the system man is part of, yet exclusive of man himself; the earth, but not the universe. What shared in our curse will share in our recovery. (2Pe 3:13 - We look forward to new heavens and a new earth indwelt by righteousness.)
8:24: Salvation is by faith, but as the completion of that salvation remains future for us, our present possession of that salvation is a matter of hope. Hope ceases when promise is fulfilled.
8:25: Knowing that our hope is certain, patient waiting for His coming becomes our 'fitting attitude.'

New Thoughts (11/18/01)

He "does not call His people to victory before He exercises them in the warfare of patience." So Calvin has reminded us, here. But why? Why is patience so critical to God's work in us? I believe the key to this has been handed to us throughout the commentaries on this passage, although no one author has put the pieces together for us.

To begin with, remember the keys of Christian attitude that are given to us in Paul's writings. (1Co 13:13 - Now abide faith, hope, and love; of which the greatest is love.) Now then, consider. Calvin has pointed out that "patience is an inseparable companion of faith." What are the implications of this? We cannot know faith and not know patience. If faith is a gracious gift from a loving Father, then patience must also be a gracious gift from Him, mustn't it? What have light and dark to do with each other? If the one is good, its companion must also be good. If patience is a necessary ingredient of faith, and our salvation is by faith alone, who is there that will not gladly pray for patience? But let's look further.

Faith is not the only one of these three key values that is an associate of patience. Matthew Henry tells us that hope needs patience to bear up with the delays. When the object of hope remains far distant, hope requires encouragement and strength, else we will lose hope. Where is that strength, but in patience? Faith may encourage, but it takes patience to remain strong. Again I ask, who will not now gladly pray for patience? But there's more.

Scripture itself tells us that the third and greatest of the key Christian values also depends on patience. (1Co 13:4 - Love is patient.) We've all heart this one. It's an integral part of just about every marriage that's ever been performed in God's church. It is our love, above and beyond all other things, that will distinguish us in the eyes of men, that will declare us Christians. This is Jesus own declaration to us. What greater reason can be given to pray for patience?

Faith, hope and love. These three abide. These three survive the fires of purification. These three traits are the traits of sanctified life. And all three depend on patience. Is it any wonder that the JFB commentary speaks of patient waiting for His coming as being our 'fitting attitude?' Pastor spoke to us recently about attitude. Attitude is a major issue for Christians today, because we've not been willing to shape our attitudes according to God's plans. How many times have we been warned not to pray for patience? "Oh, you won't like what you get from praying for that!" This is short-sighted and sad. Will such prayers bring some pain? Count on it. Patience doesn't come without proper exercise, any more than muscles do. And the exercise of patience is trial. But, bear in mind, faith, hope and love are all pretty wonderful things to have, aren't they? If they cannot be had and kept except with patience, aren't the trials worth it? If patience is a mandatory ingredient of the redeemed life, if the hope of glory depends on present patience, will we not say with Paul that these present trials are nothing by comparison, that we can even count them as joy, since they prepare the way for us?

But what is this patience, or better perseverance? I've been looking at this for a few weeks now, both here, in this study of Romans, and elsewhere, in studying Ps 129. The definitions that are collected here provide a strong commendation of this trait. It is the enduring of circumstances. Note that it is not the enduring of abrasive personalities. That is a separate issue. It is the quality in us that will not surrender to circumstances. It is the characteristic of one who will not be pushed from the path of faith by even the greatest trials and suffering. It is cheerful, hopeful endurance.

Lord, I look at this definition, and I find myself wanting. Do I endure? Generally. Do I endure cheerfully and hopefully? Not very often. Am I steadfast on the paths of faith? I don't know. Most times, I don't think I'm all that steadfast. Most times, I pray that I not have to find out the hard way. Oh, but I would like to know myself this strong in my faith! Lord, I know I've prayed before the 'dangerous' prayers. I've offered many times a self willing to accept whatever You must do to bring change. At present, I'm back in a place where change is needed. Old habits have risen up with a strength I thought broken. I find instead that I am broken. Lord, I need Your repairs. I need Your strength to hold me through my weakness. I need to accept what You must do to bring patience to this soul. I need the patience to love.

On a separate line of thought, there is a confluence of Scriptures here that really speaks to the tissue of assurance. Look at the question Job asks, and the answer he gives. (Job 14:14-15 - If we die, will we live again? All my life, through all my struggles, I will wait until change comes. You will call, and I will answer; for You will desire the work of Your hands.) God will call, and we will be there to answer! That is an awesome thing to realize. He will desire the work of His hands. While the sins of our present condition continue to make us such that He cannot bear to look on us, yet He will desire us. What can this mean but that our sanctification will be completed, but that our sins will come to an end?

Hebrews 12:14 tells us to pursue peace and sanctification. Why? Because we won't see the Lord without those characteristics being not only established but completed in us. This doesn't sound like an assuring thought, does it? I know I'm so far from that sanctification that it's a pretty constant cause for concern in me, when I consider Him with whom I have to do. If He cannot bear to look upon sin, and I cannot expect to see Him except my sanctification - so far from completion now - complete, where is my security? I find it in 1John.

I still remember the many painful tests I found in that letter, the many impossible tasks assigned to the Christian. But, I also remember the assurances. None has yet attained to this sinless status in this life. That's why Christ's earthly ministry was necessary. No one else could, and no one else can do it. But the real assurance (other than the recognition that I'm not somehow worse than my brothers in this regard) is in v3.2 of that letter: We know we will be like Him, because we will see Him. We know. It's not a maybe for us. It's not wishful thinking, it is God-imparted, revealed knowledge. He has told us in His word that we have our adoption. It's not something we're still trying to earn. We already have it. It's not a license to sin with wild abandon. The love we have for our Father precludes such a thought, for we know it would be unpleasing to Him. We know we will be like Him, sanctified entirely. Why? Because we already have the promise that we will see Him. As He truly is, we will see Him. As more than the Son of man, come in judgment we will see Him. As our Brother, our Husband, our Savior, our King, we will see Him. In the fullness of His glory, we will see Him. Words fail. Our thoughts cannot wrap themselves around the full implications of this. It is too wonderful for me, yet I know, with John and Paul and all the others that have gone before I know, that I will see Him.

How can I know this? I believe James 1:18 moves well toward giving me that knowing assurance, for it was by His will, that verse tells us, that we were brought out. It was by the Word of Truth that we were brought out. The very relish I have found in myself for learning the things of God, the very fact that I find His Word true, tells me that He has willed this for me. Why has He done so? So that we could be the first fruits among His creation, the first to be brought out of our futility. This isn't something He's done for me, but for Him. He wishes to display His glory in redeeming that which has been subjected for so long.

The JFB commentators felt it necessary to preclude the idea that the entire universe might somehow be wrapped up in that extent, but I fail to see why. If God created all things, then that pretty well covers the universe. If He has declared that we await new heavens and a new earth, well does that somehow not include the things we know to be in those heavens? On what basis, then, shall we exclude a portion of creation from 'all creation?'

How glorious is our Lord! How marvelously He has considered us. If all of creation was cursed for our falling (a thing that is not said of the fall of angels), how jealously He must care for us. If all of creation was cursed for our falling, how great His justice in that He also provides for their restoration in our own! If all creation will be renewed along with His children, how great His mercy is toward us who have caused Him such sorrow!