by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)
21 because in hope that creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
The word because could instead be translated “that.” It tells of the connection between bondage and futility. Apart from God, creation is meaningless; it is plunging headlong into decay and death. However, God promises that even creation will one day be delivered from bondage to liberty. There will be no more death. Creation looks forward to the Millennium when humanity has been redeemed, and glorified, and will never again have to face God’s curse. The whole creation is promised liberty and glory when Jesus delivers this entire universe from the curse that grips it now. What a day that will be!
Creation looks back to the ideal conditions that existed in Eden. Then it surveys the havoc that was caused by the entrance of sin. Always there has been the hope of a return to an idyllic state when creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption to enjoy the freedom of that golden era when we as God’s children will be revealed in glory.
Man has a dying body. As someone has said, “The moment He gives us life, He begins to take it away from us.” Moreover, there is death and decay out yonder in nature. Go out in the beautiful forest, and there you will see a tree lying dead, corrupt, rotting. That is nature. Moreover, you can catch the stench from the rotting bodies of dead animals.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
We know—the continuing state of knowledge that grows out of perception.
The pain with which the whole creation groans is not death pains but birth pains. The whole creation groans and suffers pain like that of childbirth. Paul is not talking about believers here; he saves that for the next verse. Here, he alludes to the sorrow of nature. He thinks of the suffering of animals—the weak devoured by the strong—of the ruthless destruction of plant life, and of natural disasters of all kinds. The earth is racked by catastrophe. The blight of death is on every living thing. Paul has in mind the Jewish expectation of a coming Messiah, but he knows that a time of distress will come before that messianic age (that begins with the Second Coming of Christ). Both humankind and the rest of God’s creation will share in these birth pains as they anticipate together the joy that follows the pain of birth.
Groans and labors with birth pangs refer to Adam’s Fall, which has caused misery from then until now. The whole created world in all of its parts is crying for release from pain, as a woman cries in childbirth, but it does so with hope for that which will give meaning to all the pain and turn it into joy. The present sufferings of creation are the “birth pangs” of the new age that is coming in the future, the Millennium. From the Fall until now, creation has been groaning over the pointlessness of having been made the subject of a curse. It eagerly looks forward to the time the curse will be lifted. Browning wrote: God’s in His heaven—
All’s right with the world.
The Christian knows that that is not true. God is in His heaven alright, but all is not right with the world.
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.
While the creation groans for the coming of the Messiah, the believer also groans for that glorious day. The reason for why we groan is given in this verse—not only us who have the firstfruits of salvation, the indwelling of the Spirit of God, we groan, and if we who have God’s best groan and labor, then it’s no wonder that the other members of God’s creation groan and labor under the curse. We are said to have the firstfruits of the Spirit. That is, the indwelling Spirit Himself is the first installment (firstfruits) or down payment on the eternal glory that awaits both the believer and God’s creation. This provides the guarantee of our eternal inheritance. Just as the first handful of ripened grain is a pledge of the entire harvest to follow, so the Holy Spirit is the pledge or guarantee that the full inheritance will be ours.
The Holy Spirit is also the guarantee of the coming adoption, the redemption of the body—“who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:14). In one sense we have already been adopted, which means that we have been placed into God’s family as sons. However, in a fuller sense, our adoption will be complete when we receive our glorified bodies. That is spoken of as the redemption of our body. Our spirits and souls have already been redeemed, and our bodies
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