Romans 8:18-23 “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. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope: because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the child of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
The Groaning of Creation (8:19–22) Interestingly, Paul decides to demonstrate his thesis of verse 18 by addressing the issue of creation first, probably to show that the future glory was far more comprehensive than just applying to believers. All of God’s creation will be transformed, beginning with this world and then encompassing especially God’s own people. The eager expectation with which creation longs for our revealed glory means literally “stretching the head” or “straining the neck” to see what is coming. While there may be no sense of anxiety here (so Schreiner 1998; Cranfield 1975 calls it “confident expectation”), there is a longing to see the final transformation come to pass. It is interesting that creation longs for the revelation of the sons of God here rather than its own, recognizing that the primary thrust is on the future glory of God’s people. Creation will participate in those results in verse 21. This is truly an apocalyptic event (apokalypsis, revelation), the final unveiling of our status as royalty (the children of the King of kings) at the eschaton. We are already “sons of God” (vv. 14–16), but the final manifestation of that glorious reality is in the future. It is a spiritual reality now, but then it will be a visible event.
Even with the curse, however, there was still the hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay. Hope is one of the main terms of this section (vv. 20, 24 [three times], 25), and it refers to the future-oriented expectation of verse 19. There is little uncertainty in the New Testament concept of hope, for it is grounded in the sovereign God of the covenant who is at work in this world, as in Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Moo (1996:516) believes Paul is drawing on the protevangelium (Gen 3:15), “he [the seed of the woman] will crush your [the serpent’s] head” (cf. Rom 16:20, where it is interpreted as the church in spiritual warfare). This would be in keeping with the Genesis 3 background to this passage as well as verse 19, where the expectation of release for creation is tied into the revelation of the sons of God. This release is called a liberation, linked with the earlier liberation of God’s people from slavery to sin and death (6:18, 22; 8:2) as well as from the law (8:2). Dunn (1988a:471) says Paul deliberately “ties them all together as mutually reinforcing features of the age of Adam.” Here the enslaving force is decay, possibly “destruction” (thus a reference to the destruction of the earth in 2 Pet 3:10), but more likely “corruption” (the progressive decay of the natural order). The stronger idea of the annihilation of the cosmos does not really fit the context as well (the emphasis is on liberation, not destruction). So while the created order is characterized by death and disorder, it also knows that the future holds liberation from the effects of sin. This wondrous state is best described in Revelation 22:1–5, where the final Eden is described with “the river of the water of life, … flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.” This is what the original Garden of Eden would have become if Adam and Eve had not sinned, and it is indeed a confident hope! This liberation will occur as the disintegrating creation is brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. As in verse 19, the release of creation is tied to the liberation of the people of God. But here glorious freedom should probably be translated “the freedom of the glory of the children of God,” for the emphasis in this section is on the future glory that awaits God’s children (8:18), namely, that final vindication when we share in his glory.
In light of this, Paul concludes (v. 22), we know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth. Elsewhere when Paul uses we know (2:2; 3:19; 6:6; 7:14), he refers to a generally known teaching among the churches. This catechetical truth is the groaning of all creation (every part of inanimate creation; see on v. 19), which “groans together” (the compound syn- meaning with every part in complete accord) right up to the present time, referring to the continuous nature of this pain to the very present (better than a reference to the “now”-ness of salvation as Barrett 1957; Käsemann 1980; Dunn 1988a). Groaning is a key word in this section (vv. 22, 23, 26) and refers to the cry of agony and travail that accompanies the pain of decay (v. 21). Yet this is a positive agony of frustration, for the following metaphor qualifies it as the pains of childbirth, possibly connected to the “birth pains” that inaugurate the eschaton in Mark 13:8 and parallels. This is the pain of birth, not death (though the image is used of destruction in 1 Thess 5:3), and signifies a new life to come (see Jesus’ use of this image for “grief will turn to joy” in Jn 16:20–22). Tsumura (1994:620–21) shows that the Old Testament background for this lies in a combination of Genesis 3:17 (the earth as cursed) with Genesis 3:16 (the “pains in childbearing” that were Eve’s lot). Creation participates in the living hope of God’s faithful who know that their present travail is a portent, not just of better things but of final glory and joy.