The Hope of Creation
Notes
Transcript
As we have been working through Romans 8, we have come to the next great argument supporting and buttressing up Paul’s basic statement in Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And we’ve looked at many doctrines and explanations along the way, but having mentioned the question of suffering at the end of verse 17, Paul has begun to directly address not just the suffering experienced on account of Christ, but also the general suffering everyone must endure, and showing how even that works together to support and enhance the idea that there is now no condemnation for we who are in Christ Jesus.
He has set out the general teaching in verse 18, saying
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
And this is a very vital and important thing for us to grasp, both now and as we move through our daily, weekly lives until we die, or until Christ returns. Paul here in verse 18 has laid out the principle involved, I hope you remember our exposition on it: it is not that our sufferings now do not matter, but that when weighed in balance with the glory that awaits us in eternity, the scale is so lopsided that it is practically impossible to reasonably think of the two in relation to one another.
But in order for us to really grasp the lopsided nature of the argument, Paul wants to be certain that we understand the immensity of what he is saying regarding just how difficult it is to truly compare the prevent suffering with the coming glory, and to help us understand it rightly in a manner our minds can wrap around and grasp, he lays out three sets of contrasts.
As I laid out last time in our overview of this argument, the first contrast is the groaning of creation, which starts in verse 19, in which the created things, what the Authorized translation calls “the creature”, creation groans on account of its present condition, looking forward to the day when it is freed from its present condition by the revelation of the sons of God.
The second contrast is found in we ourselves, we who are in Christ Jesus, beginning in verse 23. We groan within ourselves as we hope expectantly for what we are certain is coming, when that “already” but “not yet” tension is finally resolved, acutely aware of our uncompleted sanctification.
And then the last contrast, found in the Holy Spirit, as He groans for us on account of our present weakness in verses 25 and 26, for we who are in Christ are not yet glorified, that future unveiling of the sons of God completes what is presently incomplete within us, namely our full and final sanctification.
How do we respond to our own present suffering, or the suffering of those in Christ whom we love and care for deeply? Paul is showing us here in this portion of Scripture is that the way to not be overcome by this suffering, the way to endure suffering in this present age, is to look at the greatness of the glory to come, to know something of these contrasts he lays out regarding creation, and we ourselves, and the Holy Spirit.
And so this morning, having that overview refreshed in our minds, I would like to call our undivided attention this morning to this first contrast, this first groaning, the groaning of creation.
Let’s pray, and then begin understanding what creation’s groaning is all about, and how it can strengthen and encourage us.
O Lord our God, by fearsome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth, and of the farthest sea; You established the mountains by Your strength, You still the rumbling of the seas and the rumbling of their waves. You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy. Let the sea roar, as well as its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy before Yahweh, for You, o Yahweh, are coming to judge the earth; You will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. Come soon, Lord Jesus! Come soon that we may behold Your glory, and be like You. Amen
Let’s begin by reading this section of Scripture first, that we would be clear regarding what the apostle actually says:
For the anxious longing 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
that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
First and foremost, we ought to be clear about what is meant by this word “creation”, for if we misidentify creation, we’ll miss the point of the argument.
For example, at one point in my life, I thought it might refer to all created things – not only the things made in Genesis 1, including earth, sky, and seas, and sky that is on them, including even mankind, but also even the angels, heaven itself, everything other than the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Others have tried to teach that this ought to include even the Son, for He is called “the firstborn of creation” in Colossians 1:15. And the translation of the King James many of us grew up with, “for the creature was made subject to vanity”, this rendering of “creature”, tends to focus our minds more on the animal world.
But surely, on account of the nature of Paul’s argument, we ought to be clear as to what is meant by “creation”, and in this the 3-part nature of the argument itself can be helpful, as it distinguishes between creation in verses 19-22, and we ourselves in verses 23-25, and God, though particularly the Holy Spirit, in verses 26 and 27.
So, I think we can safely say that creation, in this context, does not include man, neither those who are in Christ, for they are separately and explicitly discussed in verses 23-25, nor those who are outside of Christ, for men and women in every time and place are not passive in their futility, but sin willingly and transgress the Law of God. Nor does “creation” include God – indeed, most who try to include Jesus here forget or deny that Jesus is co-eternal with the Father, but God is the creator of all things, He Himself has neither beginning nor ending. We must also rule out the angels, for though they are created beings, they did not fall in Adam, they are not “subjected to futility”, nor do they experience decay.
No, I think it is right to think of creation as all the things which were created before God created man – everything from Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 1:25; the heavens and the earth, the sun, moon, and stars, the waters and the land, the plants and flowers and trees, the living things that fly in the air, travel across the ground, or swim in the lakes, rivers, and oceans.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.”
Man was given the earth to subdue it, he was given dominion over it all. There is a distinct and explicit relationship between creation and man that is divinely appointed and ordered; man is over creation, not under it, nor even alongside it, but Adam served in a sense as the lord over the creation that he inhabited, it was something that he was charged with subduing and something that he was instructed to make use of. He was given the responsibility of cultivating the earth in Genesis 2:15, and even of naming every kind of cattle, and bird and beast in Genesis 2:19 and 20, so much so was his dominion over this creation God had made. This appointed order, man over creation, explains why creation’s fate is tied to his. Whatever happens to Adam echoes in his dominion.
Having seen and understood what Paul means by ‘creation,’ having understood now why its condition must be tied to Adam, we’re now in a position to understand why its present condition is so tragic, as well as why its longing is so intense.
So think to yourself… this creation, these accumulated things that man was given dominion over… how would you characterize it today? Would you call it “good”? Would you say that each part is “good”, and that the whole of it is “very good”?
No, I think not… we can agree that parts here and there may appear good for a time, but three underbelly is rotten and corrupted, the majestic view has been marred and distorted.
We read in verses 20 and 21,
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Creation has been subjected to futility, it is not what it once was, it cannot presently fulfill its purpose the way God designed it to. God’s creation knows this, and laments it.
It wants to fulfill its purpose! It wants to, but cannot do so, for it has been prevented from fulfilling that purpose. It was subjected to futility, not willingly. This impotence to fulfill its purpose was done to it, it never had a choice in the matter, for it is under the dominion of man, and when Adam sinned, when he transgressed the command of God, the entirety of his dominion was profoundly affected.
We should be careful to observe that Adam was not the one who so altered and frustrated creation from its purpose, rather it was God. To be sure, God did so on account of Adam’s sin, but the dominion already given was not to be rescinded, but both Adam and all that was his were to remain joined within the judgement entered against him; Adam would not be allowed to enjoy God’s paradise in Eden, lest after having sinned he then partake of the Tree of Life, but this also served as a case in point example that neither would Adam or his entire race be permitted to enjoy the pure, enjoyable goodness that God had made; as the head of creation became corrupted, so, too would his dominion be corrupted.
There are plenty of examples of a vile leader corrupting a nation – the first and second books of Kings are filled with the phrase, “the sins of Jereboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel sin”, describing misery after misery of Israel on account of ungodly rulers on the one hand, or for example we read of Josiah, who “did what was right in the sight of Yahweh”, under whom Judah then prospered. Even in our own day, we see that Proverbs 29:2 holds true: “When the righteous increase, the people are glad, But when a wicked man rules, people groan.”
And so it goes for the creation.
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
It is important that we realize creation was not cursed when the serpent was cursed, nor was it put under subjection to futility when the woman was cursed. No… As Adam was its head, as it was to Adam that dominion was given in Genesis 2, that it is only right that when Adam was justly condemned, so too was creation at the same time placed into its futility – Adam was not to lose his dominion, but neither could he exercise that dominion in the way he once could – not only was the dominion itself corrupted, but in that corruption Adam and creation could no longer enjoy each other in the way they once had.
It is clear to us that the world is corrupted; the decay, the putrefaction, the desolation would be enough for us to understand this. But who among us can raise a garden with ease, not needing to fight against weeds, let alone the bugs, the elements, or avoid difficulty in working the ground in the first place?
The creation wasn’t made for this, and it knows it wasn’t supposed to be this way.
For the anxious longing of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
This isn’t just figurative language, some “anthropomorphism” or “personification” of creation to provide it human characteristics in order to help us understand something, although I do think there is something of an element to that way of looking at this. But when I read Jesus answer to the Pharisees demanding He rebuke His disciples for their exultation “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” in Luke 19:40, “But Jesus answered and said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones will cry out!””, when I consider the nature of that crying out as being an exultation of the arrival of Messiah into the holy city in splendor, I’m not so sure this should be so easily dismissed! Even the “anxious longing” experienced by creation indicates there is more here than just a figure of speech.
This idea of “anxious longing” reveals a certain awareness of both the present, and also of the future. The Greek word we translate “anxious longing”, ἀποκαραδοκία, is an unusual word, only appearing here and in Philippians 1:20, and in both cases it speaks to a particular anticipation and earnestness and expectancy of longing. The words picture here is the idea of someone who is straining their neck to order to peer out into the horizon for an arrival.
You can get something of the sense of the idea by thinking of the eagerness of a child to finally be able to unwrap the presents they’ve been seeing gather underneath a Christmas tree, or even better anxiously awaiting the arrival of a beloved grandparent, interrupting Mom frequently “are they here yet, are they here yet”, and then staring out the front window in hopes of seeing their car coming into the drive, maybe going out to the road and watching down the street, ready, aching to cry out excitedly “they’re here, they’re here!”
And it’s vital to Paul’s argument here that we rightly understand why creation is this way, why it is “anxiously longing” for this revelation of the sons of God. The answer as to why is found at the end of verse 20 and into verse 21.
Our stress here starts with “in hope”!
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
And let’s be clear… this is why it is so very important that we understand who it is that subjected creation to its present condition. If man had done so, or if Satan had done so, or if it was just something that developed over time, there would be no reason for hope, it could easily be seen as a triumph of evil, with little hope of recovery.
Yes, it was God who so cursed creation, but if you are careful to look, you will realize that He also provided a promise of remedy in the last Adam, as Paul calls Him in 1 Corinthians 15, when we read the curse against the serpent in Genesis 3:15,
“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
This promise does not merely concern man; it concerns the entire dominion bound under Adam! The promise is a promise for all to hear, the hope it gives is not merely to man but even creation’s hope rests in this promise as well!
There in the garden, even while dealing with the immediate effects of the transgression, where in God’s forbearance He spares their immediate lives, though He by rights could have easily and justly destroyed both man and the creation he had dominion over, God even in the midst of judgement reveals the seed of the Gospel, the promise of remedying all that the transgression has caused.
You see, God, in His merciful judgement, did not merely issue a condemnation and then abandon both man and creation, but He in a sense bound the wound given in condemnation with a great promise – a promise covering both man and man’s dominion, in which the remedy and cure for the present condemnation is greater than the ruin they are about to enter.
In this, there was hope given to man, but also hope given to all of man’s dominion, for they were all bound together in this condemnation. This bond between Adam and creation is the very reason creation fell with him — and the very reason it will be released from that bondage with Christ.
Because of this great hope, we realize that creation’s future does not stay in such a dejected and corrupted state, though it is bound to that condition for the moment in the manner of a prisoner bound for the duration of his sentence.
It awaits eagerly its release from such bondage, looking forward to its release from futility, that it might realize its full purpose.
For the cure is in the seed of the woman, namely Christ Jesus, and on account of this creation as the dominion of man has reason to hope in this last Adam, this last federal head, that when He is finally revealed in glory, when we see Him as He truly is and those in Him will be like Him, as 1 John 3 explains, creation, too will be glorified, delivered from its present bondage both in part and in whole.
So, the hope that creation has, this earnest expectation is not based in absurdity, but in great and majestic meaning.
And so we reject both a stoic fatalism that sufferings is the impersonal grind of fate, as well as a dualism that suggests matter is somehow bad. For creation was subjected in hope, creation was “good” at the beginning in part, and “very good” in whole – and when our Lord is revealed, it will be so again.
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
Creation isn’t groaning in pessimism, but in hope, the hope as the hope of childbirth, as a mother longing to see her child born. There’s no neutrality to creation’s anxious longing, and it doesn’t do so in isolation, but each and every part of man’s dominion groans together, as each note in an unresolved discord on the piano begs for resolution into that final, exultant harmony. This discord has lasted continuously since that moment in Eden when God declared to Adam “Cursed is the ground because of you”.
And just as a mother in the pangs of childbirth longs to hold her child, even more than for the pain to cease, so, too does creation yearn and long for the sons of God to be finally, gloriously revealed.
And what Paul is saying in this entire section is that it is this in which creation hopes – expectantly, earnestly, and anxiously.
This first groaning of creation in the midst of its present suffering and futility, however, gives even us great hope ourselves!
Let’s not miss Paul’s point here; though our suffering, like the suffering of creation, is real and terrible, it is yet purposeful. We have no cause to be wallowing in our suffering, engrossed in it with downcast eyes and dejected perspectives. Suffering is no meaningless, inevitable fate that leads only to despair. Instead, just as the creation about us has that eternal perspective, in which it anxiously awaits its release and freedom to be what God meant it to be, so should we keep eternity first and foremost in our own perspective. Paul uses this truth as a basis of his consideration, a deep and purposeful reckoning of perspective in verse 18, and so should we! Our present suffering, like the suffering of creation, has a definite, climactic end that God Himself has promised, so let us likewise take such a perspective.
Every weed, every storm, every decay and ache and frustration whispers “This is not the world as it will be”, so let us each recognize in our hearts that this world is not the world God intended, but is a faint and corrupted shadow of what it was meant to be. This present world is not our home as it now exists, this present world is not where our focus and faith should lie; Adam’s sin had enormous consequences, so we should likewise be mindful of sin’s consequence in our own lives.
But, let’s also remember, that if you are in Christ Jesus, the only hope that the world about you truly has is bound inextricably with our own glorification, we who are united into Christ Jesus. So though we ought to care for the world, we realize that it will never be released from its bondage to corruption, and so we ourselves earnestly pray yet again, “come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
For in Him is not only our only hope, but also the hope of creation.
Let us pray!
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
Genesis 1 shows the goodness of creation; Romans 8 shows its bondage. How does holding both realities together keep us from either idolizing the world or despising it?
If creation groans with hope — not despair — what might it look like for Christians to reflect that same hopeful patience in seasons of suffering?
In light of the lesson, what truths should anchor a believer’s mindset when suffering feels overwhelming or senseless?
Creation is portrayed as “eagerly longing” and “groaning.” What does this imagery teach us about the world we live in — both its current condition and its future hope?
When you look at the brokenness of the world and the tensions in your own life, ask yourself this week: “Do I groan like creation — with hope, patience, and expectancy — or do I groan in ways that forget the promise of glory?”
