Romans 8.20-God Subjected Creation To Imperfection Based Upon A Confident Expectation
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday December 2, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:20-God Subjected Creation To Imperfection Based Upon A Confident Expectation
Lesson # 266
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.
This evening we will note Romans 8:20, which teaches that God subjected creation to imperfection as a result of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden and based upon a confident expectation.
Romans 8:1-4, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:5, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”
Romans 8:6-8, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
Romans 8:10, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Romans 8:12-13, “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh -- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Romans 8:14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Romans 8:15, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’”
Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
Romans 8:18-25, “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. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly 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. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
Let’s now concentrate on verse 20 for the rest of the evening.
We must keep in mind that Romans 8:20-21 form a complete thought and therefore, should be taken together.
Romans 8:20-21, “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.”
In Romans 8:20-21, Paul teaches that creation was subjected to futility by God based upon the confident expectation that the creation would also be set free from the Adamic curse into the freedom of the glory of the children of God, which will take place at the Second Advent of Christ and His subsequent millennial reign.
Therefore, Paul is teaching in Romans 8:20-21 that the reason why the creation anxiously anticipates, and eagerly awaits the revealing of the sons of God at the Second Advent of Christ and His subsequent millennial reign is that the creation will finally be set free from the Adamic curse placed upon it when Adam fell.
The creation anxiously anticipates and eagerly awaits the revealing of the sons of God at Christ’s Second Advent and His subsequent millennial reign “because” it is at that time the creation would be set free from the curse placed upon it by God as a result of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden.
“The creation” is the noun ktisis (ktivsi$) (ktis-is), which refers to that which has been created by God out of non-existing material.
This includes the orderly arrangement of the heavens and the earth and all things in their complex order and composition as created by God, created in perfect order and subject to the laws God established to govern its operation (Matt. 13:35; John 21:25; Acts 17:24).
The noun ktisis refers to the totality of animate and inanimate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and the earth: (1) Stars, satellites, and planets that compose the stellar universe. (2) Earth’s sun and moon. (3) Vegetation on the earth (4) Marine life (5) Bird life (6) Terrestrial life.
This would not include unregenerate human beings or non-elect angels since they are antagonistic towards Christ and are not eagerly anticipating the revelation of the sons of God at Christ’s Second Advent and will be thrown into the lake of fire at the conclusion of human history (Revelation 20:11-15).
Romans 8:20, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope.”
“Was subjected” is the verb hupotasso (u(potavssw) (hoop-ot-as-so), which means, “to be subject to a particular state” by an expressed agency.
It is used in relation to creation indicating involuntary submission as indicated by the expression that follows it, ouch hekousa alla dia ton huptaxanta eph’ helpidi, “not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope.”
The verb denotes that creation was “subjected to a fallen state” along with Adam because of the decree of God (Genesis 3:17-19).
Genesis 3:17, “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 toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.”
“Cursed is the ground” means the basic material of the physical creation and the elements themselves, the “dust of the earth,” out of which all things had been formed and produced were brought under the bondage of decay and disintegration.
Genesis 3:18-19, “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.”
The earth would no longer cooperate with Adam because he sinned and will be insubordinate to Adam because he was insubordinate to God and obeyed his wife.
So the Lord put a curse upon man and on his entire environment.
This would not only force him to recognize the seriousness of his sin as well as his helplessness to deliver himself and his dominion from eventual destruction but also it would force him to recognize that Satan’s tempting promises had been nothing but lies.
This curse on the First Adam will ultimately be lifted when the Last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ returns with the church, the sons of God, at His Second Advent to deliver Israel from Antichrist and the Tribulational armies in order to establish His millennial reign (Rom. 8:18-22).
Romans 8:20, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope.”
“To futility” is the noun mataiotes (mataiovth$) (mat-ah-yot-ace), which means, “imperfection” and is used to describe creation existing under the curse God placed upon it as a result of Adam disobeying the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
It was subjected to futility in the sense that it does not fulfill the purpose for which God created and restored it.
God created Adam in order to rule over all of creation.
Genesis 1:26-28, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make (‘asah) man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created (bara, “to create out of nothing”) man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (NASB)
Since the creation was placed under Adam’s authority, when Adam fell, the creation was placed under the curse of sin as well.
Therefore, because of this Adamic curse, creation like mankind is subject to deterioration, decay and death.
In Romans 8:20, the word mataiotes means, “imperfection” since the word is used in contrast with the adjective tov, “good,” which appears seven times in each of the six days recorded in Genesis 1 and describes the perfection of God’s work in creating, restoring, producing and modeling during these six days.
Now, in Romans 8:20, the noun mataiotes is used to describe the “imperfection” of creation as a result of God placing a curse upon it as a result of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
It stands in direct contrast to God’s estimation of His work in creating, restoring, producing and modeling during the six days.
Therefore, mataiotes describes creation as a result of the Fall of Adam as not being excellent, complete, beyond practical or theoretical improvement.
It describes fallen creation as not fitting exactly the need for God’s purpose.
It describes fallen creation as having flaws and shortcomings.
Lastly, mataiotes describes fallen creation as incorrect in every detail.
Therefore, in Romans 8:20, the noun mataiotes describes creation as being in a state of “imperfection” as a result of the Lord placing a curse upon it because Adam disobeyed Him.
Romans 8:20, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope.”
“Not willingly” emphasizes that creation’s subjection to imperfection was by no means, voluntary, thus it denotes creation’s subjection to imperfection was involuntary.
“But” is the adversative use of the conjunction alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a statement that stands in direct contrast with Paul’s statement that creation was subjected to imperfection by no means, voluntarily.
“Because of Him who subjected it” indicates that the creation was subjected to imperfection involuntarily because of the Lord’s decree, which is recorded in Genesis 3:17-18.
“In hope” is composed of the preposition epi (e)piv), “in” and the dative feminine singular form of the noun elpis (e)lpi$) (el-pece), “hope.”
The noun elpis means, “confident expectation” and is used as the object of the preposition epi, which functions as a marker of the object upon which any action rests as a basis.
The object of this confident expectation is identified by the clause, “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,” that appears in Romans 8:21.
The preposition epi marks the curse being lifted from creation as the object of confident expectation.
This prepositional phrase indicates that God subjected creation to imperfection involuntarily “upon the basis” that it would be set free from this curse when the sons of God are visibly manifested with Christ Himself at His Second Advent when He comes to establish His millennial reign.
Therefore, the noun elpis functions as a “dative of cause” and the preposition epi as a marker of cause.
This indicates the basis or cause of the action of the verb hupotasso, “the one who subjected.”
So God subjected creation to imperfection involuntarily “on the basis” that He would lift the curse from creation through the manifestation of the sons of God at the Second Advent of Christ.