Romans 8.21-The Manifestation Of God's Children At The Second Advent Of Christ Will Set Creation Free From Its Slavery To Mortality
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday December 3, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:21-The Manifestation Of God’s Children At Christ’s Second Advent Will Set Creation Free From Its Slavery To Mortality
Lesson # 267
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.
This evening we will study Romans 8:21, which completes Paul’s thought that he began in Romans 8:20 and teaches that the manifestation of the children of God at Christ’s Second Advent will set creation free from its slavery to mortality.
Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
Romans 8:3, “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, “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.”
Romans 8:19, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”
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.”
Let’s now concentrate on verse 21 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.
“In hope” is composed of the preposition epi (e)piv), “in” and the dative feminine singular form of the noun elpis (e)lpi$) (el-pece), “hope.”
The noun elpis means, “confident expectation” and is used as the object of the preposition epi, which functions as a marker of the object upon which any action rests as a basis.
This prepositional phrase indicates that God subjected creation to imperfection involuntarily “upon the basis” that it would be set free from this curse when the sons of God are visibly manifested with Christ Himself at His Second Advent when He comes to establish His millennial reign.
Therefore, the noun elpis functions as a “dative of cause” and the preposition epi as a marker of cause.
This indicates the basis or cause of the action of the verb hupotasso, “the one who subjected.”
So God subjected creation to imperfection involuntarily “on the basis” that He would lift the curse from creation through the manifestation of the sons of God at the Second Advent of Christ.
Romans 8:20-21, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (NASB)
In Romans 8:21, “that” is the conjunction hoti (o^ti) (hot-ee), which introduces a clause that stands in apposition to the prepositional phrase eph’ helpidi, “based upon a confident expectation” that appears at the end of verse 20.
This clause identifies the object of this confident expectation mentioned at the end of verse 20.
“The creation” is the noun ktisis (ktivsi$) (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 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 8:21, “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.”
“Will be set free” is the verb eleutheroo (e)leuqerovw) (el-yoo-ther-o-o), which means, “to be set free” from the Adamic curse (Genesis 3:17-19).
“From its slavery to corruption” is composed of the preposition apo (a)pov), “from” and the noun douleia (douleiva), “its slavery” and the noun phthora (fqorav) (fthor-ah), “to corruption.”
In Romans 8:21, the noun douleia denotes the condition of creation as being in slavery or bondage to corruption because of the Adamic curse (Compare Genesis 3:18-19) as indicated by its genitive adjunct, tes phthoras, “corruption.”
In Romans 8:21, the noun phthora is used to describe creation as being in bondage to deterioration, decay, decomposition and physical death as a result of the Lord placing a curse upon it due to Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
Therefore, the word means, “mortality,” which is the state or condition of being subject to death since the noun combines the ideas of deterioration, decay, decomposition and death.
The noun douleia functions as the object of the preposition apo, which functions as a marker of separation and dissociation.
This indicates that the noun douleia functions as a “genitive of separation” or as some grammarians call an “ablative of separation” in which the genitive substantive is that from which the verb or sometimes the head noun is separated indicating point of departure.
Thus, the noun functions as a “genitive” or “ablative of separation” indicating that upon the manifestation of the sons of God at Christ’s Second Advent the creation will be “totally and completely separated from” slavery to mortality.
“Into the freedom” is composed of the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), “into” and the noun eleutheria (e)leuqeriva) (el-yoo-ther-ee-ah), “the freedom.”
The preposition eis is a marker of a change of state.
This indicates that when the sons of God are revealed with Christ at His Second Advent and millennial reign, creation will go from the state of being in bondage to mortality as a result of the Adamic curse to the state of the glorious freedom of the children of God or in other words, set free from the Adamic curse.
The noun eleutheria is related to the verb eleutheroo and refers to the state of being free.
In Romans 8:21, it is used of creation existing in a state of being free from being a slave to mortality, i.e. deterioration, decay, decomposition and death when the sons of God are revealed in resurrection bodies with Christ at His Second Advent in order to establish His millennial reign.
In other words, it describes creation existing in a state of being free from the Adamic curse.
Romans 8:21, “That the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
“Of the glory” is the noun doxa (dovca), which means, “manifestation” and is used of the children of God.
Therefore, it refers to the “manifestation” of the children of God in resurrection bodies with Christ at His Second Advent when He will establish His millennial reign and lift the Adamic curse from creation.
The noun doxa functions as a “genitive of production” indicating that the genitive substantive doxa “produces” the noun eleutheria, “freedom” to which it stands related.
Therefore, as a “genitive of production” the noun doxa indicates that creation being set free from the Adamic curse is “produced by” or “effected by” or “brought about by” the manifestation of the children of God in resurrection bodies at Christ’s Second Advent and subsequent millennial reign.
“The children of God” is composed of the noun teknon (tevknon) (tek-non), “of the children” and the noun theos (qeov$), “of God.”
Paul uses the noun teknon, “children” with reference to church age believers and emphasizes their relationship to God from the perspective of their spiritual birth, which took place at the moment of regeneration when they were declared justified through faith in Christ as Savior.
“Of God” is the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the Father since the word is used in relation to the teknon, “children.”
The word functions as a, “genitive of possession” indicating that the Father “owns” the Christian in the sense that legally the Christian has been adopted Roman style into the family of God by the Father.
Therefore, 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 when the children of God are visibly manifested in resurrection bodies at the Second Advent of Christ.
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 Second Advent is the visible return of Christ to planet earth with the elect angels and the Church in order to save the nation of Israel from her enemies and establish His millennial reign.