Romans 8.22-All The Individual Parts Of Creation Have Been Groaning And Suffering Pain Together Up To The Present Moment In History
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday December 4, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:22-All The Individual Parts Of Creation Have Been Groaning And Suffering Pain Together Up To The Present Moment
Lesson # 268
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.
This evening we will study Romans 8:22 and in this passage, Paul teaches that all of creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together up to the present moment in history.
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 8:3-4, “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.”
Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
“For” is the “emphatic” or “intensifying” use of the conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a statement that advances upon Paul’s statement in Romans 8:20-21 and intensifies it.
Romans 8:20-21, “Because, the creation was subjected to imperfection, by no means, voluntarily but rather because of the one who subjected it based upon a confident expectation, namely, that even, the creation itself would be set free from being a slave to mortality to the freedom brought about by manifesting God’s children.”
As we can see, this passage 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.
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.
Now, here in verse 22, Paul develops further these statements in verses 20-21 by advancing upon them and intensifying them by pointing out the present state of suffering that all of creation has been experiencing since the Fall of Adam up to the time he wrote this Roman epistle.
Therefore, in verse 22, Paul employs the conjunction gar in order to introduce a statement that intensifies and advances upon his statements in verses 20-21, which teaches that all of creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together up to the time Paul wrote this epistle.
This statement in verse 22 confirms his statements in verses 20-21 and in fact advances and intensifies them.
Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
“We know” is the verb oida (oi‚da) which denotes that Paul and his fellow Christians in Rome to whom he was writing this epistle were in full possession of the facts or “knew for certain, know without a doubt” that all of creation is in a troubled state.
This possession of the facts was acquired through the Old Testament Scriptures and in particular Genesis 3:17-19 and confirmed through the teaching of the apostles such as Paul.
Genesis 3:17-19, “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. 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.”
This knowledge from Genesis 3:17-19 was confirmed through the observation of creation in its present troubled state.
Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
“The whole creation” is composed of the adjective pas (pa$), “whole” and the noun ktisis (ktivsi$) (ktis-is), “the creation.”
The noun ktisis, “the creation” appeared in Romans 8:19, 20 and 21.
In these verses and now in verse 22, the word 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).
The adjective pas emphasizes the inclusion of all the individual parts of creation and refers back to back to the noun tsava (abx) that appears in Genesis 2:1.
Genesis 2:1, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.” (NASU)
“Hosts” is the noun tsava (abx) pronounced tsaw-vaw and refers to the systems and organizations, and orderly arrangement of all that God has created, produced, formed, built and restored during the six days that are recorded in Genesis 1:3-31.
“Organization” refers to the formation into a whole of interdependent and coordinated parts for harmonious and united action on behalf of God.
“System” refers to the assemblage of inanimate and animate objects forming a complex whole that is under the authority of God.
“And all their hosts”: 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 (7) Human beings.
Therefore, in Romans 8:22, the adjective pas is modifying the noun ktisis, “the creation” and emphasizes the inclusion of all the individual parts of creation referring to the totality of animate and inanimate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and on earth.
Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
“Groans” is the verb sustenazo (sustenavzw) (soos-ten-ad-zo), which means, “to groan together” and signifies that all the individual parts of creation groan together as a result of the Adamic curse.
It denotes that all of creation in its totality of animate and inanimate objects that are contained on earth groan together as a result of the Adamic curse.
The present tense is a “retroactive progressive” present tense used to describe an action that took place in the past and continues up to the present.
Therefore, it indicates that all the individual parts of creation have been groaning together “in the past” since the Lord placed them under a curse because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
It also indicates that this groaning among all the individual parts of creation was still taking place “up to the time that Paul wrote the Roman epistle.”
This interpretation of the present tense is confirmed by Paul’s use of a temporal indicator to show this past-referring element and which indicator is the prepositional phrase achri tou nun, “until now.”
Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
“Suffers” is the verb sunodino (sunwdivnw) (soon-o-dee-no), which is a compound word composed of the preposition sun, “with” and the verb odino, “to suffer,” thus the word literally means, “to suffer with.”
In Romans 8:22, the verb means, “to suffer great anguish or pain together.”
It denotes that all the individual parts of creation suffer great anguish together as a result of the Adamic curse.
It denotes that all of creation in its totality of animate and inanimate objects that are contained on earth suffer great anguish together as a result of the Adamic curse.
The present tense is a “retroactive progressive” present tense used to describe an action that took place in the past and continues up to the present.
Therefore, it indicates that all the individual parts of creation have been suffering great pain together “in the past” since the Lord placed them under a curse because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
It also indicates that this suffering of great pain among all the individual parts of creation was still taking place “up to the time that Paul wrote the Roman epistle.”
This interpretation of the present tense is confirmed by Paul’s use of a temporal indicator to show this past-referring element and which indicator is the prepositional phrase achri tou nun, “until now.”
Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
“Until now” is composed of the temporal conjunction achri (a&xri), “until” and the adverb of time nun (nun) (noon), “now.”
The temporal conjunction achri marks the end of a period that began when the Lord placed a curse upon all of creation because of Adam’s disobedience.
In Romans 8:22, the adverb of time nun denotes “the present” period of human history called by many theologians, “the church age,” or “dispensation of the church” or “age of grace.”
For creation, this age is characterized by pain and suffering just as it is the case for the Christian in contrast to the millennial age in which both creation and the Christian will be free from suffering.