Romans 8.23-The Christian Groans Waiting Eagerly The Redemption Of His Body At The Resurrection Of The Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday December 10, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:23-The Christian Groans Waiting Eagerly The Redemption Of His Body At The Resurrection Of The Church
Lesson # 269
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.
This evening we will study Romans 8:23 and in this passage, Paul teaches that the Christian, who has the first fruits of the Spirit, groans within himself, waiting eagerly his adoption as a son, the redemption of his body at the resurrection of the church.
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.”
Romans 8:23, “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.”
“And” is the “adjunctive” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which not only connects Paul’s previous thought in Romans 8:22 with the one to follow in this verse but it also introduces Paul and his fellow Christians in Rome who groan “in addition to” the individual parts of creation.
“Not only…but also” form a correlative clause meaning that they emphatically state that “not only” does creation groan “but also,” Paul and the Christians in Rome, who possess the Spirit, also groan with themselves, waiting eagerly their adoption as sons, the redemption of their bodies at the resurrection of the church.
“We having” is the verb echo (e&xw) (ekh-o), which refers to Paul and his fellow Christians in Rome possessing the Spirit.
The participle form of the verb echo functions as a “participle of cause” indicating that “because” Paul and his fellow Christians possess the first fruits of the Spirit, they groan within themselves, waiting eagerly their adoption as sons, the redemption of their bodies at the rapture of the church.
“We ourselves” is the intensive personal pronoun autos (au)tov$) (ow-tos), which emphasizes that the Christian possesses the first fruits of the Spirit in contrast to unregenerate humanity who do not.
“The first fruits” is the noun aparche (a)parxhv) (ap-ar-khay), which means that the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence in the Christian is a guarantee that he will receive a resurrection body and will be permanently delivered from the old Adamic sin nature.
This word indicates that the Spirit gives the Christian a taste of what heaven will be like and promotes an eagerness in the Christian to be perfected in a resurrection body so that he might experience perpetual fellowship with God minus a sin nature.
The presence of the Spirit in believers is thus the actual beginning of their future with God.
Christians have experienced redemption through faith in Christ (See Romans 3:24) as well adoption (See Romans 8:15).
However, they still await the completion and perfection of their salvation, which will take place in a resurrection body (See Romans 8:11).
The noun aparche, “firstfruits” implies that the Christian has not yet received his eternal inheritance in full, as a son and heir of God.
However, the word does denote that the Christian has already received a significant portion of it in terms of the gift of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, along with all He has already accomplished for us in regeneration and sanctification.
The word denotes that the indwelling presence of the Spirit is the “guarantee” of the Christian’s inheritance.
Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation -- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.”
“Pledge” is the noun arrhabon, “guarantee” and is used figuratively by Paul in Ephesians 1:14 and 2 Corinthians 1:22 of God the Holy Spirit who has been given to the believer at salvation by the Father as a guarantee of their full future possession of eternal salvation.
The permanent indwelling presence of the Spirit “guarantees” the believer that he will receive a resurrection body in the future.
Romans 8:23, “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.”
“We groan” is the verb stenazo (stenavzw) (sten-ad-zo), which is used by Paul in Romans 8:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:2 and 4 for the “groaning” of the Christian who desires to be perfected in a resurrection body.
In these verses it speaks of a deep anguish as a result of the soul of the Christian battling continuously on a day by day basis his old Adamic sin nature, which resides in the genetic structure of his physical body and wages war against his soul (See 1 Peter 2:11).
In Romans 8:23, the verb stenazo denotes the frustration and anguish that the Christian experiences as a result of battling on a day by day basis his old Adamic sin nature, which wages war against his soul.
Stenazo recalls Romans 7:7-25 where Paul conveyed his own personal experience of failing to overcome the sin nature without the enabling power of the Spirit.
In Romans 8:23, the verb stenazo also denotes the Christian’s desire to be permanently rid of the sin nature and to be experiencing his resurrection body, which is minus the sin nature of course.
It indicates that because the Christian possesses the Holy Spirit indwelling his soul, giving the Christian a taste of things to come in the resurrection body and of heaven, the Christian experiences intense anguish and frustration, waiting eagerly his adoption as a son, the redemption of his body at the resurrection of the church.
At this time, the Christian will be permanently delivered from his old Adamic sin nature and will experience perpetual fellowship with the Lord as a result.
The Christian also groans because the Spirit makes him aware of who he is in Christ and yet the Christian realizes he cannot achieve the perfection of Christ due to the presence of his sin nature until he receives his resurrection body at the rapture of the church.
Therefore, the Spirit puts in the Christian the desire to put off his present body contaminated by the sin nature and to put on the resurrection body.
The Spirit puts in the Christian the desire to achieve perfection.
However, in this life the Christian cannot achieve this but will at the resurrection.
Romans 8:23, “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.”
“Within ourselves” emphasizes that this groaning is inward and not outward and takes place in the soul of the Christian.
“Waiting eagerly for” is the verb apekdechomai (a)pekdevxomiai) (ap-ek-dekh-oh-my), which is used of the Christian who is burdened by his indwelling Adamic sin nature and yet is indwelt by the Spirit and is “eagerly waiting” the moment when he receives his resurrection body.
The Christian “eagerly waits” when he will receive his resurrection body because the Spirit has given him a taste of heaven and freedom from sin.
When the Christian receives his resurrection body, he will be permanently delivered from the sin nature and will experience fellowship with God perpetually.
Therefore, the Christian is “eagerly waiting” for the redemption of his body.
The participle form of the verb apekdechomai functions as a “result” participle, which indicates that because the Christian possesses the Spirit, he or she always groans “with the result” that they are always eagerly waiting for the moment when they receive their resurrection body.
“Adoption as sons” is the noun huiothesia (ui(oqesiva) (hwee-oth-es-ee-ah), which refers to the Christian’s Roman style adoption into the royal family of God.
The noun huiothesia emphasizes that the believer receives the “position” of being a son of God, the moment he was declared justified through faith alone in Christ alone (Gal. 3:26-28; 4:6; 1 Jn. 3:1-2).
The Spirit makes this adoption real to the Christian’s experience (Gal. 4:6).
The indwelling of the Spirit gives the guarantee of the believer’s adoption (Gal. 4:6).
The filling of the Spirit enables the believer to experience his adoption.
The full manifestation of this adoption takes place at the rapture of the church (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Jn. 3:2).
Romans 8:23, “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.”
“The redemption” is the noun apolutrosis (a)poluvtrwsi$) (ap-ol-oo-tro-sis), which is used in an “eschatological” sense referring to the moment when the Christian will receive his resurrection body and will be permanently delivered from the sin nature.
Redemption of the soul in salvation leads to redemption of the body in resurrection (Eph. 1:14).
Ephesians 1:14, “Who (the Holy Spirit) is the guarantee of our inheritance until the deliverance of the purchase possession (church) for the praise of His glory.”
Redemption of the body is the ultimate status of the royal family of God forever (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30).
In Romans 8:23, Paul is teaching that because he and his fellow Christian readers in Rome possess the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, they always groan within themselves.
Consequently, they are always eagerly waiting for the final manifestation of their adoption as sons of God when they will receive their resurrection bodies at the rapture of the church.