Rom 8:18-25 | TNotes

Summary for Rom 8:19-21: 8:19-21 ^a All creation includes animals, plants, and the earth itself. Paul follows Old Testament precedent (see especially Ps 65:12-13 ^b; Isa 24:4 ^c; Jer 4:28 ^d; 12:4 ^e) by personifying the created world.

• waiting eagerly ... looks forward: Just as the entire world was harmed by Adam’s fall into sin, it will share in the blessings that God has promised his people (e.g., Isa 4:2 ^f, Rev 21:1-2 ^g).
8:22 ^h The pains of childbirth is a metaphor for the longing of creation (see also Matt 24:8 ⁱ; Mark 13:8 ^j; John 16:20-22 ^k).
8:23 ^l we believers also groan: “Groaning” expresses a frustrated longing for God’s deliverance from the difficulties and oppression of this life (see Exod 3:7 ^m; Lam 1:22 ⁿ; Ezek 24:17 ^o; 2 Cor 5:2 ^p).

• we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory (literally we have the first harvest of the Spirit): In the Old Testament, the phrase first harvest or firstfruits often describes the offering of the first and best part of a harvest to God (see Exod 23:19 ^q; Lev 2:12 ^r; 23:10 ^s; cp. 1 Cor 15:20 ^t, 23 ^u). The Holy Spirit is God’s pledge that he will see his work in us through to its conclusion (see Eph 1:14 ^v).

• Although we have already been adopted by God as his children, the full rights of that adoption—our inheritance (see Rom 8:17 ^w)—are not yet ours. In this life, Christians live in tension between the “already” of redemption and the “not yet” of the glory to be revealed.