Romans 8:18–21

Sons and heirs

Our inheritance is a sure thing—as is the certainty that we also will have to suffer if we follow the Spirit’s lead in a sinful and perverse world. And yet, the inevitability of suffering is not a cause for concern. The sufferings of this present life are no match for the glorious future that awaits all believers in Christ.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

The glory awaiting us in heaven is something that “will be revealed in us.” As such, it lies off in the future. It is, to a great extent, an unknown quantity to Paul and us. We can’t know or comprehend it fully. And it can’t be adequately described for us, because we have no experience with anything like it. Paul doesn’t attempt to describe it here either. Rather, he gives us a feel for the greatness and glory of heaven by showing the keen anticipation and eager expectation it causes not only in the children of God but in all creation, animate and inanimate alike. He says, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.”

There are a number of difficulties that confront the interpreter here. We have already noted above that we are dealing with prophecy here. Paul is speaking of things coming in the future. The broad outline is clear, but the details are still lacking.

A second factor is that Paul here is using a figure of speech called personification. He ascribes personal qualities and characteristics, such as thinking and feeling, to things other than people. Creation “waits in eager expectation” (verse 19); creation “has been groaning” (8:22). How creation does this and how Paul knows about it are not revealed

to us. A mitigating factor in all this is that we really don’t need to have answers to these questions. Nor is Paul’s main purpose here to give us a detailed description of creation’s “attitude” during its career in a sin-stained world. The apostle’s emphasis becomes clear in verse 23, where the believer’s anticipation of glory becomes the real focus of attention for this section.

Paul tells us that creation is waiting “for the sons of God to be revealed.” In the everyday world, it is impossible to tell with certainty who is a child of God. True, open idolatry and rank godlessness may make it fairly clear that some are not on the road to salvation. But there are many honorable and upstanding people of whom no such determination can be made. Who is and who is not among the “sons of God” will become public knowledge only on judgment day. Then Jesus will formally separate the sheep from the goats.

Paul says creation is eagerly awaiting judgment day, when the believers will be identified, because that day correlates closely with its own release from “frustration.” The apostle writes, “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

Creation is described as being frustrated because its original goodness and bounty became diminished by man’s fall into sin. Ever since that time, there has been a constant deterioration. Creation is in “bondage to decay.” A further frustration is that creation really didn’t have this coming, as we might say. The downturn didn’t happen to creation “by its own choice,” or as it might also be translated, “because of its own willfulness.” No, it was God’s will to curse the earth and have it produce thorns and thistles. In this way it became hard to work and as such served as a constant reminder to Adam and his descendants of the seriousness of their sin (see Genesis 3:17-19).

But now Paul gives us a little glimpse into what the future holds for creation. He says it was subjected to its present state of frustration “in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

Scripture speaks clearly about a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-4). It does not, however, settle for us with certainty whether the new heaven and new earth will be made of new material or whether the existing world will be recycled and restored. Paul’s way of speaking here inclines one toward thinking in terms of restoration. Passages such as 2 Peter 3:10-13 allow more room for the thought of the present world being destroyed and replaced with another. The point is interesting but not essential for us to know. Nor is it Paul’s main emphasis here, as we see when he now turns to the real focus of attention, namely, the lot of believers.