Sons and heirs
Paul now turns to the real focus of attention, namely, the lot of believers.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Without going into any additional details, Paul asserts that the whole creation has been groaning in eager anticipation for things to be set right on judgment day. When he continues with “Not only so, . . .” he is using a shortened expression for the fuller statement: Not only does creation groan in this way, “but we ourselves . . . groan.” Paul has now come to the point that he wishes the Roman Christians to focus on, namely, patient endurance under suffering as they wait for God’s great day.
The first step in building up their fortitude for waiting patiently for their inheritance is to call attention to what they have already received. He does that by referring to them as people “who have the firstfruits of the Spirit.” In Old Testament times, God commanded his people to offer the first of the harvest to him (Exodus 23:19; Deuteronomy 26:1-11). For the believers to cheerfully offer the first of the crop to the Lord implied their trust and confidence that God would be giving them more later on. As such, the “firstfruits” came to be looked at as a pledge, a token, God’s down payment, assuring that God would give them the rest of the harvest also.
Paul uses that picture when he speaks of the Holy Spirit as being God’s firstfruit. God’s sending the Holy Spirit into their hearts is God’s down payment assuring them that he will also give them the rest of what he has promised.
What the Romans were eagerly waiting for, and what God had promised to give them, was their “adoption as sons.” This is the same term Paul used previously in verse 15, but with a different meaning. There it meant being taken into God’s family, becoming his sons and heirs. Here Paul is talking of the full realization of what God had promised in making them sons and heirs. Hence Paul defines what “adoption as sons” means here by adding “the redemption of our bodies.” That redemption will take place in the final resurrection when the believers are raised with glorified bodies to live with God forever. That glorious hope is to strengthen the Roman Christians, and us, who groan inwardly in eager anticipation of God’s great day.
The fact that Christians live in hope for a fulfillment of God’s promises that they don’t see yet during their lifetimes shouldn’t surprise us. Hope is, after all, an integral part of
God’s plan of salvation. Faith alone saves, but faith, which is essentially trust and confidence in God’s promises, also gives the Christian a basis for sure, confident hope.