Bible Verse Lookup
Romans 8:18-23
Chapter 8
Hope of Glory
I believe that the suffering of our current life cannot be compared to the glory that will be revealed and given to us.
All creation eagerly awaits the glorious birth of God’s children.
For if the created world was unable to achieve its purpose, that does not come from itself but from the one who subjected it. However, there is still hope;
for even the created world will be freed from this fate of death and share in the freedom and glory of God’s children.
We understand that all of creation groans and experiences the pains of childbirth.
Not creation alone, but even ourselves; although the Spirit was given to us as a foretaste of what we are to receive, we groan in our innermost being, eagerly awaiting the day when God will give us full rights and rescue our bodies as well.
Commentaries
Hope of Glory.
Paul begins by speaking of the glory of those who suffer with Christ, which will be revealed in us (18). He then places all “humanity” and all ‘creation’ within this “horizon of hope,” since both translations of the Greek term used are possible and even complementary. This grand vision of the Apostle will likely resonate more with our generation than with those before. The Apostle considers humanity and creation on the journey to salvation—already achieved in Christ, but not yet complete—with an expectant gaze toward that future of liberation that is already present in hope: “the whole of humanity is groaning in the pains of childbirth” (22).