Hi SimonPeter Masya. The apostle deals with a number of subjects in this chapter, beginning with how the Christian is to live in this world, i.e. not giving in to fleshly desires but living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then in verse 17, Paul moves from our special position as the "heirs of God & joint-heirs of Christ", into the area of Suffering. As Jesus said in John 16:33, we will have tribulation (sufferings) & persecutions ( John 15:20) in the world, the apostle now gives another dimension of these truths. He says that as Christ suffered & was glorified, so the promise is to us also ( Romans 8:17). In fact, our sufferings are temporal compared to the (eternal) glory which will be revealed in us. So, this matter of suffering doesn't come to Christians only, but all of creation is affected. All of God's creation of living things & the inanimate (of weather, earth's natural materiel, rocks & mountains, oceans, etc.), also suffer because of the corrupting effects of sin & the presence of Satan & his works that go on ceaselessly.
Therefore, all creation waits for the "deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God; groaning in pain" ( Romans 8:21,22). And not only those, but also believers are waiting for "the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body" ( Romans 8:23). As humans, we have never known what this world & life itself would be, a world without sin & its corrupting work - we only know that there are good times & bad times, of pain & sorrow & also joy, of life & of death - & we think this as a normal existence. But when we're taken away (our completed redemption), all the limitations & sufferings of life will be gone & our existence will be in a perfect state. We have a taste of that now with the Holy Spirit in the believer helping us to live beyond the tragedies in the world, but the day will come when all will be perfect, sin no longer having its grip. This was Paul's message of hope for every child of God.
Christians are given a new spirit and nature when they are saved and that nature is a union of our spirit with the Spirit of God. But we also remain in earthly bodies that struggle with sin and sorrows, causing us to yearn for the day we will be delivered from our earthly bodies and given new sinless bodies to dwell in sinless heaven with God.
Then in verse 17, Paul moves from our special position as the "heirs of God & joint-heirs of Christ", into the area of Suffering. As Jesus said in John 16:33, we will have tribulation (sufferings) & persecutions ( John 15:20) in the world, the apostle now gives another dimension of these truths. He says that as Christ suffered & was glorified, so the promise is to us also ( Romans 8:17). In fact, our sufferings are temporal compared to the (eternal) glory which will be revealed in us. So, this matter of suffering doesn't come to Christians only, but all of creation is affected. All of God's creation of living things & the inanimate (of weather, earth's natural materiel, rocks & mountains, oceans, etc.), also suffer because of the corrupting effects of sin & the presence of Satan & his works that go on ceaselessly.
Therefore, all creation waits for the "deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God; groaning in pain" ( Romans 8:21,22). And not only those, but also believers are waiting for "the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body" ( Romans 8:23). As humans, we have never known what this world & life itself would be, a world without sin & its corrupting work - we only know that there are good times & bad times, of pain & sorrow & also joy, of life & of death - & we think this as a normal existence. But when we're taken away (our completed redemption), all the limitations & sufferings of life will be gone & our existence will be in a perfect state. We have a taste of that now with the Holy Spirit in the believer helping us to live beyond the tragedies in the world, but the day will come when all will be perfect, sin no longer having its grip. This was Paul's message of hope for every child of God.
Christians are given a new spirit and nature when they are saved and that nature is a union of our spirit with the Spirit of God. But we also remain in earthly bodies that struggle with sin and sorrows, causing us to yearn for the day we will be delivered from our earthly bodies and given new sinless bodies to dwell in sinless heaven with God.
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Posting comments is currently unavailable due to high demand on the server.
Please check back in an hour or more. Thank you for your patience!
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?