Romans 8:18-25
(NRSV)
Future Glory
18 I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to
be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with
eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected
to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it,
in hope 21that the creation itself will
be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory
of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation
has been groaning in labour pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but
we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we
wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope
that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do
not see, we wait for it with patience.
Eugene Maly aids my
reflection to begin with ...
There is a link
between suffering and glory ‘... because sin introduced a distortion,
alienation and corruption into the world’ which cannot be removed without the
pain of a ‘... correcting reversal of the world’s direction ...’ Paul is
addressing this need, but wants to begin on a positive note so he stresses the
coming glory that is going to be wonderful. And all created life has this urge to yearn for this future glory. The
created world is at one with humanity, both in the effects of sin and the hope
of glory.
Genesis speaks of
the dominion humans have over creation, and it is because of human sin that
suffering is part of our experience of the whole of creation. This point is
positive made when God speaks to Noah in the Covenant after the flood making
the promise to him, his descendents and all living creatures. Isaiah (11:6-9;
66:2) and Amos (9:13) speak of a renewed animal kingdom as well as a renewed
earth and heavens at the end of time. But before this happens, the whole of
creation experiences pain – the pains of childbirth (Isaiah 26:17).
Humans have a
foretaste of this future glory because we experience the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit. For us the then is part of our now
because the Spirit is already with us, making us the children of God. But we
still await that perfect state of adoption manifested in the resurrected and
transfigured body (verse 23). So there is a realised state (verse 14 – For all who are led by the Spirit are
the children of God) and an eschatological
hope (verse 23). Our hope is in something more (verse 24) something not yet
possessed, but we have experience enough to always have hope.
Not the easiest
passage, but a true and wonderful blessing to know and to rejoice in the fact
that the joy and peace and confidence we experience now is nothing compared to
what waits in store for us.
William Barclay now aids my reflection ...
Paul speaks of the glory of adoption into the family of God,
but then needs to return to the troubled state of this world – which he does in
this passage. Here he draws a verbal picture and ‘... speaks with a poet’s
vision ...’
The world of creation - everything – is awaiting the glory
of God. At the present time, creation is in bondage to decay. The beauty of
this world fades and its loveliness decays – we live in a dying world, but it
is also a world that will be liberated. The Jewish thought of the day divided
time into this present age and the age to come, and it is in the latter when
glory would be disclosed. This present age is wholly bad and subject to sin,
death and decay. At some stage in the future will come the Day of the Lord which would include a day of judgement when the
world would be shaken to its foundations and shattered. This idea of a renovation
of the world was central to Jewish thinking and is expressed in Isaiah 65:17.
In the times of Jewish oppression (and sadly there have been too many), they
have dreamed of this new world.
Paul picks up this theme and ‘... endows creation with
consciousness ...’ Nature longs for the day when sin’s dominion will be broken,
death and decay will be gone and God’s glory will come. The plight of nature is
particularly sad, because it had no choice – it is human sin that is the
problem as expressed in Genesis 3:17 – “... cursed be the ground because of you
...”
Barclay concludes: “With the poets eye Paul sees nature
waiting for liberation from what man’s sin has brought into the world ...”
In the experience of the Holy Spirit, people have a
foretaste – a first instalment as it were – of the glory of God that shall be.
This experience makes us long for the fulfilment of what adoption into the
family of God really means. The final completion of this experience will come
with the resurrection of our bodies. We are not disembodied spirits as the
Greeks thought, we are both bodies and spirits, and this is how our salvation
will be completed; only we will be given new bodies, ones that will not be
subject to decay. Our new bodies will be spiritual, but they will still be
bodies. I love the way Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians: just as a seed is
planted and grows into a flower, so our earthly bodies will be ‘planted’ and a
new body will emerge, one with the earthly body – just different and eternal.
So, our human situation is not hopeless: Paul was an
optimist. He saw sin, the state of the world, and the human condition
realistically, but he also knew of God’s grace and it is this that filled him
with hope – ‘... life was an eager anticipation of a liberation, a renovation
and a re-creation wrought by the glory and power of God ...’
There is eager expectation – this life ought to be (in
Barclay’s words) ‘... a throbbing, vivid expectation ...’ like a person leaning
forward looking to the horizon in expectation.
But the reality is that life can also be a struggle. But: we
don’t only live in the world, we also live in Christ. We do not only see the
world, we also look beyond the world to God. We do not only see the
consequences of human sin, we also see the power of God’s mercy and grace and
love. Because of this, the keynote of the Christian life is always hope and
never despair – ‘... the Christian waits not for death, but for life ...’
Carl Barth in his majestic and detailed commentary offers
some thoughts.
‘... there is no overlooking or toning down of human
suffering ...’ He adds:
“... no careless attitude to present
tribulation can stand even before the aching tooth, and still less before the
brutal realities of birth, sickness, and death, before the iron reality which
governs the broad motives of the lives of men and the stern destiny of nations
...”
This is a difficult issue and any attempt at answering it
with simple pious platitudes are but ‘... deceitful short circuits ...’ This
also often leads to the creation of God in our own image – and this is the sort
of God that is subject to criticism and eventually our denial.
If we hope to find consolation, we must first recognise that
we have no consolation and our comfort is in vain – if we seek it rationally
and using merely our human intellect. The only consolation that is real is that
which comes from the Holy Spirit. We need to try to see as God sees or else our
experience will be that of Job before his enlightenment, and not Paul’s.
To overlook suffering is to overlook Christ. In fact we know
that we are saved because we share in the suffering of Christ. At Judgement we
are going to be asked: Where is your Cross? Where is your crown of thorns?
Where are the nails?
Our faith is a demanding faith and an expensive faith – it
cost the life of the Son of God – and as we as the Church are the Body of
Christ in the world today, the price continues to be paid.
We need to beware against dumbing things down and trying to
make the Gospel accessible by any means if this means cheapening it.
Especially in the midst of all the troubles of these days,
we cannot afford simple answers to complex questions; we need to give glory to
the sufferings of our Lord and then we – with Paul – will be able to say:
18 I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with
the glory about to be revealed to us.
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