8:22
“The whole of creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Creation is not the way it should be because of the fall. However, all is not lost. For creation is groaning with the pains of childbirth, i.e. the pain is real but there is the prospect of something wonderful. We do need to be aware of the wrong thinking of much environmentalism. We absolutely should take good care of the environment, but the environment was put there to provide for us.
8:23
Paul now moves the groaning onto our groaning. Just as the natural environment knows there is something not right, we too know that things are not the way they should be with ourselves. And not the way we would like them to be. This includes not being able to do and be all the good that we would like to do and be. We groan with expectation and hope, i.e. we look forward to the complete redemption of our bodies. Notice that it says we “have the first fruits of the Spirit” and talks about our “adoption as sons”. Are we not already adopted? Yes, for we can call God “Father”, and the Spirit tells us to do so. But there is much more to come. We have only a hint of what it will be like to be fully adopted and redeemed.
No comments:
Post a Comment