Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 3 Study # 3
October 30, 2007
Lincolnton, N.C.
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1769 Translation:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
1901 ASV Translation:
17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
24 For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth?
25 But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
- I. The "Sufferings".
- A. The verb: composite of a preposition and a verb; used only twice in the New Testament.
- 1. Here in Romans, the idea of "suffering together" is with Christ in all of the negative things He endured.
- 2. In 1 Corinthians 12:26 Paul says of the physical body, "...whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it...". This is relative, but it has to do with the focus of the mind upon the point of pain.
- B. The noun: the word refers to experiences that are not desired. It is used in settings where the point of the "suffering" is to create a sufficient motivation to act in order to get rid of the "pain". The most dangerous issue for anyone, but especially believers, is to be so committed to "relief" that one will do "anything" to get it.
- C. In this context, Paul is dealing with those "pains" that are designed to destroy our commitment to the will of God in favor of simple relief. This is a sabotage of our inheritance. Its essence is a lack of love and it is this fact that destroys our ability to inherit well in a Kingdom where Love is the dominant reality.
- II. The Comparison of "Sufferings" to "Glory".
- A. Paul says the "sufferings" are not "worthy" towards the "about to be revealed" glory. The awkwardness in English led the translators to add "to be compared".
- B. Paul's intention is to establish the fact that pressure to abstain from the will of God should never be given any significant place in our considerations because the will of God leads to incomparable glory and abstaining from it leads to an equally incomparable loss.
- 1. The "glory" is identified by Paul's used of "glorified together with" in 8:17 and the "glory to be revealed" in 8:18. In other words, the "glory" is the reception of the privileges that are attached to the positions of the Father's Kingdom. The "glory" of the Son is His high exaltation with a name above every name, and the "glory" of the "fellow-sufferers" is, likewise, being given a new name (Revelation 2:17) and the attendant experiences that go along with the status of that identity.
- a. In 1 Corinthians 15:43 Paul declares that the body of the believer will be "raised in glory". Jesus was also "raised in glory".
- b. In Romans 5:2 he said that we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God".
- c. In Romans 8:21 he wrote of the contrast between the "bondage of corruption" and the "liberty of the glory".
- d. In Romans 9:23 he said of God that He "might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory".
- 2. There has to be, in the heart of those who will inherit well in His Kingdom, a desire to not be a disappointment to Him that will lead Him to restrict the extent to which a person will experience His Life. Otherwise, there will be a wholesale submission to "pleasure" rather than "suffering".
- III. The Greatest Difficulty.
- A. It is all well and good to speak and write of "expecting" the promise of eternal life to be fulfilled to us; it is altogether another thing to actually "expect".
- B. Likewise, it is one thing to "expect" what Jesus earned, but it is altogether another thing to "expect" what the Holy Spirit has produced in us. We tend to have an easier time of it in thinking that God will fulfill His promise of Life to us on the basis of Jesus' work -- because it is, in fact, the work of Jesus and not ours -- but, when it comes to actually believing that the Spirit has done anything through us that is worthy of glory is not so easy -- because there is such a fine line between the "pride" that attributes human works to the Spirit and the "despair" that cannot see any good by the Spirit in our lives.