ROMANS 8,18-30
although 8:19-22 is not set out in the structure or rhythm of poetry, the passage
reflects many features of biblical poetry and prophecy. Thus, as Cranfield has
observed:
This sub-section will hardly be properly understood, unless the poetic
quality displayed in it, particularly in vv. 19-22, is duly recognized. What is
involved in these verses is not what belongs to the outward form of poetry,
such things as artistic arrangement and rhythm, but rather those things
which belong to its inner essence, imaginative power ( to be seen, for in­
stance, in the use of images), feeling for the richly evocative word, a deep
sensitivity, catholicity of sympathy, and a true generosity of vision and
conception. 40
Understanding� n[cnc; ("the creation") in 8:19-21 to refer to what we
would today call "nature" - that is, God's subhuman creation, both animate
and inanimate - we can best understand Paul here in 8:19 as affirming that
"the world of nature," both animate and inanimate, waits in eager expectation
(� /urnKapaooK[a) for the children of God to be revealed. Although the verb
itrroKapaooKEW appears in classical Greek writings of the fifth and sixth cen­
turies B.c., as well as in various koine Greek writings of the second century
B.c.,41 the noun Cl.rroKapa8oK[a has not been found in any extant Greek texts
prior to Paul. 42
Paul, however, uses the noun Cl:rcoKapaBoK(a twice in his letters: here in
Rom 8:19 ("the creation waits in eager expectation") and again in Phil 1:20 ("It is
my eager expectation and hope that I will in no way be put to shame"). Both uses
are associated with e7rn[c; ("hope"), which suggests that in his mind the noun
6.rrnKapa8oK(a includes the nuance of confident expectation.
By placing the dative articular noun -rft µa-rm6n1n ("to its present frus­
tration") at the beginning of the compound sentence of 8:20-21, Paul signals
that his attention in these verses is on nature's present bondage to frustration
and decay- that is, how it all came about and when God's subhuman creation,
both animate and inanimate, will be set free. Likewise, his use of the third­
person singular aorist passive verb urre-r6:y� ("it was subjected") highlights the
facts (1) that a particular past event is in mind (so the aorist tense) and (2) that
someone beyond the realm of creation itself was the originator of nature's pres­
ent condition (so the passive voice). And while not stated explicitly, there can
be little doubt that the event in mind is the judgment related in Gen 3:17-19,
which includes the statement of v. 17: "Cursed is the ground." Nor can there be
any doubt that it was God himself who brought about the present condition of
40. Cranfield, Romans, 1.404-5; cf. also C.H. Dodd, Romans, 133.
41. Cf. LSJM, 877-
42. Cf. M-M, 63, col. 2. In noting that Clrc0Kapa601da is "peculiar to Paul," J. H. Moulton and
G. Milligan went on to suggest that the noun form of the verb "may possibly have been his [Paul's]
own formation."
ROMANS 8:22-25
his own subhuman creation, doing so, as Gen 3:17 also emphasizes, "because of
you" - that is, because of humanity's sin.
Charles Talbert has aptly expressed Paul's understanding in his com­
ment: "Paul could no more think of persons apart from their e·nvironment
than he could of them apart from their bodies."43 So in 8:19-21 the apostle
speaks about both the sufferings of God's people and the present frustrations
of God's subhuman creation, supporting the sufferings of God's people by
calling attention to the frustrations of God's subhuman creation. More im­
portantly, however, he is convinced of a promised future glory for both God's
people and God's subhuman creation - not only from his knowledge of the
Jewish (OT) Scriptures44 and various noncanonical Jewish writings of his
day, 45 but preeminently from the proclamation of the Christian gospel. 46 Thus
here in 8:2ob-21, as based primarily on the good news of the Christian gospel,
Paul extends that promised hope for God's people (as he set it out earlier in
1 Cor 15:35-57) to include all of God's creation - apart, of course, from the
fallen angels and from people who have rejected Christ and so have refused
God's salvation.
John Chrysostom, commenting on Rom 8:20, was thoroughly in line with
Paul's teaching regarding "the present sufferings" vis-a-vis "the future glory"
- not only for believers in Jesus, but also for the whole subhuman creation -
when he said:
Paul means by this that the creation became corruptible. Why and for what
reason? Because of you, 0 man! For because you have a body which has
become mortal and subject to suffering, the earth too has received a curse
and has brought forth thorns and thistles [i.e., as stated in Gen 3:18]. ... The
creation suffered badly because of you, and it became corruptible, but it has
not been irreparably damaged. For it will become incorruptible once again
for your sake. This is the meaning of "in hope."47
II. The Hope God Gives to Believers in Jesus and to
"the Whole Creation" (8:22-25)
In 8:22-25 Paul elucidates more fully this theme of "hope" - speaking of it with
regard to both (1) people who have come to God through the work ofJesus
Christ and the ministry of the Spirit, and so have been given by God "the first­
fruits of the Spirit," and (2) God's subhuman creation.
43. Talbert, Romans, 214.
44. Cf. esp. Isan:6-9; 65:17, 25; 66:22.
45- Cf. esp.Jub 1:29; 1 En 24:1-25:7; 91:16-17; Sib Or3:744-52, 788-95.
46. Cf. such later NT statements as 2 Pet 3:13; Rev. 21:1-5 (though articulated most clearly
by Paul himself in 1 Cor 15:35-57 and here in Rom 8:19-21).
47. Chrysostom, "Homilies," in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 11.444.