In the passage of Romans that begins with verse 22 and (in the following paragraph) ends with verse 27, we find a word that is repeated three times and yet is found nowhere else in this letter. It is the Greek word that is translated “groan” (v. 23), “groans” (v. 26), and “groaning” (v. 22). The interesting thing is that it is applied to three different entities in these verses: to creation, to ourselves, and to the Holy Spirit. Two of these references are hard to understand. Since Paul is thinking of the inanimate creation in verse 22, it’s hard to imagine how mere matter or even plants or animals can be conceived of as groaning. It is also difficult to envision the Holy Spirit’s groans, though for different reasons. The one part of these verses that is not difficult to understand is our groaning, since groaning is a part of daily life with which almost anyone can easily identify. Still we need to see two things about this human groaning if we are to understand the verses to which we now come.

First, the groaning mentioned in verse 23 is that of believers in Jesus Christ and not that of all people generally. It means Christians grieve over the presence of sin in their lives, which unbelievers do not. In fact Christians grieve for sin increasingly as they grow in Christ. Christians also groan as the result of persecutions for the sake of their life and witness, and this is also different from what non-Christians experience. Second, the groaning of Christians is not mere grief over the things mentioned. It is expectant grief, that is, grief that looks forward to a time when all that is causing pain will be removed and salvation will be consummated. Christian groaning is a joyful grief that gives birth to a sure hope and patient endurance.

The passage itself shows this, since hope and patience are the notes on which the verses end. Paul uses the powerful image of childbirth that shows how the groans of Christians are to be interpreted (vv. 22 and 23). This is an important analogy, because it points beyond the cause of grief to its joyful consummation. The pains of childbirth are real pains, severe ones. But they are not endless; they last only for a time. Nor are they hopeless. On the contrary, they are filled with joyful expectation, since under normal circumstances they climax in the birth of a child. Paul is saying that our griefs as Christians are like that. We groan, but we do so in expectation of a safe delivery.

These verses also do something else that is important. They give substance to the Christian hope. That is, they begin to flesh out the main features of the consummation for which we are waiting. In verse 23 this is done by means of three word pictures or images: (1) “the firstfruits of the Spirit,” (2) “our adoption as sons,” and (3) “the redemption of our bodies. “ We will study them in reverse order.

What does Paul mean by the redemption of our bodies? Paul means the resurrection, the chief element in the hope of Christians. This is an important idea to bring in at this point for at least two reasons. First, Paul has been talking about our sufferings, and it is chiefly in our bodies that we experience them. Second, we are our bodies, as well as our spirits and souls. Therefore, salvation must include our bodies if it is to be complete. It is no wonder that we groan in these bodies. They are the seat of physical weakness, on the one hand, and of our sinful natures, on the other. But we groan in hope, knowing that these weak and sinful bodies are going to be transformed into bodies that are strong, sinless, and glorious, like the resurrection body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second image that Paul offers of our sure hope of future glory is “adoption,” speaking of “our adoption as sons.” This is the same word that we have already seen in verse 15, where it was translated “sonship.” But that creates a problem. In verse 15 our adoption was treated as something that has already taken place. But in verse 23 adoption is treated as something still in the future, something for which “we wait eagerly.” How can adoption be both past and future at the same time? The answer, of course, is that the word is used in two senses. In one sense we have already received our adoption, since we have been brought into God’s family. Nothing is ever going to change that family relationship. Yet in a second sense we still wait for our adoption, because we do not yet enjoy all its privileges. You will recall that earlier Paul had spoken of our being “heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings” (v. 17). We are sharing in the sufferings now, but the day is coming when we shall enter into the full rights of our inheritance in glory.

The third picture of the consummation to which believers in Christ are moving is a harvest, suggested by the words “firstfruits of the Spirit.” This does not refer to the fruit of the Spirit, as Paul does in Galatians 5:22-23. It refers to the Holy Spirit Himself as the “firstfruits,” which is a harvest image drawn from Jewish life described in Leviticus 23:9-14. In this Old Testament ceremony the firstfruits were something the devout Jewish worshiper gave to God. But in the New Testament Paul usually reverses this and speaks of the firstfruits as what God gives us as an earnest or down payment on the full blessing to come. The full blessing is the harvest, a joyful time for which those who labor are willing to endure great hardship.

At the beginning of this study we discussed the word “groan”, pointing out that it is used of the creation, ourselves, and the Holy Spirit. But groaning is not the only thing Paul says we do. He also says that “we hope” (v, 25) and “we wait” (vv. 23, 25) adding in the later case that we do it both “eagerly” and patiently.”

1. We Hope. Hope is one of the very great words of the Christian vocabulary. It is one of the three great virtues listed in 1 Corinthians 13:13. Paul has already written about hope in Romans 5:3-5. What is striking about the Christian attitude of hopefulness is that it is a “sure and certain hope” and not mere wishful thinking. What makes it sure and certain is the content. The specific content is the return of Jesus Christ together with the things we have been mentioning in these verses: the resurrection of the body, the adoption of God’s children, and the gathering of God’s harvest. These things are all promised to us by God. Hence, the Christian hopes in confidence, a confidence grounded not in the strength of one’s emotional outlook but on the sure Word of God, who cannot lie. If God says that these things are coming, it is reasonable and safe for us to hope confidently in them.
2. We Wait. More specifically, we wait for them, which is the second verb Paul uses. Verse 23 says, “We wait eagerly.” Verse 25 says, “We wait…patiently.” It is important to take two adverbs together, because biblical “patience” is not passivity. This is an active, though patient waiting. It expresses itself in vigorous service for Christ even while we wait for His appearing. The word eagerly makes us think of the creation waiting “in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed,” which Paul introduced in verse 19, though the Greek words are not the same. In verse 19 Paul pictured creation standing on tiptoe, as it were, looking forward with outstretched neck in eager anticipation of the consummation. It is a grand picture, and it is what we are doing, too. It’s one mark of a true Christian.

Romans 8:22-25 Reflection Questions:

How are the hope and patient waiting in verses 18-25 connected to the mention of suffering in verse 18 and in the previous chapter?

How are the hope and patient waiting in verses 18-25 connected to the mention of suffering in verse 18?

What kind of service are you doing for Christ?

What are the implications for us now as individuals and as a society, knowing that creation itself looks forward to this transformation?