READ: Rom. 8:22–23: … even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body …
The groaning is a yearning desire for the coming glory of the new heaven and the new earth. We read this of the fallen creation, which still lies under the curse but will then reach its goal. Man’s sin is the cause of that curse.
Paul uses the image of a woman in labor. Before the child is born there are contractions, painful cramps, endured with groaning. That groaning means pain and suffering, but also hope—hope of deliverance, as Scripture teaches us (v.22).
At present creation suffers under the curse brought on by humanity’s sins—decay and futility. But at the Second Coming a state of perfect peace will come (Isaiah 11:6–9).
Paul then strongly emphasizes that not only creation but also we ourselves groan within ourselves. Already we have the firstfruits of the Spirit: gifts of grace and powers that make us into new people. But these are still only firstfruits, like the very first part of the harvest, while the full harvest is still to come.
Through the Spirit we already share in salvation, in deliverance—we are already a new person. So there is already a beginning, a “now.” But what is coming will be much greater—that is the “not yet.” That is what we long for. Yet in that longing there remains the pain of the misery in which we now live. Thus our groaning is because of both the suffering now and the glory to come: suffering and hope.
There is a beginning—we know we are redeemed—but soon there will be the new heaven and the new earth where righteousness dwells, where there is no sin, no sickness, and no other misery.
Paul writes that our expectation is that we will be adopted as children.
But aren’t we that already? Yes, but the full fulfillment—the public position and full glory that belong to that sonship—will only become reality on the last day.
Do you know something of that groaning Paul writes about?
Sing: Hymn 36:3 (1984) / 47:3 (2014)