Romans 8:19

For the earnest expectation of the creature,.... Some by the creature understand the universe, all created beings animate and inanimate, which having suffered much by the sin of man, are introduced

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For ... 'The apostle (says Hodge), fired at the thought of the future glory of the saints.

The apostle Peter, speaking of the Epistles of our apostle, in , saith, that there are some things in them hard to be understood; and some think, by reflecting upon some particular passages in that chapter, he doth more especially respect this context; there is indeed a great deal of obscurity in it. The creature: this word is four times used in this and the three following verses, only in it is rendered creation; that is the subject of which all that followeth is predicated. One main question therefore is this: Of what creature the apostle here speaks? Divers answers are or may be given; I will fix upon two only. 1. By the creature, or the creation, , is meant all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, and especially the latter: see ; there Christ gives it in commission to preach the gospel to every creature; it is the same word. And in , they are commanded to submit themselves to every ordinance of man: in the original it is, to every human creature, the same word which is in the text before us: he means the Gentile or heathen magistrates in authority over them. In the Scripture the Gentiles are sometimes called the world, ,15, and sometimes the creature, or the creation. 2. By the creature is meant the whole world with all the creatures therein, or the whole frame and body of the creation. The creature in this sense, by a prosopopoeia, is here spoken of as a rational person; it is usual with the Spirit of God, in Scripture, to fasten upon unreasonable creatures such expressions as are proper only to those that are reasonable: see ,12 Heb 2:11 . So here the creature (in this sense) is said to expect, wait, &c. Waiteth; the expectation of the creature expecteth: a Hebrew pleonasm: it expecteth with the head lift up or stretched out, . The manifestation of the sons of God; i.e. the time when the sons of God shall be manifested. The Arabic interpreter puts the word glory into the text, and reads the word thus, The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the glory of the sons of God; their glory for the present is hidden, but it shall be discovered and manifested, . The creature, in the sense of the word as above, waiteth for this, because then it shall be restored to its primitive liberty and lustre, at that time there will be a restitution of all things, . But those who understand the creature in the first sense, do put a quite different interpretation upon this last clause; and that is, that the Gentile world are now earnestly expecting and waiting to see what the Jews will do, whether they will discover themselves to be the sons of God, or not, by their receiving or rejecting Christ.

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Ver. 19. For the earnest expectation] Gr. "The intent expectation of the creature expecteth:" a Hebrew pleonasm, and also a metaphor either from birds that thrust a long neck out of a cage, as labouring for liberty; or else from those that earnestly look and long for some special friends coming, as Sisera’ s mother, who looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, "Why is his chariot so long in coming?" Judges 5:28. Superfluity, redundancy, excess; something superfluous or redundant. ŒD

(19) Nor is ours a merely isolated hope; we have our place— “Mid onward sloping motions infinite, Making for one sure goal.” The whole creation is looking earnestly and intently for the same manifestation of glory as ourselves. Earnest expectation—A single word in the Greek, and a very striking one. It means, literally, a straining forward with outstretched head, just as we might imagine the crowds outside a race-course straining over the ropes to catch a sight of the runners; an eager, intent expectation. The same word is used once again in the New Testament (Philippians 1:20). Creature.—Creation, the whole world of nature, animate and inanimate. Waiteth for.—Another strong word, “waits with concentrated longing and expectancy.” Manifestation.—Translate rather by the ordinary word, revelation, as in the last verse (“glory which shall be revealed”). The Parusia, or Coming of Christ, is to be accompanied by an appearance of the redeemed in glorified form.

Verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creature] There is considerable difficulty in this and the four following verses: and the difficulty lies chiefly in the meaning of the word ἡκτισις, which we translate the creature, and creation. Some think that by it the brute creation is meant; others apply it to the Jewish people; others to the godly; others to the Gentiles; others to the good angels; and others to the fallen spirits, both angelic and human. Dissertations without end have been written on it; and it does not appear that the Christian world are come to any general agreement on the subject. Dr. Lightfoot's mode of explanation appears to me to be the best, on the whole. "There is," says he, "a twofold key hanging at this place, which may unlock the whole, and make the sense plain and easy. 1. The first is the phrase, πασαἡκτισις, which we render the whole creation, Romans 8:22, and with which we meet twice elsewhere in the New Testament. Mr 16:15: Preach the Gospel, πασῃτῃκτισει, to every creature; and Colossians 1:23: The Gospel was preached, ενπασῃτῃκτισει, to every creature. Now it is sufficiently apparent what is meant by πασακτισις in both these places, viz. all nations, or the heathen world. For that which in St. Mark is, preach the Gospel to every creature, is, in St. Matthew, go and teach, πανταταεθνη, all nations. And this very phrase in this place lays claim to that very interpretation. And the Hebrew כל הבריות col habberioth, which answers to the Greek πασαἡκτισις, every creature, is applied by the Jews to the Gentiles, and that by way of opposition to Israel. 2. The second key is the word ματαιοτητι, Romans 8:20, which is not unfitly rendered vanity; but then this vanity is improperly applied to the vanishing, dying, changing state of the creation. For ματαιοτης, vanity, does not so much denote the vanishing condition of the outward state, as it does the inward vanity or emptiness of the mind. So the apostle, speaking of the Gentiles concerning whom he speaks here, tells us εματαιωθησαν, They became vain in their imaginations, Romans 1:21; and again, The Gentiles walk ενματαιοτητι, in the vanity of their mind, Ephesians 4:17; so also, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, ὁτιεισιματαιοι, that they are vain, 1 Corinthians 3:20. To all which let me add this farther observation, that throughout this whole place the apostle seems to allude to the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt, and their deliverance from it; with a comparison made betwixt the Jewish and the Gentile Church. When God would deliver Israel from his bondage, he challenges him for his Son, and his first-born, Exodus 4:22. And in like manner the Gentiles earnestly expect and wait for such a kind of manifestation of the sons of God, within and among themselves.

19. For the earnest expectation, &c.] The connexion of thought is: “A glory is to be revealed for us, the children of God; and so real and momentous is that glory, and its revelation, that it is intently expected by ‘the creature.’ ”—“The manifestation of the sons of God:”—more lit., and better, (as referring back to the word “revealed,” Romans 8:18,) the revelation, &c.The Expectation of the CreatureThe remarkable passage, Romans 8:19-23, demands a few preliminary general remarks. Among the many explanations of its meaning, two are the most representative and important. Of these (A) takes the passage to refer to the vague but deep longings of mankind for a better future; (B) to the longings, in a certain sense, of “creation” as distinguished from man, for a coming glory. According to (A) the doctrine is that humanity, outside the pale of the believing Church, shews in many ways its sense of weariness and aspiration; that this is an unconscious testimony to the fact of a glorious futurity; and that this futurity will be realized at the Consummation, when (not indeed all mankind, but) all from all mankind who shall have believed, will inherit the glory prepared for God’s children. According to (B) the doctrine is that the non-intelligent universe has before it a glorious transformation; that this is to take place when the saints “appear with Christ in glory;” and that in some sense there is a longing for this in “mute and material things.”The decision lies in the true meaning here of the word rendered “Creature” and “Creation”—the same word in the Greek.Now certainly in one remarkable text (Mark 16:15,) that word means mankind; so too Colossians 1:23, (where render, “in all the creation under heaven.”) And the peculiar intensity of the language of thought and feeling here (“earnest expectation,” “hope,” “groaning and travailing,”) makes it certainly difficult to apply it, in so dogmatic a passage, to “rocks and stones and trees.” The longings, however vague, of human hearts are certainly suggested at the first thought.But, on the other hand, there are many well-known places (e.g. Psalms 98:7-8; Isaiah 35:1; Hosea 2:21;) where rejoicing, or even prayer, is represented as uttered by inanimate things. The whole tone of Scripture makes it certain that this is purely figurative; a reflection, as it were, of the feelings of conscious beings; for Revelation recognizes no “soul of the world.” But the language of such passages is a fact, and throws some light on this passage;—though this differs from those in respect of its dogmatic character.And again, the “Creation” here is said to have been “unwillingly” (Romans 8:20) “subjected to vanity,” i.e. to evil.

For the earnest expectation - ἀποκαραδοκία apokaradokia. This word occurs only here and in Phi 1:20, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope,” etc.

19. For—In explanation of this inrevealed glory. Earnest expectation— The expressive Greek word implies an eager stretching forward of the head to watch the future. The creature—The created.