In the middle third of Romans 8, Paul draws on the doctrine of adoption to apply the principle that “the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2 ESV). Those who are in Christ have his Spirit dwelling within them (v9). The Holy Spirit leads us along the path of life (vv13-14); he bears witness with our own spirits that we are, in fact, sons and daughters of the living and true God (v16). As such, we are “heirs of God and coheirs with Christ” of the future blessedness that is called glorification. What brings these ideas together is the fact that our coheir walked a path of suffering to reach glorification. As the Spirit leads us, he leads us down a similar path of suffering on the road to glorification (v17).
This mention of glorification, however, prompts a slight shift in Paul’s thinking in vv18-23. His attention is drawn away from the suffering that believers experience in this present evil age and drawn to the glory of the end of all things when Christ comes again and all things will be made new. That last step in the execution of God’s plan of salvation, however, was present in God’s mind at the grievous fall of humanity in the garden of Eden. Thus, Paul says that “the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:20-21 ESV). Of particular interest is the word “futility” which connects back to Ecclesiastes and the Preacher’s willingness to acknowledge that the pursuit of wealth and pleasure and all things under the sun is vanity and a striving after wind. That is to say, that pursuit finds no fulfillment in and of itself. This reference to futility is also meant to draw the reader back to the original curse on the ground in Genesis 3. Like an ingrown toenail, it is directed in the wrong direction and causes needless pain and suffering because there is a flaw in the system that prevents it from operating according to its greatest potential.
However, this subjection of creation to futility was not capricious. God, the one who subjected creation to futility, did so “in hope,” Paul says. Commenting on this hopeful turn, Douglas Moo summarizes Paul’s thought: “Creation, helplessly enslaved to the decay that rules this world after the Fall, exists in the hope that it will be set free to participate in the eschatological glory to be enjoyed by God’s children.”[1] What we have here is a connection between the liberation of creation from its own bondage due to the sin of Adam and the full realization of adoption in the revelation of the sons of God on the last day. There are cosmic consequences of the doctrine of adoption, which makes sense because the inheritance of the sons of God is not merely a spiritual one but also a material one, for the offspring of Abraham are to be the heir of the world (Rom 4:13). It is for this reason that “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19 ESV).” No liberation from corruption for creation will happen apart from the full realization of the inheritance of adoption.
Not everything is future oriented, though. There is, as Paul continues, a downpayment that has been distributed, a firstfruits that has been gathered up for the sons of God, namely the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (v23). It is precisely because of this downpayment, this realization that something far greater is promised, that we groan along with creation for the final adoption paper to be processed, as it were, which will issue in “the redemption of our bodies.” In the meantime, Paul encourages us to wait patiently and faithfully in the hope of the assurance of salvation. Moreover, we wait not only with an intellectual knowledge that things will be better than they are in this present evil age but also with the constant and abiding testimony of the Holy Spirit with us that things are, in fact, already better because we not only have heard the judgment “innocent” in our justification but in our adoption we are able to call the Judge Father. May we deeply appreciate the comfort available to us in the doctrine of adoption.
[1] Douglas J. Moo, The Letter to the Romans, 2nd ed., NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018), 539.
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