Romans 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves… It is impossible to deny the splendour of the idea contained in this passage. But we are tempted to question the possibility of ever realising it. We fancy that such lofty yearnings rise too far above the common highways to give us any strength in meeting the temptations and work of the everyday world. Such aspirations might thrill the spirit of an apostle or a lonely saint, but they are too unearthly to be realised by us. We need some more homely teaching to enable us to meet the temptations of their career. But Paul was no solitary saint, and the men to whom he wrote were surrounded by earthly temptations of the fiercest kind. And yet this practical apostle tells those tempted men that both they and he were praying for the redemption of the body, And in our day such aspirations, instead of being too lofty for our common life, are the only safeguards against its prevalent snares. Note — I. THEIR NATURE. In illustrating this we must dwell on the two phrases on which this nature depends. "Firstfruits" manifestly refers to the Jewish custom of presenting to God the earliest ears of corn or fruit as a thanksgiving and a prayer. The influences of the Spirit therefore are not merely a promise of the future, they are the actual commencements of the golden harvest of eternal glory. The other phrase, "groaning for the adoption, even so far as unto the redemption of the body," means that we are adopted now, but that the body in the bondage of corruption stands in the way of the full realisation of our sonship, and therefore "the firstfruits of the Spirit" are a cry for its perfect deliverance. Note then — 1. That the "firstfruits of the Spirit" are a prayer for perfect adoption. We know that"now we are sons of God"; but the more we realise that fact, the more profoundly do we feet that the full manifestation has not yet come. Let us illustrate this by looking at three great "firstfruits of the Spirit," experimentally. The Spirit reveals to us our adoption — (1) By revealing the love of God. There are times when we feel that He loves us; and this feeling clothes life in splendour, and brings into the heart the balm and music of heaven, making poverty, toil, sorrow, endurable things. But is not that always a longing, a prayer? The very greatness of that love — the very feebleness of our emotion in responding to it, make us pray to feel it more. (2) By the gift of spiritual power. The sign of a son of God is that he is no more in bondage to the passions and habits of the old life. But are we ever kings over ourselves as supremely as we would be? And there, again, "the firstfruits of the Spirit" are a longing for a perfected adoption. (3) By the gift of Divine peace. But because that so soon fades, who does not long for the sabbath of eternity? 2. We can now see how these aspirations rise, as Paul says, into a prayer for the redemption of the body. Our present body is the grand hindrance to the attainment of perfect sonship: thought wears out its energies; deep emotion exhausts its vigour; its infirmities, sicknesses, decays, hinder the prayers and aspirations of the soul. And then, above all, the power of the body to perpetuate the influences of past sin renders it a hindrance to the man who feels the firstfruits of the Spirit. And thus it is that we who have the "firstfruits" must cry for the redemption of the body, because we know that until then we can never reach the love, power, and blessedness, which belong to us as sons of God. II. THEIR PROPHETIC HOPES. We hope — 1. For the redeemed body; not for the departure of the present body, but for its redemption. We pray not for the death of our present powers of sight and hearing, but for their purified and intensified life. And now mark the prophetic cries which lie hid in that hope. Because it is a firstfruit of the Spirit, it foretells that every bodily power shall come forth, not crushed, but made stronger and brighter from the touch of death. 2. For the redeemed world. This world with all its beauty is fitted rather for a school of discipline than a home of purified spirits, and hence we hope for another and purer world for our final abode. Now mark again how this hope is prophetic of what shall be. Paul, in the context, affirms that the pain and death of the creature form one loud prophetic wail for redemption, i.e., the whole creation joins the Christian cry for a world in which suffering and evil shall have vanished. III. THEIR PRESENT LESSONS. 1. We need them all. Let a man lower his hopes and limit his aspirings, and he will easily decline into a low spiritual life in which he will be "like a reed shaken by the wind," before temptation. Only he who daily claims the whole eternity of hope as his own is guarded against the snares and pollutions of the world. 2. We must live them all. (E. L. Hull, B.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. |
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