Romans 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves… If our action upon and relation to the creature cause the creature to be subject to so much travail and pain, so, in return, the creature acts upon us, causing us to groan under a burden which it is hard to bear. The action is reciprocal, and our present life appears, for the time, to be a life of vanity and vexation of spirit, and is only partially mitigated by the prospect of the final redemption. Here, then, we have just the counterpart of the picture presented in ver. 22. I. A DESCRIPTION OF BELIEVERS. We who have the Spirit as "the firstfruits," or "the earnest" of our inheritance. Take man as man; compare his rich endowments with the shortness of his existance and the vanity of his occupation. And if we pass to the Christian man endowed with the fruits of redemption, what we see of his present life only still more impresses us with a feeling of its vanity. For only look — 1. At the endowments he possesses — the firstfruits of the Spirit. Not merely high mental powers, but the rudiments of a Divine nature fitting for communion with a holy God and fellowship with the pure intelligences of heaven. 2. At the expenditure by which these endowments have been secured. The wisdom of God, the work of Christ, and the operations of the Holy Spirit, are all involved in lifting any one up from the level of mere humanity to that of the family of God. 3. At the consciousness of the endowment as already possessed by us — awakening within us aspirations to do the work that angels do, having a desire to depart and be with Jesus — a training that seems to unfit for the low occupations of earthly life. Who has not wished always to be employed in some heavenly service when he has found himself tied down by the necessity of labouring for the bread that perisheth. II. THEIR PRESENT SORROWFUL CONDITION — "GROAN WITHIN OURSELVES." 1. There seems here a kind of retributive action. We have to do with earthly things, and as we have abused them so they seem to press upon us, and so to resent the wrong we have done them. There are sins that God has forgiven, but the effects upon our temporal condition can never be repaired. 2. The discrepancy that seems to exist between the endowment and the service to which it is here devoted. John Howe speaks of a man clothed in scarlet being set to feed swine to express such discrepancy. And, no doubt, if such were the will of God, a loving servant would yield, but then scarlet is not the proper livery for such a service. It may be a discipline for the servant, though it spoil his clothes. 3. It arises from the actual sufferings to be endured, and no affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. We are not Stoics, nor does God wish us to be. 4. There is the liability to temptation and sin. We may, after all, be overtaken by a fault, and whilst we are so exposed we may well groan. 5. There is our proximity to the evil around us. Righteous Lot vexed his soul with the filthy conversation of the wicked. III. THEIR COMING DELIVERANCE. 1. This is called the adoption, because it will be, not the initiation into the family, but the public inauguration of the heir, on reaching his majority, into the inheritance. 2. It is called the redemption of the body. Redemption is, in Christ, already complete. But in us it is progressive — (1) "There is, therefore, now no condemnation." (2) Death, when the soul is emancipated from all pollution. (3) The resurrection, when the body itself shall be emancipated (Philippians 3:21).The subject teaches a lesson — 1. Of patience. It is God's order. "Ye have need of patience, that after ye have suffered the will of God." 2. Of hope. Look on. "Seek not your rest here." (P. Strutt.) 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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