Romans 8:23, “…we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
As I read Romans 8:18-25 this morning, I was struck by what a primary role HOPE plays in the Christian experience under the curse of Genesis 3. And this is by design, God Himself subjected creation to futility and corruption in hope that it would eventually be gathered up into the freedom of the glory of His blood-bought children (Rom.8:20-21).
The curse of Genesis 3 then, we might say, was delivered on the basis of hope, God’s hope that what He was now doing (subjecting creation to futility) would end with creation itself set free from this bondage to corruption into the freedom of the glory of His children, a glory that would not have been without the agonies entailed by said bondage (Note, this is a reminder also that biblical “hope” is not an uncertain desire for things to come–as it has come to be in modern usage–rather, it is a sure knowledge of good that will be in the future).
Paul’s logic in v.18, then, seems to be that the glory that is to be revealed to us will be surpassingly greater than our present sufferings because our present sufferings are experienced precisely because God considered this experience of suffering to be warranted in the achieving of the eschatological joy and glory of His people. So, life under the fall is a life of hope. That is to say, a life of sure confidence in a future good that will surpass and swallow all present suffering into itself.
To endure present, God-ordained sufferings in hope that these groanings are the pangs of birth and not death, to bear up under futility and pain with the sure knowledge that these hardships are achieving a surpassingly sweet glory and gladness in the presence of our God (2 Cor.4:17), and to do so all because of the confidence that God is for us and not against us through the person and work of Jesus, to live in such a way is what it means to suffering with Christ in order that we might be glorified with Him (v.17).
This is awesome because it casts our experience under the curse, as well as the entire arc of reality from Genesis to Revelation, into the form of the crucified and risen Christ. Our present suffering (and the suffering of creation under the fall) is analogous to the suffering of our Lord and God in His life and passion, and our future glory is analogous to His resurrection and glorification to the right hand of the Father. When we suffer under the God-imposed brokenness of the world, if in our suffering we hope in Christ–we hope in His person and work, we hope in the reality that God is for us because our Lord has borne our sin and punishment and gathered us to Himself as fellow heirs and beloved children–if in our suffering we hope in Christ, then we are “suffering with Christ” (v.17). We are sharing His sufferings, following in His path, being conformed to His image, and so too can be confident that we will be glorified with Him with a glory that far surpasses this (comparatively) “light and momentary affliction.”
