Outline of Romans 8:18-25 (3/15)

In the broader spectrum of Romans 8 (which is all about assurance of the eternal like in the Spirit), our passage is fleshing our what it means to have the Spirit of glory (Moo 29*).

The passage is filled with the word gar which is translated "for" in English. I have divided the passage by the uses of the word, because I think that it lends to the furthering of the points in Paul's argument.

1.  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.19
2.  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 
3. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 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. 
4. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 
5. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope.
6.  For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

The first verse makes the statement that this present time of suffering will not be much in relation to the glory in the future. The second verse shows that creation waits for our glorification as well. Numbers three and four shed light on the hope of glorification that we have, and the last two numbers talk about how we can wait for this hope.

In the next blog post, I will go through the text and show how the sentence structure can help us get meaning from the passage.

















*Moo, Douglas J. Romans. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000. Print. The NIV Application Commentary.