ACC ~ Romans 8 v18 - 22

OVERVIEW:

The early Christians were acutely aware of the sufferings of the present time, so it is not surprising to discover that the Fathers paid great attention to Romans 8:18. The future glory was a major expectation in a world beset by warfare, poverty and disease, but this was not their only motivation. They genuinely wanted to leave the temporal sphere and be united with the eternal, and they looked forward to the day when the transitory would give way to the permanent, the shadow to the real. The Fathers were not of one mind about how to interpret “the creation waits with eager longing.” To some, Paul seemed to be personifying the inanimate order, as happens in the Old Testament. But to others it seemed that the apostle was referring only to the rational creatures, since they alone would benefit from the revealing of the sons of God. Some of the Fathers viewed creation as human creation, while others viewed the “whole creation” as the natural order grieving over sin, groaning by analogy with human groaning. The Fathers had some difficulty with Romans 8:20, because of their uncertainty about the meaning of the word futility. To some it meant sin, to others death, to others corruption. But all were agreed that futility was essentially temporal and that when the fullness of Christ was revealed, it would vanish in the greater light of eternity.

8:18 | Present Suffering; Glories to Be Revealed

THE SPIRIT AS PLEDGE OF GLORY TO BE REVEALED. MONTANIST ORACLE: He who has given the cause of the gifts will also give their consequences, and for this reason the Spirit has been said to be the pledge of the glory which will be revealed. TESTIMONIA.

INCOMPARABILITY. ORIGEN: There is nothing which is worthy of comparison with the future glory. For how can what is mortal be compared to what is immortal, what is visible to what is invisible, what is temporal to what is eternal or what is perishable to what is everlasting? COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

CYPRIAN: Who then does not labor in every way to arrive at such a glory as to become a friend of God, as to rejoice at once with Christ, as to receive the divine rewards after earthly torments and punishments? EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, TO FORTUNATUS 13.

MEDITATE ON GLORY. CYPRIAN: It is fitting for us, meditating upon the glory of this splendor, to endure all afflictions and persecutions because, although the afflictions of the just are many, yet those who trust in God are delivered from them all. LETTER 6.2.

CONSOLED BY HOPE. AMBROSIASTER: This exhortation relates to what we have just read, in which Paul shows that the things which we might suffer at the hands of the wicked here below are small in comparison with the reward which awaits us in the next life. Therefore we ought to be prepared for every eventuality, because the rewards which are promised to us are so great so that our mind may be consoled in tribulation and grow in hope. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

CHRYSOSTOM: Whatever these sufferings may be, they belong to this present life, but the blessings to come stretch out forever. Since Paul had no way of giving a detailed description of these or of putting them before us in human language, he gives them a name which is used of things we especially desire: glory. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 14.

CHRYSOSTOM: Even if each day we suffer death, something which nature could not endure even if mind overcomes matter … what we endure is nothing compared to the good things we are destined to receive or the glory due to be revealed on our behalf. HOMILIES ON GENESIS 25.23.

NOT WORTH COMPARING. JEROME: Do you dread poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed. Does toil frighten you? No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his brow. Are you anxious as regards food? Faith fears no famine. Do you dread the bare ground for limbs wasted with fasting? The Lord lies there beside you. Do you recoil from an unwashed head and uncombed hair? Christ is your head. Does the boundless solitude of the desert terrify you? In the Spirit you may walk always in paradise. Do but turn your thoughts there and you will be no more in the desert. Is your skin rough and scaly because you no longer bathe? He that is once washed in Christ has no need to wash again. To all your objections the apostle gives this one brief answer: “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” LETTER 14.10.

THEIR OWN CONSOLATIONS. AUGUSTINE: The humble and holy servants of God who suffer doubly when temporal evils befall them, because they suffer with the wicked as well as at their hands, have their own consolations and the hope of the world to come. LETTER 111.

HIDDEN GLORY. PELAGIUS: Paul wants to commend future glory so that we may bear present afflictions more easily. Indeed, no human being could ever suffer anything equal to heavenly glory, even if that glory were comparable to this present life. For whatever a man might suffer in dying is no more that what he already deserved to suffer for his sins. But now his sins are forgiven, and in the future he will be granted eternal life, fellowship with the angels, the splendor of the sun and the other things which we have read have been promised for the saints. At the moment, though, this future glory is “hidden with Christ in God,” and “it does not yet appear what we shall be.” PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THE SAINTS HUMBLE US. BEDE: When we see such extraordinary heirs of the heavenly kingdom suffering so greatly during the time of their mortal exile, what remains for us to do under these circumstances … except to humble ourselves all the more in the sight of our benevolent Maker and Redeemer, as we become more clearly aware that we cannot follow them by imitating either their lives or their deaths? HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.23.

8:19 | Creation Waits to Be Restored

CREATION RESTORED. IRENAEUS: God is rich in all things, and everything is his. It is therefore fitting that the creation itself, having been restored to its primeval condition, should without restraint be under the dominion of the righteous. AGAINST HERESIES 5.32.1.

THE REVEALING. ORIGEN: Paul says this in order to indicate how great and wonderful is the glory which will be revealed both in him and in those who have shared his sufferings. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

CREATION PERSONIFIED AS LIVING. DIODORE: The Scriptures often suggest that the visible creation is animate and that the universe has a rational sensibility. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

CHRYSOSTOM: Here Paul’s discourse becomes more emphatic, and he personifies the creation in the way that the prophets do when they speak of the floods, clapping their hands and so on. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 14.

IN EAGER LONGING. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: When Paul talks here about the creation waiting, he means the rational creation and not, as some think, the irrational or insensible creation which was made in order to serve man and which afterward will perish. … “Creation” refers to Adam and Eve, who are waiting to receive adoption by God. The “eager longing” was shared by Adam and Eve on the one hand and by the angels and the elements, i.e., the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars, on the other. … Paul says that Adam and Eve were longing for the day of judgment. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

ALTERNATIVE READINGS. PELAGIUS: Different interpreters expound this passage in different ways. Some say that the whole creation awaits the time of the resurrection, because then it will be changed into something better. Others say that this refers only to the angelic, rational creation. Still others say that “creation” refers specifically to Adam and Eve, because they did not sin by themselves but at the temptation of the serpent, who long ago made them subject to corruption when they were exposed to deception in the hope of divine existence. These interpreters say that Adam and Eve will be set free so that they are no longer subject to corruption. But the “whole creation,” say these same interpreters, means all those who were righteous up to the coming of Christ, because they too have not yet received and are waiting until God provides something better for us. Not only they, however, but we also, in whom these things have been fulfilled, do not yet hold it in our grasp but endure in hope, although we have seen things which many righteous people have longed to see. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Paul is referring here to the resurrection on the last day. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

SONS OF GOD TRANSFORMED. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The creation is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God at some point in the future which is still unknown. Who can know when this will be? But by the secret plan of God, which orders all things for the best, it will come to this end. For when the sons of God, who have lived a righteous life, have been transformed into glory from dishonor and from what is corruptible into what is incorruptible, then the creation too will be transformed into something better. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

8:20 | Creation Subjected to Futility

NOT OF ITS OWN WILL. ORIGEN: What is this futility to which the creation is said to be subject? It seems to me that this is said about the material and corruptible substance of the body. Likewise with the decay mentioned [in the next verse]. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

SUBJECTED TO FUTILITY. ORIGEN: The moon and the stars have been compelled against their will to be subject to futility, as a result of causes long past; yet in the hope of a future reward they do not do their own will but the will of the Creator, by whom they have been appointed to these duties. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.8.3.

ORIGEN: What is the futility to which the creation was subjected? My own opinion is that this is nothing else than the possession of bodies. Even though the bodies of the stars are composed of ether they are nevertheless material. This, it seems to me, is the reason why Solomon arraigns the whole universe as being in a way burdensome: “Vanity of vanities, says the preacher. … All is vanity.” ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.7.5.

AMBROSE: Creation itself will also be delivered from its slavery to corruption when the grace of divine reward shines forth. SIX DAYS OF CREATION 1.6.22.

AMBROSIASTER: The subjection of the creation is not for its benefit but for ours. What does it mean to be subject to futility but that what it produces is worthless? For the creation works in order to bring forth corruptible fruit. Corruption therefore is itself futility. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

HUMANS IMPACT CREATION. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul means by this that the creation became corruptible. Why and for what reason? Because of you, O man! For because you have a body which has become mortal and subject to suffering, the earth too has received a curse and has brought forth thorns and thistles. … The creation suffered badly because of you, and it became corruptible, but it has not been irreparably damaged. For it will become incorruptible once again for your sake. This is the meaning of “in hope.” HOMILIES ON ROMANS 14.

FUTILITY AS TRANSGRESSION. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: “Futility” means “transgression,” to which Eve was subject not by her own will but by the deception of the serpent, which gave her the hope that she and Adam would become like gods, knowing good and evil. “Subjected” refers to the corruption of mortality, but in the resurrection they will receive the incorrupt nature of the sons of God. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

PELAGIUS: “Futility” means everything which will someday come to an end. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

WHETHER CREATION UNDERSTANDS. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The visible and tangible creation knows nothing of the promises which have been made to us because it has no understanding of them. For if it should ever happen that the creation acquired some understanding of these things, it would hardly endure such base servitude, nor would it want to be subject to or be on friendly terms with those whose lives bear no good fruit. Nevertheless, Paul says that the creation is subject in hope, for one day the saints and the elect will be saved, and then the yoke which has been imposed on it by God will be removed. … In the meantime, the creation groans and in some sense labors and grieves, and if it had any awareness of our works, probably it would burst out crying. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

FUTILITY AS CORRUPTION. THEODORET OF CYR: “Futility” means corruption. Paul teaches this a little further on when he says that the creation itself will be set free from corruption. He also teaches that all the visible creation has been condemned to mortality because the Creator of all things foresaw the sin of Adam and that he would sentence him to death. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

8:21 | Creation Will Be Freed

THE GLORIOUS LIBERTY. AMBROSE: Paul shows that the grace of the soul is no small thing, for by its strength and power the human race rises to the adoption of sons of God, having in itself that which was given to it in the image and likeness of God. LETTER 51.

CREATION NOT WITHOUT HOPE. AMBROSIASTER: Because the creation cannot contradict its Creator it is subjected because of him, but not without hope. For in its travail it has this comfort, that it will have rest when all those who will believe and for whose sake it was subjected in the first place will have come to faith. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

CHRYSOSTOM: Where man leads the creation will follow, since it was made for man. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 14.

CREATION WILL BE SET FREE. JEROME: When the children of God attain glory, creation itself will be delivered from its slavery. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 58.

PELAGIUS: Creation will no longer serve those who have corrupted the image of God. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

8:22 | Creation Groans

THE ANALOGY OF GROANING. ORIGEN: We must understand this in the same way as we understand Paul’s groaning on account of the gospel for those whom he has brought to the light by faith in Christ, or as he said elsewhere: “My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

AWAITING RELEASE FROM SIN. AMBROSE: The moon toils for you and by reason of the will of God is made subject. … It is you who undergo changes of your own volition, not the moon. The moon groans and travails in pain in its changes. You without understanding often find joy in this. The moon frequently awaits your release from sin, so that it may be released from the servitude in which all creation shares. But you place obstacles in the way of your release from sin and to the moon’s freedom. The fact that you yourself still await that conversion which fails to come, whereas the moon suffers change, is the result not of the moon’s folly but of yours. SIX DAYS OF CREATION 4.8.31.

THE GRIEF OF CREATION. AMBROSIASTER: To groan in travail is to grieve. … The elements themselves show forth their works with care, for both the sun and the moon fill the spaces allotted to them not without travail, and the spirit of the animals demonstrates its servitude by loud groanings. All these are waiting for rest and to be set free from their servile labor. Now if this service were of any benefit to God the creation would be rejoicing, not grieving. But every day it watches its labor disappear. Every day its work appears and vanishes. Therefore it is right to grieve, because its work leads not to eternity but to corruption. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

CHRYSOSTOM: Paul says this in order to shame his hearers. He is virtually saying: “Do not be worse than the creation, and do not derive pleasure from the things of this life. Not only should we not cling to them; we should be groaning at the slowness of our departure from this world. For if this is how the creation behaves, you ought to do so all the more, seeing as you have the gift of reason.” HOMILIES ON ROMANS 14.

WHETHER CREATION REFERS TO HUMAN CREATION. AUGUSTINE: This is not to be understood simply as meaning that trees, vegetables, stones and the like sorrow and sigh—this is the error of the Manichaeans—nor should we think that the holy angels are subject to vanity or that they will be set free from the slavery of death, since they are immortal. Here “the creation” means the human race. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 53.

AUGUSTINE: Every creature is represented in man, not because all the angels … are in him, nor the heaven, earth, sea and all that is in them, but because the human creature is partly spirit, partly soul and partly body. QUESTIONS 67.5.

[PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Here Paul gives the common designation of “creation” to all the righteous from Adam and Eve up to the time of Christ, saying that they too groaned along with Adam and Eve, desiring to receive the reward of virtue which the Lord had promised to them, viz., the adoption of sons. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

PELAGIUS: Just as the angels rejoice over those who repent, so they grieve over those who are unwilling to repent. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: How did the whole creation suffer this? The invisible creatures did it by thinking and feeling; the visible creatures did it by sharing in the thing itself. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.