Romans 8:18-23
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
18 [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and [a]for us and [b]conferred on us!
19 For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].
20 For the creation (nature) was subjected to [c]frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—[yet] with the hope(A)
21 That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
22 We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.(B)
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons).
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Romans 8:18 Charles B. Williams, The New Testament: A Translation in the Language of the People.
- Romans 8:18 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
- Romans 8:20 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
Romans 8:18-23
Living Bible
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. 19 For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day[a] when God will resurrect his children. 20-21 For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay[b]—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.
22 For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.[c] 23 And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Romans 8:19 waiting . . . for that future day, literally, “waiting for the revelation of the sons of God.”
- Romans 8:20 thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay, implied.
- Romans 8:22 even the things of nature . . . await this great event, literally, “the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now.”
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