Romans 8, continued

INTRODUCTION
Paul is talking about the liberation of creation from bondage to decay and corruption into freedom. This raises the question of the time frame for the fulfillment of this prophecy. It is normally taken as a reference to the end of the world. The �redemption of the body�E(v. 23) is taken as a reference to the general resurrection, and Paul is teaching that there will be a transfiguration of the whole creation when that occurs. Yet, it seems plausible to take this as a reference instead to the transformation of the creation that takes place as the new covenant replaces the old. Could Paul�s prophecy here be taken in a preterist sense? Could the period of �anxious longing�E(v. 19) be the apostolic age and the birth of a new age be the creation after the end of the apostolic age?

I�m not entirely convinced either way on the question of timing, though I�m inclined to follow a preterist interpretation. Let me offer some arguments in favor of a preterist understanding of this passage. First, Paul is clearly describing the fulfillment of prophecies from the Old Covenant about the renewal of the whole creation through the recreative word of Yahweh (e.g., Is 65:17ff; 66:22). But those prophecies appear to describe a pre-eschatological phase of human history in which there are still enemies, where death still exists, and so on. The prophecies do not speak of the final restoration of all things, but of a provisional and increasing restoration that takes place in the New Covenant.

A similar point could be made concerning prophecies from the NT. The notion of �birth pangs,�Ewhich is implied by the references to �groaning�E(Romans 8:22-23) and made explicit with the reference to �pains of childbirth�Ein v. 22, is found elsewhere in Jesus�EOlivet discourse, referring to events that would take place before the generation passed (Matt 24:8; Mk 13:8). More generally, it�s clear in the NT that the first generation of believers suffered tribulations that were unique in the history of the church (Matt 24:21; Rev 2:22; 7:14). In a unique way, the blood of the first martyrs mingled with the blood of Jesus in renewing the world. Blood of martyrs is always the seed of the church; but that was particularly true in the foundational period of the apostles.

Second, Paul has raised the issue of �adoption�Ea few verses earlier in Romans 8 (vv. 15-17), and I suggested last week that Paul was still working within the biblical categories from the Old Testament. To say that Christians who have the Spirit are the �sons of God�Eis to say that Christians who have the Spirit are the true Israel. These are the same �sons of God�Ewho are mentioned again in verses 19, 21, 23. That is, there is a time coming when the true sons of God will be revealed; the sons of God will be �revealed�Eand there will be a public �adoption�Eof the church as the true Israel. It would seem odd that this would be delayed until the final judgment and the general resurrection of the dead. Further, this emphasis on Christians as the true sons prepares for Paul�s anguish concerning his fellow Israelites according to the flesh in 9:1-5. Paul is lamenting that those Jews who have refused Jesus are not going to share in the �adoption of sons�Ethat is on the horizon.

Third, as NT Wright points out, the �glorification�Ethat Paul talks about here has to do with the restoration of humanity to a prelapsarian position of rule and authority (which, of course, goes beyond the position that Adam attained). Wright goes on to point out the close connection between the glorification of the sons of God, their installation as the authorities over creation, and the redemption of creation itself from its bondage to decay. As Wright says, �the thought [in verse 21] seems to be not that creation and Christians will simply all be free and glorious in the same way, but that the freedom for which creation longs, and which it will be liberated into, is the freedom that comes about through the glorification of the children of God. Paul never says that creation itself will have �glory.�E It will have freedom because God�s children have glory; indeed, their glory will consist quite specifically in this, that they will be God�s agents in bring the wise, healing, restorative divine justice to the whole created order�E(Romans, p. 597). Earlier, and more colorfully, he had stated the point this way: �if one dare put it like this, as God sent Jesus to rescue the human race, so God will send Jesus�Eyounger siblings, in the power of the Spirit, to rescue the whole created order, to bring that justice and peace for which the whole creation yearns�E(Romans, p. 596). I agree with that. Now, if that�s the case, it�s hard to see how this could be a prophecy about the final resurrection. What, after all, will still need healing and restoration when Jesus returns? Will the general resurrection be followed by an ages-long ecological reclamation project? That�s not how the passage is normally taken; instead, it�s assumed that when the sons of God are adopted, creation will be transformed once for all and completely. But then what is there left for Jesus�E�younger siblings�Eto do? It seems much better to say that the adoption of the true Israel, the true Adamic race, occurs with the definitive end of the old covenant at AD 70, and that the creation then begins to be liberated from its bondage to corruption, until it is finally and fully liberated at the final resurrection and judgment.

Fourth, historically, it seems evident that the liberation of creation from bondage to corruption has been advancing through the ages. It is not simply the case that the curse WILL be removed at the last day. It has been removed definitively in Jesus, and is progressively being moved back as the Spirit indwells believers to fulfill the requirement and goals of the Law, which are righteousness and peace.

Finally, this doesn�t mean that Paul�s encouragements no longer have any relevance to Christians now. If Romans 8 should be taken in a preterist fashion, it�s still the case that we are in a pre-eschatological condition, that we die, that the creation is not wholly liberated from its futility, that we hope for an even greater adoption, glorification, and resurrection in the future. The transition from the Old to the New is a type of the final transition form this world into the heavens and earth of the consummation. It is still the case that we are groaning, and that in a sense we are still groaning for a new birth. But more precisely perhaps we are groaning over the clumsiness of a �toddler�Enew creation rather than groaning with the pains of childbirth.

ROMANS 8:18-25
If the preterist interpretation suggested above is correct, the sufferings of the �present time�Erefer to the �great tribulation�Ethat Jesus said would accompany the shift from the old to the new. Paul encourages the Romans to endure because the sufferings they endure pale in comparison to the glory that will be revealed �into�Ethem. Paul�s language suggests that glory will not merely be shown to the sons of God, but that it will be bestowed on us.

The reason (�for,�Ev 19) that the glory is greater is because the glorification of the sons of God goes beyond the restoration of humanity to its created glory. When the sons of God are revealed, the creation�s longings will be fulfilled. Creation was subjected to futility by the curse of Genesis 3. The creation never was in rebellion against God, and so it has been longing since that time for liberation from the futility and corruption that Adam brought to it. When the new Adamic race is revealed, the true Israel, then the creation�s waiting will be over because the creation will be handed over to the lordship of those who are filled with the Spirit who first formed the creation as �good.�E As the Spirit-filled church spreads over the creation, the Spirit is again hovering over the formless void to manifest the goodness of the creation. �Futility�Esuggests a possible connection with the book of Ecclesiastes, and there the futility or �vaporousness�Eof creation is larges due to the reality of decay and ultimately death. Ultimately, then, the creation will not be delivered from futility until death is finally defeated; but through the life-giving Spirit of the Risen Christ, futility is being overturned.

Paul describes the futility and corruption of the creation as a form of �bondage�E(v. 21) that leads the whole creation to �groan.�E As Wright points out, this language suggests a connection with the exodus story. The whole creation is longing for an exodus, groaning under the burdens imposed on it by Sin and Death, waiting for a new Moses to lead it out of corruption. Israel�s liberation was a matter of a change of lordship. So also is the liberation of the creation, as the creation is given into the care of Jesus and His people.

In this situation of futility, creation, the church, and the Spirit all groan in pains of childbirth. Creation is waiting for the sons of God to serve as midwives of a new creation; believers are awaiting the �redemption of the body�E and the Spirit also groans to give birth to a new world. A couple of details here are worth noting. First, the word �body�Ein verse 23 is singular. If Paul were talking about the final resurrection, as Wright says, we would expect a plural. The fact that it is singular perhaps suggests that what�s being redeemed is the body of the church. The body was �redeemed�Ein the great exodus at the end of the old covenant, which was simultaneously the public revelation that the church was the true Israel, the sons of God. �Conformed to the image of His Son�E(v. 29), we are made rulers with Christ.

Second, it is important to notice the role of prayer in this whole process. The Spirit assists us when we do not know how to pray with �groanings too deep for words�E(v. 26). This shows that our prayers (as in verse 15) are prayers from within the Triune fellowship; indwelt by the Spirit, we call on the Father with the same words that Jesus used in prayer. Here, the Spirit �intercedes�Efor us, and apparently transforms our inarticulate anguish into petitions to the Father through the Son. Prayer thus is not a matter of human speech attempting to cross the infinite distance between creature and Creator; we can pray because we have been introduced into the Triune community. Further, in context the groanings of the Spirit, which produces also groanings within us (v. 23) are part of the pain of childbirth. Prayer is bound up with, and a means for, the birthing of a new creation. Prayer is not a retreat from the history of redemption into private ecstasies of communion. Prayer is a chief instrument by which the Father renews the world through His sons who are in the Son and who have received the Spirit.

Verses 28-30 provide a ground for assurance that what Paul has been describing will certainly take place. We can be confident that our groanings, and the groanings of the Spirit with us, will be heard, and that the creation will be delivered from its bondage to futility, because God is causing all things �Ethe sufferings of the present age in particular �Eto work together for good for those who are called. The righteous God will accomplish His righteous purpose of bringing righteousness to fruition on earth. Verses 29-30 make it clear that this whole program is not a whim on God�s part. The goal is to bestow glory on the sons of God, to raise them to the throne never reached because of Adam�s sin, and this glorification fulfills the purpose of God from the foundation of the world. He has a fixed predestined purpose to form a body of believers who are conformed to the image of His Son, who are sons of God, and who therefore participate with Jesus in the deliverance of creation.

Verse 30 sketches out a kind of �order of salvation,�Estretching from God�s foreknowledge (His eternal electing love), through the predestination of the sons of God, through call, justification and glorification. In the preterist framework that I�ve been developing, the sequence of call, justification, and glorification takes on an interesting nuance. In Genesis, both Noah and Abraham are �justified�Eor �reckoned righteous.�E Both are called, picked out from evil generations to be the objects of God�s favor, and as the righteous ones they are called to be partners with God in restoring creation. Their justification leads to glorification: Noah is �righteous in the eyes of Yahweh,�Eand glorified through the judgment of the flood when Yahweh bestows royal authority on him. Abraham is reckoned righteous, and as a covenant partner with Yahweh, becomes the father of Isaac, the heir of a land, and is promised that kings will come from him. Having been justified He is glorified. This is the sequence of Romans 8 as well: The �no condemnation�Efor those in Christ issues in the promise that the sons of God in Christ will be �glorified.�E On this understanding, in short, �glorification�Eis not merely an eschatological prospect for believers. When the new covenant comes, the sons of God are exalted.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, May 05, 2005 at 01:38 PM

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