Romans 8:17 - Meaning and Application

In these words, the apostle describes a fourth great blessing of believers, their title to future glory. This fits well with adoption, because the status of sons gives a right to that glory, and the character of sons prepares them for it. “If children, then heirs” (Romans 8:17). In ordinary inheritances, this rule does not always apply, since often only the firstborn inherits. But the church is a church of firstborn ones, because all believers are heirs.

Heaven is an inheritance shared by all the saints. They do not reach it as buyers who earned it by merit or effort. They come to it as heirs, by God’s gift alone, because God makes heirs. The saints are heirs even while they are still minors in this world, as Galatians 4:1-2 shows. Their present life is a time of training and preparation for their inheritance. How comforting this should be to all God’s children, no matter how little they now hold in hand, that as heirs they already have enough waiting for them.

The honor and happiness of an heir depend on the worth of what he will receive. We can think of those who “inherit the wind,” which is no true gain at all. So the apostle briefly describes what believers inherit. First, they are heirs of God. The Lord himself is the portion of the saints’ inheritance (Psalm 16:5), a beautiful heritage (Psalm 16:6). The saints are spiritual priests who have the Lord as their inheritance (Numbers 18:20). Their inheritance is to see God and enjoy God. God himself will be with them and will be their God (Revelation 21:3).

Second, they are joint-heirs with Christ. Christ, as Mediator, meaning the one who stands between God and man to bring them together, is said to be heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2). True believers, because they are united to him, will inherit all things too (Revelation 21:7). Those who now share the Spirit of Christ as his brothers will also share his glory as his brothers (John 17:24), and will sit with him on his throne (Revelation 3:21). Lord, what is man, that you should honor him so greatly!

This future glory is then shown as both the reward for present suffering and the fulfillment of present hope. As the reward of the saints’ present sufferings, it is a rich reward: “if indeed we suffer with him” (Romans 8:17), or “since we suffer with him.” The church’s life in this world is always one of trouble, and in those days especially, to be a Christian was to suffer. To comfort them, Paul says they suffer with Christ, for his sake, for his honor, and for a good conscience, and they will be glorified with him. Those who suffered with David during his time of rejection were later raised up with him when he came to the throne. See (2 Timothy 2:12).

See how suffering for Christ gains something for us. We may seem to lose for him, but in the end we shall not, and cannot, be losers through him. The gospel is full of such promises. To strengthen suffering believers with hope, Paul compares the two sides in (Romans 8:18). On one side are the sufferings of this present time. The saints’ sufferings belong only to this present age. They do not go deeper than the things of time, and they last no longer than time lasts (2 Corinthians 4:17). They are light and brief, so light that they may be weighed and found small.

On the other side is the glory that will be revealed, and that glory is a great weight, an exceeding and eternal weight. We do not yet fully know it, nor fully enjoy it (1 Corinthians 2:9; 1 John 3:2). It “will be revealed.” It is greater than anything we have seen or known so far. Present blessings are sweet and precious, but something greater is still hidden away, waiting to outshine them all. It “shall be revealed in us,” not only shown to us, but enjoyed within us. The kingdom of God is within you, and it will remain so forever.

So Paul concludes that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory to come. They cannot earn that glory. If suffering for Christ cannot earn it, then neither can doing works for Christ earn it. These sufferings should not scare us away from seeking that glory with all our heart. The sufferings are small and short, and they affect only the body. The glory is rich and great, it concerns the soul, and it lasts forever.

“I reckon,” Paul says. This is not a quick or careless opinion, but the result of serious thought. He has weighed the matter carefully, considered both sides, and then reached his judgment. How different the world’s view is from the word’s view of “the sufferings of this present time.” Paul speaks like a careful accountant who balances an account. He adds up what we spend for Christ in present suffering, and finds it very little. Then he adds up what Christ secures for us in the glory to come, and finds an endless sum, far beyond anything we can measure. The loss is more than made up, and every hardship is more than repaid.

Who would then be afraid to suffer for Christ, since he goes before us in suffering and will not be behind in reward? Paul was fully qualified to speak on this matter. He knew it not only by thought, but by experience, because he knew both suffering and glory. He knew the sufferings of this present time (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). He also knew something of the glory of heaven (2 Corinthians 12:3-4). Looking at both, he gives this judgment.

Nothing strengthens the spirit under present suffering like a believing look at the glory that will be revealed. The reproach of Christ looks like riches to those who keep their eyes on the reward promised (Hebrews 11:26). As the saints are suffering for that glory, so they are waiting for it. Heaven is therefore certain, because God would not, by his Spirit, stir up and encourage hopes only to shame and disappoint them. He will confirm the word to his servants, the word on which he has caused them to hope (Psalm 119:49). Heaven is therefore sweet, because if hope delayed makes the heart sick, then when the desire comes, it will truly be a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12).

Paul now notices this longing for glory in the creatures themselves (Romans 8:19-22). That must be a great and far greater glory, since all creation is so eagerly waiting and longing for it. This observation is somewhat difficult, and it troubles interpreters a little more because no other passage of Scripture states it in quite the same way for comparison.

By “the creature” here, we should not understand, as some do, the Gentile world and their hope for Christ and the gospel. That reading is strained and far from the apostle’s meaning. Paul is speaking of the whole frame of nature, especially this lower world, all created things, both living and lifeless, which together make up one world.

Paul’s point in these verses can be gathered in a few observations. First, creation now lives under a kind of emptiness and frustration because of human sin, as Romans 8:20 says. When Adam sinned, the ground was cursed for his sake, and with it the creatures of this lower world were brought under change and death. They are under the “bondage of corruption,” Romans 8:21, meaning they have taken on impurity, weakness, decay, and disorder since the fall.

There is now conflict in creation. One creature often harms another, and all of them are subject to continual change and passing away. They also suffer under God’s judgments on man. When the world was flooded and nearly all creatures perished, creation was certainly under vanity then. Scripture also teaches that the whole order of nature is moving toward a final cleansing by fire, not endless permanence.

Part of this vanity and bondage is that creatures are often misused by people as tools for sin. They are used in ways that dishonor their Creator, harm his children, or serve his enemies. When food, wealth, or other created things become fuel for our lusts, they are treated as servants of sin. This is not willingly on their part. They did not choose this role, and they did not suffer for their own sin. They suffer because of man’s sin. Adam, by his fall, brought them into this condition, and God, as judge, passed sentence on creation because of man’s rebellion.

Yet even this burden is carried in hope, Romans 8:20. There is a kind of expectation that this present condition will not last forever. We should feel pity for these poor creatures, since through our sin they have been made subject to futility.

Second, creation groans and suffers under this burden, Romans 8:22. This is figurative language, showing how sin weighs on the whole created order. The earth seemed to tremble under the sin of those who crucified Christ. Creation, as it were, cries out against human sin. Scripture speaks this way when it says the stone cries out from the wall (Habakkuk 2:11), or the land itself cries out (Job 31:38).

Third, the creation now burdened will one day be set free, at the time when God completes all things. Then it will be delivered from this bondage into the glorious freedom of God’s children, Romans 8:21. It will no longer be subject to decay and curse. Instead, this lower world will be renewed. When there are new heavens, there will also be a new earth (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). Creation will receive a glory fitting its nature, just as God’s children will receive glory fitting theirs.

The fire of the last day will be refining fire, not a fire that destroys into nothing. Scripture does not tell us plainly what becomes of the souls of animals when they die, but it seems possible from Scripture that there will be some kind of restoration. If someone asks what use such creatures would be to glorified saints, we may answer that they would be as useful as they were to Adam in innocence. And if their purpose is simply to display the wisdom, power, and goodness of their Creator, that is enough.

The whole creation is looking forward to the revealing of God’s children, Romans 8:19. At Christ’s second coming, the children of God will be made known openly. Right now, believers are hidden ones. The wheat seems lost in a pile of chaff. But then they will appear in their true glory. It does not yet appear what we shall be (1 John 3:2), but then that glory will be revealed.

This full redemption of creation is reserved for that day. Since creation fell because of man, it will also be delivered for man. All the curse and defilement now clinging to it will be removed when those who suffered with Christ on earth reign with him on earth. The whole creation longs for that time, and that gives a reason why a good person should be merciful to his beast.

Paul next turns to believers, who are new creatures, Romans 8:23-25. The ground of this hope in the saints is that we have already received the firstfruits of the Spirit. The firstfruits both set apart the whole harvest and guaranteed it. In the same way, grace is the first taste of glory, glory already begun. Since we have received such gifts in this wilderness, we naturally long for the full harvest in heaven.

We, not only creation, but we ourselves, groan inwardly. That means these desires are strong and deep, yet often quiet and private. They are not the loud complaints of hypocrites, but silent groans that reach heaven quickly. Or, it means we groan together as one people. This is the united desire of the whole church: “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” These groans show a strong, urgent longing, as if the soul feels pain from the delay.

Present comforts and present graces do not cancel these groans. They are not the groans of someone dying, but the pains of a woman in labor. They are signs of life, not death. What believers are waiting for is the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. The soul is the chief part of a person, but God has also promised honor and happiness for the body. The resurrection is here called the redemption of the body.

Then we will be rescued from the power of death and the grave, and from the bondage of decay. Even though the body is now weak and lowly, it will be renewed and made beautiful, and made like Christ’s glorious body (Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:42). This is what is called adoption.

First, it is adoption shown openly before the whole world, angels and people. Right now we are the sons of God, but that honor is still hidden. Then God will openly own all his children. The adoption papers, as it were, are now written, signed, and sealed. Then they will be recognized, announced, and published. As Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead, so the saints will be declared the sons of God with power too (Romans 1:4). Then there will be no room for doubt.

Second, it is adoption brought to full completion. The children of God have both bodies and souls, and until those bodies enter the glorious freedom of God’s children, adoption is not complete. But then it will be finished, when the Captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, brings many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). This is what we look for, and in this hope our flesh rests (Psalm 16:9-10). All the days of our appointed time we are waiting for this change, when God will call and we will answer, and he will have delight in the work of his hands (Job 14:14-15).

This also fits our present condition, as Romans 8:24-25 says. Our happiness is not yet something we fully possess. We are saved by hope. In this, as in other things, God has made our present life a time of testing, so that our reward is not seen yet. Anyone who deals with God must deal on trust. Hope is one of the main marks of a Christian (1 Corinthians 13:13), and hope always points to a good thing still to come.

Faith looks to the promise, and hope looks to the thing promised. Faith is the evidence, and hope is the expectation, of things we do not yet see. Faith gives birth to hope. So we must wait with patience. In hoping for this glory, we need patience to bear the suffering on the way and the delays before it. Our road is hard and long, but he who is coming will come and will not delay. So, even if he seems slow, it is right for us to wait for him.