THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION

`The whole creation groans waiting, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the FIRSTFRUITS of the

Spirit (for such the indwelling Spirit of resurrection is), even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for

the ADOPTION, to wit, the redemption of our BODY' (8:23 Author's translation).

There intervenes between these two references to adoption in Romans 8:15 and 8:23 another reference to Adam,

though he is not named. First, the apostle says, `And if children, then heirs' (8:17). This is a plain fact respecting

every child of God. `And joint heirs with Christ, if so be we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together

(Rom. 8:17). This is not a fact concerning every child of God. We return in this verse to the advance we found

suggested in Romans 8:9,10. After speaking of the present sufferings in view of future glory, the apostle says:

`For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in

hope, that this same creature will be set free from the bondage of corruption with the freedom of the glory of the

children of God' (Rom. 8:20,21 Author's translation).

In Figures of Speech Dr. Bullinger has set out the passage thus:

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. -

Expectation.

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath

subjected the same. - Reason.

Waiteth, I say (from verse 19) in hope. - Expectation.

Because the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious

liberty of the children of God. - Reason.

Here we seem to have another reference to Adam, and the hope which was given at the fall, of the redemption

yet to come. Whether the whole creation, animate and inanimate, is to be understood here, or whether pasa he ktisis

means every created being, limiting its scope to man, is a vexed question. There is abundant testimony in Scripture

that creation in its wider sense became involved in the fall, and shall become involved in the restoration. Isaiah

11:6-9; 25:6-8; 35:1-10 are but samples of the testimony of Scripture on this head.

`The hope', which is indicated in Romans 8:20, was set forth by the cherubim that were caused to tabernacle at

the gate of the garden of Eden. Ezekiel's description of the cherubim - the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle -

indicate that man, the beast of the field, the cattle, and the fowl of the air, representatives of Adam's lost dominion,

shall yet be restored. It is to this that the four living creatures of the book of the Revelation bear witness. When

these mis-called `beasts' are described (Rev. 4:6-8), creation and its purpose come into view (Rev. 4:11):

`And every created thing which is in heaven, and upon the earth, and under the earth, and those that are upon the

sea, and all things in them, heard I saying to Him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb, Blessing, and

honour, and glory and might, for the ages of the ages' (Rev. 5:13 Author's translation).

Here then in Romans 8:19-23 we reach by yet one more pathway the reconciliation, this time not the

reconciliation of the outer portion, which was the reconciliation of the Gentiles upon the failure of Israel, but the

reconciliation of creation, which is essentially connected with the teaching of Romans 6 to 8 as to the deliverance

from the dominion of sin and death. Here is the mystery which had been silenced. The church, thus already partly

delivered, is a firstfruits; the harvest is yet to come. As in the dispensational portion, so here, the firstfruits pledge

the harvest (Rom. 11:16).

The chapter from this point tells us that believers during this period were saved by hope, just as in Galatians 5:5

the believer waited for the `hope of righteousness', and 1 Thessalonians 5:8 speaks of the `hope of salvation'. The

hope of the restoration of the kingdom, and all the blessings which were held back for that event, were still, humanly

speaking, possible of realization.

Two passages that follow are helpful when seen together: