Hope-Infused Steadfastness in Suffering – Romans 8:18–25

PRAY

Romans 8:18–25 ESV

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

We wait for it with perseverance or with steadfast endurance is a better translation of that final word the ESV has rendered as patience. The idea of patience is included in it, but it’s more than that; it is steadfast endurance. And this seemingly small bit is essential to our understanding and application of what Paul describes leading up to it.

Furthermore, the concept of eager expectation and longing for glory in the midst of our present sufferings is everywhere in this section as Paul returns to the theme of hope.

So here’s my wording of what we should walk away with from this text. Paul encourages us that we can…

Steadfastly endure afflictions with eager expectation of assured glory.

In light of v. 17—that fellow heirs of God will suffer with Christ—Paul presents us with motivation for enduring present afflictions: hope of future glorification. The theme then becomes to steadfastly endure afflictions in the secure hope of future glory.

Paul is leading us further on in assurance that the prospect of suffering with Christ does not dampen our hope. In the previous section he challenged us to be Spirit-led to mortify sin, motivated by assurance of our adoption as God’s children. But at the tail of it, he referenced that suffering with Christ precedes glory, just as it did for our Lord himself. So now Paul tells us to steadfastly endure afflictions with eager expectation of assured glory.

Paul unpacks and builds this concept, pressing it home to our hearts, by first weighing our present sufferings against the grandeur and fulfillment of coming glory. Our afflictions are heavy, but even that heaviness is short and small compared to the weight and worth of God’s promises soon to be fulfilled in glory.

Then Paul mirrors our potential response to present afflictions by personifying creation as having human longing for completed redemption and consummation. Creation longs to be free from the present futility of the fall and waits expectantly for creation gloriously redeemed and restored in the new heavens and new earth.

Finally, Paul concludes, if we will keep this kind of perspective on our present afflictions, the certainty and joy of our salvation hope will cause us to steadfastly endure.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, we will see today that we can…

Steadfastly endure afflictions with eager expectation of assured glory. 

Because future glory exceedingly outweighs present afflictions.

Just as creation longs for redemption from the fall’s futility.

Because you know that labor pains precede consummation.

Because deliverance by faith in Christ has secured this hope.

So first… Steadfastly endure afflictions with eager expectation of assured glory…

Because future glory exceedingly outweighs present afflictions. (18)

Romans 8:18 ESV

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Paul says that he calculates/considers/reasons that the glorious inheritance that awaits us (17) is far greater by comparison to the sufferings we are dealing with as God’s children in this present age. The clear concept of comparison emerges in the verse by saying that our current afflictions are not worthy against glory, or not having nearly the weight or value and worth as the glory that is going to be revealed and become our eternal possession.

Paul says something similar in a second letter to the church at Corinth: 2 Cor 4:17

2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV

¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

In both texts, this is not Paul sugarcoating and rose-coloring our lenses to ignore reality. The word for sufferings in Rom 8:18 is afflictions (plural), which is great suffering and distress due to adversity. Paul will say that these things cause us inward groaning in pain and compare it to labor pains in childbirth. Now you will not be surprised to hear that I have never given birth. In spite of this severe male limitation… I still grasp the metaphor.

Paul does not intend to belittle the reality and severity of your groanings and afflictions. He knows something about them himself. Paul summarizes his resume of affliction a couple times in a second letter to Corinth. In ch. 6 he lists “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger.” Again in ch. 11 he says, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers, in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” (2 Cor 6:4-5, 11:24-28)

Paul knows a little something about steadfastly enduring in suffering with Christ. But the Lord Jesus knows your sufferings and he sees you and he cares for you, and he has journeyed this path before you and will be with you through it.

So part of the way we get through this season of suffering Paul says, is to understand without qualification that all our present afflictions are weightless compared to the incomparable glory that is coming when we are glorified and enjoy God’s glory face to face. We steadfastly endure now because we eagerly expect God to bring us home to a glory that exceedingly outweighs our present afflictions.

So also, Christian, Steadfastly endure afflictions with eager expectation of assured glory…

Just as creation longs for redemption from the fall’s futility. (19-21)

Romans 8:19–21 ESV

¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Personified creation mirrors our afflictions and longing for fulfillment [because of the frustrating futility of the present fallen state], yet with hope of freedom from corruption still to come [with hope of liberation unto consummation].

Creation is waiting with eager longing (similar in v. 23) for the revealing of the sons of God. (Sons of God, vv. 14—17, = God’s ransomed and adopted children through faith in Jesus.) - So why does creation eagerly long for the revelation, for the full and completed disclosure, of the sons of God unto glory? Because when that “revelation” unto glory occurs, all creation itself will be renewed in the new heavens and new earth.

Here are two other things to ponder: 1. Creation is certain that this glorification of the adopted children of God is up ahead. This is better assurance than FDIC protecting your investment. God’s whole creation knows that God’s promise of redemption is sure.

2. Creation is not content with this fallen state of things. Paul doubles up and says it eagerly awaits with eager longing. When we accept God’s authoritative truth in his sacred Scriptures, then we know the present state of this world is not how things are meant to be. Rather, the present situation God has always intended to right, and we long for that day of redemption. Redemption means the act of buying back or rescuing something or someone that was lost, enslaved, or in a state of bondage.

So Paul assumes here that we remember WHY things are not right, why there are labor pains at all. It is because the Holy God disciplined mankind and subjected creation to it’s present fallen futility. What is now assumed is Paul’s earlier teaching that this is because of man’s sin in the garden (Rom 5:12ff). Adam’s sin resulted in our own lives beginning in sin as a consequence of being Adam’s natural descendants. Paul here adds the reminder that the fallenness of the created world is a result of God’s discipline of Adam’s sin. In Genesis 3 we read that God told the woman he would “multiply pain in childbearing,” and to the man he said, “cursed is the ground because of you.” (Gen 3:16-17)

Creation did not ask for this, but God subjected it to futility, as discipline, with a grander purpose in mind of his glory and our good. God’s grander purpose is to reveal his grace and glory: God would provide the means of salvation, he would accomplish that salvation, and he will restore not only saved people but all of the nonhuman creation to be perfect reflections of his glory and goodness.

The present futility of creation means there is a kind of emptiness, a void of its true potential. It does not reflect God’s glory in its fullness. The stars in the sky are impressive, and do indeed declare the glory of God, but those stars are each one in the process burning out; they are dying.

If the present state of things cries out God’s glory, just imagine what it will be like when we and all creation perfectly declare the splendor and goodness of God. ***

I console myself in my inability to travel in this life, that there will literally be unlimited time in the next to exalt God’s glory by exploring his outrageously wonderful creation, by visiting all the varied peoples, and hearing individuals tell of the glory of Christ in how he rescued them and made them God’s own child.

Paul suggests then that we and creation eagerly wait with expectation for God to fulfill his promise of redemption, which includes setting creation itself free from captivity to the corruption man’s sin admitted into it. God will bring all of the created heavens and earth into the same glorious liberty that God’s adopted children will enjoy eternally. When the sons of God are fully and finally revealed in glory, that will mean creation itself will be liberated and restored.

Let’s turn now to that metaphor. We Steadfastly endure afflictions with eager expectation of assured glory…

Because we know that these labor pains precede fulfillment. (22-23) Still personifying Creation, Paul continues.

Romans 8:22–23 ESV

²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

The consummation you eagerly await and long for is preceded by the present labor pains. Why use the picture of groaning in the pains of childbirth? Because in our humanity we can relate, either by experience or some measure of understanding. We knowingly and willingly endure the labor because it precedes the fulfillment and joy of bringing God’s precious gift to us into the light and air. We see our gift, and hold our gift, and kiss their sweet face. We are filled with nearly unspeakable delight and overflowing love for this fulfilled promise of a child—our child.

Paul is helping us to relate: we are afflicted now, but we are almost there! The fulfillment of all our eager expectation is nearly come. And we know it’s arrival will be ravishing joy and ecstasy! - What’s more, brothers and sisters—adopted children of God and fellow heirs with Christ—once these present afflictions are complete and God’s glory is finally revealed in the sons of God and by the restoration of creation in the new heavens and new earth, there will never again be any labor pains or afflictions. There will only and always be glory!

Don’t you see? And don’t you long for God’s consummation of all his promises? Don’t you eagerly wait for God’s gloriously perfected creation and kingdom for all eternity?

You wait with eager longing like you did as a child for Christmas morning, as a Bride for her wedding day, as a mother in labor awaits the arrival of her child. 

And here’s another connection to the pregnancy metaphor that gives us confident assurance of fulfillment:

• The Holy Spirit in you is firstfruits of your adoption and redemption fulfilled!

You cannot see the Spirit, but he is already in you. - In the OT, “firstfruits” describes the first and best part of a crop that is offered to God. Here the role of giver is reversed. God graciously gives the Spirit to believers as the down payment on the many other blessings that he promises to bestow on his heirs, his adopted children.

Christians, we are “pregnant” with confirming evidence of coming glory by the presence of the Spirit. You know he is there and he is not idle. (v.16) He bears witness with our spirit that we are already children of God! So then the Spirit is the downpayment and proof that what has begun in us spiritually will one day result in the completion of our adoption by the redeeming resurrection of our physical bodies. - For Paul, our adoption is fully secured but not yet completely fulfilled, because we must be perfect sons and daughters to dwell forever in God’s household. So glorification of our bodies to finish our adoption is a necessary conclusion to our redemption.

With creation we are experiencing the labor pains that precede the fulfillment of God’s glorious purposes and our completed joy. But the Spirit at work in us is proof that our present afflictions are labor pains. The pains of childbirth is an image that combines longing in suffering with eager expectation (hope) of a rapturously joyful outcome. - Let’s close this part with Jesus’ own use of this illustration in John 16:21-22.

John 16:21–22 ESV

²¹ When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

We will see Jesus face to face in glory, and our hearts will rejoice for all eternity.

Brothers and sisters, let us Steadfastly endure afflictions with eager expectation of assured glory… Because we know that the presence of the Spirit and these labor pains mean there will be a glorious fulfillment of our hope. (22-23)

Finally, we should Steadfastly endure afflictions with eager expectation of assured glory…

Because deliverance by faith in Christ has secured this hope. (24-25)

Romans 8:24–25 ESV

²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

We have been saved into this secure hope, so we eagerly await it with steadfast endurance.

Hope as a verb and noun is in these two verses 5 times! I think we can be sure it’s an important part of what Paul is driving at. Most of you have heard me teach this before, that for Paul hope is an incredibly significant aspect of our faith. Hope is the forward-facing aspect of faith that eagerly expects the culminating fulfillment of God’s promises. [repeat] In this context, Paul is saying that hope possesses an eager confidence that what we have begun to experience of God’s presence and pleasure in the present will reach a glorious consummation in the future.

And upon what is this confidence founded? You were saved, rescued, delivered in this hope by faith in the Son of God, who accomplished the work that ensures your justification. Your hope is secure because God has graciously delivered you by faith in the shed blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have peace with God through Him, you have freed from the death-grip of sin and been united by covenant to the Lord Jesus, and you have been given the indwelling Spirit as God’s presence and power to preserve you and to enable you to please him. All glory to God!

So although we do not presently see the physical evidence of this coming glory, that does not make it less secure. Here Paul states the obvious about hope. Hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? Paul is merely implying that hope by definition is in something presently unseen, to be realized in a future fulfillment.

Hope is your eager expectation of graduating high school or college in the next few months, or the next couple of years. You should actually have present evidence to be confident that it is coming (completing work, passing exams, one class at a time). So you await it with eager longing and expectation.

Or Paul’s metaphor is and has been that we are pregnant with hope by the Spirit. Just as a pregnant woman sees her belly swell as the precious child grows in her womb, so we have evidence of the Spirit in us. And that evidence is proof that we are God’s adopted children, who are soon to receive the glorious inheritance of our completed adoption by the redemption of our bodies!

All of this means that we do indeed have an assured hope because Christ has already secured our salvation—that we are in Him and God’s Spirit is in us! The outcome is not in doubt. We therefore eagerly wait for the fulfillment of our present hope with steadfast endurance.

Paul has not sugar-coated that what we are up against in the present that requires steadfast endurance. In this season of waiting to be taken home or for the king to return, we live not with bubbles and cruise ships but with afflictions and labor pains. It is true that God in his mercy gives moments of respite and rest from the hardest moments of battle. But we know that Satan’s fight for our souls against God’s glory is always on.

Yet we also know two things with utmost certainty: 1. We know that we are on the winning side because God has made us his own children, who know that God has already secured the victory.  2. We live in the eschaton, and whatever timeframe God the Father has set, Jesus is coming soon!

We are therefore motivated by this assurance for steadfast endurance because we wait for glory with eager longing and expectation. We steadfastly endure the present labor pains because we know our joy will soon be fulfilled—our glorification into the full revelation of the glory of God to us!

In conclusion I ask you then… 

Conclusion: What difference does it make to have hope in suffering? 

One thing is this: Enduring afflictions with Christ does not diminish our assurance, but grants us further assurance that God will consummate his glorious promises that he has begun in us. In fact, Paul says, our present sufferings with Jesus are like the labor pains that precede the glorious revealing of the object of our eager longing.

We therefore learn from Paul’s teaching here that…

• Eternal expectations have present ramifications. Certainty about our future impacts our present experience.

The expectant mother endures labor pains for the joy set before her of holding her child in her arms. The Olympian draws motivation for endurance knowing the finish line is up ahead. The journeyman persists forward, knowing that the destination he longs for is still to come. And the sojourner knows not to fall in love with his present surroundings because his hope is in a better home.

Brothers and sisters, let us endure steadfastly in the present with eager hope in our assured future. Let us be faith-filled sailors who keep our eyes fixed on the north star—the Lord Jesus—the founder and finisher of our faith.

PRAY

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