Pre-Launch Bible Study: Romans 8:18-27

Tonight we’re looking at our largest passage of Scripture from Romans 8, but we can break it down into two sections: verses 18-25 and verses 26-27.

The Apostle Paul has focused on a couple of things so far in this chapter: first on the freedom we have as Christians from the condemnation of sin, then secondly on the hope we have of one day not just being declared righteous because of Jesus’ work in our place but being fully made righteous and glorified with perfect bodies to live with Christ.

But, on that second point, we ended our time last week with verse 17:

Romans 8:17 ESV

¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

This suffering refers to our our entire life lived “in the flesh” as we await to be united with Christ. It’s enduring the hardships of a world that’s been broken because of sin. It’s the battle of the Christian life that Paul introduced through his own story back in Romans 7 as we struggle with our sin but are being led by the Spirit to become more like Jesus.

And that’s a good thing… but it still involves suffering. As Paul moves into this next section, he’s going to show us how we can have hope and help even in the hardest moments of life. So, let’s start by reading our passage:

Romans 8:18–27 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.

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Right at the start of verse 18 is Paul’s favorite word in this chapter: “For”. Like we’ve been saying each week, that word “For” or “Therefore” or “So then” is connecting a thought with a preceding thought either giving the reason behind it or evidence for it.

So, because Paul’s uses the “For” here in verse 18, we know that he is qualifying verse 17, which told us that we’d have to suffer with Christ in order to be glorified with Christ. It’s like Paul is saying, “It’s true. We’re going to suffer as Christians on earth as we wait to be glorified with Christ.” BUT! these sufferings “are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” What’s coming (being glorified with Jesus) is so much greater than anything we’ll experience in this life)!

Why is it so much greater? Paul’s going to get there in verse 23, but first he wants to set it up. Think of it like a diamond (dark backdrop…)

Where does Paul go to set up the dark backdrop? Not only do we experience suffering, verses 19 and 20 tell us all of creation does. It was subjected to futility. Every aspect of creation experiences death, decay, and disorder from its original design. Natural disasters, southern Louisiana heat—all the results of sin.

So, creation is looking intently to where sin entered the world: humanity. Verse 20 tells us creation is “waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” That word “revealing” is the same word for “revealed” in verse 18, which tells us that it’s talking about the same thing. Paul’s not saying creation is waiting to “find out” who the sons of God are; creation is waiting for us to be fully glorified with Christ. That final revealing.

John Piper, who you might know from his preaching or writing ministry, points out that our western culture often wants to flip this verse around. We find ourselves eagerly waiting for God to come and fix the brokenness of the world believing when the world is fixed then that will be good news for us. But that’s not what Paul says here. It’s the opposite. Creation is the one waiting for God to come and fully fix us.

Creation has been subjected to the effects of sin, and this wasn’t something that creation chose (i.e., “not willingly”). Creation didn’t choose to sin (humans did). But creation experiences the affects of sin because of “him who subjected it.” This “him” has to be referring to God because of the reason verse 21 gives for why creation was subjected to the affects of sin:

In hope…

Romans 8:21 ESV

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.

Satan doesn’t want to free creation from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Man wasn’t thinking about that motivation when we chose a sinful identity apart from God’s character and rule over our lives either. Clearly, it’s God who subjected creation to futility, which is fascinating.

Paul is saying that God has allowed all of creation to experience the affects of our sin so that, when Jesus redeems a people for God and frees them from their sin, he will likewise free all of creation from its corruption. Jesus is not just the Savior for people; he’s the savior for all of creation. That’s what we find elsewhere in Scripture.

James 1:18 ESV

¹⁸ Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

That word, “firstfruits” is going to be mentioned in the backend of our passage as well when we get to verse 23. Us receiving the Holy Spirit and being set free from the law of sin and death is just the beginning. The good news of Jesus is ultimately heading toward Revelation 21:6 when he says, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

Given what Paul has said about the brokenness of creation, it makes sense that it is intently waiting for that glorious day. Things are not right in the world, but Paul paints a different picture in verse 22. It might look like things are falling apart, but the “groanings” of creation are not death pangs but birth pains.

ILLUSTRATION: actual birth; those might sound similar

Something wonderful is coming, but it is a very hard labor while we wait (but, looking back to verse 18, and just like childbirth, it will be so very worth it).

Then, as we move to verse 23, Paul tells us that we are also groaning during this time (that’s one way to look at Paul in Romans 7:15-25 talking about his wretchedness as he battles against his flesh). And it makes sense why Christians would be groaning in this already-but not yet period of life where we’ve been justified through the work of Jesus but are still waiting to be fully glorified with Jesus.

ILLUSTRATION: I can’t say the words “ice cream” or “movie” around Oliver, or he won’t be able to think of anything else till he gets those things; like Jesus justifying us and declaring us righteous like him, but we still struggle and wait to actually be fully made that way.

But as we get to the end of verse 23, we find the main reasons why the wait and the suffering is worth it; one day we will be fully adopted as sons (meaning we’ll be united with God and receive all the blessings of a child of God), and we’ll be redeemed with new physical bodies.

For those of us who are Christians, our Spirits have been redeemed and made new with Christ, but one day, our bodies will be fully redeemed as well. We’ll have a heart that fully desires God, and a perfect body that perfectly lives in freedom from sin, death, and decay as we dwell with God.

That’s worth the wait. Paul agrees and says in verses 24-25 that “this is our hope.” But, almost immediately, he recognizes that this hope might not feel very near to us. Our bodies being redeemed and perfect in Christ is not something we can fully fathom, especially when we’re struggling and suffering now.

So, he offers this encouragement: it’s okay if you’re struggling to see what this would be like; if you don’t have a category for being glorified with Christ. Part of it being worth the wait it is being incomprehensible to us now. We haven’t seen it happen to us yet, and that’s why it’s our “hope.”

But because of the God who has saved us and his Spirit who indwells us, we can be confident in our hope and “wait for it with patience” (because you can’t wait patiently for anything if you’re not confident it will come… wondering if a restaurant forgot your food order…).

If verses 18-25 shared with us our “hope”, these next two verses share with us our “help.” The “Likewise” in verse 26 connects us to the previous section, and that is important for understanding what the Holy Spirit is doing for us in these verses. Let’s read verses 26-27 again.

Romans 8:26–27 ESV

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Our “weakness” that the Holy Spirit is helping us in connects to the previous section, which speaks about the “sufferings of this present time” (v.18), things we must suffer if we are going to be “glorified with Christ” (v. 17).

So, how does the Holy Spirit help us? When a family member is diagnosed with cancer? When you suddenly lose your job? When you’re struggling with an area of sin that you just keep coming back to?

Let’s take the answer in the order that Paul provides it. First, the Spirit intercedes for us. Another way you can think of that is that he prays for us in our weakness. Why does he need to do that? Because, like the middle of verse 26 says, we don’t know how to prayer for our suffering and weakness well.

Should we pray that our suffering stops? Should we pray that God gives us strength to endure it? Should we pray that God would use it a certain way?

But still, the idea of the Holy Spirit interceding to God the Father might seem a little strange. Isn’t that just God praying to himself? We can take more time another day to unpack the beauty of what it means that God is triune (one God in three distinct persons), but the beauty of what these verses are saying should astound us:

God the Father hears the prayers of God the Spirit because of the finished work of God the Son. The entire Trinity is working to help us in our weakness and make sure we persevere in Christ to the end (that’s why Paul can conclude this chapter saying he is sure that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ).

But how does the Spirit do this? How exactly does he intercede for us? The end of verse 26 shares “with groanings too deep for words.” Now, I think this verse is often misunderstood, but that’s just because we don’t take enough time to think it through. These aren’t the Spirit’s groanings in verse 26. Why would the Spirit groan? The Spirit is God. He’s not suffering and weak. He’s helping us in our weakness.

No, I believe the text is telling us these are our groanings. The way the Holy Spirit intercedes for us to the Father is by stirring up our hearts to produce these groanings where we desire God’s help in ways we don’t even understand how to articulate.

This is what the Holy Spirit does in verse 23 also. One result of having the “firstfruits” of the Spirit is that we “groan inwardly.” Again, back in verse 15, it is the Holy Spirit leading us to cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Moving on to verse 27, as the Spirit stirs up these groanings for God in our hearts, he who searches hearts and hears these groanings (which is God the Father), understands how the Spirit is interceding for us because why? The Father knows that the mind of the Spirit is set on leading us toward the will of God. And one of our verses for next week, verse 28, gives us the will of God in this passage:

Romans 8:28 ESV

²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

The will of God is that everything work together for our good. That’s what the Spirit is praying for in our weakness as we suffer through this time as followers of Jesus who have been set free from the condemnation of our sin but still struggle with our flesh desiring sin.

He’s praying that all the weakness in our flesh, all the futility and death and decay and disorder we experience in creation, that God the Father would use all of it for our good, so that, as verse 17 said, as we suffer with Christ, we will be made more like Christ until one day we will be finally and fully glorified with Christ. This is our hope!

Now, two practical takeaways as we close out tonight. How can we summarize our application to this passage?

1. You are not alone in your struggles

2. Your struggles are not in vain