Peter Barnes | Romans 8:19-22
SERMON NOTES
CREATION GROANS
(Romans 8:19-22)
– Romans 8:18 governs the rest of Romans 8.
1. The creation is addressed.
– it is not the creature (KJV), nor is it angels, or Satan, demons, or unbelievers, or Christians (who are only introduced in verse 23)
– personification in addressing nature as in Ps.96:11-12; 148:3-10; Habakkuk 3:10
2. The creation groans.
– ‘nature, red in tooth and claw’ (Tennyson)
– futility (8:20), as the creation was cursed in the Fall (Gen.3:17-19; note Ps.107:33-34)
– renewal of creation in Isa.11:6-9; 35:1-2
3. The creation will be redeemed.
– in futility but also in hope
– the sighs and groans are not death pangs but birth pangs
– Milton wrote Paradise Lost but also Paradise Regained
– even now, creation is not all tsunamis and weeds; cf. Matt.6:28-29