Romans 8:19-22 meaning

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All of God’s creation desires for God to finally restore it to a perfect, harmonious state. One day God will do this, and all of creation will be freed from its corrupted state and will once again be as God originally designed it. And believers who receive the reward of reigning with Christ will take their proper place as joint-heirs, or "sons." But for now, we’re looking forward in hope to this day, despite whatever pains we experience.

In verse 19, Paul continues the line of thought about humans being restored to reign over a righteous and harmonious earth: For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. This refers to those who receive the reward of being adopted as a son. The creation is now in the futility of the fall; it was designed to be lovingly stewarded by faithful and serving humans. But that isn't happening now. But the creation waits eagerly for humans to be restored to manage it. That will be led by Jesus Christ, who had all authority given to Him for His faithful obedience (Matthew 28:18; Philippians 2:8-10). And Jesus will lead "many sons to glory" in restoring them to their rightful position (Hebrews 2:10). It is the restoration of these sons of God that the creation longs for, as they will share the inheritance of Christ (Romans 8:17b).

In speaking of sons of God, Paul is likely referring to a custom his Roman audience would have been familiar with as a coming-of-age ceremony for Roman males to progress from boy to man. There were two stages of Roman adoption (from boy to man):

1) to be placed as a "son" at age 14, with voting rights;

2) to be placed as a mature son at age 25, with property rights.

The analogy applies to believers in that all believers have "voting" rights now (free to choose sin or righteousness, Romans 6:16-19); but those who suffer with Christ will have "property rights" in the world to come (inheritance in His Kingdom, Romans 8:17b).

This can be confusing because as children born of the Spirit, we are born into God's family as children, and we tend to think of that as the only sort of adoption. But Paul uses the term both to describe becoming God's child (which comes with unconditional benefits all believers enjoy) as well as gaining a reward as a mature believer that is conditioned on faithfulness.

This idea of adoption for adults as a means of reward was not limited to Roman culture. In Hebrews 1, there is a rather elaborate description of Jesus being adopted as a "Son" over all humanity, largely quoted from Psalms. This is patterned after a common practice for eastern rulers to "adopt" a faithful servant into the royal family as a reward for faithful service, and bestow upon them property rights, territories over which to reign.

All believers are God's children, but only the believers who suffer with Jesus receive the reward of the inheritance that comes with Jesus's authority over the New Earth.

Right now, the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (vv 20-21).

All of God's creation is agonizing and waiting for a restoration: For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now (v 22). The hope remains that one day all of creation will be overseen by servant kings who serve in harmony and create harmony. The creation is in angst, and can't wait for that day to come.

The Him in verse 20 is referring to God, who cursed creation along with man, after Adam brought sin into the world (Genesis 3:17-19). Paul discusses the hope that creation has, along with believers, of redemption from God.

For creation, this redemption looks like re-creation, when God will make the new heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21:1). This "new creation" is the same sort of language referencing rebirth, renewal, and so forth that is used when Paul talks about believers as new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15, Romans 6:4).

So, just as we long to be given new bodies and the glory that is to be revealed to us (v 18), so does creation. It longs for the redemption and re-creation in the new heavens and New Earth. Creation will be set free from its slavery to corruption when it is created anew, as Revelation 21 promises. We too will be made anew when we are freed from our mortal bodies and sin nature (v 10), and given new bodies, which Paul talks about in the next verse (23).

When we, as believers, are received into heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18) we will be with the Lord forever, but heaven is not the final destination of believers; our final destination is a new earth (Revelation 21:1). We can think of heaven as a train stop on the way to our true destination, the New Earth (Revelation 21:1).

God's original design, which we find in Genesis chapters 1-3, was for man to rule over a perfect world in harmony with God, nature, and one another. But man and the earth/creation were cursed when Adam brought sin into the world. Our redemption through faith in Jesus is how God offers to restore us—and all of creation—to that original plan, serving with Jesus ruling over earth (Philippians 2:8-11).

Here in Romans 8, Paul refers to the Fall of Man as the futility to which the creation was subjected. When Adam and Eve sinned, humanity and creation itself became corrupted. Part of that corruption comes from having a corrupt ruler, Satan, who displaced us when we fell (2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 5:19). God designed humans to reign over the earth. Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2:5-9 tell us that God “crowned” (gave authority to) humans with the “glory and honor” of reigning over creation. But as Hebrews 2:9 notes, “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to [humanity].” This is because of the Fall.

Thankfully, the current futility will not last forever. Hebrews 2:9 continues, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels [i.e. became human], namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.” To Jesus has been restored the “glory and honor” of reigning over creation (Matthew 28:18, Hebrews 2:12, Revelation 2:26-27, 3:21). In the parable of the talents, Jesus teaches that the reward for faithful stewardship will be to enter His “joy” by sharing His authority (Matthew 25:21). In Revelation, Jesus says He desires to reward believers (His servants) who overcome as He overcame by sharing His throne of authority with them (Revelation 3:21).

Jesus is the “Son” over all creation (Hebrews 1:5). He was appointed “Son” as a human because of His faithfulness in following the will of God (Philippians 2:5-10). The reward of being a “Son” follows the ancient tradition moderns call a “suzerain-vassal treaty” where the superior ruler adopts a faithful servant as a “son” to reign over part of his realm, as a reward for faithful service.

Hebrews 2:10 then goes on to spell out that it is Jesus’s desire to bring “many sons to glory.” In context, “glory” refers to reigning (Hebrews 2:7). All who believe on Jesus are children of God (John 3:5, 14-15). As we saw in Romans 8:16-17, the Spirit testifies to all who have believed that they are children of God. But in order to be “fellow heirs” with Christ to share in His reign, we must “suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

Again, the glory in mind is the authority to reign. The picture scripture paints is that Jesus will only appoint to reign with Him faithful servants willing to serve. His administration will be filled with servant leaders. Satan is a tyrant and the way of the current world is tyranny; it is the strong exploiting the weak. But in Jesus’s reign, the earth will have no more tyrants. Only servants will have authority to reign. Creation will be restored to its original design.

That is why the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God (v. 19). The sons of God are the faithful believers who have been rewarded to share in Jesus’s inheritance because they shared in His sufferings—they are the sons of God. The revealing of the sons of God will take place when Jesus inaugurates His reign over the earth (Revelation 11:15). At that point Satan will be dethroned (Revelation 20:1-3).

The sons of God are the believers who overcome this world as Christ overcame, living with Christ’s mindset and obedience through suffering (Philippians 2:8-9). To become a son is to gain the great reward for faithful service. This is the great reward promised in Revelation 1:3. To “heed the things” written in the book of Revelation is to overcome as Jesus overcame. Jesus overcame the temptation to follow His own way and instead lived in perfect obedience to His Father (Philippians 2:8).

Paul writes that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (v. 21). The glory of the children of God will set creation free, because humans will through the “suffering of death” in Christ (Hebrews 2:9) and the sharing in His sufferings (Romans 8:17) gain through Christ the “glory and honor” of reigning over creation with Him. They will not reign as exploiters but rather as stewards. All will be set right, according to God’s good design.

This is why creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. When the sons of God are revealed at the founding of Christ’s kingdom on earth, creation will be set free from its slavery to corruption. It will be set free to share the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Because we will reign with Christ, the glory of the children of God will help set creation free.

The parallel between the sons and heirs described in Romans 8 and in Hebrews 2 is evident. Christ is in the process of bringing “many sons” (sons of God - v. 19) “to glory”/to be “fellow heirs with Christ” (Hebrews 2:10, Romans 8:17).

This is why we live in hope (v. 20). Currently, none of this is a reality. We are in the process of being brought up as sons into glory through sufferings. Due to the Fall of Man, we do not see humans reigning as servant leaders over the earth. We do not observe a broad pattern of humans collaborating with one another or thriving in harmony with God and His design for the earth. Instead, we see death, destruction, wars, and turmoil. Paul describes this reality, For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now (v. 22).

However, as Hebrews 2:9-10 tells us, we do see Jesus “for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.” This “glory and honor” is the authority over heaven and earth given to Jesus as a reward for His obedience to God as a faithful witness. Jesus was given the reward of being the Son (ruler) over all creation, as a human (Hebrews 1:5).

Jesus’s desire is to bring many sons to glory with Him. Faithful believers are these sons of God, mentioned both here and in Hebrews 2. The perfecting or “completion” of our journey to becoming sons is attained “through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10), just as Paul explained in the prior passage, that we will be fellow heirs with Christ “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17). We will be “glorified with Him,” given His throne to share (Revelation 3:21) to rule over the earth, which was our original designed role when we were created.

The Apostle Peter likewise describes suffering to be our present “purpose,”

“Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose.”

(1 Peter 4:1)

Our current purpose is to “suffer with Him” what He suffered —the rejection of the world, “the suffering of death.” Death means separation; if we are faithful, the world will reject us and we will experience loss by earthly standards, so that we gain eternal rewards, as the “many sons” whom Christ brings “to glory.” Then we will regain the purpose for which God originally created us (Hebrews 2:7-8).

This means that when believers glorify God by doing the work He leads us to do, we are promised that Jesus will reward us by sharing His glory with us (1 Peter 4:13). As we see in Romans 2:6-7, those who seek glory from Jesus by doing good deeds will be rewarded with “eternal life.” In this instance, “eternal life” is a reward and seems to refer to the marvelous opportunity to serve with Christ in His “administration” during the Messianic Kingdom.

Jesus endured rejection and death from the world in order to please His Father, and in doing so gained His Father's joy, which was the greatest of rewards (Hebrews 12:1-2). The Father exalted His Son because of His obedience (Hebrews 1:5, 8, 13, 2:9-10, Revelation 3:21, Matthew 28:18). And the Son of God taught His disciples to follow His example to inherit the same joy and reward (Matthew 25:21).

(This inheritance of Jesus for His sacrifice on the cross and the opportunity we have to be fellow heirs with Him, is further explained in the commentary for verses 15-18.)

So, just as creation was cursed alongside man, it will be redeemed with us (believers) through faith. The suffering of creation is described as the pangs of childbirth together until now. This indicates that the earth will go through convulsing cycles until there is a great pain at the end, then a new creation is born. This is verified by Revelation and Daniel, which predict that the time of the end of this age will be accompanied by enormous tribulation (Matthew 24:22). But at the end, Jesus will return, and thus will begin a process of rebirth for all of creation.