Some Key Words (9/27/00-9/28/00)

Consider (logizomai [3049]):

to put to one's account, to value or esteem, to conclude, infer, or believe; to calculate, take into account, impute, to consider as equivalent, to number among, to reckon, to gather or infer, to consider, meditate on, to judge, decide; to take an inventory, estimate

Sufferings (pathema [3804]):

that which is suffered, affliction; what is or has been suffered, misfortune or calamity, an afflicting passion, an enduring or undergoing; something undergone as hardship or pain

Glory (doxa [1391]):

appearance or reputation, the recognition belonging to a person, image and character, that which catches the eye in one's appearance, splendor, brilliance, all which is excellent in God's nature; a judgement or view, an opinion regarding someone resulting in their praise, honor, and glory, splendor, brightness, magnificence, excellence, preeminence, grace, majesty, a most exalted state; very apparent glory

Revealed (apokalupto [601]):

from cover, to remove a veil and expose what was hidden to view, to make manifest, to reveal a secret; to uncover, lay open, disclose, make known; to take off the cover

Anxious longing (apokaradokia [603]):

to expect from the head, attentive expectation, earnestly looking for - as with head straining forward for an earlier sighting; anxious and persistent expectation; intense anticipation

Creation (ktisis [2937]):

a founding, colonization, what is created, the total of what is created, the total of what God has created, or an individual creature therein; the act of founding, establishing, creating, the thing created, the sum of all things created, an institution; the act of original formation, the thing formed

Waits eagerly for (apekdechomai [553]):

to wait for with hope and patience; assiduously and patiently waiting for; to expect fully

Sons (huios [5207]):

son - emphasizing relationship, displaying the prominent moral characteristics of the parent, legitimate offspring; a son, a descendant, of one's posterity, those whom God loves and esteems as sons, those who revere God as their father, whose character and life resemble God and are governed by His Spirit; of immediate kinship

Subjected (hupotasso [5293]):

to place in orderly fashion under, compulsory or voluntary subordination to a superior; to arrange under, to subject, to submit to one's control, to obey, to arrange troops in military fashion under a leader, to cooperate; to subordinate, to obey

Futility (mataiotes [3153]):

vanity, nothingness, worthlessness; what is devoid of truth and appropriateness, depravity, lack of vigor; inutility, of transient nature

Will (hekon [1635]):

willing, unconstrained and gladly willing; unforced, voluntary, one's own will and accord; voluntary

Hope (elpis [1680]):

the desire of some good with expectation of obtaining it, the thing hoped for, the basis for hope, confidence and security; confident expectation of eternal salvation, the foundation for hope, the thing hoped for; to anticipate with pleasure and expectation

Set free (eleutheroo [1659]):

to liberate, the result of redemption; to make free, set at liberty; to exempt from moral, ceremonial or mortal liability

Slavery (douleuo [1397]):

servitude, dependence, the state of one prevented from free possession of his life, the opposite of liberty; bondage, the condition of a slave; slavery

Corruption (phthora [5356]):

destruction, perishing, what is subject to corruption, eternal misery in hell, moral decay; ruin

Freedom (eleutheria [1657]):

generosity, independence, one of the blessings of grace, the future state of God's children; liberty to do or omit things that don't pertain to salvation, license, the liberty to do as one pleases, true liberty to live as we should; freedom or licentiousness - mostly in a moral or ceremonial sense

Children (teknon [5043]):

one begotten or born; offspring, one who shares bonds akin to those a child has with their parents, pupils or disciples, one possessed by a desire for or addicted to something or someone, those who pursue wisdom; a child produced

 

Paraphrase: (9/27/00)

18 For my present sufferings are inconsequential to me, and cannot in any way compare to the glory that will be revealed to us. 19 For even creation anxiously waits for our sonship to be revealed to all. 20 For creation was submitted to His will in becoming subject to futility, 21 in hope of its joining with the children of God to share in their freedom from corruption.

Key Verse: (9/27/00)

8:18 - Our sufferings are as nothing when we compare them to our future glory.

People Mentioned: (9/27/00)

N/A

Some Parallel Verses (9/28/00)

8:18

2Co 4:17 - The temporary afflictions we suffer now are building an incomparable value of glory in eternity. 1Pe 4:13 - Rejoice in the sufferings you share with Christ, as it brings you the ability to rejoice with Him at His glorification. Col 3:4 - For, when He is revealed, we who live by Him will also be revealed as sharing His glory. Ti 2:13 - We look expectantly and with joy for the appearing of our Savior, when He comes in glory. 1Pe 1:5 - We are protected by God's power to preserve us for the salvation to be revealed, all through faith. 1Pe 5:1 - Peter exhorts as a fellow witness to Christ's sufferings, and a fellow participant in His glory to be revealed.

8:19

Php 1:20 - Paul's earnest expectation is that he will not be shamed, but rather he will exalt Christ in his body boldly, in life and in death. 1Co 1:7-8 - We are fully gifted and enabled to eagerly await Christ's revelation, and He will keep us blameless to the end. Col 3:4 - We will be revealed along with Christ. 1Pe 1:7 - Our faith will be proved by testing, as is gold, so that we may be found to be to His glory and honor when Christ is revealed. 1Pe 1:13 - As such, our hope is fixed firmly on the grace to come, and we remain ready for action. 1Jn 3:2 - We are already His children, but there is more to come, for when He comes, we will be like Him, and see Him as He truly is. Hos 1:10 - We, who were not of His people, will be called His sons. Mt 5:9 - His sons are peacemakers, Jn 1:12 - made his children in receiving Christ, Ro 9:8 - according to promise, Ro 9:26 - sons of the living God, 2Co 6:18 - with God as our father, Gal 3:26 - through faith in Christ, 1Jn 3:1 - objects of His great love, Rev 21:7 - overcomers, inheriting the things of God.

8:20

Ge 3:17-19 - The curse of Adam falls upon the ground, as well as on mankind, leaving it unable to produce as it ought. Ps 39:5 - Our lifetime is as nothing in sight of eternity, our best a mere breath, passing and ephemeral. Ecc 1:2 - All that we know in this life is vanity and futility. Ge 3:17 - The cursing of the ground was by God's command. Ge 5:29 - Noah was so named as the one who would bring rest from the labor of working the ground that God cursed.

8:21

Ac 3:21 - The time will come when all things are restored according to God's word. Until then, Christ must remain in heaven. 2Pe 3:13 - There will come a new heaven and earth, inhabited by righteousness, in accord with the promises of God, Rev 21:1 - for the first earth will pass away, and all that is on it.

 

New Thoughts (9/29/00)

First, I want to put definitions back into verses 19 and 21:

19 For the anxious and persistent expectation of all that God has created patiently and hopefully waits for, with full expectation of seeing the revealing of those whose character and life resemble God and are governed by His Spirit.

21 [in desire expecting to obtain] that all that God has created itself also will be liberated and exempted from any moral liability arising from its having been prevented from freely possessing its life and rather, in having been in bondage to destruction and moral decay, into the true liberty to live as it should, as is the most exalted state of those who are possessed by a desire for and addicted to God.

All of creation looks to the time when we will be seen to have the character of God in us, when we will visibly live out our lives in a way that is clearly governed by His Spirit. All of creation! That on earth, and that in heaven. We tend, all too often, (at least I do) to go through our days as a hidden force - a stealth team for God, as it were. Spies infiltrating into enemy territory, we work from concealment, praying for those around us. But, creation - suffering under the same curse as we - is looking for us to leave our concealed positions and openly display God's work in us! The world longs to see a people who can boldly and truthfully present themselves as an example that it is possible. I long for that day! I long for a time when I can stand forth, and with no misgivings say "Here stands a representative of God. Here stands a man whose life is lived by God's rule alone, without blemish. Here is the result of God's Spirit leading a life." I want to be able to say this, but so far the blemishes remain. Oh, but I know He's at work in me, changing the damaged part, making all as it is supposed to be. But it's a slow work, and I remain convinced that I'll not see the finished results until I've seen Him as He truly is: when He comes in power and glory.

Our great glory, as His children, will be when we are finally able to live in this way, when we are finally able to live in perfect accord with God's design and desire. When we are able to do so, all of creation will be able to do so. Not just mankind, not just the plants and animals, and other things of nature, but all of creation. Can this truly include the angelic host? Are they, too, subject to futility? I would think that, yes, in part they are, for otherwise how did some fall away? The incorruptible cannot be corrupted, can it? It is written that we will judge angels, it is written that we will be an instruction to them. These are awesome statements! And their freedom will come at the time that our full freedom comes, at the coming of Christ. When He is revealed as He truly is, we will be made complete, and our resemblance to our Father in heaven will be made full. Until then, we all, together, look forward with expectation, possessed by desire for God, and addicted to His attentions.

1Pe 1:5 points out that we are being preserved by God's power for a salvation to come. This rather surprised me, as I tend to think of salvation as an accomplished fact. Perhaps it's a confusion between election and salvation? Or redemption and salvation? I'd just not thought of it as a future thing, yet it clearly is so. To be saved from something suggests being removed from its sphere of influence, and this has not yet occurred. We are still in the world, although we've been allowed to recognize that it's not our home. Perhaps the better answer to "Are you saved?" is "Not yet, but I will be!" Perhaps the better question is "Will you be saved?" God, I thank You for assurance. I confess that I don't fully understand what's accomplished, what's been done, and what's yet to come in the plan, but I'm assured that all will be accomplished in full. I praise You, Lord. I hunger for You to be with me throughout my days. I can't wait to be in Your presence. I can't get enough. Lord, a few days ago You gave me an insight into what it feels like to be Your child, and that image remains. I don't ever want You to leave to go elsewhere. Wherever You go, I pray You'd take me with You. I just want to be with You. Let's do something together, today.