{"id":1785,"date":"2010-06-17T18:14:27","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T00:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1785"},"modified":"2010-06-17T18:14:27","modified_gmt":"2010-06-18T00:14:27","slug":"romans-822-wait-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-822-wait-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 8:22 – Wait For It …"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Romans 8:22 – Wait For It …<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

All of creation eagerly awaits the end of time when they will be made anew.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word translated \u201cgroans<\/span>\u201d is sustenadz\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which is a compound word made up of \u201csun<\/span><\/em>\u201d meaning \u201ctogether\u201d and stenadz\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto groan or to sigh.\u201d Thus we see it means \u201cto groan together\u201d or \u201cto sigh together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLabors with birth pangs together<\/span>\u201d is from a single Greek word, sun\u014ddin\u014d<\/span><\/em>. This is also a compound word. It is made up of sun<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201ctogether\u201d and a form of \u014ddin\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto be in pain as a woman who is in the process of giving birth.\u201d Therefore, this word means \u201cto be in labor pains together.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the only place in the entire New Testament that these two words appear. Notice that both of these verbs contain sun<\/span><\/em>. Hence, we could translate this verse as, \u201cFor we know that all creation groans together and is in labor pains together until now.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in verse nineteen we talked about whether ktisis<\/span><\/em> referred to a single creature or to creation as a single collection of created things. The current verse gives us evidence that it refers to all of the visible creation. First, the entire flow of these few verses makes sense if the word ktisis<\/span><\/em> is referring to the same thing or collection of things throughout. Secondly, the fact that both of the verbs we talked about above are in the third person singular and yet are done \u201ctogether\u201d implies that ktisis<\/span><\/em> refers to a collection of created things rather than a single created thing.<\/p>\n

With that under our belt, we can see that Paul is probably talking metaphorically about how all of the visible creation is waiting to be delivered from the bondage of corruption as we talked about in the previous verse. And why do I think Paul is being metaphorical? Because, just as I started out this paragraph with a metaphor (none of us really put the first two paragraphs under our belt), I believe that creation doesn\u2019t really feel pain, nor is it about to give birth. However, it is quite possible that all of creation is groaning, or sighing.<\/p>\n

Paul is saying that all of creation is eagerly anticipating the revelation of the sons of God because it (creation) has been placed in a condition where it is not fully useful and is decaying due to the sin of man. In verse twenty-one Paul told us that creation will be set free from the bondage of decay and corruption. All creation is now in a state of travail or painful waiting until sin is dealt with and all is recreated in the new heavens and the new earth. The new heavens and new earth will be free from decay and will no longer be groaning or sighing.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The next time you hear a tree creak from the wind blowing through it or hear of an earthquake, a massive storm, or a tidal wave, remember that all of creation is groaning and in pain until the consummation of time, waiting for our salvation to be completed and for all things to be made perfectly new.<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 8:22 – Wait For It … For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Truth to Learn All of creation eagerly awaits the end of time when they will be made anew. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cgroans\u201d is sustenadz\u014d, which is a compound word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[961,945,962,963,964,965],"class_list":["post-1785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birth-pangs","tag-creation","tag-groans","tag-labors","tag-sunodino","tag-sustenadzo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-sN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}