Romans 8 is probably my favorite chapter in the Bible. It begins with “no condemnation”, moves on to sonship and inheritance for those led by the Spirit rather than the flesh, and ends with a view of God’s sovereign love and grace that absolutely blows my mind with its beauty. Buried right in the middle is this short passage. It’s the most overlooked part of the chapter, but its significance is beyond calculation.

Romans 8:18–25 (ESV)
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
23And 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.
24For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

I think there may be two reasons why this passage is rarely emphasized.

1. There was a fringe (not mainstream but influential) pentecostal group in post World War II America and Canada called The Latter Rain Movement that emphasized this passage.

This movement stretched the theological boundaries of mainstream pentecostalism through their views on the end times, the five-fold ministry, the laying on of hands, and personal prophecy. One of their doctrinal distinctions was centered around a phrase from this passage. In verse 19, Paul writes:

19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

This doctrine was called “The Manifest Sons of God”. They taught that in the end times there would be a group of believers who would walk in the same miraculous power as Jesus and would usher in world wide evangelism and ultimately the return of Christ for a victorious church. That’s my summary of their position anyway. If it’s anywhere close to accurate, I’m not exactly sure why it was considered so extreme. Anyway, it was certainly rejected by the mainstream folks and it very much was a departure from the pessimistic dispensational “I’ll fly away” eschatology within the mainstream pentecostal circles. Because of this (and other reasons), the Latter Rain Movement was rejected. Fundamentalist circles still attempt to discredit modern day Charismatic and/or Pentecostal ministries by trying to tie them to Latter Day connections. I suspect that Rom 8:18-25 is at least partly ignored because it has, in recent history, been so tied to a rejected church movement which mainstream believers don’t want to be associated with. In my opinion, the Latter Rain’s major mistake was in missing the implications of verse 18. There is a present age. There is an age to come. It is healthy to contend for the reality of the age to come to break forth into the present age. Error enters in when we expect the present age to, in fact, be the age to come. Due to this failure to rightly distinguish the present and future aspects of what Paul is addressing, this movement failed to recognize this passage as a longing for the resurrection from the dead and instead saw it as a longing that was to be fulfilled prior to the return of Christ, in the present age.

2. This passage presents a hope for the end times anchored in a future bodily resurrection of the dead and the renewal of God’s good creation.

In an age where the Church has largely lost sight of Genesis 1-2, and knows NOT what to do with 1 Cor 15 or Rev 21, we have framed the gospel merely in terms of God making a way for us to go to heaven when we die. With this “going to heaven” emphasis, talk of liberating creation from its bondage to decay or the redemption of our bodies just simply doesn’t fit within our grid. It is thereby ignored, lest we have to adjust our grid. Because we have understood Jesus’ return as the catalyst for our departure, images of dead bodies rising from their graves and all of creation being renewed as heaven and earth are rejoined just don’t make sense.

On the other hand, when you give Gen 1-2 a careful reading, looking for an answer to the question “What is God’s goal in creation?”, it becomes apparent that God desires a good creation governed by Men/Women who carry God’s image and authority and whose source is God’s own life/breath. Given this, it only makes sense that his goal in redemption is to bring creation back into alignment with this original design. From this perspective, 1 Cor 15, which is all about a future bodily resurrection from the dead, and Rev 21, which is all about a future time when God will rejoin heaven and earth in one great act of New Creation, and this passage, Rom 8:18-25 make total sense.

It is this new creation reality of resurrection that all creation is groaning towards (see vs 22). And we too are groaning (see vs 23). And the Spirit.

Romans 8:26 (ESV)
26Likewise 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.

We must not lift this verse from it’s context and make it a proof text for charismatic prayer. We must understand what, exactly, the Spirit is groaning for. What is this thing that we don’t even have language for that the Spirit is groaning to bring into reality?

New Creation.

New Creation is “the good” that all things work together toward for those who love God and are called according to his purpose (see vs 28). This is our anchor. This is where the story is headed. This is Paul’s vision of the future. This is our hope.