Romans 8:18-21, Future Glory Part II

This is Wright’s translation of these verses:

¹⁸ This is how I work it out. The sufferings we go through in the present time are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us. ¹⁹ Yes: creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed. ²⁰ Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the one who placed it in this subjection, in the hope ²¹ that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God’s children are glorified.

In the Hebrew scriptures, “glory” regularly comes to refer specifically to rule or power. That is why “glory” is regularly a royal term, symbolized visually in crowns, sometimes with rays of bright light streaming in all directions. The light tells you about the glory, the weighty dignity and power. The honor of the person is symbolized by that bright light. So when scripture promises that God’s glory will flood the whole creation, it means that God’s creative power and wisdom will, as we say, shine out visibly all around. This coming glory—the glory of human beings put in charge of the world—is a major theme for Paul.

If you asked a first century Jew “What is the hope of glory?” he might respond the return of God to dwell in his Temple. However, he might have added, “The hope of glory is that God’s people will be set in authority under him and over the world.” This is exactly what Jesus was saying in the Great Commission: “Jesus came and said to his disciples, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” We also find this understanding of glory in Daniel 7, Isaiah 40 and 52, and in latter chapters of Ezekiel in the person of the Messiah returning to the Temple.

And so we return to verse 17: “If we’re children, we are also heirs: heirs of God, and fellow heirs with the Messiah, as long as we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” “Glorified” here is another way of saying “receiving the inheritance,” which is the human rule over creation. In and with the Messiah we are to be set in restorative authority over God’s world. This is then explained in verse 18 with the solemn phrase “I consider that the present suffering are not worth comparing to what is coming.” In the present time, since the resurrection of Jesus, the old age and the new age overlap. They run parallel. In the final “coming age,” the glory will be fully revealed; but it is currently already at work. The divine glory is going to be unveiled upon us. We will discover that we are clothed in it. The Holy Spirit is simultaneously the glorious divine presence in the Messiah’s people and the one who enables them to be the true humans within God’s present purposes. When Jesus returns or “reappears,” the twin halves of the good creation, heaven and earth—at present mutually opaque—will become fully and visibly one. We normally think of Christians waiting for the Messiah to be revealed; but here it is the cosmos waiting for the Christians to be revealed, which leads us straight into verse 19: Yes: creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed.

Creation is longing for us humans. Afterall, God made the earth for humans to rule over it. As Spirit-filled Jesus-followers, we are empowered to be the stewards of creation, called to restore creation to its proper purpose. One day we shall be revealed as exactly that. Revelation aligns with this same understanding about God’s plan for his redeemed human creatures: we are rescued in order to become the royal priesthood. (See Rev. 1:6, 5:10, and 20:6.)