Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:21
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
21. because ] Better than “ that,” as in some translations. St Paul justifies the “hope,” by stating the fact in which it will be realized.
itself also ] As well as the children of God; though in other modes from theirs.
the bondage of corruption ] “Corruption” here (as in 1Co 15:42 ; 1Co 15:50,) is probably decay; physical, not moral, detriment. This, to creation, is “bondage,” in that it represses and foils its fulness of peace and splendour.
the glorious liberty ] Lit., and better, the liberty of the glory; i.e. connected with the glory; attendant on it, involved in it. The period of that glory is to be (not only for the saints, but, in another mode, for the new heavens and earth,) a period of “liberty;” of developement in undecaying power and bliss.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Because – This is the ground of his hope, and this sustains him now. It is the purpose of God that deliverance shall be granted, and this supports the Christian amidst the trials to which he is subjected here. The hope is, that this same renewed man shall be delivered from all the toils, and cares, and sins of this state.
The creature itself – The very soul that is renewed; the ransomed man without essential change. It will be the same being, though purified; the same man, possessed of the same body and soul, though freed from all the corruptions of humanity, and elevated above all the degradations of the present condition. The idea is everywhere presented, that the identical person shall be admitted to heaven without essential change, 1Co 15:35-38, 1Co 15:42-44. That this is the hope of all Christians, see 2Pe 3:13.
From the bondage of corruption – This does not differ materially from vanity, Rom 8:20. It implies that this state is not a willing state, or not a condition of choice, but is one of bondage or servitude (see Rom 7:15-24); and that it is a corrupt, imperfect, perishing condition. It is one that leads to sin, and temptation, and conflict and anxiety. It is a condition often which destroys the peace, mars the happiness, dims the hope, enfeebles the faith, and weakens the love of Christians, and this is called the bondage of corruption. It is also one in which temporal death has dominion, and in the bondage of which, believers as well as unbelievers shall be held. Yet from all this bondage the children of God shall be delivered.
The glorious liberty – Greek, The freedom of the glory of the children of God. This is,
(1) Liberty. It is freedom from the bondage under which the Christian groans. It will be freedom from sin; from corruption; from evil desires; from calamity; from death. The highest freedom in the universe is that which is enjoyed in heaven, where the redeemed are under the sovereignty and government of their king, but where they do that, and that only, which they desire. All is slavery but the service of God; all is bondage but that law which accords with the supreme wish of the soul, and where commands accord with the perfect desires of the heart.
(2) This is glorious liberty. It is encompassed with majesty; attended with honor; crowned with splendor. The heavenly world is often described as a state of glory; Note, Rom 2:10.
Of the children of God – That the children of God shall enjoy.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Because the creature] This and the preceding verse should be thus connected: in hope THAT () the creature itself also shall be delivered. The word denotes, very frequently, sinful corruption. So, 2Pe 1:4: Corruption through lust, . 2Co 11:3: Lest your minds should be corrupted. 1Co 15:33: Evil communications corrupt good manners. The sense, therefore, of the apostle in this place seems to be: the Gentile world shall, in time, be delivered from the bondage of their sinful corruption, i.e. the bondage of their lusts and vile affections; and be brought into such a noble liberty as the sons of God enjoy.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If this verse be understood of the heavens and the earth, and the things therein, the meaning is, that the creatures, in their kind, and according to their capacity, shall be partakers of that liberty and freedom, which in the children of God is accompanied with unspeakable glory; they shall not partake with the saints in glory, but of that liberty, which in the saints hath great glory attending it, and superadded to it. The creature, at the day of judgment, shall be restored (as before) to that condition of liberty which it had in its first creation; as, when it was made at first, it was free from all vanity, bondage, and corruption, so it shall be again at the time of the general resurrection: see Act 3:19,21; 2Pe 3:13. Those that by the creature would understand the Gentile world, give the sense of this verse: That the very heathens also shall, by the gospel and grace of Christ, be rescued from those courses of sin and corruption, to which they have been long enslaved, into that glorious condition not only of free-men, redeemed by Christ out of their bondage to sin and Satan, but even of the sons of God, to have right to his favour, and that never fading inheritance.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Because the creature itselfalso“even the creation itself.”
shall be delivered from thebondage of corruptionits bondage to the principle of decay.
into the gloriouslibertyrather, “the liberty of the glory.”
of the children of Godthatis, the creation itself shall, in a glorious sense, be delivered intothat freedom from debility and decay in which the children of God,when raised up in glory, shall expatiate: into this freedom fromcorruptibility the creation itself shall, in a glorious sense, bedelivered (So CALVIN,BEZA, BENGEL,THOLUCK, OLSHAUSEN,DE WETTE,MEYER, PHILIPPI,HODGE, ALFORD,&c.).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Because the creature itself also,…. The phrase in hope, which stands in our version, at the end of the preceding verse, should be placed in the beginning of this, and be read in connection with Ro 8:19 being a parenthesis, thus: “the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption”; and so it is placed in some copies, and in the Syriac version: that is, “the Gentiles” earnestly wait and expect a larger number of converts among them, in hopes that ere long the whole Gentile world will be freed from
the bondage of corruption, under which it at present groaned; by which is meant, the bondage they were in, not only to their sinful lusts, but to Satan the god of this world; and particularly to their idols, by which they corrupted themselves, and to which they were enslaved: they hope for a deliverance from hence,
into the glorious liberty of the children of God; which designs either the liberty of grace the children of God have here; and which consists in a freedom from the dominion of sin and Satan, from the law and bondage of it, in the free use of Gospel ordinances, in liberty of access to God, and a freedom from the fear of death, and a glorious liberty it is; or the liberty of glory the saints shall enjoy in the other world, which will lies in a freedom from the prison of the flesh, from the body of sin and death, from all sorrows and afflictions, from all reproaches and persecutions, from the temptations of Satan, from doubts, fears, and unbelief, and in the full vision of God through Christ, and in a free conversation with angels and saints.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The creation itself ( ). It is the hope of creation, not of the Creator. Nature “possesses in the feeling of her unmerited suffering a sort of presentiment of her future deliverance” (Godet).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
In hope because [ ] , The best texts transfer these words from the preceding verse, and construe with was made subject, rendering oti that instead of because. “The creation was subjected in the hope that,” etc. In hope is literally on hope, as a foundation. The hope is that of the subjected, not of the subjector. Nature “possesses in the feeling of her unmerited suffering, a sort of presentiment of her future deliverance” (Godet). Some adopt a very suggestive connection of in hope with waiteth for the manifestation.
Glorious liberty [ ] . Better, and more literally, as Rev., liberty of the glory. Liberty is one of the elements of the glorious state and is dependent upon it. The glory is that in ver. 18. The Greek student will note the accumulation of genitives, giving solemnity to the passage.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Because the creature itself,” (dioti aute he ktisis) “Because the creation itself,” the earth and all the created universe – all is an object of God’s love and purpose in redemption – not man alone; He loved and gave himself for perishing man and the world (kosmos), Joh 3:16.
2) “Also shall be delivered,” (Kai eleutherothesetai) “Shall also be unshackled, liberated, delivered, or set free;” shall be emancipated from the power of ruin, death, decay, and deterioration it is now under, with its magnetic north pole off balance, Rev 21:4; Heb 2:13-15.
3) “From the bondage of corruption,” (apo tes douleias tes phthoras) “From the slavery of corruption;” from the power of decay, decomposition, and pollution, and from all sorrow, tears, pain, and death. When man is redeemed in body, in the resurrection, he will be in a new earth compatible to his new body, Rev 21:1; 2Pe 3:13.
4) “Into the glorious liberty,” (eis ten eleutherian tes dokses) “Into the freedom or liberation of the glory,” the liberty to be manifested in perfection of sons of God; This golden era glory of the world is described, Isa 65:17-25; Rev 21:1-5.
5) “Of the children of God,” (ton teknon tou theou) “of the children of God,” the redeemed sons of God, in the resurrection and time of restitution, Act 3:21; Mat 17:11; 1Co 15:24-25; Rom 8:23.
CONFIDENT EXPECTATION
Confident expectation of a perfect kingdom of God. I know the obstacles, but I know as well the power behind! I do not see success as yet, but I know that it is coming. So I do not see the cathedral as yet, when I go into the confused quarry-yard and see there the half-wrought stones, the clumsy blocks that are by and by to be decorated capitals. But when at last they are finished in form and brought together, the mighty building rises in the air, an ever enduring psalm in rock. I do not see the picture yet, when I look upon the palette with its blotches, and stains and lumps of color. By and by, when the skillful brush of the painter has distributed those colors, I see the radiant beauty of the Madonna, the pathos of the Magdalene; I see the beauty of the landscape spread out upon the canvas, with meadow and hill and winding stream, and the splendors of the sunset crowning the whole. I do not see yet the perfect kingdom of God upon earth, but I see the colors which are to blend in it. I see the already half-chiseled rock out of which it shall be wrought; and I am not going to despond now, when so much already has been accomplished.
-R. S. Storrs
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
21. Because the creation itself, etc. He shows how the creation has in hope been made subject to vanity; that is, inasmuch as it shall some time be made free, according to what Isaiah testifies, and what Peter confirms still more clearly. It is then indeed meet for us to consider what a dreadful curse we have deserved, since all created things in themselves blameless, both on earth and in the visible heaven, undergo punishment for our sins; for it has not happened through their own fault, that they are liable to corruption. Thus the condemnation of mankind is imprinted on the heavens, and on the earth, and on all creatures. It hence also appears to what excelling glory the sons of God shall be exalted; for all creatures shall be renewed in order to amplify it, and to render it illustrious.
But he means not that all creatures shall be partakers of the same glory with the sons of God; but that they, according to their nature, shall be participators of a better condition; for God will restore to a perfect state the world, now fallen, together with mankind. But what that perfection will be, as to beasts as well as plants and metals, it is not meet nor right in us to inquire more curiously; for the chief effect of corruption is decay. Some subtle men, but hardly sober-minded, inquire whether all kinds of animals will be immortal; but if reins be given to speculations where will they at length lead us? Let us then be content with this simple doctrine, — that such will be the constitution and the complete order of things, that nothing will be deformed or fading.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) Because the creature.The reason for the hope which survives through the degradation of nature; what creation is to be.
Because.Perhaps rather that, to be joined on to the end of the last verse, in hope that creation, also, &c. So Meyer and Ellicott.
Delivered from the bondage of corruption.The state of decay and ruin into which the world by nature has fallen, is regarded as a servitude opposed to the state of liberty into which it will be ushered at the Coming of Christ.
Glorious liberty of the children of God.Translate rather, into the liberty of the glory of the children of Godi.e., into the state of liberty or emancipation which will attend the appearance of the Messiah and His redeemed. Their state will be one of liberty, and in that liberty the whole creation hopes to share.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Because Or, rather, that. In hope that.
The creature itself Or rather, this same creature, and not merely the successive generations of nature.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rom 8:21. Because the creature itself, &c. The creature, or creation itself, is all mankind, whether Christians or not. But this must be understood of mankind as well as of Christians, only so far as by answering the ends of their creation by the secret influences of the Spirit of God, they are prepared for immortality. The creature means mankind, considered as what they ought to be, according to the laws of their creation or rather according to the covenant of grace. See Gal 6:8.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Ver. 21. Because the creature itself ] See Mr Wilcox’s discourse upon these words, printed, together with his Exposition of the Psalms, Proverbs, &c., in folio. The creature is said to be subject to vanity and bondage of corruption, 1. As corruptible. 2. As teachers of men, and they will not learn; so that they lose their labour. 3. As they are instruments of man’s punishment. 4. As they are forced to serve wicked men’s turns and uses, who have no peace with the creature, and should have no service from them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rom 8:21 . Contents of the hope. It makes no difference in meaning, whether we read or . : creation as well as man. : a system in which nothing continues in one stay, in which death claims everything, in which there is not even an analogy to immortality, is a system of slavery in subjection to “vanity,” with no high eternal worth of its own. From such a condition creation is to be emancipated; it is to share in the liberty which belongs to the glory of the children of God. When man’s redemption is complete, he will find himself in a new world matching with his new condition (Isa 65:17 , 2Pe 3:13 , Rev 21:1 ): this is Paul’s faith, and the sighing of creation attests it.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
delivered = set free, as in Rom 8:2.
corruption. Greek. phthora. Here, 1Co 15:42, 1Co 15:50. Gal 1:6, Gal 1:8. Col 2:22. 2Pe 1:4; 2Pe 2:12, 2Pe 2:19.
glorious liberty = freedom of the glory.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rom 8:21. [super spe: resting on hope], in hope) It is construed with, was made subject, so, in hope [super spe], is put absolutely, Act 2:26; and comp. by hope [spe], Rom 8:24.- ) itself, to wit, the creature.-, shall be delivered [set free]) Deliverance is not accomplished by means of complete destruction; otherwise quadrupeds, when they are butchered, would fall with pleasure.[95]- , from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty) , from, and , into, are opposed to each other. From denotes the point, from which we set out; into, the point at which we arrive. Bondage and liberty belong to the creature; corruption and glory to men, even believers [the latter, glory to believers alone: the former, corruption, to men in general]. Vanity, Rom 8:20, is something more subtle than , corruption. Not only deliverance, but also liberty, is that goal, to which the creature in its own way is directing its course.- , into the liberty) In order that they may in freedom be subservient to the glory of the sons [of God].-Cluverus.
[95] i.e., were death and annihilation a deliverance. Therefore the coming restoration of the creature and its deliverance will not consist in their destruction and annihilation.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 8:21
Rom 8:21
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.-The hope is entertained that when the deliverance comes to the children of God, when they are delivered from the bondage of corruption and from the prison house of the grave, then the whole creation will share this deliverance and be freed from the corruption and mortality to which it has been subjected by the sin of man. It shared the corruption and mortality of mans sin, and will share his deliverance from it.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Because: 2Pe 3:13
into the glorious: Rom 8:19, Rev 22:3-5
Reciprocal: Isa 24:5 – defiled Joh 8:34 – Whosoever Rom 3:5 – But if 1Co 15:42 – in corruption Heb 2:15 – subject 1Jo 3:1 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:21
Rom 8:21. The promise in this verse is for those only who are faithful children of God. The corruption and incorruption are explained by 1Co 15:52-54.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 8:21. That the creation itself also. This view of the connection seems preferable to that of the E. V. (The Greek word means either that, or because.) We thus have the purport of the hope, what is hoped. The phrase the creation itself is repeated in contrast with children of God. To attribute such a hope to the creation is in accordance with the thought of the entire passage.
From the bondage of corruption. The bondage which consists in corruption. The corruption results from the vanity to which the creation was subjected; it is borne not willingly, and hence is termed bondage.
Into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Not only delivered from bondage, but transferred into this freedom, which consists in, or at least results from, a share in the glory of the children of God. The word glory is prominent, and hence the rendering glorious liberty is unfortunate. The glory is that spoken of in Rom 8:18, it will appear at the revelation of the sons of God (Rom 8:19); in it the creation delivered from corruption will share. If the reference here were to the longings of heathen humanity alone, and not also to those of nature, Paul would have spoken more distinctly of the future conversion of the Gentiles.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 21. The conujnction (that, or because) may be made directly dependent on the words in hope: in hope that. Rom 8:21 would then state wherein the hope itself consists. But we may also take it in the sense of because, and find in Rom 8:21 the reason of the hope: I say: with hope, because…This indeed would be the only possible meaning if, with Tischendorf, we adopted the reading of the Sinat. and the Greco-Latins: , seeing that. In any case it is the natural sense; for why otherwise would the apostle repeat in extenso the subject of the sentence: , the creation itself? No writer will say: nature was made subject in the hope that Nature herself would be delivered.
The pronoun itself glances at a natural objection: one would not have expected such a fact in a being like Nature. The , also, even, refers to the same thought: the unintelligent creation no less than men.
In the expression: the bondage of corruption, the complement may signify: the bondage which consists of corruption. But this complement may also be taken as the genitive of the object, subjection to corruption, as a law. This second meaning is undoubtedly better; for the idea of enslavement is thus rendered more emphatic, in opposition to the idea of liberty in what follows.
The term , corruption, putrescence, is more forcible than the word vanity, and serves to define it more exactly.
Paul does not say that nature will participate in the glory, but only in the liberty of the glory of the children of God. Liberty is one of the elements of their glorious state, and it is the only one to which nature can lay claim. It expresses the unchecked development of the free expansion of all the powers of life, beauty, and perfection, wherewith this new nature will be endowed. There is nothing to show that the apostle has in view the return to life of the individual beings composing the present system of nature. In the domains inferior to man, the individual is merely the temporary manifestation of the species. We have therefore to think here only of a new nature in its totality, differing from the old system in its constitution and laws.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
21. Therefore, indeed, pursuant to hope, the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. The plain meaning of this verse is that my body is to be gloriously delivered from all the humiliation and suffering of this mortal life, rendered imponderable So it can fly with angelic velocity, transfigured into the unutterable similitude of my Saviors glorious body. This is the inspiring hope thrilling my poor, mortal body, and rendering it felicitously oblivious to all my toils, cares and disappointments.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the {b} bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
(b) From the corruption which they are now subject to, they will be delivered and changed into the blessed state of incorruption, which will be revealed when the sons of God will be advanced to glory.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
In view of prophecies concerning creation’s restoration during Messiah’s earthly reign, that time was probably in Paul’s mind (e.g., Jer 31:12-14; Jeremiah 33). Paul did not have the annihilation of the present earth in view, which will happen at the end of Messiah’s earthly reign (cf. 2Pe 3:11-13). He was writing of its transformation at the beginning of that reign.