Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:25
But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it.]
25. But if we hope, &c.] The emphasis here is double; ( a) on the fact that we do hope for a given thing; i.e. look for it with a reason for so doing; ( b) on the fact that it is (by its nature as an object of hope) out of sight. Of this general statement, the particular case is the Hope of Glory; and the inference is that we must be at once patient and intent (see next note) in waiting for it. But this particular application is left to be understood.
wait ] Same word as Rom 8:19, where see note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But if we hope … – The effect here stated is one which exists everywhere. Where there is a strong desire for an object, and a corresponding expectation of obtaining it – which constitutes true hope – then we can wait for it with patience. Where there is a strong desire without a corresponding expectation of obtaining it, there is impatience. As the Christian has a strong desire of future glory, and as he has an expectation of obtaining it just in proportion to that desire, it follows that he may bear trials and persecutions patiently in the hope of his future deliverance. Compared with our future glory, our present sufferings are light, and but for a moment; 2Co 4:17. In the hope of that blessed eternity which is before him, the Christian can endure the severest trial, and bear the intensest pain without a complaint.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 25. But if we hope for that we see not] If we have a well-grounded expectation of our resurrection and final glorification, knowing that such things are necessarily future, and must for a certain time be delayed; then do we patiently wait for them, continue patiently to endure the common ills of life, and whatever tribulations we may be exposed to in consequence of our Christian profession; for we know, FAITHFUL is he who has promised. Hope is a sort of universal blessing, and one of the greatest which God has granted to man. To mankind, in general, life would be intolerable without it; and it is as necessary as faith is even to the followers of God.
The ancients have a very instructive and elegant fable concerning it. “Prometheus having made a human body, went up to heaven, and stole some celestial fire to animate it: Jupiter, incensed at the theft, sent down Pandora, with a box full of diseases and plagues of every kind, as an ensnaring present to Prometheus; but he refused to accept it. Epimetheus took and opened it, and instantly all those diseases, c., by which mankind have been made miserable, flew out, and spread themselves over the whole earth and only HOPE remained at the bottom of the box.” This fable explains itself, as to its main design. Men find life, with its various and unavoidable ills, only supportable by the hope they have of not only getting safely through them, but of enjoying a state of blessedness in the end. Hope is still at the bottom; and therefore man is encouraged to bear up in all the pressures of life. Take away hope, and then black despair and indescribable wretchedness would be the instant result. Hope stands justly among the highest mercies of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
q.d. If we indeed hope for redemption and salvation, which is out of sight, then it is meet that we do with patience digest and bear all our present evils and sufferings; true hope is accompanied always with a patient waiting for the things hoped for; therefore you read of the patience of hope, 1Th 1:3; see Heb 6:12; 10:36.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. But if we hope for that we seenot, then do we with patience wait for itthat is, then,patient waiting for it is our fitting attitude.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But if we hope for that we see not,…. Whether it be the hour of death, or the second coming of Christ, or the resurrection of the dead, and eternal glory; all which are unseen by us, and to be hoped for:
then do we with patience wait for it; as that which is certain and real, as something valuable, which will be satisfying, and be received with the utmost joy. This supposes, that the persons who wait for it believe it, and their interest in it, at least hope they have one; that they have a valuable esteem and affection for it; that they are not in a state of perfection and happiness; and that they sit loose by the things of this world, and are ready to part with the one, and grasp the other: the manner of their waiting is “with patience”; a grace, of which God is the efficient, Christ is the exemplar, and the word the means; and which is of great use under afflictions from the hand of God, under the reproaches and persecutions of men, under desertions and want of answers in prayer, under the temptations of Satan, and in the expectation of the heavenly glory.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With patience (‘ ). Paul repeats the verb of verse 23.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “But if we hope for that we see not,” (ei de ho ou blepomen elpizomen) “But if we hope for what we do not (now) see;” and we do – which hope is based on faith, faith in God, in God’s Word, in his son, and victory over death, hell, and the grave, fully realized at his appearing, Heb 11:1; 1Co 15:56-58.
2) “Then do we with patience wait for it,” (di’ hupomones apekdechometha) “Through patience we eagerly expect it;” through self control, endurance, and perseverance, and eager expectancy, as a mother waits for a son’s return from the war, we await the hour of our adoption and inheritance or heir-setting reign with Christ; La 3:26; Joh 14:6; Heb 10:34-37; 2Th 3:5; Heb 6:11-12; Isa 25:8-9; Php_3:20-21.
TIGHTENED CORDS
Failure will hurt but not hinder us. Disillusion will pain but not dishearten us. Sorrows will set the music ringing and quicken our tagging pace. We need hope for living far more than for dying. Dying is easy work compared with living. Dying is a moment’s transition; living, a transaction of years. It is the length of the rope that puts the sag in it. Hope tightens the cords and tunes up the heart-strings. Work well, then; suffer patiently, rejoicing in hope. God knows all, and yet is the God of Hope. And when we have hoped to the end here, He will give us something to look forward to, for all eternity. For “hope abideth.”
-Babock
HOPE SEES A STAR
Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities.
We strive in vain to look beyond the heights.
We cry aloud-and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry.
From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes no word.
But in the night of death Hope sees a star, and listening Love can hear the rustling of a wing.
He who sleeps here, when dying, mistaking the approach of death for the return of health, whispered with his latest breath, “I am better now.”
Let us believe, in spite of doubts and fears, that these dear words are true of all the countless dead.
-Robert G. Ingersoll, Agnostic, at his brother’s grave, June 2, 1879
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
25. If then what we see not, etc. This is an argument derived from what the antecedent implies; for patience necessarily follows hope. For when it is grievous to be without the good you may desire, unless you sustain and comfort yourselves with patience, you must necessarily faint through despair. Hope then ever draws patience with it. Thus it is a most apt conclusion — that whatever the gospel promises respecting the glory of the resurrection, vanishes away, except we spend our present life in patiently bearing the cross and tribulations. For if life be invisible, we must have death before our eyes: if glory be invisible, then our present state is that of degradation. And hence if you wish to include in a few words the meaning of the whole passage, arrange Paul’s arguments in this way, “To all the godly there is salvation laid up in hope; it is the character of hope to look forward to future and absent benefits: then the salvation of the faithful is not visible. Now hope is not otherwise sustained than by patience; then the salvation of the faithful is not to be consummated except by patience.”
It may be added, that we have here a remarkable passage, which shows, that patience is an inseparable companion of faith; and the reason of this is evident, for when we console ourselves with the hope of a better condition, the feeling of our present miseries is softened and mitigated, so that they are borne with less difficulty. (262)
(262) “Patience,” says [ Pareus ], “is needful for three reasons, — the good expected is absent, — there is delay, — and many difficulties intervene.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(25) If salvation were something that could be seen, something that could be grasped by sight, then there would be no room for hope. As it is we do not see it; we do hope for it; and, therefore, we patiently endure the sufferings that lie upon the road to it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. If hope patience If the distant reward call forth our persistent hope, then patience and perseverance in well doing, and the perfection and fitting of our character for the consummation, ensue.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But if we hope for what we do not see, then do we with patience wait for it.’
And because that hope is of something that we do not see, we will wait for it with patient endurance. God has plenty of time, and He does not determine His purposes according to our wishes. We must therefore trust in Him, hoping with confident certainty for the finalisation of what He has promised.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 8:25. But if we hope for that we see not, &c. What the Apostle says here of hope, is to shew them, that the groaning of the children of God, before spoken of, was not the groaning of impatience, but such as that wherewith the Spirit of God maketh intercession for us.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 8:25 . .] With patience , perseveringly. Heb 12:1 ; Khner, II. 1, p. 418.
The indicative ., which is not, with Estius, Koppe, Kllner, and others, to be taken as exspectare debemus , does not announce the virtuous operation (Grotius), but simply the situation , which the circumstance that we hope without seeing involves. The ethical position assigned to us is, that we patiently wait for the object of our hope.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it .
Ver. 25. Then do we with patience ] Religious men find it more easy to bear evil than to wait till the promised good be enjoyed, Heb 10:36 . The spoiling of their goods required patience; but this more than ordinary.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. ] But if that which we do not see, we hope for, with patience we wait for it . Patience (endurance) is the state, in which, through which as a medium , our waiting takes place: hence , as . , 2Co 2:4 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
with = through. App-104. Rom 8:1.
patience. See Rom 2:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25.] But if that which we do not see, we hope for, with patience we wait for it. Patience (endurance) is the state, in which,-through which as a medium,-our waiting takes place: hence , as . , 2Co 2:4.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 8:25. , but if) The patient waiting of believers is deduced from the nature of hope.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 8:25
Rom 8:25
But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.-But if we hope for treasures now out of reach, that we expect hereafter to gain, then we bear with patience present labors and delays needful to gain them.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
with patience: Rom 8:23, Rom 2:7, Rom 12:12, Gen 49:18, Psa 27:14, Psa 37:7-9, Psa 62:1, Psa 62:5, Psa 62:6, Psa 130:5-7, Isa 25:9, Isa 26:8, Lam 3:25, Lam 3:26, Luk 8:15, Luk 21:19, Col 1:11, 1Th 1:3, 2Th 3:5, Heb 6:12, Heb 6:15, Heb 10:36, Heb 12:1-3, Jam 1:3, Jam 1:4, Jam 5:7-11, Rev 1:9, Rev 13:10, Rev 14:12
Reciprocal: Gen 8:10 – stayed Psa 25:3 – wait Psa 91:10 – There Isa 30:18 – blessed Isa 40:31 – they that Luk 18:41 – What Joh 3:36 – see Joh 5:3 – waiting Rom 15:4 – that 1Co 13:13 – hope 2Co 4:18 – we 2Co 5:7 – General Gal 5:5 – wait Eph 1:18 – is 1Th 5:8 – the hope 2Th 1:4 – your patience 2Th 2:16 – good Tit 2:13 – blessed Heb 6:11 – of hope Heb 11:1 – the evidence Jam 5:8 – ye also 2Pe 1:6 – patience Rev 2:3 – hast patience
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
PATIENT WAITING
If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Rom 8:25
We are living in a transition time, by which we mean that ours is an age of change. This is true of mankind everywhere, because change is a law of life. But change is no proof of advance or progress. By a transition time we mean a definite passage, a going over from the old to a new order of things. In a higher sense we Christians, in spiritual matters, are in a transition state; a state of change from a definite past to a no less definite future, and therefore our life is a struggle.
A great truth dawned upon the world in the Advent of Him Who is the Truth of Goda truth far too great as yet for our little understandings to realise. But it is of the earlier period of which I want to speakthe time when Christ was expected only, when some in earnest longing against hope, believed in hope. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.
I. What can we learn from those who lived before Christ came in the flesh?We have seen clearly what they saw but from afar, and we only wait for the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Would to God it were so, and that in our day the Advent of Christ were a living, acting reality. But we know that it is not so. I speak not of the light and careless ones, but of the many earnest souls thirsting for a religion which they cannot grasp, wrestling with doubt and despair, oppressed by things they cannot understand. Why does God send this trial! If He is a God of Love, how can evil exist as it does, and slay its thousands? Why does not God declare Himself, that men cannot doubt? To these questions they can return no answer, and the difficulty must influence the life for ill. What shall we say to these? Shall we tell them that because they have not seen as clearly as we have seen, therefore their faith is not ours? God forbid. I believe Christ is teaching these earnest ones to see Himself. He has touched their eyes, but as yet they see men as trees walking; they must wait still for the Saviours hand. But it is just that waiting which is so hard. If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. That is, and must be, the guiding principle of all religious waiting for Christ. If we are to advance in holiness and likeness to Christ, it must be by the leading of His Spirit, and we must wait for that as patiently as the patriarchs who waited for the day when He should reveal Himself.
II. And in this waiting two things are necessary:
(a) All through, if you look back to history, you will find that the great men are the onlooking men, who absolutely refused to believe that perfection and truth could not be reached, or that they had reached it. These greater souls are usually the laughing-stock of inferior men; they are people who believe without evidence. Yes, and herein lies the secret of their greatness. They are hoping for that they see not; while the everyday world, like contented swine, has not a thought beyond what it can touch, and taste, and handle. And yet it is a mere platitude to say that the very first condition of that progress of which we are so proud is the throwing ones self forward into an unknown future, the hoping against hope; often belief in defiance of present evidence, which has created the man of science, the politician, the discoverer, the saint of God.
(b) But then the second condition of patient waiting for Christs Coming seems to introduce a distinction between the natural and the spiritual. We say patience means, in the spiritual sphere, the allowing God to reveal Himself. In the search for scientific or philosophic discovery and truth man must not be content to sit still and wait; he must wrest Natures secret from her. Yet this is true only in part; for it is a canon of scientific discovery that we must put aside preconceived notions of our own. The moment these are allowed to dominate our reasonings, our facts become one-sided, our conclusions not true. Is not that exactly the same in the spiritual sphere? We forget the power of a dominant idea to distort facts, to blind the eyes. Christ came, and the Pharisees, learned in the law and the prophets, put Him to death; Simeon, who waited for the salvation of Israel, had grace to say, Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace. The remedy is to rest and wait, to take God at His word till He reveal the hidden harmony of His mysterious works. Whether you can find a reason or not for such things as sickness and trial: Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently till Christ comes near to you. It is a half-faith that trusts God for the end, but cannot leave to Him the means. For though it is true that Christ is come, His coming to the soul is a continuous thing.
Rev. Canon Aubrey L. Moore.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Rom 8:25. With patience we wait for it. Literally, through, but it here indicates a characteristic of the waiting. Patience, as usual, suggests the notion of enduring constancy. Because the Christian hopes for a glory yet to be revealed (Rom 8:18), he awaits it perseveringly, which even the creation patiently expects; his patient endurance of the present sufferings has one strong motive in this hope.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 25. This verse is not, as Meyer thinks, a deduction fitted to close the first reason of encouragement. In this case an , therefore, would have been necessary rather than , now, or but. The meaning but (Osterv., Oltram.) well suits the contrast between the ideas of hoping (Rom 8:25) and seeing (Rom 8:24). Yet it seems to me that the meaning now is preferable. It is not a conclusion; it is a step in the argument intended to prove the painful state of waiting attaching even to believers. The emphasis is on the words , with perseverance, and the general meaning is this: Now, obliged as we yet are to hope without seeing, waiting necessarily takes the character of perseverance. To understand this thought, it is enough to recall the etymological meaning of the word : to hold out under a burden. We wait with perseverance amounts therefore to saying: It is only by holding out under the burden of present sufferings that we can expect with certainty the hoped-for future. The conclusion is this: We are not therefore yet in our normal condition; otherwise why endurance?
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. [We groan, I say, waiting for this future blessing. For when we were converted and saved from the world, we were not so saved that all salvation includes was bestowed upon us; but we were saved unto a salvation which even yet exists largely in hope. If it were otherwise, we would now see the things which we still hope for. But when hope is attained it ceases to be hope, for hope applies only to the unattained, not to the attained. But if our full salvation is not yet seen or attained, then should we patiently wait for its attainment, which will be accomplished when we are at last revealed as God’s children.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
25. For that which is seen is not hope; for that which one sees, why does he also hope for it? But if we hope for that which we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Glorification is purely a matter of hope, as none can receive it in this life. Hence the fanaticism of those who profess it. We see here it is not a matter of possession, but of hope. Hence, through hope, we enjoy it in anticipation. The hackneyed testimony, I hope I am a Christian, is incorrect. Paul here says we do not hope for what we have, but what we have not. If you are a Christian, you have present salvation, attested by the Holy Spirit. The very fact that it is with you a matter of hope is prima facie evidence against you, i. e., that you do not possess it.
Justification and sanctification are, for this life, and a matter of conscious possession, while glorification is for the future state, and a matter of hope. This Epistle is beautifully climacteric in the development of the gracious economy; conviction, Chapters 1, 2 and 3; justification, Chapters 4 and 5; sanctification, Chapter 6; experience of justification, Chapter 7; experience of sanctification, Chapter 8:1-16, gloriously attested by the witness of the Spirit; glorification, Chapter 8:17-28, realized at the end of this life and here participated in the prelibations of hope.