The Believer's Privileges. A. D. 58.
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we
know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
In these words the apostle describes a fourth illustrious branch of
the happiness of believers, namely, a title to the future glory. This is
fitly annexed to our sonship; for as the adoption of sons entitles us to
that glory, so the disposition of sons fits and prepares us for it. If
children, then heirs, v. 17. In earthly inheritances this rule does not
hold, only the first-born are heirs; but the church is a church of first-born,
for they are all heirs. Heaven is an inheritance that all the saints are
heirs to. They do not come to it as purchasers by any merit or procurement
of their own; but as heirs, purely by the act of God; for God makes heirs.
The saints are heirs though in this world they are heirs under age; see
Gal. iv. 1, 2. Their present state is a state of education and preparation
for the inheritance. How comfortable should this be to all the children
of God, how little soever they have in possession, that, being heirs, they
have enough in reversion! But the honour and happiness of an heir lie in
the value and worth of that which he is heir to: we read of those that
inherit the wind; and therefore we have here an abstract of the premises.
1. Heirs of God. The Lord himself is the portion of the saints' inheritance
(Ps. xvi. 5), a goodly heritage, v. 6. The saints are spiritual priests,
that have the Lord for their inheritance, Num. xviii. 20. The vision of
God and the fruition of God make up the inheritance the saints are heirs
to. God himself will be with them, and will be their God, Rev. xxi. 3.
2. Joint-heirs with Christ. Christ, as Mediator, is said to be the heir
of all things (Heb. i. 2), and true believers, by virtue of their union
with him, shall inherit all things, Rev. xxi. 7. Those that now partake
of the Spirit of Christ, as his brethren, shall, as his brethren, partake
of his glory (John xvii. 24), shall sit down with him upon his throne,
Rev. iii. 21. Lord, what is man, that thou shouldst thus magnify him! Now
this future glory is further spoken of as the reward of present sufferings
and as the accomplishment of present hopes.
I. As the reward of the saints' present sufferings; and it is a rich
reward: If so be that we suffer with him (v. 17), or forasmuch as we suffer
with him. The state of the church in this world always is, but was then
especially, an afflicted state; to be a Christian was certainly to be a
sufferer. Now, to comfort them in reference to those sufferings, he tells
them that they suffered with Christ--for his sake, for his honour, and
for the testimony of a good conscience, and should be glorified with him.
Those that suffered with David in his persecuted state were advanced by
him and with him when he came to the crown; see 2 Tim. ii. 12. See the
gains of suffering for Christ; though we may be losers for him, we shall
not, we cannot, be losers by him in the end. This the gospel is filled
with the assurances of. Now, that suffering saints may have strong supports
and consolations from their hopes of heaven, he holds the balance (v. 18),
in a comparison between the two, which is observable. 1. In one scale he
puts the sufferings of this present time. The sufferings of the saints
are but sufferings of this present time, strike no deeper than the things
of time, last no longer than the present time (2 Cor. iv. 17), light affliction,
and but for a moment. So that on the sufferings he writes tekel, weighed
in the balance and found light. 2. In the other scale he puts the glory,
and finds that a weight, an exceeding and eternal weight: Glory that shall
be revealed. In our present state we come short, not only in the enjoyment,
but in the knowledge of that glory (1 Cor. ii. 9; 1 John iii. 2): it shall
be revealed. It surpasses all that we have yet seen and known: present
vouchsafements are sweet and precious, very precious, very sweet; but there
is something to come, something behind the curtain, that will outshine
all. Shall be revealed in us; not only revealed to us, to be seen, but
revealed in us, to be enjoyed. The kingdom of God is within you, and will
be so to eternity. 3. He concludes the sufferings not worthy to be compared
with the glory--ouk axia pros ten doxan. They cannot merit that glory;
and, if suffering for Christ will not merit, much less will doing. They
should not at all deter and frighten us from the diligent and earnest pursuit
of that glory. The sufferings are small and short, and concern the body
only; but the glory is rich and great, and concerns the soul, and is eternal.
This he reckons. I reckon--logizomai. It is not a rash and sudden determination,
but the product of a very serious and deliberate consideration. He had
reasoned the case within himself, weighed the arguments on both sides,
and thus at last resolves the point. O how vastly different is the sentence
of the word from the sentiment of the world concerning the sufferings of
this present time! I reckon, as an arithmetician that is balancing an account.
He first sums up what is disbursed for Christ in the sufferings of this
present time, and finds they come to very little; he then sums up what
is secured to us by Christ in the glory that shall be revealed, and this
he finds to be an infinite sum, transcending all conception, the disbursement
abundantly made up and the losses infinitely countervailed. And who would
be afraid then to suffer for Christ, who as he is before-hand with us in
suffering, so he will not be behind-hand with us in recompence? Now Paul
was as competent a judge of this point as ever any mere man was. He could
reckon not by art only, but by experience; for he knew both. He knew what
the sufferings of this present time were; see 2 Cor. xi. 23-28. He knew
what the glory of heaven is; see 2 Cor. xii. 3, 4. And, upon the view of
both, he gives this judgment here. There is nothing like a believing view
of the glory which shall be revealed to support and bear up the spirit
under all the sufferings of this present time. The reproach of Christ appears
riches to those who have respect to the recompence of reward, Heb. xi.
26.
II. As the accomplishment of the saints' present hopes and expectations,
v. 19, &c. As the saints are suffering for it, so they are waiting
for it. Heaven is therefore sure; for God by his Spirit would not raise
and encourage those hopes only to defeat and disappoint them. He will establish
that word unto his servants on which he has caused them to hope (Ps. cxix.
49), and heaven is therefore sweet; for, if hope deferred makes the heart
sick, surely when the desire comes it will be a tree of life, Prov. xiii.
12. Now he observes an expectation of this glory,
1. In the creatures v. 19-22. That must needs be a great, a transcendent
glory, which all the creatures are so earnestly expecting and longing for.
This observation in these verses has some difficulty in it, which puzzles
interpreters a little; and the more because it is a remark not made in
any other scripture, with which it might be compared. By the creature here
we understand, not as some do the Gentile world, and their expectation
of Christ and the gospel, which is an exposition very foreign and forced,
but the whole frame of nature, especially that of this lower world--the
whole creation, the compages of inanimate and sensible creatures, which,
because of their harmony and mutual dependence, and because they all constitute
and make up one world, are spoken of in the singular number as the creature.
The sense of the apostle in these four verses we may take in the following
observations:-- (1.) That there is a present vanity to which the creature,
by reason of the sin of man, is made subject, v. 20. When man sinned, the
ground was cursed for man's sake, and with it all the creatures (especially
of this lower world, where our acquaintance lies) became subject to that
curse, became mutable and mortal. Under the bondage of corruption, v. 21.
There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which the creature has
contracted by the fall of man: the creation is sullied and stained, much
of the beauty of the world gone. There is an enmity of one creature to
another; they are all subject to continual alteration and decay of the
individuals, liable to the strokes of God's judgments upon man. When the
world was drowned, and almost all the creatures in it, surely then it was
subject to vanity indeed. The whole species of creatures is designed for,
and is hastening to, a total dissolution by fire. And it is not the least
part of their vanity and bondage that they are used, or abused rather,
by men as instruments of sin. The creatures are often abused to the dishonour
of their Creator, the hurt of his children, or the service of his enemies.
When the creatures are made the food and fuel of our lusts, they are subject
to vanity, they are captivated by the law of sin. And this not willingly,
not of their own choice. All the creatures desire their own perfection
and consummation; when they are made instruments of sin it is not willingly.
Or, They are thus captivated, not for any sin of their own, which they
had committed, but for man's sin: By reason of him who hath subjected the
same. Adam did it meritoriously; the creatures being delivered to him,
when he by sin delivered himself he delivered them likewise into the bondage
of corruption. God did it judicially; he passed a sentence upon the creatures
for the sin of man, by which they became subject. And this yoke (poor creatures)
they bear in hope that it will not be so always. Ep elpidi hoti kai, &c.--in
hope that the creature itself; so many Greek copies join the words. We
have reason to pity the poor creatures that for our sin have become subject
to vanity. (2.) That the creatures groan and travail in pain together under
this vanity and corruption, v. 22. It is a figurative expression. Sin is
a burden to the whole creation; the sin of the Jews, in crucifying Christ,
set the earth a quaking under them. The idols were a burden to the weary
beast, Isa. xlvi. 1. There is a general outcry of the whole creation against
the sin of man: the stone crieth out of the wall (Hab. ii. 11), the land
cries, Job xxxi. 38. (3.) That the creature, that is now thus burdened,
shall, at the time of the restitution of all things, be delivered from
this bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God (v. 21)--
they shall no more be subject to vanity and corruption, and the other fruits
of the curse; but, on the contrary, this lower world shall be renewed:
when there will be new heavens there will be a new earth (2 Pet. iii. 13;
Rev. xxi. 1); and there shall be a glory conferred upon all the creatures,
which shall be (in the proportion of their natures) as suitable and as
great an advancement as the glory of the children of God shall be to them.
The fire at the last day shall be a refining, not a destroying annihilating
fire. What becomes of the souls of brutes, that go downwards, none can
tell. But it should seem by the scripture that there will be some kind
of restoration of them. And if it be objected, What use will they be of
to glorified saints? we may suppose them of as much use as they were to
Adam in innocency; and if it be only to illustrate the wisdom, power, and
goodness of their Creator, that is enough. Compare with this Ps. xcvi.
10-13; xcviii. 7-9. Let the heavens rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh.
(4.) That the creature doth therefore earnestly expect and wait for the
manifestation of the children of God, v. 19. Observe, At the second coming
of Christ there will be a manifestation of the children of God. Now the
saints are God's hidden ones, the wheat seems lost in a heap of chaff;
but then they shall be manifested. It does not yet appear what we shall
be (1 John iii. 2), but then the glory shall be revealed. The children
of God shall appear in their own colours. And this redemption of the creature
is reserved till then; for, as it was with man and for man that they fell
under the curse, so with man and for man they shall be delivered. All the
curse and filth that now adhere to the creature shall be done away then
when those that have suffered with Christ upon earth shall reign with him
upon the earth. This the whole creation looks and longs for; and it may
serve as a reason why now a good man should be merciful to his beast.
2. In the saints, who are new creatures, v. 23-25. Observe, (1.) The
grounds of this expectation in the saints. It is our having received the
first-fruits of the Spirit, which both quickens our desires and encourages
our hopes, and both ways raises our expectations. The first-fruits did
both sanctify and ensure the lump. Grace is the first-fruits of glory,
it is glory begun. We, having received such clusters in this wilderness,
cannot but long for the full vintage in the heavenly Canaan. Not only they--not
only the creatures which are not capable of such a happiness as the first-fruits
of the Spirit, but even we, who have such present rich receivings, cannot
but long for something more and greater. In having the first-fruits of
the Spirit we have that which is very precious, but we have not all we
would have. We groan within ourselves, which denotes the strength and secrecy
of these desires; not making a loud noise, as the hypocrites howling upon
the bed for corn and wine, but with silent groans, which pierce heaven
soonest of all. Or, We groan among ourselves. It is the unanimous vote,
the joint desire, of the whole church, all agree in this: Come, Lord Jesus,
come quickly. The groaning denotes a very earnest and importunate desire,
the soul pained with the delay. Present receivings and comforts are consistent
with a great many groans; not as the pangs of one dying, but as the throes
of a woman in travail--groans that are symptoms of life, not of death.
(2.) The object of this expectation. What is it we are thus desiring and
waiting for? What would we have? The adoption, to wit, the redemption of
our body. Though the soul be the principal part of the man, yet the Lord
has declared himself for the body also, and has provided a great deal of
honour and happiness for the body. The resurrection is here called the
redemption of the body. It shall then be rescued from the power of death
and the grave, and the bondage of corruption; and, though a vile body,
yet it shall be refined and beautified, and made like that glorious body
of Christ, Phil. iii. 21; 1 Cor. xv. 42. This is called the adoption. [1.]
It is the adoption manifested before all the world, angels and men. Now
are we the sons of God, but it does not yet appear, the honour is now clouded;
but then God will publicly own all his children. The deed of adoption,
which is now written, signed, and sealed, will then be recognized, proclaimed,
and published. As Christ was, so the saints will be, declared to be the
sons of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead, ch. i. 4. It
will then be put past dispute. [2.] It is the adoption perfected and completed.
The children of God have bodies as well as souls; and, till those bodies
are brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God, the adoption
is not perfect. But then it will be complete, when the Captain of our salvation
shall bring the many sons to glory, Heb. ii. 10. This is that which we
expect, in hope of which our flesh rests, Ps. xvi. 9, 10. All the days
of our appointed time we are waiting, till this change shall come, when
he shall call, and we shall answer, and he will have a desire to the work
of his hands, Job xiv. 14, 15. (3.) The agreeableness of this to our present
state, v. 24, 25. Our happiness is not in present possession: We are saved
by hope. In this, as in other things, God hath made our present state a
state of trial and probation--that our reward is out of sight. Those that
will deal with God must deal upon trust. It is acknowledged that one of
the principal graces of a Christian is hope (1 Cor. xiii. 13), which necessarily
implies a good thing to come, which is the object of that hope. Faith respects
the promise, hope the thing promised. Faith is the evidence, hope the expectation,
of things not seen. Faith is the mother of hope. We do with patience wait.
In hoping for this glory we have need of patience, to bear the sufferings
we meet with in the way to it and the delays of it. Our way is rough and
long; but he that shall come will come, and will not tarry; and therefore,
though he seem to tarry, it becomes us to wait for him.
