consummation of the work of redemption. Tiiis word often is used for the whole of the results of the work of Christ as far as his people are concerned, (See v. 18.) The creature then is to be a partaker in some way, according to its nature, of the glories in reserve for the sons of God.
(22) For Vie know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain togtiher until now. This verse is a repetition and confirmation of the preceding sentiment. *The creature is subject to vanity, and longs for deliverance ; for we see, from universal and long continued expe- rience, the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain.' It is, how- ever, as Calvin remarks, the pains of birth, and not of death. After sorrow comes the joy of a new existence. The word together may have reference to the whole creation which groans together, all its parts uniting and sympathizing ; or it may refer to the sons of God, ' For the whole creation groans together with the sons of God.' On account of the fol- lowing verse, in which Christians are specially introduced as joining with the whole creation in this sense of present misery and desire of fu- ture good, the former method of understanding the passage seems pre- ferable. Until now, from the beginning until the present time. The creature has always been looking forward to the day of redemption.
(23) ^nd not only so, but ourselves also, who have the Jirst-fruits of the Spirit, &e. * Not only does the whole creation thus groan, but we ourselves, we Christians, who have a foretaste of heavenly bliss, the first-fruits of the glorious inheritance, we groan within ourselves, and long for the consummation of glory.' The Jirst-fruits were that portion of the productions of the earth which were offered to God. From the nature of the case, they contained the evidence and assurance of the whole harvest being secured. The idea, therefore, of an earnest or pledge is included in the phrase, as well as that of priority. See 1 Cor. 15 : 20. Rom. 11 : 16. 16 : 5. 1 Cor. 16 : 15. James 1 : 18. The phrases, therefore, the Spirit which is the Jirstfruits, and the Spirit which is an earnest, are synonymous. The Spirit is the first-fruits of the full in- heritance of the saints in light. The expression in the text, therefore, is descriptive of all Christians, and not of any particular class of them ; that is, it is not to be confined to those who first received the influences of the Spirit, or were first converted.
Even we ourselves, or and we ourselves. * Not only the whole crea- tion, but we Christians, even we,' &c. Groan within ourselves, wait- ing for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our hody. What in the previous verse he had called the manifestation of the sons of God, he here calls the adoption ; the time when it shall appear what we shall be, as the apostle John expresses it. The redemption of the body is not so in opposition with the adoption that the two phrases are equivalent. The adoption includes far more than the redemption of the body. But the latter event is to be coincident with the former, and is included in it as one of its most prominent parts. Both expressions, therefore, desig- nate the same period. ' We wait for the time when we shall be fully
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