Holy spirit first fruits

HOLY SPIRIT FIRST FRUITS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Romans 8:23 "Notonly so, but we ourselves, who
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we
wait eagerly for our adoptionto sonship, the
redemption of our bodies."
Colin Smith
“We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8:23
In New Testament times, the Feast of Weeks was known by another name. If you count
forward sevenweeks from the Passover (forty-nine days), the following day (the fiftieth
day) was known as Pentecost.
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place…” (Acts 2:1). Luke
says that “there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under
heaven” (2:5). They had come to celebrate the Feast of Weeks.
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit fell, not just on the Apostles, but on all the
believers. This was the beginning of the harvest that would come through Jesus’ death and
resurrection. Later Paul takes up this theme and says that the Holy Spirit is given to us as
the “firstfruits.”
The Holy Spirit gives us a sample of the life to come—a taste of the love of God, a glimpse
of the glory of Christ, a beginning of the new life that will be ours forever. That taste, that
glimpse, that beginning is the pledge or promise of all that is to come.
The Feast of Weeks (or firstfruits) points us both to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ and to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ great promise ties these two together: “I will
not leave you as orphans [the promise of his resurrection]; I will come to you [the promise
of the Holy Spirit]” (John 14:18). Christ is with us. That’s worth celebrating!

How does understanding the Holy Spirit as the “firstfruits” strengthen your hope?"
THE BURDENS AND BENEFITS OF HAVING THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The firstfruits of the Spirit
J. Lyth, D.D.
I. WHAT THEY INCLUDE.
1. Pardon.
2. Regeneration.
3. Communion with God.
II. WHAT THEY INSPIRE.
1. Hope.
2. Aspiration.
3. Patience.
III. WHAT THEY PROMISE.
1. Final adoption into the family of heaven.
2. The glorification of the body.
3. The beatific vision.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
The groaning believer
P. Strutt.

If our action upon and relation to the creature cause the creature to be subject to so much
travail and pain, so, in return, the creature acts upon us, causing us to groan under a
burden which it is hard to bear. The action is reciprocal, and our present life appears, for
the time, to be a life of vanity and vexation of spirit, and is only partially mitigated by the
prospect of the final redemption. Here, then, we have just the counterpart of the picture
presented in ver. 22.
I. A DESCRIPTION OF BELIEVERS. We who have the Spirit as "the firstfruits," or "the
earnest" of our inheritance. Take man as man; compare his rich endowments with the
shortness of his existance and the vanity of his occupation. And if we pass to the Christian
man endowed with the fruits of redemption, what we see of his present life only still more
impresses us with a feeling of its vanity. For only look —
1. At the endowments he possesses — the firstfruits of the Spirit. Not merely high mental
powers, but the rudiments of a Divine nature fitting for communion with a holy God and
fellowship with the pure intelligences of heaven.
2. At the expenditure by which these endowments have been secured. The wisdom of God,
the work of Christ, and the operations of the Holy Spirit, are all involved in lifting any one
up from the level of mere humanity to that of the family of God.
3. At the consciousness of the endowment as already possessedby us — awakening within
us aspirations to do the work that angels do, having a desire to depart and be with Jesus —
a training that seems to unfit for the low occupations of earthly life. Who has not wished
always to be employed in some heavenly service when he has found himself tied down by
the necessity of labouring for the bread that perisheth.
II. THEIR PRESENT SORROWFUL CONDITION — "GROAN WITHIN
OURSELVES."
1. There seems here a kind of retributive action. We have to do with earthly things, and as
we have abused them so they seemto press upon us, and so to resent the wrong we have
done them. There are sins that God has forgiven, but the effects upon our temporal
condition can never be repaired.
2. The discrepancy that seems to exist between the endowment and the service to which it is
here devoted. John Howe speaks of a man clothed in scarlet being set to feed swine to
express such discrepancy. And, no doubt, if such were the will of God, a loving servant
would yield, but then scarlet is not the proper livery for such a service. It may be a
discipline for the servant, though it spoil his clothes.
3. It arises from the actual sufferings to be endured, and no affliction for the present
seemethto be joyous, but grievous. We are not Stoics, nor does God wish us to be.

4. There is the liability to temptation and sin. We may, after all, be overtaken by a fault,
and whilst we are so exposedwe may well groan.
5. There is our proximity to the evil around us. Righteous Lot vexedhis soul with the filthy
conversation of the wicked.
III. THEIR COMING DELIVERANCE.
1. This is called the adoption, because it will be, not the initiation into the family, but the
public inauguration of the heir, on reaching his majority, into the inheritance.
2. It is called the redemption of the body. Redemption is, in Christ, already complete. But
in us it is progressive —
(1)"There is, therefore, now no condemnation."
(2)Death, when the soul is emancipated from all pollution.
(3)The resurrection, when the body itself shall be emancipated (Philippians 3:21).The
subject teaches a lesson —
1. Of patience. It is God's order. "Ye have need of patience, that after ye have suffered the
will of God."
2. Of hope. Look on. "Seek not your rest here."
(P. Strutt.)
The inward groaning of the saints
C. H. Spurgeon.
Note —
I. WHEREUNTO THE SAINTS HAVE ATTAINED.
1. "We have," not "we hope sometimes we have," nor yet "possibly we may have," nor we
shall have, but "we have." True, many things are yet in the future, but we have already a
heritage which is the beginning of our eternal portion — "the firstfruits of the Spirit," i.e.,
the first works of the Spirit in our souls — repentance, faith, love. These are called the
firstfruits because —(1) They come first. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so
the graces which adorn the spiritual life are the first gifts of the Spirit of God in our
souls.(2) They were the pledge of the harvest. As soon as the Israelite had plucked the first
handful of ripe ears, they were to him so many proofs that the harvest was already come.

So, when God gives us "Faith, hope, charity," "whatsoever things are pure, lovely," etc.,
these are to us the prognostics of the coming glory.(3) They were always holy to the Lord.
The first ears of corn were offered to the Most High, and surely our new nature, with all its
powers, must be regarded by us as a consecrated thing.(4) They were not the harvest. No
Jew was ever content with them. So, when we get the first works of the Spirit of God, we
are not to say," I have attained, I am already perfect." Nay, they should but excite an
insatiable thirst after more.
2. What the saint has attained will help us to understand why it is that he groans. Having
reaped handfuls, we long for sheaves. For the reason that we are saved, we groan for
something beyond. Did you hear that groan? It is a traveller lost in the deep snow on the
mountain pass. Hear another. The traveller has reached the hospice, is perfectly safe, and is
exceedingly grateful to think that he has been rescued; but yet I hear him groan because he
has a wife and children down in yonder plain, and the snow is lying so deep that he cannot
pursue his journey. Now, the first groan was deep and dreadful; that is the groan of the
ungodly man as he perishes; but the second is more the note of desire than of distress. Such
is the groan of the believer, who, though rescued and brought into the hospice of Divine
mercy, is longing to see his Father's face.
II. WHEREIN ARE BELIEVERS DEFICIENT? In those things for which we groan and
wait.
1. This body of ours is not delivered. As soon as a man believes in Christ, his soul is
translated from death unto life, and the body indeed becomes a temple for the Holy Ghost;
but the grace of God makes no change in the body in other respects. The greatest piety
cannot preserve a man from growing old, nor deliver his body from corruption, weakness,
and dishonour. Nor is this little, for the body has a depressing effect upon the soul, and its
appetites have a natural affinity to that which is sinful. The body is redeemed by price, but
it has not yet been redeemed by power. Now this is the cause of our groaning. The soul is so
married to the body that when it is itself delivered, it sighs to think that its poor friend
should still be under the yoke. If you were a free man, and your wife a slave, the more you
enjoyed the sweets of freedom, the more would you pine that she should still be in slavery.
And so, again, with the saints in heaven. They are free from sin, but a disembodied spirit
never can be perfect until it is reunited to its body. They do not groan, but they long with
greater intensity than you and I for the "adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body."
2. Our adoption is not manifested (cf. ver. 19). Among the Romans a man might adopt a
child privately; but there was a second adoption, when the child was brought before the
authorities, and its ordinary garments were taken off, and the father put on garments
suitable to the condition of life in which it was to live. "Now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be
like Him"; that is, God will dress us all as He dresses His eldest Son. Cannot you imagine a

child taken from the lowest ranks of society and adopted by a Roman senator, saying to
himself, "I wish the day were come when I shall be publicly revealed, and be robed as
becomes my rank." Happy in what he has received, for that very reason he groans to get
the fulness of what is promised him. So it is with us.
3. Our liberty is incomplete. As to our spirits, we have liberty to soar to the heavenly places
with Jesus Christ; but as for our bodies, we can only roam about this narrow cell of earth.
4. Our glory is not yet revealed, and that is another subject for sighing. "The glorious
liberty" may be translated, "The liberty of glory." We are like warriors fighting for the
victory; we share not as yet in the shout of them that triumph. Even up in heaven they have
not their full reward. They are waiting till their Lord shall descend from heaven, and the
whole of the blood-washed host, wearing their white robes, and bearing their palms of
victory, shall march up to their thrones. After this consummation the believing heart is
groaning. Let me show you again the difference between a groan and a groan. Go into
yonder house: there is a deep, hollow, awful groan. Go to the next house, and there is
another much more painful than the first. How are we to judge between them? We will
come again in a few days: as we are entering the first house we see weeping faces, a coffin,
and a hearse. In the next there is a smiling cherub, and a mother who joys that a man is
born into the world. There is all the difference between the groan of death and the groan of
life. It is not the pain of death we feel, but the pain of life. We are thankful to have such a
groaning. The other night two men working very late were groaning in two very different
ways, one of them saying, "Ah, there's a poor Christmas day in store for me." He had been
a drunkard, a spendthrift. Now, his fellow workman also groaned. On being askedwhy, he
said, "I want to get home to my dear wife and children. I have such a happy house, I do not
like to be out of it." So the Christian has a good Father, a blessedhome, and groans to get
to it, and there is more joy in the groan of a Christian than in all the mirth of the ungodly.
III. WHAT OUR STATE OF MIND IS. A Christian's experience is like the rainbow, made
up of drops of the griefs of earth, and beams of the bliss of heaven.
1. "We groan within ourselves." It is not the hypocrite's groan, who wants people to believe
that he is a saint because he is wretched. Our sighs are sacred things. We keepour longings
to our Lord.
2. We are "waiting," by which I understand that we are not to be petulant, like Jonah or
Elijah, when they said, "Let me die," nor are we to sit still and look for the end of the day
because we are tired of work. We are to groan after perfection, but we are to wait patiently
for it, knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. Waiting implies being ready. We are to
stand at the door expecting the Beloved to open it and take us away to Himself.
3. We are hoping (ver. 24). Conclusion: Here is a test for us all. You may judge of a man by
what he groans after. Some men groan after wealth, some because of their great losses or

sufferings. But the man that yearns after more holiness, that is the man who is blessed
indeed.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christian experience and aspiration
F. D. Maurice M.A.
That this passage is a magnificent one few would deny. The complaint we are likely to
make of it is that it is too magnificent; that it transports us into an atmosphere which
scarcely any one but a saint or apostle can be expected to breathe. We need, we think, not
grand anticipations of a future, but some help in combating the petty temptations of each
day. But if we look at these words again we perceive that the man who wrote them must
have been more, not less, conversant than we are with the sufferings which common men
are experiencing. He had shut himself in no cloister. He hears arising from all creation a
groan coming from the sense of actual misery; and the clearest, fullest interpretation of
these words may be found in our daily walks. The streets of London can tell us more about
the sense of them than all the folios of commentators.
I. St. Paul tells the Roman Church that HE AND THEY WERE WAITING FOR THEIR
ADOPTION, or their full recognition as sons of God. There has been a proclamation to
men that God has claimed them, without respect of race or circumstances, as His children
in His only-begotten Son. And any message less than this has been powerless to satisfy the
necessities of men, and has produced no permanent moral effect upon them. If we use all
arguments of fear, all arts of rhetoric to convince men that they ought to take care of their
souls, a few may be startled out of a sleepto which they will return again. But the mere
part will feel that you are bidding them forget the real earth for the sake of a heaven which
they can only dream of. But if we will recur to the old and simple scriptural phraseology of
the hearth and home — if we will bear witness to men of a Father who has sent the elder
Brother of the household to bring them into it, to endow them with the highest rights of
children, we shall find that it can bring forth as clear a response from the men of the
nineteenth century as from the men of the first.
II. THE QUESTION HOW THIS CONDITION OF SONSHIP IS CONSISTENT WITH
SORROW COULD BE ANSWERED BY THOSE WHO BELIEVED THE SON OF GOD
TO BE THE MAN OF SORROWS. In the light of Christ's passion all suffering became
transfigured. It was the filial token (Hebrews 13:8). But St. Paul did not intend that they
should hug pain and sickness, because a deep truth might be learnt from them. He admits
them in themselves to be discords and anomalies. He could not bear to contemplate it, if he
were not sure that they were no parts of its original order; and that not being parts of it

they were to cease. The revelation of the Son of God in weakness and pain and death, had
vindicated the title of sons of God for creatures enduring weakness, pain, and death. The
revelation of the Son of God in the glory of His Father would reveal them in the glory for
which they had been created.
III. BUT THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME ARE NOT WORTHY TO BE
COMPARED WITH THE GLORY THAT SHALL BE REVEALED IN US. Not simply
that no sufferings are worthy to be compared with final rewards. The sufferings of the
present time are those of the whole creation, of which man is the head, to be excluded from
which would be to be excluded from human sympathy, from fellowship with the great
Sufferer. So far from being exempt from them, Paul knew more of them than any, but the
blessing of the firstfruits of the Spirit; is the possessionof a clearer, stronger hope than
others. Yet that hope is not a hope for himself, but for his kind.
IV. "FOR THE CREATURE WAS MADESUBJECT TO VANITY, NOT WILLINGLY,
BUT BY REASON OF HIM WHO SUBJECTED THE SAME." Here is the apostle's
explanation of the puzzle which has tormented men eversince evil entered into the
universe. That the guilty will be punished is reasonable, in this our consciences acquiesce.
But there is a guiltless part of creation which endures misery. How can that be just? St.
Paul feels the difficulty, and this is the refuge. The creation has been made subject to
vanity; a very fitting phrase to express the apparent frustration of the end for which it has
been called into existence. He frankly admits that the bondage which the mere animal
undergoes is not its own fault, and that it has a Divine origin. But in doing so he affirms
two mighty propositions —
1. That the innocent, involuntary creature is made the victim of vanity and death for the
sake of that higher being who has broken loose from that will which he was created to
serve.
2. That this subjection is temporary, and contains the promise of a future emancipation,
when the end for which it was ordained has been accomplished. Less than this such
language (vers. 20, 21) cannot mean — that all the sufferings to which the earth and those
that inhabit it are liable, are permitted and designed for the education of those who bear
the nature which the Son of God bore; and that no suffering which contributes to this end
is, in the judgment of the All-good and the All-wise, excessive orwasted, not eventhe
sufferings and death of the Innocent, the Holy One. But this end being attained, all the
forms of physical evil will also be overcome; the involuntary creation will be delivered from
its fetters and its shame; the whole regenerated world, in its primal order and harmony,
will offer up its sacrifices, through its High Priest and Restorer, to His Father.
V. HIS TEACHING, taken fully and literally, INVOLVES A RENEWAL OF THE
WHOLE ANIMAL CREATION. If there is to be a restitution of all things, such as God,

who cannot lie, promised by His holy prophets since the world began, I cannot understand
how that element should be wanting to it. Must the creatures which have ministered to
man's wants and delights be shut out from the renovation of our race, by whose degeneracy
they are so deeply affected? From these thoughts others are nearly inseparable. The idea of
a redemption of nature as consequent upon a redemption of man has often dawned upon
the man of science and upon the artist. The one has seenthat the laws of the universe can
only be fully vindicated when the self-will which has set those laws at defiance has been
extirpated; the other, from his deep sense of the sympathy between man and the forms
which he contemplates, has been certain that such a revelation of loveliness awaits the
purified vision as the highest prophet has only guessedof.
VI. THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY which St. Paul waited for, MUST INCLUDE
THE REMOVAL OF WHATEVER HINDERS THE SENSES FROM RECEIVING
CLEAR AND SATISFACTORY IMPRESSIONS OF THE WORLD with which they are
intended to converse. But there is a more obvious force in the expression. The body is
enslaved to disease and pain. These are the signs that Death has rights over the body, and
that he will assert his rights. St. Paul says that there is another who has an elder, stronger
right over it; that Christ by going into the grave and rising out of it has assertedand made
good His right; that He will fully exert it. This redemption St. Paul felt that he was sent to
proclaim to men because he was sent to proclaim their sonship to God. And so his teaching
assumed a profoundly practical character. Fully believing in this redemption men are
never to confess Deathas a master. Our homage to Christ, our faith in our Divine sonship,
implies that we expect a victory for the body; that it was not made so fearfully and
wonderfully for nothing; that it shall at last he made like to the glorious body of Him who
will subdue all to Himself.
(F. D. Maurice M.A.)
The aspirations of a Christian soul
E. L. Hull, B.A.
It is impossible to deny the splendour of the idea contained in this passage. But we are
tempted to question the possibility of ever realising it. We fancy that such lofty yearnings
rise too far above the common highways to give us any strength in meeting the temptations
and work of the everyday world. Such aspirations might thrill the spirit of an apostle or a
lonely saint, but they are too unearthly to be realised by us. We need some more homely
teaching to enable us to meet the temptations of their career. But Paul was no solitary saint,
and the men to whom he wrote were surrounded by earthly temptations of the fiercest
kind. And yet this practical apostle tells those tempted men that both they and he were

praying for the redemption of the body, And in our day such aspirations, instead of being
too lofty for our common life, are the only safeguards against its prevalent snares. Note —
I. THEIR NATURE. In illustrating this we must dwell on the two phrases on which this
nature depends. "Firstfruits" manifestly refers to the Jewish custom of presenting to God
the earliest ears of corn or fruit as a thanksgiving and a prayer. The influences of the Spirit
therefore are not merely a promise of the future, they are the actual commencements of the
golden harvest of eternal glory. The other phrase, "groaning for the adoption, evenso far
as unto the redemption of the body," means that we are adopted now, but that the body in
the bondage of corruption stands in the way of the full realisation of our sonship, and
therefore "the firstfruits of the Spirit" are a cry for its perfect deliverance. Note then —
1. That the "firstfruits of the Spirit" are a prayer for perfect adoption. We know that"now
we are sons of God"; but the more we realise that fact, the more profoundly do we feet that
the full manifestation has not yet come. Let us illustrate this by looking at three great
"firstfruits of the Spirit," experimentally. The Spirit reveals to us our adoption —(1) By
revealing the love of God. There are times when we feel that He loves us; and this feeling
clothes life in splendour, and brings into the heart the balm and music of heaven, making
poverty, toil, sorrow, endurable things. But is not that always a longing, a prayer? The very
greatness of that love — the very feebleness of our emotion in responding to it, make us
pray to feel it more.(2) By the gift of spiritual power. The sign of a son of God is that he is
no more in bondage to the passions and habits of the old life. But are we everkings over
ourselves as supremely as we would be? And there, again, "the firstfruits of the Spirit" are
a longing for a perfected adoption.(3) By the gift of Divine peace. But because that so soon
fades, who does not long for the sabbath of eternity?
2. We can now see how these aspirations rise, as Paul says, into a prayer for the redemption
of the body. Our present body is the grand hindrance to the attainment of perfect sonship:
thought wears out its energies; deep emotion exhausts its vigour; its infirmities, sicknesses,
decays, hinder the prayers and aspirations of the soul. And then, above all, the power of the
body to perpetuate the influences of past sin renders it a hindrance to the man who feels
the firstfruits of the Spirit. And thus it is that we who have the "firstfruits" must cry for
the redemption of the body, because we know that until then we can never reach the love,
power, and blessedness, which belong to us as sons of God.
II. THEIR PROPHETIC HOPES. We hope —
1. For the redeemed body; not for the departure of the present body, but for its
redemption. We pray not for the death of our present powers of sight and hearing, but for
their purified and intensified life. And now mark the prophetic cries which lie hid in that
hope. Because it is a firstfruit of the Spirit, it foretells that every bodily power shall come
forth, not crushed, but made stronger and brighter from the touch of death.

2. For the redeemed world. This world with all its beauty is fitted rather for a school of
discipline than a home of purified spirits, and hence we hope for another and purer world
for our final abode. Now mark again how this hope is prophetic of what shall be. Paul, in
the context, affirms that the pain and death of the creature form one loud prophetic wail
for redemption, i.e., the whole creation joins the Christian cry for a world in which
suffering and evil shall have vanished.
III. THEIR PRESENT LESSONS.
1. We need them all. Let a man lower his hopes and limit his aspirings, and he will easily
decline into a low spiritual life in which he will be "like a reed shaken by the wind," before
temptation. Only he who daily claims the whole eternity of hope as his own is guarded
against the snares and pollutions of the world.
2. We must live them all.
(E. L. Hull, B.A.)
Christian privileges and prospects
J. Parsons.
I. THE DESCRIPTION WHICH IS GIVEN OF CHRISTIANS BY THEIR PRESENT
PRIVILEGES. In this chapter we have a remarkable distinction of character. Those in a
state of nature are described as in the flesh, aa carnally minded, etc. Those in a state of
grace are said to be of the Spirit, to mind the things of the Spirit, to be spiritually-minded,
to be led by and to walk in the Spirit.
1. Their character, therefore, is formed by the influences of the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26, 27).
Our Saviour stated the necessity of being born of the Spirit, and he told His disciples that
He would send them the Spirit of truth, etc. The apostle says that we are to "be washed by
the renewing of the Holy Ghost," etc. By this the earthliness of the affections is refined, and
the whole soul is changed into the image of God. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ,
he is none of His."
2. Those who have the Spirit are placed in a high and beautiful relationship. They have
adoption into the family of God (ver. 14-16; Galatians 4:4-6:1 John 4:1, 2). The heir of God
has to remember that much of his good is future, and he must sketch out to himself those
prospects where faith will be lost in sight, and hope in endless praise. "We have the
firstfruits of the Spirit." Whatever blessings the Spirit has bestowed, or whatever
characters He has impressed, are pledges of the future possession. Has the Spirit destroyed
the love of sin, induced a desire for purity — inspired faith, hope, love? These are all to be

regarded as pledges of what you shall be in the future; your heaven begun upon earth.
These are the seeds of the harvest of glory; the roots of the future tree of blessedness; the
embryo of the perfect man; the outline of the picture which shall be finished in eternity; the
first streaks of light; the first gleams of that dawn which shall brighten into the splendour
of meridian glory.
II. THE STATE OF MIND IN WHICH THEY ARE CONFESSED TO EXIST. "We groan
within ourselves," etc. These emotions are to be considered in connection with similar
emotions through the creation. The whole creation is represented as longing for the
glorious period when all its misery shall be over, as if in the throes of a new birth. Yes! and
man and brute, hills and valleys, earth and ocean, times and seasons, are passing onwards
to a glorious deliverance. Yes! and every cloud that darkens, and every affliction that
troubles, and every injury which brute sustains from brute, and the rolling of the storm,
and the belchings of the volcano, and the commotions of the deep, and the tremblings of the
earthquake, are to be all considered as the pangs of nature passing onwards to that end.
Oh, when shall these pangs cease! Then the apostle speaks of the children of God, and he
declares that they are not in a higher sphere. We are all in this respect in one mass, "we
also groan," etc.
1. Our state of mind is one which involves —(1) Pungent sorrow on account of present
imperfection.(a) Sorrow on account of what we see inthe world around us. I look on the
world around me; it came from the hand of God; it abounds with beautiful views; but still
it affords cause for mourning. Look at its sinfulness. It is a world of wickedness. See its
misery. Because there is sin there is sorrow. We witness the groanings of poverty, the
wasting of disease, the scorn of contumely, the oppressions of power, etc.(b) Sorrow when
we consider our own characters, and our individual experience. Who can say, "I have
made my heart clean, I am free from sin"? Who has not cause to exclaim with Paul, "I
delight in the law of God, after the inward man; but I see another law in my members,"
etc. Again, we are not only sinners but sufferers. We have much to enjoy, but we have also
much to endure; and who among you is not ready to say, "we ourselves groan within
ourselves," and long for wings, "that we might flee away and be at rest"?(2) Earnest desire
as to the future. "We wait for the adoption," etc. Civil adoption was private and public.
Now every child of God is adopted privately at the time of conversion; but there is a day
appointed for his public adoption when he will be declared as a son of God. We as
Christians wait for this. The time when this shall be is not revealed. But the time shall come
when all the redeemed shall appear with Christ in glory.
2. The emotion in reference to this fact, "we wait for it." We stand like men on the summit
of a lofty mountain, taking a transient view of the intermediate landscape and looking to
the distant horizon for our intended dwelling. We wait for it, our minds are fixed upon it,
our desires are influenced by it. Prove that you wait for it —(1) By avoiding the pollutions
of the world.(2) By refusing to place your affections on the world. "If ye then be risen with

Christ," etc.(3) By showing in constant and active exertion all the principles of the vocation
by which you are called. Are you called to love? then love; are you called to vigilance? then
be vigilant; to zeal? then be zealous.(4) By anticipating with joy the time of your departure
from the world.
(J. Parsons.)
The yearning of the good for deliverance
Thomas Horton, D.D.
1. That is groaning, which is here again considerable two manner of ways.(1) For the
simple passion: we groan. Where that which we may observe from it is this, that eventhe
children of God themselves do groan while they abide here in the world.(2) There are two
things especially which are the ground and occasion of this groaning, whereof we now
speak, in the children of God; and that is, first, the burden of sin. The stain and defilement
of sin. The proneness and inclination to evil which is in the heart. As proneness to evil, so
on the other side indisposedness to good. Distraction in duty and weakness and
imperfection of performance. The sins of daily incursion, as we commonly call them for
distinction sake, in opposition to greater miscarriages; these slips and failings which we fall
into before we are aware in every business.
2. Seeing God's children do thus groan under their sins, let then all men take heed how they
do at any time upbraid therewith them. This serves to confute that opinion which prevails
with some kind of people, as if a justified person were exempted from all grief for sin. But
secondly, as the servants of God groan under sin in the stain of it, and so far forth as it
defiles, so likewise under the guilt of it, and so far forth as it exposes to punishment. The
second is taken from misery and the affliction which they meet with here likewise. This
proceeds, first, from the consideration of their common nature. Secondly, it proceeds also
from grace, forasmuch as they have a real apprehension of deliverance which belongs unto
them. This is that which puts them upon groaning to be delivered, because by faith they
know that there is One that hears their groans and takes notice of them. Thirdly, it is
sometimes also from weakness and want of faith, especially there where it is in the excess
and extremity of it. This teaches them accordingly what to expect while they live here
below. This world is a vale of tears, wherein the best that are are subject to fighting and
groaning. The second is in the additional illustration. And that is in ourselves. Under which
phrase and manner of expression we have divers things intimated to us as concerning this
sighing and groaning of the children of God, three things especially. First, that it is secret
and hidden, it is not always discerned; we groan in ourselves, that is we groan to ourselves.
This groaning, it is such as all men are not sensible or apprehensive of nor do take notice of
it. That which is done within a man, it is done without the privacy of another, because no

man knows the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is within him. This is the
dispensation of God's children to be mourning and humbling of themselves for the sins and
miscarriages of others, while the parties themselves that occasion it are little sensible or
apprehensive of it. Thus does many a godly parent groan for the miscarriages of his
children. This, it proceeds from a kind of modesty in them, as in all things else as suitable
to the principles of religion. They pray in secret, and give in secret, and grieve in secret,
The second is hearty and serious. In ourselves, that is from ourselves. The groanings of
God's children they are not slight, or perfunctory, or superficial; but such as proceed from
a deep sense and apprehension of their misery, and the condition in which they are. The
third thing implied in this expression is the propriety or peculiarity of their grief. In
ourselves, that is by ourselves. We groan within ourselves; that is within our own compass
and in our own capacity. We groan not only as beasts do, which are acted only by common
sense; nor we do not groan only as men do, which are acted only by natural reason; but we
groan moreover as Christians, which are acted by religion and grace, and so have a grief in
that respect which is proper unto them. This peculiarity of grief, and so consequently of
groaning in God's children, is founded in these considerations. First, their peculiarity of
employment; they have such businesses wherein they are exercised, as none have but they.
Peculiar employments breed peculiar distractions and cumbrances which are attendant
upon them, because they have still some miscarriage which these are liable unto, and
miscarriage is a cause of grief. Now God's children they have other businesses and
employments than other men have, and which they seriously give themselves to. Secondly,
peculiarity of contentment; every different comfort has a different grief annexed unto it,
either in the deprival or straitening of it. The more delights that any man has in any
condition, the more crosses is he likewise subject unto from that condition when these
delights shall be suspended. The children of God they therefore grieve by themselves
because indeed they joy by themselves. Thirdly, peculiarity of design; they have proper and
peculiar ends and aims which they propound to themselves. Look, as any men's desires are,
the more oftentimes are their griefs, because desire and hope disappointed it makes the
heart sad. Now God's children they have their peculiar desires and aims and ends: as the
glory of God, the good of the Church. The crossing of which unto them is an occasion of
greater grief in them. Not so neither. For, first of all, as a Christian has peculiar grief, so he
has peculiar joy and comfort which attends it. Secondly, this proper grief of a Christian is a
cause of greater comfort to him. His joy is not only joined with his sorrow, but flows from
it, according to that of the apostle (2 Corinthians 7-10). And so now I have done with the
first action attributed to believers in this text, and that is groaning, with the amplification
of it; "We ourselves groan within ourselves." The second thing here attributed to the godly
and true Christians is waiting, in these words, "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of the body." Where we have two things exhibited to us. First, it is an
expression of their patience. They wait, that is, they stay (2 Corinthians 4:8). The ground
hereof is first of all this in the text, because they have received the firstfruits of the Spirit,

which though they do not altogether satisfy them, yet they do at least very much qualify
them, and occasion this patience to them. Secondly, because they have a spirit of faith
whereby they see all those things which do at present befall them working good unto them.
The second is earnest expectation. God's children they do wait for their redemption, that is
they do look and long for it (thus Titus 2:13). First, their present evils and afflictions. They
wait because they groan, as it is said before of the creature in vers. 19, 20 of this chapter.
Secondly, their present feelings and pre-apprehensions. They have received the firstfruits
of the Spirit, and these beginnings do so much the more increase these desires in them.
Thirdly, love to Christ. They desire it and long for it as a bride does for the coming of her
beloved. Lastly, from the condition of a believer in regard of grace, which is here very weak
and imperfect. This waiting of the saints thus declared, it is useful to sundry purposes to
us: First, for the intent to which it is brought here in the text, and that it is to assure us that
there is such a thing indeed as this is, namely, a time for Christian redemption from their
present bondage, and enjoyment of a glorious liberty which shall be bestowed upon them.
This it does appear from hence because the children of God themselves do desire it.
Secondly, here is a discovery of men's conditions what they are. Those who are indeed
God's children, they do not only groan, but wait; not only mourn under present misery, but
also pant after future glory, etc. A worldling is all for the present and to have his
contentments here; but a Christian is not so satisfied. Thirdly, Let this quicken us to this
groaning and heavenly disposition, and make us labour to find it in ourselves. First, for the
object propounded, and that is adoption. Adoption in Scripture-language is of a various
consideration, and is taken three manner of ways. First, for the adoption of election,
whereby God, before everthe foundations of the world were laid, did appoint us, and set us
out to be in the number of His sons and daughters. The second is the adoption of vocation,
whereby we being effectually called by the preaching of the gospel, and justified by faith,
are by the spirit of adoption incorporated into Jesus Christ and confirmed in the
inheritance of sons. The third is the adoption of glory, whereby we shall fully at last obtain
the glorious inheritance of children together with Christ. The second is the particular
exposition, to wit, the redemption of our body. The redemption. This likewise, as well as
that other term of adoption, does admit of a different signification, either namely, as taken
for the paying and laying down of the price, or else for the receiving of the thing itself for
which the price is paid. Of our body. This is expressed, rather than of our souls. First,
because our souls are in their actual redemption already before that time. Secondly, it is
here said of the body, because all miseries and afflictions in this life are conveyed to the
whole man by the body, so that the redemption of the body is in effect the redemption of
the whole person. That which we may more particularly observe here is this, that there is a
day coming wherein the bodies of all the saints as well as their souls shall be freed from
bondage and corruption. Thus it follows upon these special considerations: First, as they
are the instruments of a sanctified and regenerate soul, whereunto also they have been
companions in duty. Secondly, as members of Christ, who is the Head and redeemed before

them; "Christ is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept" (1
Corinthians 15:20). Thirdly, as they are the temples of the Holy Ghost, who still abides and
dwells in them as His own, and accordingly will raise them (Romans 8:11). Lastly, as
together with the soul they do make up the whole person which God hath taken into court
with Himself (Matthew 22:32). The consideration of this truth is very comfortable to the
servants of God. First, in all corporal infirmities and disparagements which are incident to
the body here in this life, of sickness and distempers, and restraint and persecution, and the
like. Secondly, as to the horror of the grave, and the dreadful apprehensions of that from
rottenness and putrefaction, our bodies shall at last be freed from all corruption (Hosea
13:14).
(Thomas Horton, D.D.)
Adoption still future
T. Robinson, D.D.
1. As embracing the whole man.
2. As consisting in absolute deliverance from bondage.
3. As including manifestation and public acknowledgment.
4. As belonging not merely to individuals, but to the Church as a body.
(T. Robinson, D.D.)
The redemption of the body
J. Vaughan, M.A.
I. THE CHRISTIAN IS A MAN GATHERING "FIRSTFRUITS." The harvest is not
come. He looks out upon the beauty of nature, and he sees a "firstfruit" of a renewed and
perfect creation. He has a happy thought, it is a "firstfruit" of an endless and universal joy.
He tastes the delights of a pure affection, it is the "firstfruit"of a world where all is love. He
catches a glimpse of Christ, it is a "firstfruit" of an eternal presence. He plucks from the
tree of truth a holy feeling, it is the "firstfruit" of the rich abundance of a matured
saintliness. To him, everything is a "firstfruit." If it is not the full glow of summer yet, it is
not winter, "If the early grapes be so sweet, what shall the vintage be?"
II. A MAN UNTAUGHT MIGHT SAY, "SURELY THOSE WHO GATHER
FIRSTFRUITS AT LEAST WILL HAVE AN IMMUNITY FROM SORROW?" St. Paul

said, "We which have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves." I do not find that
the Church has less suffering than the world without, only I find it more "inward." This
"inward groaning," what is it, and whence? As soon as a man really receives one of the
"firstfruits" of the Holy Ghost, immediately a very great change takes place in that soul.
But how with the body? Is it altered? Some little degree of physical refinement may grow
out of the spiritual change; but in the main the body is the same. It prompts the same
desires, it leads on to the same sins. Sometimes it inflames us, sometimes it drags us. And so
it will be to death, the changed soul in the unchanged body, the redeemed in the
unredeemed. Now here is all the con-flict. Of all our misery this is the painful element, the
inability of the body to carry out the higher aspirations of the soul. Other things may bring
the sigh, the tear, but this brings the groan, "When shall I be holy? When will the contest
cease?" "O wretched man that I am," etc. So —
III. Because we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, "WE GROAN WITHIN OURSELVES
WAITING FOR THE ADOPTION, TO WIT, THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY."
The moment of death comes, the body and the soul are parted for a while. From that date
the redemption of the body begins. It dies, it dissolves, it lies hidden, God works in it as He
pleases. Presently, it comes forth; it is another, and yet the same, identical to be known, to
be loved, to be embraced, and yet how changed! It is in sweetest harmony with the soul; it
is not a whit less spiritual and heavenly than that which once it thwarted. It has taken the
image of God; it perfectly reflects Christ. And then, and not till then, its redemption is
complete. Hero is the great result of the travail of the believer. Conclusion;
1. All you have to do now with the body is to hold it down and keepit under. And that
effort will be your "groaning." But only" till He comes." His second advent will perfect the
reformation of your body, as His first did your soul.
2. There is probably a very close analogy between the redemption of the soul and that of
the body. The seedof life sown in death, the long hidden process, the dying first before
there is life indeed, the maintenance of the original character, where, nevertheless, all is
new, the likeness to Christ in both, the intention of all to serve, in all the perfect sovereignty
of God.
3. The focus of faith and hope to all is the coming of Christ. The groaning soul of the
believer, carrying the burden of the flesh, looks there. The emancipated spirits of the
departed "longing to be clothed upon with their house which is from heaven," look there.
Even while they wait in paradise the redemption of that body, still perfect, is going on, and
they stretch on with ardent desire for the moment when He shall bring forth the whole man
in the integrity of his being. And in those at this moment who lie in the grave, out of our
sight, it is that holy, blessedwork which is going on. For that reason we gave them up. "We
ourselves groan within ourselves" till we see them again. But we shall see them lovelier
than before, but still the same, more ours, more His, the needful absence for the needful

work done, no absence more, all ours and all one for ever. Wait on; He hears the groans of
the waiting.
(J. Vaughan, M.A.)
Insufficiencies accessories of beauty
Heaven does not take perfect beings and make them more perfect. It takes fallible and
incomplete ones, and glorifies them. Even time and the discipline of pain are beforehand in
this, turning the very defects of Christians into graces. It is a paradox of art that our
glassmakers can only reproduce now the perfection of the ancient "stained glass" by
reproducing its imperfections: — "Singularly enough, examinations made of the painted
windows, so celebrated as works of artistic genius and skill, of the old cathedrals of
England and continental Europe, show that their superiority really consists in the
inferiority of the glass, its richness in the poverty of its constituents, in the very perfection
of its uneven thickness, and in the imperfections of its surface and its body, all covered, as
they are, by the accumulating dust of ages, and honey-combed by the corroding effect of
time. Like the facets of a diamond or ruby, each little wave and thread and blister becomes,
by interference, refraction and reflection of the light which plays upon it, a new source of
the gem-like brilliance, harmony, and beauty which distinguish the painted glass of former
centuries." So the inferiorities and insufficiencies of God's children become accessories of
beauty when the rays of His heavenly glory play upon them. The culture of eternity must
complement the trial and wear of this lifetime to bring out every charm that here lay in
disguise."
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(23) Nor is it only the rest of creation that groans. We Christians, too, though we possess
the firstfruits of the Spirit, nevertheless inwardly groan, sighing for the time when our
adoption as the sons of God will be complete, and evenour mortal bodies will be
transfigured.
Which have the firstfruits of the Spirit.—Though we have received the first partial
outpouring of the Spirit, as opposed to the plenitude of glory in store for us.

The adoption.—The Christian who has received the gift of the Spirit is already an adopted
child of God. (See Romans 8:15-16.) But this adoption still has to be ratified and perfected,
which will not be until the Coming of Christ.
The redemption of our body.—One sign of the imperfect sonship of the Christian is that
mortal and corruptible body in which the better and heavenly part of him is imprisoned.
That, too, shall be transformed and glorified, and cleared from all the defect of its earthly
condition. (Comp. 1Corinthians 15:49-53; 2Corinthians 5:1 et sea.; Philippians 3:21.)
MacLaren's Expositions
Romans
THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY
Romans 8:23.
In a previous verse Paul has said that all true Christians have received ‘the Spirit of
adoption.’ They become sons of God through Christ the Son. They receive a new spiritual
and divine life from God through Christ, and that life is like its source. In so far as that
new life vitalises and dominates their nature, believers have received ‘the Spirit of
adoption,’ and by it they cry ‘Abba, Father.’ But the body still remains a source of
weakness, the seat of sin. It is sluggish and inapt for high purposes; it still remains subject
to ‘the law of sin and death’; and so is not like the Father who breathed into it the breath of
life. It remains in bondage, and has not yet received the adoption. This text, in harmony
with the Apostle’s whole teaching, looks forward to a change in the body and in its
relations to the renewed spirit, as the crown and climax of the work of redemption, and
declares that till that change is effected, the condition of Christian men is imperfect, and is
a waiting, and often a groaning.
In dealing with some of the thoughts that arise from this text, we note-
I. That a future bodily life is needed in order to give definiteness and solidity to the
conception of immortality.

Before the Gospel came men’s belief in a future life was vague and powerless, mainly
because it had no Gospel of the Resurrection, and so nothing tangible to lay hold on. The
Gospel has made the belief in a future state infinitely easierand more powerful, mainly
because of the emphasis with which it has proclaimed an actual resurrection and a future
bodily life. Its great proof of immortality is drawn, not merely from ethical considerations
of the manifest futility of earthly life which has no sequel beyond the grave, nor from the
intuitions and longings of men’s souls, but from the historical fact of the Resurrection of
Jesus Christ, and of His Ascension in bodily form into heaven. It proclaims these two facts
as parts of His experience, and asserts that when He rose from the dead and ascended up
on high, He did so as ‘the first-born among many brethren,’ their forerunner and their
pattern. It is this which gives the Gospel its power, and thus transforms a vague and
shadowy conception of immortality into a solid faith, for which we have already an
historical guarantee. Stupendous mysteries still veil the nature of the resurrection process,
though these are exaggerated into inconceivabilities by false notions of what constitutes
personal identity; but if the choice lies between accepting the Christian doctrine of a
resurrection and the conception of a finite spirit disembodied and yet active, there can be
no doubt as to which of these two is the more reasonable and thinkable. Body, soul, and
spirit make the complete triune man.
The thought of the future life as a bodily life satisfies the longings of the heart. Much
natural shrinking from death comes from unwillingness to part company with an old
companion and friend. As Paul puts it in 2nd Corinthians, ‘Not for that we would be
unclothed, but clothed upon.’ All thoughts of the future which do not give prominence to
the idea of a bodily life open up but a ghastly and uninviting mode of existence, which
cannot but repel those who are accustomed to the fellowship of their bodies, and they feel
that they cannot think of themselves as deprived of that which was their servant and
instrument, through all the years of their earthly consciousness.
II. ‘The body that shall be’ is an emancipated body.
The varied gifts of the Spirit bestowed upon the Christian Church servedto quicken the
hope of the yet greater gifts of that indwelling Spirit which were yet to come. Chief
amongst these our text considers the transformation of the earthly into a spiritual body.
This transformation our text regards as being the participation by the body in the
redemption by which Christ has bought us with the great price of His blood. We have to

interpret the language here in the light of the further teaching of Paul in the great
Resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians 15:1 - 1 Corinthians 15:58, which distinctly lays
stress, not on the identity of the corporeal frame which is laid in the grave with ‘the body of
glory,’ but upon the entire contrast between the ‘natural body,’ which is fit organ for the
lower nature, and is informed by it, and the ‘spiritual body,’ which is fit organ for the
spirit. We have to interpret ‘the resurrection of the body’ by the definite apostolic
declaration, ‘Thou sowest not that body that shall be. . . but God giveth it a body as it hath
pleased Him’; and we have to give full weight to the contrasts which the Apostle draws
between the characteristics of that which is ‘sown’ and of that which is ‘raised.’ The one is
‘sown in corruption and raised in incorruption.’ Natural decay is contrasted with immortal
youth. The one is ‘sown in dishonour,’ the other is ‘raised in glory.’ That contrast is ethical,
and refers either to the subordinate position of the body here in relation to the spirit, or to
the natural sense of shame, or to the ideas of degradation which are attached to the
indulgence of the appetites. The one is ‘sown in weakness,’ the other is ‘raised in power’;
the one is ‘sown a natural body,’ the other is ‘raised a spiritual body.’ Is not Paul in this
whole series of contrasts thinking primarily of the vision which he saw on the road to
Damascus when the risen Christ appeared before him? And had not the years which had
passedsince then taught him to see in the ascended Christ the prophecy and the pattern of
what His servants should become? We have further to keepin view Paul’s other
representation in 2 Corinthians 5:1 - 2 Corinthians 5:21, where he strongly puts the
contrast between the corporeal environment of earth and ‘the body of glory,’ which
belongs to the future life, in his two images: ‘the earthly house of this tabernacle’-a clay hut
which lasts but for a time,-and ‘the building of God, the house not made with hands and
eternal.’ The body is an occasion of separation from the Lord.
These considerations may well lead us to, at least, general outlines on which a confident
and peaceful hope may fix. For example, they lead us to the thought that that redeemed
body is no more subject to decay and death, is no more weighed upon by weakness and
weariness, has no work beyond its strength, needs no sustenance by food, and no
refreshment of sleep. ‘The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,’
suggests strength constantly communicated by a direct divine gift. And from all these
negative characteristics there follows that there will be in that future bodily life no epochs
of age marked by bodily changes. The two young men who were seensitting in the
sepulchre of Jesus had lived before Adam, and would seemas young if we saw them to-day.
Similarly the redeemed body will be a more perfect instrument for communication with the
external universe. We know that the present body conditions our knowledge, and that our
senses do not take cognisance of all the qualities of material things. Microscopes and

telescopes have enlarged our field of vision, and have brought the infinitely small and the
infinitely distant within our range. Our ear hears vibrations at a certain rate per second,
and no doubt if it were more delicately organised we could hear sounds where now is
silence. Sometimes the creatures whom we call ‘inferior’ seemto have senses that
apprehend much of which we are not aware. Balaam’s ass saw the obstructing angel before
Balaam did. Nor is there any reason to suppose that all the powers of the mind find tools to
work with in the body. It is possible that that body which is the fit instrument of the spirit
may become its means of knowing more deeply, thinking more wisely, understanding more
swiftly, comprehending more widely, remembering more firmly and judging more soundly.
It is possible that the contrast between then and now may be like the contrast between
telegraph and slow messengerin regard to the rapidity, between photograph and poor
daub in regard to the truthfulness, between a full-orbed circle and a fragmentary arc in
regard to the completeness of the messages which the body brings to the indwelling self.
But, once more, the body unredeemed has appetites and desires which may lead to their
own satisfaction, which do lead to sordid cares and weary toil. ‘The flesh lusts against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh.’ The redeemed body will have in it nothing to tempt
and nothing to clog, but will be a helper to the spirit and a source of strength. Glorious
work of God as the body is, it has its weaknesses, its limitations, and its tendencies to evil.
We must not be tempted into brooding over unanswered questions as to ‘How do the dead
rise, and with what body do they come?’ But we can lift our eyes to the mountain-top
where Jesus went up to pray. ‘And as He prayed the fashion of His countenance was
altered, and His raiment became white and dazzling’; and He was capable of entering into
the Shekinah cloud and holding fellowship therein with the Father, who attestedHis
Sonship and bade us listen to His voice. And we can look to Olivet and follow the ascending
Jesus as He lets His benediction drop on the upturned faces of His friends, until He again
passes into the Shekinah cloud, and leaving the world, goes to the Father. And from both
His momentary transfiguration and His permanent Ascension we can draw the certain
assurance that ‘He shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be
conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able evento
subdue all things unto Himself.’
III. The redeemed body is a consequence of Christ’s indwelling Spirit.
It is no natural result of death or resurrection, but is the outcome of the process begun on
earth, by which, ‘through faith and the righteousness of faith,’ the spirit is life. The context
distinctly enforces this view by its double use of ‘adoption,’ which in one aspect has already

been received, and is manifested by the fact that ‘now are we the sons of God,’ and in
another aspect is still ‘waited’ for. The Christian man in his regenerated spirit has been
born again; the Christian man still waits for the completion of that sonship in a time when
the regenerated spirit will no longer dwell in the clay cottage of ‘this tabernacle,’ but will
inhabit a congruous dwelling in ‘the building of God not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.’
Scripture is too healthy and comprehensive to be contented with a merely spiritual
regeneration, and is withal too spiritual to be satisfied with a merely material heaven. It
gives full place to both elements, and yet decisively puts all belonging to the latter second. It
lays down the laws that for a complete humanity there must be body as well as spirit; that
there must be a correspondence between the two, and as is the spirit so must the body be,
and further, that the process must begin at the centre and work outwards, so that the spirit
must first be transformed, and then the body must be participant of the transformation.
All that Scripture says about ‘rising in glory’ is said about believers. It is represented as a
spiritual process. They who have the Spirit of God in their spirits because they have it
receive the glorified body which is like their Saviour’s. It is not enough to die in order to
‘rise glorious.’ ‘If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit
that dwelleth in you.’ The resurrection is promised for all mankind, but it may be a
resurrection in which there shall be endless living and no glory, nor any beauty and no
blessedness. But the body may be ‘sown in weakness,’ and in weakness raised; it may be
‘sown in dishonour’ and in dishonour raised; it may be sown dead, and raised a living
death. ‘Many of them that sleepin the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.’ Does that mean nothing? ‘They that
have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.’ Does that mean nothing? There are
dark mysteries in these and similar words of Scripture which should make us all pause and
solemnly reflect. The sole way which leads to the resurrection of glory is the way of faith in
Jesus Christ. If we yield ourselves to Him, He will plant His Spirit in our spirits, will guide
and growingly sanctify us through life, will deliver us by the indwelling of the Spirit of life
in Him from the law of sin and death. Nor will His transforming power cease till it has
pervaded our whole being with its fiery energy, and we stand at the last men like Christ,
redeemed in body, soul, and spirit, ‘according to the mighty working whereby He is able to
subdue all things unto Himself.’
Benson Commentary

Romans 8:23. And not only they — The unenlightened and unrenewed part of mankind;
but we ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit — Because first-fruits signify
the best things of their kind, some think that the apostles, and such as possessedthe most
excellent spiritual gifts, are spoken of in this passage. But as the privileges described
Romans 8:24-26 equally belong to all, it seems more probable that the apostle speaks of
believers in general, who had the gifts of the Spirit bestowed on them as first-fruits, or as
the earnest of those greater virtues and spiritual endowments, which they shall enjoy in
heaven. Even we groan within ourselves — Under many remaining imperfections, and a
variety of miseries; waiting for the adoption — For the public and open display of our
adoption; to wit, the redemption of our body — From dust and death to glory and
immortality, when our heavenly Father shall bring us forth before the eyes of the whole
world, habited and adorned as becomes his children. Persons who had been privately
adopted among the Romans, were often brought forth into the forum, and there publicly
owned as the sons of those who had adopted them. So at the general resurrection, when the
body itself is redeemed from death, the sons of God shall be publicly owned by him in the
great assembly of men and angels. Thus our Lord, Luke 20:26, terms those who shall be
accounted worthy to obtain the heavenly world, the children of God, because they are the
children of the resurrection; they being hereby manifestly shown to be his children. The
apostle therefore had good reason to call the redemption of our body from death, the
adoption. Besides, it is that by which the saints are enabled, as the children of God, to
inherit the kingdom of their Father.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
8:18-25 The sufferings of the saints strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer
than the present time, are light afflictions, and but for a moment. How vastly different are
the sentence of the word and the sentiment of the world, concerning the sufferings of this
present time! Indeed the whole creation seems to wait with earnest expectation for the
period when the children of God shall be manifested in the glory prepared for them. There
is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which has come upon the creature by the fall of
man. There is an enmity of one creature to another. And they are used, or abused rather,
by men as instruments of sin. Yet this deplorable state of the creation is in hope. God will
deliver it from thus being held in bondage to man's depravity. The miseries of the human
race, through their own and each other's wickedness, declare that the world is not always
to continue as it is. Our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, quickens our desires,
encourages our hopes, and raises our expectations. Sin has been, and is, the guilty cause of
all the suffering that exists in the creation of God. It has brought on the woes of earth; it
has kindled the flames of hell. As to man, not a tear has been shed, not a groan has been
uttered, not a pang has been felt, in body or mind, that has not come from sin. This is not
all; sin is to be looked at as it affects the glory of God. Of this how fearfully regardless are
the bulk of mankind! Believers have been brought into a state of safety; but their comfort

consists rather in hope than in enjoyment. From this hope they cannot be turned by the
vain expectation of finding satisfaction in the things of time and sense. We need patience,
our way is rough and long; but He that shall come, will come, though he seems to tarry.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And not only they - Not only the creation in general. "But ourselves also." Christians.
Which have the first-fruits of the Spirit - The word used ἀπαρχὴ aparchē denotes properly
the first-fruits of the harvest, the portion that was first collected and consecrated to God as
an offering of gratitude, Deuteronomy 26:2; Exodus 23:19; Numbers 18:13. Hence, the
word means what is first in order of time. Here it means, as I suppose, that the Christians
of whom Paul was speaking had partaken of the first influences of the Spirit, or had been
among the first partakers of his influences in converting sinners. The Spirit had been sent
down to attend the preaching of the gospel, and they were among the first who had
partaken of those influences. Some, however, have understood the word to mean a pledge,
or earnest, or foretaste of joys to come. This idea has been attached to the word because the
first-fruits of the harvest were a pledge of the harvest, an evidence that it was ripe, etc. But
the word does not seemto be used in this sense in the New Testament. The only places
where it occurs are the following; Romans 8:23; Romans 11:16; Romans 16:5; 1
Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Corinthians 16:15; James 1:18; Revelation 14:4.
Groan within ourselves - We sigh for deliverance. The expression denotes strong internal
desire; the deep anguish of spirit when the heart is oppressed with anguish, and earnestly
wishes for succor.
Waiting for the adoption - Waiting for the full blessings of the adoption. Christians are
adopted when they are converted Romans 8:15, but they have not been yet admitted to the
full privileges of their adoption into the family of God. Their adoption when they are
converted is secret, and may at the time be unknown to the world. The fullness of the
adoption, their complete admission to the privileges of the sons of God, shall be in the day
of judgment, in the presence of the universe, and amidst the glories of the final
consummation of all things. This adoption is not different from the first, but is the
completion of the act of grace when a sinner is received into the family of God.
The redemption of the body - The complete recovery of the body from death and
corruption. The particular and striking act of the adoption in the day of judgment will be
the raising up of the body from the grave, and rendering it immortal and eternally blessed.
The particular effects of the adoption in this world are on the soul. The completion of it on
the last day will be seen particularly in the body; and thus the entire man shall be admitted
into the favor of God, and restored from all his sins and all the evil consequences of the fall.
The apostle here speaks the language of every Christian. The Christian has joys which the
world does not know; but he has also sorrows; he sighs over his corruption; he is in the

midst of calamity; he is going to the grave; and he looks forward to that complete
deliverance, and to that elevatedstate, when, in the presence of an assembled universe, he
shall be acknowledged as a child of God. This elevatedprivilege gives to Christianity its
high value; and the hope of being acknowledged in the presence of the universe as the child
of God - the hope of the poorest and the humblest believer - is of infinitely mere value than
the prospect of the most princely inheritance, or of the brightest crown that a monarch
everwore.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
23. And not only they, but ourselves also—or "not only [so], but evenwe ourselves"—that
is, besides the inanimate creation.
which have the first-fruits of the Spirit—or, "the Spirit as the first-fruits" of our full
redemption (compare 2Co 1:22), moulding the heart to a heavenly frame and attempering
it to its future element.
evenwe ourselves—though we have so much of heaven already within us.
groan within ourselves—under this "body of sin and death," and under the manifold
"vanity and vexation of spirit" that are written upon every object and every pursuit and
every enjoyment under the sun.
waiting for the—manifestation of our
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body—from the grave: "not (be it observed) the
deliverance of ourselves from the body, but the redemption of the body itself from the
grave" [Bengel].
Matthew Poole's Commentary
The apostle had assertedand concluded, Romans 8:18, that there is a future glory to be
revealed hereafter in the saints, such as infinitely transcends their sufferings now; and this
he had confirmed from the earnest expectation of the creature, (the pronoun they is not in
the original), and now he further confirms it from the expectation which is in believers
themselves.
The first-fruits of the Spirit; hereby he means that righteousness, joy, and peace, which
believers have in this life; these are the fruits of the Spirit, and called first-fruits in regard
of their order; and in regard of their quantity, they are but a handful in comparison of the
whole, little in regard of the fulness which they shall have in heaven; and in regard also of
their signification, the grace and comforts of the Spirit of God in this life are pledges to us

of that abundance and fulness of joy, which we shall partake of in the life to come, as the
first-fruits of the Jews were an evidence to them of the ensuing crop.
Groan within ourselves; among ourselves, say some, but it is better read in our translation,
within ourselves. It expresses the manner of the saints groaning under sin and affliction; it
is inward, and from the heart.
Waiting for the adoption: now we are the sons of God; why then should we wait for what
we have already?
Answer. We have the right, but not the full possession, of our inheritance: the apostle
himself explains his meaning in the next words.
The redemption of our body; i.e. our perfect deliverance from sin and misery; this phrase
is used in other places; see Luke 21:28 Ephesians 4:30.
But why of our body, and not of our souls? Because their souls would be in actual
possessionof the inheritance before that day, or because the miseries and troubles of this
life are conveyed to the whole man by the body, so that the redemption of the body is in
effect the redemption of the whole man.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And not only they, but ourselves also,.... Not only they Gentiles, but we Jews likewise:
which have the firstfruits of the Spirit: meaning either the apostles, who were all Jews, and
who most of them received the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit on the day of "Pentecost",
which was the day of the firstfruits, Numbers 28:26; and to which there seems to be an
allusion here; or else the Jewish converts in general: to the Jews the promises of the
Messiahwere made; to them he first came; the Gospel was first preached unto them, and
some of them first believed in Christ; they had the grace of God communicated to them in
conversion, which they received as the firstfruits, with respect to an after increase; or in
regard to glory, like the firstfruits, grace is of the same kind with glory, and is a pledge and
earnest of it; saints judge by grace the firstfruits, what glory is, and therefore long after it;
now of these persons thus described it is said,

evenwe ourselves groan within ourselves; their groans were inward from their hearts, not
hypocritical or were among themselves, common to them all; and that not merely on their
own account, the corruptions of their hearts, the sufferings they endured for the sake of the
Gospel, and in a longing expectation for the heavenly glory, but also for the conversion of
the Gentiles, for which they incessantly laboured, and prayed night and day;
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Adoption is explained by the
redemption of the body; and by the one may be known what the other means: by "the
redemption of our body" is not meant the redemption of God's elect, body and soul, by the
blood and death of Christ, which was already finished; and which the saints, who had
received the firstfruits, were partakers of in themselves, and therefore could not be said to
be waiting for it: but it designs either the redemption of the natural body, by the
resurrection from the dead; when the bodies of the saints will be delivered from that
mortality, corruption, weakness, and dishonour, under which they lie in the grave; when
they will be refined and spiritualized, and freed from everything which makes them an
incumbrance, and an uneasiness to their souls or spirits now; or else the redemption of the
mystical body the church, of which the Gentiles make a considerable part, and is to be
understood of a deliverance of the church, from the distresses and persecutions it then
laboured under; or rather of a making up of the body, the church, by a redemption or
deliverance of that part of it, which lay among the Gentiles, from that vanity and bondage
of corruption, to which it was subject, into the manifestation and glorious liberty of the
sons of God: and then by "adoption" is meant, the special grace of adoption, manifested to
the Gentiles in their effectual calling; which the Jews who had received the firstfruits of the
Spirit were waiting for, and had good reason to expect, from many prophecies in the
writings of the Old Testament; and to which they were the more encouraged, by many
appearances of the grace and power of God, attending the ministry of the Gospel among
them; and which adoption will be more fully manifested in the resurrection morn;
wherefore also the inheritance, which the whole mystical body the church will then enter
upon the possessionof, may well be called "the adoption", because the saints are adopted
to it; adoption gives them the title to it, none but adopted ones will enjoy it; and their
enjoyment of it will be the full manifestation and completion of the grace of adoption; this
saints are waiting for, both for themselves and others, and it is worth waiting for; for it is
"an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, which fades not away, reserved in the heavens", 1
Peter 1:4, and there is good ground to wait for it; it is a bequest of their heavenly Father,
who has adopted them; it is a gift of his free grace; it is already in the hands of Christ, with
whom they are co-heirs; and they have already the Spirit, as the earnest of it.
Geneva Study Bible
{22} And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, evenwe
ourselves groan within {d} ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, {e} the redemption of
our body.

(22) Fifthly, if the rest of the world looks for a restoring, groaning as it were for it and that
not in vain, let us also sigh, indeed, let us be more certainly persuaded of our redemption to
come, for we already have the first fruits of the Spirit.
(d) Even from the bottom of our hearts.
(e) The last restoring, which will be the accomplishment of our adoption.
Meyer's NTCommentary
Romans 8:23. Climax of the foregoing proof that the ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι, ὅτι κ.τ.λ. of the κτίσις,
Romans 8:21, is well founded. “Otherwise, indeed, we Christians also would not join in that
sighing.”
οὐ μόνον δέ] scil. πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις στενάζει.
What follows must be read: ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ, τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ἔχοντες, καὶ αὐτοὶ
ἐν ἑαυτοῖς στενάζομεν. See the critical remarks. But we also on our part, though we possess
the first-fruits of the Spirit, sigh likewise in ourselves.
τὴν ἀπαρχ. τ. πνεύμ.] τ. πν. is the partitive genitive, as is involved in the very meaning of
ἀπαρχή Comp. Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Jam 1:18; and all
the passages of the LXX. and Apocr., where ἀπ. stands with the genitive of the thing, in Biel
and Schleusner. Comp. Herod. i. 92; Plat. Legg. vii. p. 806 D; Dem. 164. 21; Thuc. iii. 58. 3;
Soph. Trach. 758; Eur. Or. 96; Phoen. 864; Ion. 402; also ἀπαρχὴ τῆς σοφίας, Plat. Prot. p.
343 A; and ἀπαρχαὶ ἀπὸ φιλοσοφίας, Plut. Mor. p. 172 C. By the possessors, however, of
the ἀπαρχὴ τοῦ πνεύματος, are not exclusively meant the apostles, who at Pentecost had
received the first outpouring of the Spirit, and among whom Paul includes himself on
account of his miraculous conversion (Origen, Oecumenius, Melancthon, Grotius, and
others). He means rather the Christians of that age generally, since in fact they—in
contrast to the far greater mass of mankind still unconverted, for whom, according to Joel
3:1, the receiving of the Spirit was still a thing of the future (Romans 11:25 ff.)—were in
possessionof that, which first had resulted from the communication of the Spirit, and
which therefore stood related to the collective bestowal as the daybreak. So, on the whole,
Erasmus, Wetstein, Morus, Reiche, Köllner, de Wette, Olshausen, Köster, and Frommann;
see also Müller in the Luther. Zeitschr. 1871, p. 618. Paul does not say simply τὸ πνεῦμα
ἔχοντες, but, in the lofty feeling of the privilege, which he discovered in the earlier calling

and sanctification of the then Christians: τὴν ἀπαρχ. τ. πν. ἔχ.; “evenwe, though favoured
so pre-eminently that we possess the first-fruit gift of the Spirit, cannot refrain from
sighing likewise.” This we remark in opposition to the oft-repeated objection, that it was
not an element of importance whether they had received the πνεῦμα at the first or a few
years later; and also in opposition to the quite as irrelevant objection of Hofmann, that the
conception of a measure of the Spirit to be given forth by degrees is nowhere indicated.
This conception has no place here, and the Spirit is one and the same; but if, in the first
instance, only a comparatively small portion of mankind has received it, and its possession
in the case of the remaining collective body is still in abeyance, this serves to constitute the
idea of an ἈΠΑΡΧΉ in relation to the whole body. Nevertheless, the sense: best gift of the
Spirit (Ch. Schmidt, Rosenmüller), is not conveyed by τ. ἀπαρχήν, because that must have
been suggestedby the context, and also because Paul could not have regarded the later
communication of the Spirit as less valuable. Further, the sense of a merely provisional
reception of the Spirit, taking place, as it were, on account, in contrast to the future full
effusion in the kingdom of heaven (Chrysostom and other Fathers, in Suicer, Thes. I. p.
423; Calvin, Beza, Pareus, Estius, Calovius, Semler, Flatt, Tholuck, Philippi, and Bisping;
comp. also Pfleiderer), is not contained in ἀπ. τ. πν., because Paul, had he wished to speak
here of a preliminary reception in contrast to the future plenitude, must necessarily, in
accordance with the connection, have so spoken of that of the ΥἹΟΘΕΣΊΑ or ΔΌΞΑ, not of
the Spirit, and because a full effusion of the Spirit at the Parousia is nowhere taught in the
N. T. The Spirit already received, not a new and more perfect reception of it in the future
αἰών, by its quickening activity leads to and conditions the eternal ΖΩΉ, in which God is
then all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). Others, again, make Τ. ΠΝ. an epexegetical genitive of
apposition: the Spirit as first-fruits, namely, of the state of glory. So Bengel, Keil, Opusc.,
Winer, p. 495 [E. T. 667], Baumgarten-Crusius, Reithmayr, Rückert, Maier, Hofmann,
Zahn, and Engelhardt; comp. also Flatt. But however Pauline the idea may be (2
Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:3; Ephesians 1:14; comp. Romans 2:5), it would, when
thus expressed, be liable to be misunderstood, since the readers were accustomed to find in
the genitive with ἀπαρχή nothing else than that, of which the latter is a portion; and how
intelligibly Paul might have expressedhimself, either in accordance with 2 Cor. l.c. and
Eph. l.c., by τὸν ἀῤῥαβῶνα, or by Τ. ἈΠ. (scil. τῆς υἱοθες.) ἘΝ Τῷ ΠΝΕΎΜ.! This applies,
at the same time, against Fritzsche, who takes ΤΟῦ ΠΝΕΎΜ. as genitive of the subject, and
the first gifts of the Spirit as in contrast to the σωτηρία which the Spirit will give to us in
the ΑἸῺΝ ΜΈΛΛΩΝ. Against this it may also be urged that the Holy Ghost is not
described in the N. T. as the Giver of eternal life (not evenin such passages as 2
Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14; Ephesians 4:30; Galatians 6:8). It is
God who, in like manner as He calls and justifies, confers also the eternal δόξα (Romans
8:30). The Spirit operates to eternal life by His government (Romans 8:2), and is the
ground (Romans 8:11) and pledge (ἀῤῥαβών) of that life; but He does not give it.

ΚΑῚ ΑὐΤΟΊ] Repeatedand placed along with ἘΝ ἙΑΥΤΟῖς with earnest emphasis: et ipsi
in nobis ipsis. The latter is not equivalent to ἐν ἀλλήλοις (Schulthess and Fritzsche), but
denotes, in harmony with the nature of the deep, painful emotion, the inward sighing of the
still longing of believers; which suffers, is silent, and hopes, but never complains, being
assured of the goal that shall be finally reached. Hofmann incorrectly would join κ. αὐτοὶ
ἐν ἑαυτοῖς with ἜΧΟΝΤΕς. But this would leave the ΚΑΊ, which, according to the
common connection with ΣΤΕΝΆΖ., has its appropriate correlative in the sighing of the
ΚΤΊΣΙς, without a reference. For, when Hofmann sets it down as the object of the ΚΑΊ to
emphasize personal possessionon the part of the Christians in contrast to the future
participation of the κτίσις, there is thus forced on this ΚΑΊ the meaning of already; and
this all the more arbitrarily, since καὶ αὐτοί just precedes it in the quite common sense of et
ipsi (Baeumlein, Partik. p. 151; Breitenbach, ad Xen. Hell. iii. 1. 10), and its emphatic
repetition is very appropriate to the lively emotion of the discourse.
υἱοθες. ἀπεκδεχ.] whilst we wait for the adoption of children. It is true, believers have
already this blessing (Romans 8:15), but only as inward relation and as divine right, with
which, however, the objective and real state does not yet correspond. Thus, looked at from
the standpoint of complete realization, they are only to receive υἱοθεσίαν at the Parousia,
whereupon the ἈΠΟΚΆΛΥΨΙς ΤῶΝ ΥἹῶΝ Τ. ΘΕΟῦ and their ΔΌΞΑ ensues. Comp. also
Matthew 5:9; Matthew 5:45; Luke 6:15. In like manner the ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΎΝΗ is a present
possession, and also one to he entered on hereafter. Comp. on Romans 5:19; and see on
Galatians 5:5; Colossians 3:3 f. Luther incorrectly joins ΥἹΟΘΕς. with ΣΤΕΝΆΖ., which,
with an accusative, means to bemoan or bewail something (Soph. Ant. 873; Oed. C. 1668;
Dem. 690. 18; Eur. Suppl. 104; and often elsewhere).
τὴν ἀπολ. τ. σώμ. ἡμ.] epexegesis: (namely) the redemption of our body from all the defects
of its earthly condition; through which redemption it shall be glorified into the σῶμα
ἄφθαρτον similar to the glorified body of Christ (Php 3:21; 2 Corinthians 5:2 ff.; 1
Corinthians 15:51), or shall be raised up as such, in case of our not surviving till the
Parousia (1 Corinthians 15:42 ff.). So, in substance (ΤΟῦ ΣΏΜ. as gen. subj.), Chrysostom
and other Fathers (in Suicer, Thes. I. p. 463), Beza, Grotius, Estius, Cornelius a Lapide,
and most modern expositors. On the other hand, Erasmus, Clericus, and others, including
Reiche, Fritzsche, Krehl, and Ewald, take it as: redemption from the body. This is
linguistically admissible (Hebrews 9:15); we should thus have to refer it, not to death, but
to deliverance from this earthly body through the reception of the immortal and glorious
body at the Parousia, 1 Corinthians 15:51. But in that case Paul must have added to τοῦ
σώματ. ἡμῶν a qualitative more precise definition, as in Php 3:21Remark.

If we adopt the common reading (ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἀπ. τ. πν. ἔχοντες, καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ
κ.τ.λ.), which Ewald and Umbreit follow, while Rückert, Philippi, Tholuck, and Hofmann
declare themselves in favour of ours (see the crit. remarks), αὐτοὶ … ἔχοντες is understood,
either as meaning the Christians of that age generally, and καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοί the apostles
(Köllner, following Melancthon, Wolf, and many others), or Paul alone (Koppe, Reiche,
Umbreit, and many others); or, the former is referred to beginners in Christianity, and the
latter to those who have been Christians for a longer time (Glöckler); or, both (the latter
per analepsin) are referred to the apostles (Grotius), or to the Christians (Luther, Beza,
Calvin, Klee, Maier, Köster, and Frommann). The interpretation referring it to the
Christians is the only right one; so that ἡμεῖς brings into more definite prominence the
repeated subject. The ἔχοντες, without the article, is fatal to every reference to subjects of
two sorts.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Romans 8:23. Second testimony to the glorious future. οὐ μόνον δὲ sc. ἡ κτίσις—not only
all creation, but we Christians: we ourselves, τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ἔχοντες. τοῦ
πνεύματος is gen of apposition: the spirit which Christians have received is itself t the first
fruits (elsewhere, the earnest: see onRomans 8:17) of this glory; and because we have it
(not although: it is the foretaste of heaven, the heaven begun in the Christian, which
intensifies his yearning, and makes him more vehemently than nature long for complete
redemption), we also sigh in ourselves υἱοθεσίαν ἀπεκδεχόμενοι, τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν τοῦ
σώματος ἡμῶν. The key to these words is found in Romans 1:4. Christ was Son of God
always, but was only declared to be so in power ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν, and so it is with
believers. They have already received adoption, and as led by the spirit are sons of God;
but only when their mortal bodies have been quickened, and the corruptible has put on
incorruption, will they possess all that sonship involves. For this they wait and sigh, and the
inextinguishable hope, born of the spirit dwelling in them, guarantees its own fulfilment.
Cf. Php 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 2 Corinthians 5:2; and for ἀπολύτρωσις in this sense, 1
Corinthians 1:30.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
23. not only they] The word “they” (inserted by our Translators) perhaps indicates that
they understood the passage of conscious individual beings; the world of man. (See long
note on Romans 8:19.)
the firstfruits] Same word as Romans 11:16, Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 15:20. The idea is
not that “we” have the Spirit before others have it; but that we have that measure of the

Spirit which is the specimen and pledge of the fulness hereafter. St Paul now contrasts the
impersonal and unconscious creation, utterly incapable of the Divine Gift, with the human
subjects of grace. The word “firstfruits” is used to suggest the thought of incompleteness
and anticipation.—Cp. the similar word “earnest;” 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5;
Ephesians 1:14.
groan within ourselves] As our Lord once did (John 11:33; John 11:38). In Romans 7:14-
24, we see one great instance of this “groaning” of the saint for entire freedom, in his whole
being, from the power of sin. There too we see that the longing for freedom is linked with
the thought of the body as the citadel of temptation, in its present state. Cp. 1 Corinthians
9:27 for another vivid picture of a “groaning” conflict, and there too in view of the body.—
“Within ourselves:”—because the cause of the groan is emphatically within. Not outward
afflictions so much as inner conflict are our burthen.
waiting for] Same word as “waiteth for,” Romans 8:19; where see note.
the adoption] i.e., obviously, the final realization of our adoption; for already the believer is
“the child of God;” Romans 8:14; Romans 8:16. So great and blissful a crisis will the
“manifestation” of the son-ship be that it is here viewed as the beginning of the son-ship.
the redemption, &c.] The realized adoption will bring this with it, will imply and involve
this. The Brethren of the Incarnate Son of God will not realize the fulness of their
Brotherhood till their bodies shall be “like the body of His glory,” (Php 3:21)—The
Adoption, and the Redemption of the Body, are not identical terms; but the former
includes the latter, as necessary to it.—“Redemption” here (as Luke 21:28; Ephesians 1:14;
Ephesians 4:30; but not Ephesians 1:7,) obviously means the actual and realized
deliverance. The redemption-price is paid already; the redemption-liberation is to come.—
See note on Romans 7:24.
Again remark this unique feature of RevealedReligion; an immortal prospect for the body.

Some expositors take the body here to be the “mystical body;” the Church. But the context
is clearly against it, giving us as the main idea the struggles and longings for a better future
in respect of material things.
Bengel's Gnomen
Romans 8:23. Οὐ μόνον δὲ, but [and] not only) The conclusion is drawn from the strong
groaning [of the creature] to that which is much stronger [that of ourselves].—αὐτοὶ—καὶ
ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ, ourselves—evenwe ourselves) The former αὐτοί, ourselves, is to be referred
[has reference] by antithesis to the creature [the whole creation groaneth] Romans 8:22 :
the latter refers to Romans 8:26, concerning the Spirit [maketh intercession for us with
groanings]; and yet one and the same subject is denoted [the two αὐτοί belong to ἡμεῖς];
otherwise, the apostle would have said, αὐτοὶ οἱ την ἀπαρχὴν κ.τ.λ. [the article οἱ would
have followed the first αὐτοί, had it referred to a different subject from the second
αὐτοί].—τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ πνεύματος, the first fruits of the Spirit) that is the Spirit, who is
the first fruits; see 2 Corinthians 1:22, note. We are a kind of first fruits of God’s creatures,
Jam 1:18; and we have the first fruits of the Spirit; and the same Spirit enters into all
creatures, Psalm 139:7, a passage, from which the groaning of the creature is distinctly
explained. The sons of God are said to have the first fruits, so long as they are in the way
[whilst as yet they have not reached the end, when they shall have full fruition]. They who
possess the first fruits, and the good, which attends the first fruits, are the same.—ἔχοντες,
having) This word involves the idea of cause; because we have.—ἐν ἑαντοῖς, in ourselves) It
implies, that the groaning of believers is widely different from the groaning of the
creature.—στενάζομεν) Στενάζω here, and in Romans 8:22, signifies to desire [yearn after]
with groaning; comp. 2 Corinthians 5:4.—τὴν) This article shows by the apposition, that
this sentiment, if it be resolved [analyzed], is contained in it, the redemption of our body is
what constitutes the adoption.—τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν [redemption] deliverance) This will be at
the last day, which already at that time they were setting before themselves as being at
hand; ἐλευθερία, liberty [Romans 8:21], is a kindred expression to this ἀπολύτρωσις.—
Comp. Luke 20:36. [That liberty is not intended here, by which we are delivered from the
body, but that, by which the body is delivered from death.—V. g.]"
END OF BIBLEHUB
GRACE GEMS
The First-fruits of the Spirit, a Pledge Of the Full Redemption

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, evenwe
ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body. Romans 8:23
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we
wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:23
And evenwe Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future
glory, also groan to be releasedfrom pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that
day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has
promised us. Romans 8:23
From his natural and impressive digression, the Apostle again returns to the renewed
creature of whom he had previously been speaking. Having adverted to the suffering of the
whole animate creation, he proceeds to show that this condition was not peculiar or
solitary- that not only in the heart of the irrational creature, but evenin the heart of the
renewed Christian there were the intense throbbings of a woe, and the deep groanings of a
burden, from which it sighed and hoped to be delivered. Let us take each section in its
order, of this remarkable passage.
"Ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit." It had been the earnest aim of the
Apostle broadly and distinctly to draw the great line of demarcation between the state of
nature and the state of grace. What distinctive feature more illustrative of the Christian
character could he have selectedthan this. "Who have the first-fruits of the Spirit." The
figurative allusion is to a familiar law of the Jewish economy. It will be recollected that,
under the Levitical dispensation, the Lord commanded that the first-fruits, in the form of a
single sheaf, should be sickled, and waved before him by the priest; and that this wave-
offering was to be considered as constituting the herald or the pledge of a ripened and full
harvest. And not only should it be an earnest and a pledge, but it should represent the
nature and character of the fruit which, before long, in luxuriant abundance would crowd
with its golden sheaves, and amid shouts of gladness, the swelling garner. When, therefore,
it is said that believers in Jesus have the "first-fruits of the Spirit," the meaning clearly is,
that they have such communications of the Spirit now, as are a pledge and foretaste of what
they shall possess and enjoy in the great day of the coming glory. "In whom also after that
you believed, you were sealedwith that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our
inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
We remark, in general terms, that if we are believers, then we are partakers of that grace
which is the earnest of glory. Do we partake of the grace of life? It is the same life which
beats in the souls of the glorified. In us its pulsations are faint and fluctuating; in them they
are deep and unfluttering- yet the life is the same. And if we have the Spirit of life dwelling
in us now, then have we the first-fruits of the life which is to come. Have we the Spirit of
adoption? What is it but the earnest and the seal of our certain reception into our Father's

house? The love to God which overflows our hearts, the yearnings of those hearts to be at
home, are the first-fruits of our consummated and glorified sonship. Thus might we travel
the entire circle of the Christian graces which go to form, sanctify, and adorn the Christian
character, illustrating the truth, that each grace wrought by the Spirit in the heart on earth
is the germ of glory in heaven, and that the perfection of glory will be the perfection of each
grace. The present character and tutelage of the child of God are preparatory to a higher
state of being- yes, it is an essential part of that being itself. Oh, it is a holy and inspiriting
thought, that every development of grace, and every aspiration of holiness, and every
victory of faith, and every achievement of prayer, and every gleam of joy in the soul here
below, is the earnest-sheaf of the golden ears of happiness and glory garnered for the saints
on high. "He that goes forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless return again
with joy, bringing his sheaves with him."
"Even we ourselves groan within ourselves." In these words the expectant of glory is
represented as sympathizing, in a certain degree, with the general condition of present
misery, and expectation of future good. But we must distinguish the emotion here
described, from the somewhat kindred depression beneath which the whole creation is
bowed. It is the groaning of those who have the "first-fruits of the Spirit"- consequently it
is the emotion of a living soul. In the one case, the groaning is the throb and the throe of
death; in the other case it is the evidence and the breathing of life.
To what causes may it be traced? We groan within ourselves on account of sin- its innate
principle, and its practical outbreakings. Over what do our tears flow the bitterest and the
fastest? The winged riches? The heart's treasure wrenched from our grasp by ruthless
death, and which the cruel grave has hid from our view? Ah, no! but the sin which lays us
in penitence and grief at the Savior's feet, with David's confession and prayer breathing
from our lips- "Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight." Oh,
what a mercy to know that the "sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: that a broken and
contrite heart he will not despise!"
There is also the groaning arising from external trial. Of this cup, which all alike drink,
none quaff so deeply as those to whom are imparted the "first-fruits of the Spirit." The
path of sorrow is the path to glory, and the "bread and the water of affliction" is the food
of all the "prisoners of hope." But spring from what cause it may, this groaning of the
servants of God confirms the affecting truth, that the believer possesses but the "first-fruits
of the Spirit;" and that, consequently, his present condition, being one of but partial
sanctification, must of necessity be one of but limited happiness. And yet we would not fail
to remind the reader of the truth, that the deeper his sanctification the keenerwill be his
sense of indwelling corruption, and the heavier his groaning because of it. So that, so long
as he is still the tenant of a tabernacle of sin and death- an unwilling subject of vanity- and
so long as he grows in grace, he will "groan being burdened," and will the more deeply

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