D. Scott Meadows

This letter of John Newton shows his prowess as a skilled exegete and a profound theologian without omitting his loving pastoral counsel. He focuses wholly upon Romans 8:19–21 with its practical implications.

¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, ²¹Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Newton’s intricate, beautiful thoughts are herein paraphrased and summarized for easier access. Numbered paragraphs correspond.

1. These verses elaborate on how great and sure are the privileges of God’s children. Present imperfection absolutely must yield to future redemption and consummation for the sake of God’s glory. This will happen when it pleases God openly to parade and glorify His true children. Until then, all creation groans in anticipation of this.

2. The sense becomes clearer by taking most of verse 20 (all except the phrase “in hope”) as a parenthesis between verses 19 and 21. Then the idea is, “The creature’s earnest expectation waits in hope for the manifestation of God’s children, because then the creature also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption,” etc., as God’s children will have been so delivered. Verse 20 then is seen to express the present condition of creation, with its unwilling subjection to vanity by God for His just and wise reasons.

3. A key point of interpretation is discerning the reference of the word “creature.” While some have argued this refers to mankind, it seems far better to understand this rather as a reference to creation taken as a whole, as in verse 22 where this is the generally-admitted sense of the same Greek word.

4. The word translated “earnest expectation” is most emphatic. It means extreme eagerness, as of one who can hardly wait for something.

5. This eagerness belongs, figuratively, to all creation. This teaches us, first, that the world groans under a great burden of evils, and second, that God’s purpose is sure to restore all things by Jesus Christ.

6. All this will happen when God’s sons are publicly identified and honored by Him. For now, they are mostly hidden, unnoticed, and misrepresented. Even they little appreciate their spiritual life, and the world is totally ignorant of their privileges. But soon God will own them publicly and they will shine like the sun in their Father’s glorious kingdom. Their present gracious liberty shall blossom into a future glorious liberty. And then, the creation’s eager anticipation will be fully satisfied, because it, too, shall be restored to His great design for it. We cannot now know everything about this, but what has been revealed to us is enough, and we will be safest to avoid speculation. On that great day, the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified as the Head and Restorer of all creation, repairing what the devil had destroyed.

7. Until then, God’s children groan, and creation groans with us. We sense that man’s sin has greatly diminished the ability of all creatures to glorify God. Let me suggest three examples of this.

8. First, all creatures were intended to display God’s glory, but this end has been subverted by man’s worshiping all kinds of creatures rather than the Creator, so that they have become idols to us, and blind us.

9. Second, the creatures were intended to promote the welfare of God’s children, and in a mysterious way they still do, even when they seem contrary (Rom 8.28), but they wish to do it more perfectly. For now, the fact that beasts, and storms, and seas, rage against the very individuals whom God loves in a special way, is clearly inconsistent with His ultimate purpose.

10. Third, God’s creatures might be expected to oppose actively those who are God’s enemies, but most of the world and its goods belongs to them, and they use their resources to oppose the church!

11. Effects like these are in view by the statement that “the creature is subject to vanity, not willingly.” God made everything perfectly good in the first place, so the creatures (except angels and men as moral agents) are not at fault for this frustrating, temporary situation.

12. God is the positive cause of this temporary subjection. The pronoun “him” in verse 20 refers to God. The prime author of the the harm was Satan. Our first father Adam, by listening to Satan, was the direct and immediate cause of the entrance of sin into creation.

13. People who expect happiness from the creature or are satisfied with the way things are now are spiritually blind. Being estranged from God, they do not realize His excellence, nor care about His glory, nor even understand what is good for them. Their affections crave the wrong things, and they are inferior in this respect to all the other creatures which answer the end of their creation much better. But if the secret voice of the whole creation eagerly desires the blessed consummation, how much more do people with the light of God’s Word and Spirit look forward to it with longing. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Signed, JN.

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The biblical text under consideration represents a worldview that is life-changing in its implications. Here is divine philosophy in miniature, with an explanation of why things are “out of whack,” and why life in this wacky world need not produce despair, and what is the basis for cosmic optimism. We are immensely indebted to wise interpreter/teacher/pastors like John Newton for the edification we may have through them. Ω