James Nisbet Commentary - Romans 8:20 - 8:21

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James Nisbet Commentary - Romans 8:20 - 8:21


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

THE HOPE OF CREATION

‘For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.’

Rom_8:20-21

In this wonderful passage St. Paul has been casting his eyes over the whole universe, and has seen upon it all two unmistakable marks. The first is the mark of vanity, that is to say, imperfection, transitoriness, decay, aspirations thwarted, efforts ineffective, time and chance apparently the lords of life. But he has seen also another mark on the face of things, equally all pervading and unmistakable and characteristic—the mark of hope. The Church is the body of those in whose hearts the Spirit of Christ has aroused the spirit of sonship.

Let me suggest one or two practical conclusions.

I. We are waiting and working for the complete fulfilment of the hope of the world—the manifestation everywhere of the sons of God. But we find the task very difficult; and the Church needs at the present time all its hopefulness, if it is to push its frontiers in the modern world.

In regard to what some people are calling the hopeless task of spreading Christianity in our great cities, there are two practical rules to be borne in mind:—

(a) To see that all our secular work in the world is in line with God’s purposes of righteousness and peace; that our words and deeds are swords of the Spirit of God, fighting on His side in the battle.

(b) To see that all our religious work, consciously undertaken, is as wise as it is energetic. Christian work is often so amateurish. But the Church is an army which needs wise leadership and common counsel if it is to succeed in its campaign.

II. A second thought concerns our theology.—Here we may bear in mind that we still have our spiritual treasure in earthen vessels, and the earthen vessel is still subject to decay. The creature was made subject to vanity; and there clings to our human thought, even about the divinest things, some of the mortality from which in this world we cannot escape. But this vanity is not unmixed with hope, because it is a sign of growth. If the Holy Spirit of Christ, by being more richly and bountifully spread in our hearts, make it impossible for us to assent to all the opinions of our forefathers, and express our faith simply in their words, we need not lament. For the deepening and broadening of the spirit of sonship, the more whole-hearted knowledge and love of God, is one part of the manifestation of sonship for which we wait and long. As yet, even in the twentieth century, we have but the earnest of the knowledge of the Father that shall one day be ours, when the full Spirit of the only-begotten Son is perfected in us, and we know God as we are known.

III. Finally, let us not ignore our relations with the lower creatures of God.—St. Paul tells us that when we attain to our full redemption as God’s children, then the whole creation also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption, and share the liberty and glory of the children of God. What in literal fact that promise prefigures we cannot even guess, for a world not subject to decay and death is to us inconceivable. But we have the promise that the new earth will not be subject to vanity, or, as John puts it, ‘There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain.’

Rev. Canon Beeching.

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SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

This passage is one which appeals more strongly to us than it can have done to any earlier age. We have learned far more about the wonderful world in which we live than our forefathers knew; we have come to believe, as if it were an established truth, that all nature is one, and obeys one law; and, moreover, we find in the notion of development a most valuable guide to the understanding of history and nature. These ideas are clearly expressed in the passage before us. No; St. Paul is expressing a hope—a confident hope, but not based on any special knowledge. He felt that since all creation is the work of God, it must be precious in His sight, and that it cannot be destined to any mean or irrational fate. Moreover, he felt most strongly that when the Son of God was made flesh, He thereby ennobled and consecrated not human nature only, but in a less degree the whole world also, which, ‘since Christ hath died, ennobled is and glorified.’

This is the thought on which I wish to say a few words. It is capable of many applications.

I. One of the most obvious is the duty of kindness to animals, not simply for our own sakes, but because they are our fellow-creatures, sharers with us in many of God’s good gifts, and, I venture to say, with certain rights of their own. This is a duty which is better recognised in our country than in any other part of Europe, and its recognition is largely due to the labours of our naturalists, which in this field have borne good fruit.

II. There is another way in which we may apply these verses of St. Paul.—The whole world is part of one scheme, and the study of the beauties of nature, or of the wonders of science, may teach us a great deal about God. The beautiful hymn, ‘There is a book, who runs may read,’ gives us a good example of the religious use of nature. This is a thing which appeals to some people very strongly, to others hardly at all; but St. Paul shows that those who can use it may derive great benefit from it.

III. There is a third use which may be made of these verses. St. Paul, we see, feels a strong hopefulness about the ultimate destiny of all things.—He is no shallow optimist, who thinks that all is for the best in this best of worlds. On the contrary, he sees all nature groaning and travailing in pain together. He does not shut his eyes to the apparent cruelty and wastefulness of nature’s methods. But just because they are so cruel and wasteful, he feels that there must be something higher and better behind them. It seems reasonable to believe as St. Paul did, that in some way quite unknown to us, not in space and time, but in some higher order, not only our souls, but all the good and beautiful things which have existed in this world, ‘will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.’

IV. St. Paul means us to attach great importance to the consecration of the bodily life and all its surroundings, by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.—This side of Christian dogma was a great stumbling-block to the Greeks, as he says himself. The Greek philosophers believed in the immortality of the soul. They liked to fancy the soul rising above the vain shadows of this deceptive world, and returning to the world of spirits, the heart’s true home. Why, they asked, drag in a body where it is not wanted? We want to leave matter behind altogether. We like to picture the soul as a figure which has its head in the clouds, and only its feet in the mud of earth. This muddy vesture of decay, they thought, is a mere hindrance to our hearing celestial harmonies. But Christianity has always held firmly to the doctrine of the resurrection, which means that body, soul, and spirit are one man, and that the world is not to be despised. The difference between the two views soon shows itself in matters of conduct.

Rev. Professor Inge.

Illustration

‘There is no better example of loving interest in animal life than in St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most Christlike of all the saints. His biographies are full of stories of his gentle solicitude for all living creatures. His sentiment for nature, we are told, “was a mixture of admiration and tenderness for the universal life which gives being to the blade of grass and to humanity alike.” His was no mere sentimental sympathy. He was interested that the plant should have its sun, the bird its nest—that the humblest manifestations of creative force should have the happiness to which they are entitled. He used to thank God for “my brother the sun,” and “my little sisters the birds,” and in his quaint half-serious fashion talked of trying to convert a wolf who was doing a great deal of damage.’