AND NOT ONLY
THIS
(not only is creation groaning),
BUT ALSO WE OURSELVES HAVING THE
FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT: ou monon de, alla kai autoi
ten aparchen tou pneumatos echontes (PAPMPN):
(Ro
8:15,16;
5:5;
2 Co 5:5;
Gal 5:22,23;
Eph 1:14;
5:9)
(Ro
8:26;
7:24;
2Cor 5:2-4;
7:5;
Php 1:21-23;
1Pe 1:7)
Having (2192)
(echo) means holding or possessing with the present tense
picturing the first fruits, the Spirit, as our continual possession.
Of the Spirit - This phrase in Greek is referred to as an appositive genitive
which in simple terms means that first fruits is
the Holy Spirit, Who now indwells every believer (see notes
Romans 8:9;
8:11)
Whose presence
in us guarantees the full completion of our salvation -- future tense
salvation = the redemption of our dying decaying physical bodies which
will be changed instantly into glorified bodies (1Cor 15:42ff
1Thessalonians 4:13ff - note).
The culmination of our position as adopted sons is the resurrection
state. The first fruits is a pledge of more to come, specifically the
redemption of our body.
First fruits
(536)
(aparche from apó = away from + árchomai = to
begin) is the first fruit, which in Biblical terms describes an offering
of any kind, animal as well as grain. It represents the first portion of
offering set aside specifically for Lord. The first portion of the
harvest
was
regarded both as a first installment and as a pledge of the final
delivery of the whole.
First fruits
is related to the Jewish term that refers to that which is set apart to
God before remainder could be used. Under the Law Israel was to bring
the
first fruits
of the grain to the LORD and in this act they were acknowledging that
all produce was God's. The
first fruits
of a harvest of grain was an indication of a greater harvest to come.
Paul utilizes the metaphor of
first fruits in three ways in the NT:
(1) Of the relationship between the resurrection of Christ to the
resurrection of the dead (1Cor
15:20, 23). Christ’s
resurrection is the “first fruit of those who have fallen asleep”
(1Cor
15:20), and like the
first fruits of the harvest, it is a taste and a guarantee of the
full harvest of resurrection yet to come.
(2) Likewise the Holy Spirit is called first fruit in (see
note
Romans 8:23)
(cf. Holy Spirit as “downpayment” in
2Cor 1:22 5:5;
see
note
Ephesians 1:14),
a foretaste of our divine life in the age to come.
(3) Finally when Paul speaks of his first converts in a region, he calls
them the “first fruits” (cf "first fruits of Achaia" in
1Cor 16:15).
Epaenetus ("praised") was the first convert (and predictive of a greater
harvest to follow) from Asia who became part of Paul’s “offering of the
Gentiles” to the Lord (see note
Romans 15:16).
Just as the nation of Israel tasted the first fruits of Canaan when the
spies returned (Nu 13:23-27), so we Christians have tasted of the
blessings of heaven through the ministry of the Spirit. This makes us
want to see the Lord, receive a new body, and live with Him and serve
Him forever. We are waiting for “the adoption,” which is the redemption
of the body when Christ returns (Php 3:20,21). This is the thrilling
climax to “the adoption” that took place at conversion when “the Spirit
of adoption” gave us an adult standing in God’s family. When Christ
returns, we shall enter into our full inheritance.
The first portion of the harvest was regarded both as a first installment
and as a pledge of the final delivery of the whole. The concept of first
fruits is prominent in the OT, where, according to the law, Israelites
were expected to bring the first-ripe elements of grain, fruit, etc., to
the Lord as an offering (Ex 23:19 Neh 10:35). By this observance of
worship the offerer acknowledged that all produce was the provision of
God and was really his. Implicit also in the ritual was the assurance
from the divine side that the general harvest to be enjoyed by the
offerer would providentially follow. From the human side this act of
obedience was a manifestation of FAITH in the promise of Jehovah to
provide what they needed.
When we experience the Holy Spirit’s empowering us to turn from iniquity
and to truly worship, serve, obey and love God, we have a taste of the
future completed and perfected renewal He will work in us at the
resurrection. Every time we see Him working His righteousness in and
through us, we yearn all the more to be freed of our remaining sin and
spiritual weakness. Because of our divinely-bestowed sensitivity to sin,
we ourselves groan within ourselves over the dreadful curse of sin that
is still manifested by our remaining humanness.
First fruits was the actual beginning, the first installment,
of the Palestinian harvest (Ex 23:19 Lev 23:10,11; Dt 18:4 26:1-4); the
presence of the Spirit in believers is thus the actual beginning of the
future world. Believers had experienced redemption (see note
Romans 3:24) and adoption
(see note
Romans 8:15), but still awaited the fullness of that experience at the
resurrection of their bodies by the Spirit (see note
Romans 8:11). The first converts to
Christ in a particular area were called “firstfruits” (see note
Romans 16:15
1Co 16:15).
Christ himself is the firstfruits in reference to the resurrection
(1Cor 15:20, 23).
To say that we have the first fruits of the Spirit means that even
though we do not yet have our complete inheritance as God’s children, we
have already received a significant portion of it in terms of the gift
of the indwelling Holy Spirit, along with all He has already
accomplished for us in regeneration and sanctification. This is the
sense in which the Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance” (see note
Ephesians 1:13),
i.e., the down payment, the first installment, the deposit, the pledge
of the fullness of glory (2Cor 1:22 5:5). In this sense the “firstfruits”
are not simply the beginning of the harvest, but are also the guarantee
that much more will follow. And as this context shows, the complete
inheritance includes the redemption of our bodies and a liberated,
glorified universe.
When Abraham’s servant was sent to find a bride for Isaac and met
Rebekah, he gave silver and gold garments and presents to Laban as
indications of what was to come. That is what God has done for us by his
Holy Spirit. That indescribable peace we knew when we first experienced
the forgiveness of our sins, the power of God that calms our heart
despite circumstances, the joy that floods our souls—these are mere
foretastes of what is yet to come!
EVEN WE
OURSELVES GROAN WITHIN OURSELVES: hemeis kai autoi en heautois
stenazomen (1PPAI):
Spurgeon
comments that...
That is our state now; at least, it
is the condition of the most of us. Some of our brethren have gone ahead
so tremendously that they have passed out of the world of groaning
altogether; they are perfect. I regret that they are not in heaven; it
would seem to be a much more proper place for them than this imperfect
earth is. But as for us, our experience leads us, in sympathy with the
apostle, to say that we are groaning after something better. We have not
received it yet; we have the beginnings of it, we have the earnest of
it, we have the sure pledge of it; but it is not as yet our portion to
enjoy; we are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body;” for, though the soul be horn again, the body is not. “The body
in dead,” says the apostle, in the tenth verse of this chapter,
“because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.”
There is a wonderful process through which this body shall yet pass, and
then it shall be raised again, a glorious body, fitted for our
regenerated spirit; but as yet it remains unregenerate.
Groan (4727)
(stenazo
from stenos = narrow or contracted as when one is squeezed or
pressed by circumstances) literally describes an internal squeezing and
denotes a feeling of sorrow which is internal. Stenazo means to express
grief by inarticulate or semi-articulate sounds. A groan is an audible
expression of anguish due to physical, emotional, or spiritual pain.
Stenazo refers to the utterances of a person who is caught in a
dreadful situation and has no immediate prospect of deliverance. The
term is used in its noun form (stenagmos - used in
Romans 8:26
of Spirit's prayers expressed to God inarticulately) by Luke to describe the desperate
utterances of the Israelites during their oppressive bondage in Egypt
'I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION
OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT, AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE
COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM; COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.' (Acts
7:34 cp Ex 2:24-25 )
In the present context these continual (stenazo =
present tense)
groanings bewail a condition that is painful, unsatisfying, and
sorrowful and are a cry for deliverance from a torturing experience. The
pain we feel now because we still live in bodies that harbor the flesh
(the old sin nature) which causes us to we still stumble and grieve the
Holy Spirit. In this passage, the deep distress is related primarily to
our remaining sinfulness. This is especially painful to those who know
that they have been shown great mercy and have manifold grace to live
victoriously for His glory.
Below are the
other 5 uses of stenazo in the NT.
Paul
explains this groaning to the Corinthians writing that...
1 we know that if the earthly tent
which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For indeed in this house we groan (stenazo), longing to be clothed with
our dwelling from heaven;
3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.
4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan (stenazo), being burdened,
because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that
what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us
the Spirit as a pledge. (1Corinthians
5:1-5) (Comment: As long as we are
in the “tent” of our human body, which harbors the old flesh nature, we
will not fully escape sin’s corruption this side of eternity. This truth
causes Christians to suffer times of deep inner distress over the
debilitating sinfulness that still clings to them.)
When they brought
the deaf to Jesus He put His fingers into His ears and after spiting
touched His tongue...
and looking up to heaven with a
deep sigh (stenazo), He said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is, "Be
opened!" (Mark 7:34)
The writer of
Hebrews charged his readers to...
Obey your leaders, and submit to
them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an
account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief (stenazo),
for this would be unprofitable for you. (See note
Hebrews 13:17)
In James stenazo
takes on a slightly different sense, James commanding...
Do not complain (stenazo),
brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged;
behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. (James 5:9 )
There are 19 uses
of stenazo in the
Septuagint (LXX),
mainly in the Major Prophets (Job 9:27; 18:20; 24:12; 30:25; 31:38; Isa.
19:8; 21:2; 24:7; 30:15; 46:8; 59:10; Jer. 31:19; Lam. 1:8, 21; Ezek.
21:6f; 26:15f; Nah. 3:7). Below is an example in which Jerusalem is
personified as a woman groaning because of her sinfulness...
Lamentations 1:8 Jerusalem
sinned greatly, Therefore she has become an unclean thing. All who
honored her despise her Because they have seen her nakedness; Even she
herself groans (Hebrew = 'anach = groan in pain or grief; Lxx =
stenazo) and turns away.
WAITING
EAGERLY FOR...ADOPTION AS SONS:
huiothesian apekdechomenoi (PMPMPN):
(Ro
8:19,25;
Luke 20:36;
Philippians 3:20,21;
2 Timothy 4:8;
Titus 2:13;
Hebrews 9:28;
1 John 3:2)
The reason we can groan and yet do so with an eager expectation is because
we have experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit a foretaste of the
incomparable glory to come.
The Spirit is the firstfruits of heaven. And since
we have the Spirit now, we know a little of what heaven will be like and
are assured of our final destiny. God's gift of the Spirit to the church
is an event in the present which foreshadows the future union of God and
His people in eternity.
Waiting eagerly (553)
(apekdechomai
from apó = intensifier [see Vincent below] +
ekdéchomai = expect, look for <> from ek = out + déchomai
= receive kindly, accept deliberately and readily) means waiting
in great anticipation but with patience (compare our English expression
"wait it out"). To expect fully. To look (wait) for assiduously (marked
by careful unremitting attention) and patiently.
Kenneth Wuest
explains that apekdechomai is...
a Greek word made up of three words
put together, the word, “to receive,” (dechomai)
which speaks of a welcoming or appropriating reception such as is
tendered to a friend who comes to visit one; the word “off,” (apo)
speaking here of the withdrawal of one’s attention from other objects,
and the word “out,” (ek)
used here in a perfective sense which intensifies the already existing
meaning of the word. The composite word speaks of an attitude of intense
yearning and eager waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus into the air
to take His Bride to heaven with Him, the attention being withdrawn from
all else and concentrated upon the Lord Jesus." (Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)
Apekdechomai
is in the
present tense
indicating this is a heavenly citizen's continual mindset (Do
you frequently contemplate His return beloved?)
and the
middle voice which indicates the
subject is the beneficiary of the waiting. Wuest picks up on this nuance
of the middle voice with the translation "eagerly
waiting to welcome the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to
receive Him to ourselves" where "to ourselves" is the reflexive
aspect of the middle voice. What a beautiful picture of the Bride, His
Church, waiting to receive Him to herself! A waiting, welcoming mindset
will motivate the bride to keep herself pure and holy.
Marvin Vincent
writes that...
"the compounded preposition apo
denotes the withdrawal of attention from inferior objects. The word is
habitually used in the New Testament with reference to a future
manifestation of the glory of Christ or of His people." (Vincent, M. R.
Word studies in the New Testament Vol. 3, Page 1-453)
A T Robertson
adds that apekdechomai is a...
"Rare and late double compound
(perfective use of prepositions like wait out) which vividly pictures
Paul’s eagerness for the second coming of Christ as the normal attitude
of the Christian colonist whose home is heaven." (Robertson, A. Word
Pictures in the New Testament)
Apekdechomai
pictures waiting in great anticipation but with patience. Awaiting
eagerly and expectantly for some future event and so to look forward
eagerly. Note that seven of the eight NT uses of apekdechomai are
related in some way to our "blessed
hope", the return of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Adoption as sons (5206)
(huiothesia
from huios = son + tithemi
= place) literally means "to place one as a son". Huiothesia thus
speaks of adoption or being placed in a position and rights as one’s
own child. It means to to formally and legally declare that someone who
is not one’s own child is henceforth to be treated and cared for as
one’s own child, including complete rights of inheritance.
Huiothesia is used only by Paul and is not found in classical
writings, but it describes a Roman legal term by which a person takes
into his family a child not his own, with the purpose of treating him as
a full son and giving him all the privileges of an own son. The custom
was not common among the Jews, but was among the Greeks and Romans, with
whom an adopted child was legally entitled to all rights and privileges
of a natural-born child. This custom is used as an illustration of the
act of God giving a believing sinner, who is not His natural child, a
position as a fully grown son in His family.
Detzler
writes that...
Throughout the Greek world the
wealthy and influential practiced adoption. Sometimes just a simple
declaration in the marketplace turned a slave into a son. It was an
ancient remedy used when a marriage failed to produce a male heir. No
change in name came, but the adopted son immediately became heir to the
entire wealth and position of his adoptive family. Conversely the
adopted son also assumed responsibility for the parents in their time of
need. Adoption in the Greek and Roman world was a beautiful picture. His
contemporary culture gave the Apostle Paul this word, but he gave the
word a new, Holy Spirit-inspired meaning. (Only Paul uses this word to
describe the relationship of believers to their Heavenly Father.) No
concept is more meaningful to a believer. For adoption deposits
every-thing that God owns to the accounts of His sons and daughters.
Adoption is all about position and privilege... Walking down the dusty
streets of Nazareth one summer afternoon I was almost run over by a
racing boy. As he charged past me the little lad caught sight of his
father. In a shrill, childish voice he screamed: "Abba, Abba."
Then I began to understand the intimacy of relationship which God
sustains to us. What wonderful, God-ordained words to use in prayer:
"Abba, Father." (Detzler,
Wayne E: New Testament Words in Today's Language. Victor. 1986)
(Bolding added)
The concept of
adoption as sons reaches back into the Old Testament, Paul writing
in Romans that
For I could wish that I myself were
accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren (the Jews),
my kinsmen according to the flesh (specifically unbelieving Jews), who
are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons (huiothesia)
and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple
service and the promises whose are the fathers, and from whom is the
Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.
Amen. (see notes
Romans 9:3;
9:4;
9:5) (Comment: God had "adopted" Israel in the Old
Testament, Jehovah declaring in Exodus 4:22 to Moses "Then you shall say
to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel is My son, my
first-born.")
Earlier in
Romans 8 Paul explains the
present tense aspect of adoption as sons when we were born
into God's family and God gave us His Spirit Who kindles the fire of
assurance in our souls for...
all who are being led by the Spirit
of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit
of slavery (as when we were bound to sin and our "father" Satan) leading
to fear again, but you have received (right now in this life) a spirit
of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! (Daddy) Father!"
(see notes
Romans 8:14;
8:15)
(Comment: Abba is the very name the Beloved Son used when
speaking to His Father, Mark 14:36 recording "And He [Jesus] was saying
"Abba! Father! All things are possible for Thee. Remove this cup from
Me. Yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt.")
William Barclay
further explains that...
Roman adoption was always rendered
more serious and more difficult by the Roman patria potestas. This was
the father’s power over his family; it was the power of absolute
disposal and control, and in the early days was actually the power of
life and death. In regard to his father, a Roman son never came of age.
No matter how old he was, he was still under the patria potestas, in the
absolute possession and under the absolute control, of his father.
Obviously this made adoption into another family a very difficult and
serious step. In adoption a person had to pass from one patria potestas
to another. There were two steps.
The first was known as mancipatio, and
was carried out by a symbolic sale, in which copper and scales were
symbolically used. Three times the symbolism of sale was carried out.
Twice the father symbolically sold his son, and twice he bought him
back; but the third time he did not buy him back and thus the patria
potestas was held to be broken.
There followed a ceremony called vindicatio. The adopting father went to the praetor, one of the Roman
magistrates, and presented a legal case for the transference of the
person to be adopted into his patria potestas. When all this was
completed, the adoption was complete. Clearly this was a serious and an
impressive step. But it is the consequences of adoption which are
most significant for the picture that is in Paul’s mind. There were
four main ones.
(i) The adopted person lost all
rights in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate son
in his new family. In the most binding legal way, he got a new father.
(ii) It followed that he became heir to his new father’s estate. Even if
other sons were afterwards born, it did not affect his rights. He was
inalienably co-heir with them.
(iii) In law, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped
out; for instance, all debts were cancelled. He was regarded as a new
person entering into a new life with which the past had nothing to do.
(iv) In the eyes of the law he was absolutely the son of his new father.
Roman history provides an outstanding case of how completely this was
held to be true.
The Emperor Claudius adopted Nero in
order that he might succeed him on the throne; they were not in any
sense blood relations. Claudius already had a daughter, Octavia. To
cement the alliance Nero wished to marry her. Nero and Octavia were in
no sense blood relations; yet, in the eyes of the law, they were brother
and sister; and before they could marry, the Roman senate had to pass
special legislation." (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
Our adoption began in eternity past with God’s choice when...
"He predestined us to adoption as
sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind
intention of His will" (see note
Ephesians 1:5)
Then we actually
became His children at salvation
"But as many as received Him, to them
He gave the right to become children of God, even
to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John
1:12)
"But when the fulness of the time
came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in
order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might
receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba!
Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a
son, then an
heir through God." (Galatians
4:4-7)
Our sonship will
culminate with our glorification, the full realization of our
inheritance...
"Whom He predestined, these He also
called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He
justified, these He also glorified." (Romans
8:30).
As believers and
sons and daughters of God we have already been placed in the family of
God, and are being led by and controlled by the Spirit. But only when
our mortal bodies have been glorified, and we are made like Him, will we
possess all the fullness of sonship. And so we groan for that glorious
day.
Have you
pondered this truth recently?
This glorious truth will impact your temporal outlook beloved.
Take time right now to meditate on your future glorification.
THE REDEMPTION
OF OUR BODY:
ten
apolutrosin tou somatos hemon: (Luke
21:28;
Ephesians 1:14;
4:30)
Jesus
alluded to this future redemption when He declared...
But when these things begin to take
place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption
is drawing near. (Luke
21:28) (Comment:
When all the signs given in the Olivet discourse are just beginning to
be fulfilled, then Christ says His coming is very near. Although we
cannot know the date, we can be sure that He is coming very soon.)
Paul speaks
of this future redemption...
(The Holy Spirit ) Who is given as a
pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's
own possession, to the praise of His glory. (See note
Ephesians 1:14)
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of
God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (See note
Ephesians 4:30)
Redemption (629)
(apolutrosis
from apo = marker of dissociation or
separation + lútron = ransom) (Click
word study on apolutrosis
or see
How to do Greek
Word Study which uses apolutrosis
as the example to study).
Apolutrosis
describes the payment of a price to ransom, buy back and deliver
from a situation from which one is powerless to liberate himself or from
a penalty which he himself could never have paid. Apolutrosis was used
in Greek writings describing liberation of prisoners of war, slaves and
those under penalty of death.
Apolutrosis
pictures the recalling of captives (sinners) from
captivity (these bodies of sin) through the payment of a ransom
(lutron).
Our spirit and
soul have been redeemed, and our body will be redeemed. This is
glorification or
future tense salvation (See
Three Tenses of Salvation) which will
be revealed in the last time when we are freed even from the presence of
SIN and the pleasure of SIN. Because we as believers are already new
creatures possessing the divine nature, our souls are fit for heaven and
eternal glory. We love God, hate sin, and have holy longings for
obedience to the Word. But while on earth we are kept in bondage by our
mortal bodies, which are still corrupted by SIN and the FLESH (both of
which are still present in our decaying bodies).
Ray Stedman illustrates Romans 8:23-24 with this story:
The other day I gave my oldest daughter a driving lesson, and she wanted
to start driving the Oldsmobile because it has an automatic shift. But I
said to her,
"No, dear, I think it would be better if you would start with the
Chevrolet. It has a stick shift, and a clutch, and it is a little bit
cranky and hard to operate at times, but if you will learn how to run
this car, you'll have no trouble at all with the Oldsmobile."
You know, in a sense, God has done that with us: He has given us these
old, cranky, balky, pain ridden bodies of ours, and has told us that, if
we learn how to handle these, if we will learn how to make these obey,
and present these to him as a living sacrifice, then we will grow ready
in spirit to receive those glorious bodies that are now being prepared
for us. And Paul says that, with this hope before us, we can patiently
wait for God to teach all that we need to know. (Romans
8:14-25 The Joy of Being Grown Up)
