For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
Parallel translations
- KJV For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
- BSB The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God.
- NKJV For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
- NASB For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God.
- NLT For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Creation itself eagerly longs for God's children to be revealed. The whole created order awaits the consummation tied to our glorification.
Overview
Paul personifies creation as straining forward with eager expectation. Its longing is fixed on the revealing of the children of God, the moment of their final glory. This shows that human redemption has cosmic significance, drawing all creation into the scope of God's saving purpose.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Mal 3:17–18They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.
- Rom 8:23Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
- 1 Jn 3:2Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
- Phil 1:20according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death.
- 2 Pet 3:11–13Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,
- Isa 65:17“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.
- Rev 21:1–5I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
- Acts 3:21whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.
- Matt 25:31–46“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 8:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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