For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope
Parallel translations
- WEB For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
- KJV For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
- NKJV For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
- NASB For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
- NLT Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,
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 was subjected to futility by God, yet not without hope. The curse on creation was purposeful and aimed toward a hopeful end.
Overview
Paul recalls that creation was made subject to frustration, a reference to the curse following the fall. This subjection came by God's own ordaining, 'because of him who subjected it,' yet it was joined to hope. Creation's bondage is therefore not meaningless but oriented toward future deliverance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Gen 3:17–19And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
- Gen 5:29And he named him Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.”
- Rom 8:22We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.
- Jer 12:4How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”
- Isa 24:5–6The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.
- Jer 14:5–6Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
- Hos 4:3Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
- Eccl 1:2“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”
- Gen 6:13Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.
- Job 12:6–10The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.
- Joel 1:18How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
- Jer 12:11They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
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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 8:20 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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