“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:18-25)
Few passages in Scripture lift our eyes higher than Romans 8:18–25. If Romans 8 is the summit of Paul’s letter to the Romans, then these verses stand near its highest peak. Here Paul draws the believer’s gaze away from the immediate pressures of life and fixes it on a single blazing reality: eternal glory.
The apostle wants Christians to see what cannot yet be seen. As he later writes, “Who hopes for what he sees?” (Rom. 8:24). Christian hope is not built on present sight but future certainty. The glory God has prepared for His people is unending, incomparable, and beyond imagination. And yet Paul speaks of this glory in the same breath as suffering. The path to glory, he insists, runs through suffering.
Romans 8 traces the full sweep of salvation. Earlier in the chapter we encountered the doctrine of justification. Because of Christ’s finished work, believers stand before God with “no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1). Our legal status has been settled once and for all.
But salvation does not stop there. Paul also unfolds sanctification, the ongoing work of the Spirit who indwells believers and conforms them to the image of Christ. Those justified are now being transformed.
Yet even sanctification is not the final chapter. Paul turns in Romans 8:18–25 to glorification, the future completion of salvation when God’s children will be fully transformed. This theme frames the entire section. We are promised that we will be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17), and Paul later declares that those God justified, He also glorified (Rom. 8:30). Glorification is the end goal toward which salvation moves.
But Paul is honest. The road to glory is marked by suffering. If we share Christ’s glory, we also share His sufferings. This does not mean only persecution for faith, though that is included. Paul speaks broadly of the sufferings of this present age: disease, decay, disappointment, loss, futility, broken relationships, and death itself. Life in a fallen world brings groaning.
Paul places suffering and glory side by side for at least two pastoral reasons. First, he wants believers to make sense of suffering. If we are children and heirs of God, why do we suffer? Scripture does not ignore this question. Instead, Paul gives us a God-centered lens through which to interpret pain. Suffering does not contradict our identity as God’s children; it accompanies it in the present age.
Second, Paul wants suffering to create longing for glory. Creation waits with eager expectation. Believers groan inwardly. Even the Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words later in the chapter. Christian life is marked by holy longing for what is coming.
Paul begins with a breathtaking comparison: “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18).
The verb translated “I consider” carries the sense of calculation. Paul is inviting us to weigh the scales. Put all present suffering on one side and eternal glory on the other. The result is not that suffering is unreal or insignificant. Christians never minimize pain. Rather, in light of eternity, suffering is temporary.
Elsewhere Paul calls present affliction “light and momentary” compared to the eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17). The issue is perspective. When believers rarely meditate on future glory, suffering can feel crushing and ultimate. But when eternity fills our vision, present trials are re-framed. Anticipating heaven does not erase pain, but it places it in proper proportion.
Paul then broadens the picture. Not only believers, but all creation groans. Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19). Paul personifies creation, describing it as standing on tiptoe, straining its neck for what is coming. The world itself is restless.
Why? Because creation has been subjected to futility. This frustration began at the Fall. When humanity rebelled, the created order came under God’s curse. Disease, natural disasters, famine, earthquake, cancer, the drowning of a young child, decay, and death all testify that the world does not function as originally designed. This isn’t how God created it. This is what sin has done to destroy it. But that isn’t the end of the story!
Importantly, Paul says creation was subjected in hope. God’s judgment was never His final word. Creation will be set free from bondage to corruption. Scripture’s vision is not escape from the world but renewal of it. The hope of believers is resurrection life in a renewed creation, the new heavens and new earth.
This truth helps us interpret suffering. Much of human pain is not direct punishment for specific sin but the consequence of living in a fallen world awaiting redemption.
Paul then shifts from creation to believers themselves. “Not only the creation, but we ourselves… groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23).
Here Paul describes the tension of the Christian life: the already and not yet. Believers already possess the Spirit, yet we still wait for fullness. We are already adopted, yet we await the complete realization of that adoption. We are redeemed, yet our bodies await final redemption.
The Spirit is called the “firstfruits,” a down payment guaranteeing what is still coming. This guards us from an over-realized expectation of the Christian life. This is just one of many reasons why I despise the prosperity gospel, because it promises now what God has reserved for later. It promises health now if you’ll just have enough faith, when the Bible clearly tells us we’re living in a fallen world in fallen bodies. Scripture insists that the greatest gifts are future realities in the new heavens and new earth.
The Christian hope includes resurrection bodies. Our future is not disembodied existence but transformed, glorified life with Christ here on a renewed earth. Weakness, aging, decay, and death will not have the final word.
How, then, do believers live between promise and fulfillment? Paul answers: we wait in hope. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. It is confident certainty grounded in God’s faithfulness.
First, we wait with groaning. Christians are free to lament. Read the psalms. We see plenty of laments inspired by God for Christians to use to express their grief and pain. Faith does not suppress grief; it points our grief in a certain a direction: Godward. We groan, but not as those without hope.
Second, we wait with eager expectation. The believer’s heart should lean toward eternity. Longing should reshape how we live each day, loosening our grip on temporary things with great anticipation of what is to come: glory!
Third, we wait with patience. We patiently endure suffering. You don’t become angry, surprised, apathetic, or distraught. We recognize that we live in a fallen world, and that includes suffering. Christian waiting is eager and steadfast at the same time.
Romans 8:18–25 teaches us that suffering is not the end of the story. The world groans, believers groan, and yet hope remains. Glory is coming. For those in Christ, present pain is never meaningless; it is the pathway to eternal joy.
So lift your eyes. Consider carefully. Compare present suffering with coming glory. And then endure with hope, for the glory to come is beyond all comparison.
