‘For I consider that the suffering of this present time is not comparable to the honour and praiseworthiness about to be revealed towards us, 19 for away from the thinking of the original formation, the unveiling of the sons of God is welcomed away from eager expectation’, (Romans 8 v 18, 19).
Paul has introduced the idea of the Christian’s liberation and standing within divine approval (verses 15 – 17a), but he says that Christians ‘are sharing suffering together [with the Messiah] in order that also they share praise and honour together’, (verse 17 b). But he goes on to say that this present suffering bears no comparison to the honour and praiseworthiness that is about to be revealed towards ‘us’, by which Paul seems to mean ‘Christians’. That would seem to be another of his general statements. He then goes on to explain this in more detail, in what actually in some ways prove to be a difficult few verses. So take a deep breath.
What is Paul saying? He is saying that ‘the suffering that we [Christians] are experiencing at this present time bear no comparison to the honour and praise about to be revealed towards us [Christians], for…’. The word ‘for’ is a conjunction, a ‘joining word’ used to express cause, explanation, inference or continuation. So we can perhaps use the word ‘because’. This then gives us ‘the suffering that we [Christians] are experiencing at this present time bear no comparison to the honour and praise about to be revealed towards us [Christians] because…’. We then come to the Greek word ‘apokaradokia’, a word made up of ‘apo’, meaning ‘away from’, which usually denotes separation or departure, and ‘dokeo’ meaning ‘attentive thought’ or ‘supposition’. This now gives us ‘the suffering that we [Christians] are experiencing at this present time bear no comparison to the honour and praise about to be revealed towards us [Christians], because away from the attentive thought and supposition of…’. The next question is, ‘Attentive thought and supposition of who?’
The Greek word is ‘ktisis’, usually translated as ‘creation’, such that in many translations we tend to find something like this – ‘For the earnest expectation of the creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God’. The word ‘ktisis’ means ‘original formation’, ‘what is formed’, ‘what is founded or planted’. So the issue is this – is Paul referring to the whole of ‘creation’, as in humans, animals, plants, mountains and so on, or does he mean something more restricted? The word occurs just 19 times in the New Testament in the form of a noun, 15 times in the form of a verb, and 4 times in reference to what is formed. In almost every case it is translated into English as ‘creation’, or ‘to create’ or ‘that which was created’. I translate it as ‘original formation’.
Meyer’s New Testament Commentary points out that Christians are different from the ‘ktisis’, and even opposed to it. Since Paul is talking about the attentive thoughts and suppositions of the ‘original formation’ I suggest that he is referring to human beings as they are in their natural, earthy, sensuous human constitution within flesh and blood, their ‘death-body’. What he calls the ‘old self’ or ‘old humanity’ elsewhere. As Meyer says, Christians are different, something that Paul has also been saying. There is a polarising difference between Christians who are brought forth as a ‘new formation’ in comparison to their old, inherited, natural original formation or ‘old self’. Paul has been saying that the old formation, as a result of Adam’s disobedience, is enslaved to and pays attention to flesh and its impulses and energies. But the new formation pays attention to the Breath.
Paul is saying that separate and away from the thinking and suppositions of human beings existing within their original formation, ‘the unveiling of the sons of God is welcomed away from eager expectation’. The ‘unveiling of the sons of God’ would seem to refer to Christians effectively being brought forth as a free gift of God at this present time, and more especially to the completion and end result of their redemption in the future at the return of the Messiah. Separate and away from the thinking and suppositions of human beings within their original formation, this unveiling is being eagerly awaited. The Greek word is ‘apekdechomai’, meaning ‘eager waiting in full expectation’. The consistent theme across all the passages where this Greek word is used is the Christian’s hopeful and patient waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled in the future.
I am suggesting that verses 18b and 19 are best fully translated and amplified something like this. ‘…the suffering of this present time is not comparable to the honour and praiseworthiness about to be revealed towards us, 19 because away and separate from the attentive thinking and supposition of the original formation, the unveiling of the sons of God is welcomed away from and out of eager waiting in full expectation’. [And breathe out].
