Passage

Romans 8.19-22

Book: Romans · NASB95 (primary) / ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

"For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly 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 also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." (Romans 8:19-22, NASB95)

Paul's cosmic-redemption text. Creation is personified: it waits, it groans, it labors. The fall is not anthropological alone but cosmological, and the consummation Paul foresees is not the extraction of redeemed souls from a discarded world but the liberation of the world itself together with the children of God. This passage decisively rules out gnostic and escapist readings of the Christian hope.

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"17. and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward."

"19. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. 20. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope 21. that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."

"23. And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24. For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth?" (Romans 8:17-24, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"17. and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him. 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us."

"19. For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21. that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now."

"23. Not 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. 24. For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?" (Romans 8:17-24, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"17. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

"19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. ^{the: or, every creature}"

"23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" (Romans 8:17-24, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"17. and if children, also heirs, heirs, indeed, of God, and heirs together of Christ, if, indeed, we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory about to be revealed in us;"

"19. for the earnest looking out of the creation doth expect the revelation of the sons of God; 20. for to vanity was the creation made subject, not of its will, but because of Him who did subject [it], in hope, 21. that also the creation itself shall be set free from the servitude of the corruption to the liberty of the glory of the children of God; 22. for we have known that all the creation doth groan together, and doth travail in pain together till now."

"23. And not only [so], but also we ourselves, having the first-fruit of the Spirit, we also ourselves in ourselves do groan, adoption expecting, the redemption of our body; 24. for in hope we were saved, and hope beheld is not hope; for what any one doth behold, why also doth he hope for [it]?" (Romans 8:17-24, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle
Audience: Christian believers in Rome (Jew + Gentile mixed assembly)
Location: composed from Corinth on Paul's third missionary journey; addressed to Rome
Time period: c. AD 57

Theological reading

The passage sits inside Paul's argument that present suffering is incommensurate with coming glory (v. 18). Paul widens the lens from human suffering to creation's suffering, and the rhetorical move is striking: the cosmos itself is groaning under bondage, awaiting the unveiling of God's adopted children. This anchors a thoroughly physicalist eschatology. Salvation is not the soul's escape from matter but matter's own redemption alongside the saints. The hope Paul holds out is continuous with the present material world even as that world is transformed.

Three theological moves do the work. First, creation was "subjected" to futility not willingly; the subjector is God himself, acting in response to the human fall (Genesis 3:17-19). Second, the subjection was "in hope," meaning the curse was always provisional, corruption is a phase, not a terminus. Third, the liberation of creation is bound to the liberation of God's children, the cosmos sharing in the glory of resurrection bodies. This grammar of joint redemption is the New Testament's settled answer to gnostic and Platonic frames that valorize spirit at the expense of matter.

Patristic readers (Irenaeus particularly) drew on this passage for their doctrine of recapitulation: Christ undoes the cosmic damage of Adam, restoring not just human nature but the cosmos itself. Modern systematic theology has retrieved this via the new-creation emphasis in Wright, Moltmann, and others.

Apologetic significance

Romans 8:19-22 is the load-bearing text against the popular caricature that Christian eschatology is an other-worldly escape plan. Critics charging Christianity with neglect of the material world or with disinterest in environmental ethics typically have to ignore this passage. The biblical trajectory runs from a good creation (Genesis 1) through subjection to corruption (Genesis 3, Romans 8) to the redemption of that same creation (Romans 8, Revelation 21). Heaven is not a destination away from Earth; the new heavens and new earth descend, and the home of God is with man (Revelation 21:1-4).

This is also the answer to the gnostic temptation in popular Christianity itself, the "souls float to a disembodied heaven" folk-religion that quietly contradicts the resurrection of the body and the renewal of all things. Paul's grammar in Romans 8:23 ("redemption of our body") tightens the point.

Key words

G0602 - apokalypsis, apokalypsis (G602). The "revealing" of the sons of God; apocalyptic-eschatological unveiling, not mere disclosure.
G1391 - doxa, doxa (G1391). The "glory" of the children of God, the eschatological state into which creation is folded.
G2937 - ktisis, ktisis (G2937). "Creation" in the cosmic sense; the whole created order, not merely humans.
G2316 - theos, theos (G2316).
G5207 - huios, huios (G5207). "Sons" of God in the adoption-and-inheritance frame Paul develops from v. 14.

Theological themes

Cosmic redemption. Creation itself is the object of God's saving purposes; soteriology is not anthropocentric only.
New-creation eschatology. The end is the renewal of heaven and earth, continuous with the present cosmos, not its annihilation. See Revelation 21.1, Revelation 21.4, Isaiah 65.17.
Hope under subjection. The fall is provisional. Corruption is permitted in hope, ordered toward liberation.
Adoption and inheritance. Paul connects creation's liberation to the disclosure of the children of God; the cosmos waits on human destiny.

Cross-references

Revelation 21.1, Revelation 21.4, the new heaven and new earth, the descending city, the wiping away of tears.
Isaiah 65.17, the prophetic seed of new-creation eschatology.
Genesis 3, the original subjection-to-corruption that Paul has in view.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.