Passage

Romans 8.23

Book: Romans · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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.

For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth? 25. But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:21-25, ASV)

WEB

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.

For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees? 25. But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:21-25, WEB)

KJV

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.

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? 25. But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:21-25, KJV)

YLT

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;

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]? 25. and if what we do not behold we hope for, through continuance we expect [it]. (Romans 8:21-25, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle
Audience: the mixed Jewish and Gentile house churches at Rome, a congregation Paul had neither founded nor yet visited
Location: composed at Corinth, addressed to Rome
Time period: c. AD 57

Theological reading

We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. The verse is a corrective to two opposite errors and should be used against both.

Against over-realised expectation, it says believers groan. Those who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, the down payment on everything promised, are precisely the ones described as groaning, which means present frustration is not evidence of deficient faith. Paul places the groan inside the Christian life rather than outside it.

Against under-realised hope, it says the thing awaited is the redemption of our body. Adoption has already been announced as a present status at verse 15, where believers cry Abba, Father. Here it is still future. The tension is intentional: the status is granted and the full effect is outstanding, which is the already-and-not-yet structure that governs New Testament eschatology.

The content of the hope is the point most often lost. Paul does not describe salvation's completion as escape from the body but as the body's redemption. The Christian expectation is resurrection, not the release of an immortal soul from a physical prison, and this verse is one of the clearest places the distinction surfaces. It sits alongside 1 Corinthians 15 and Philippians 3:21 in ruling out the Platonic construal that popular Christian speech constantly drifts toward. See Resurrection of the Body and Soul and Spirit, Origin and Awareness.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G0629 - apolytrosis, apolytrosis, Strong's G0629
G4983 - soma, soma, Strong's G4983
G4151 - pneuma, pneuma, Strong's G4151

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Biblical Hope, via Romans 8.18-25
Christianity, via Romans 8.18-39
Eschatology, via Romans 8.18-25
Flood Genocide Objection, via Romans 8.18-23
God is Impossible Paradox Cluster, via Romans 8.18-25
Nabeel Qureshi (Conversion 2003-2014), via Romans 8.18-39
New Heavens and New Earth

People:

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, via Romans 8.18-39

Lexicon:

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.