Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
19For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God, 20for the creation was subjected to futility (not willing[ly] but because of the one subjecting) upon hope 21that the creation itself will also be liberated from the bondage of decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God, 22for we know that the entire creation is groaning together and in agony together until the present.
One of the things that has amazed me as I’ve studied through the book of Romans is how much it is true that the Gospel is actually our reality. What I mean is this – I think I have always seen our Gospel (the message of Jesus and salvation) as, in a way what people might call our own version of “how to get to heaven.” In a sense all religions have some kind of gospel like that – their own version of how to get to heaven or Nirvana or whatever. In my mind, ours was the true gospel, but that’s primarily what it was – the message of how to be saved.
Instead, as I have studied this book, I have more and more realized that our Gospel is far, far, far more than that. It is our reality. Perhaps in other faiths, their “gospel” is only their “how to get to heaven,” but ours goes far beyond that. What do I mean? Here in the book of Romans, as Paul elaborates on and explains the message of salvation, he is actually answering the very questions of our reality: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? What’s wrong with us? What’s right with us? Why are things the way they are? Who is God? What does He think of us? How should He be part of our lives? Does anyone else see that our Gospel encompasses all of that? And do you see that, to answer those questions, is actually to address not just “how to get to heaven,” but rather the very explanation of the reality we live in!
The passage before us is case in point. What is addressed in these few simple verses is one of the most important and foundational truths of science. It’s called Entropy. Entropy is basically the disorder of our universe. In what is called the “Second Law of Thermodynamics,” it is observed that everything tends to disorder. In other words, without some input of intelligent energy, everything in our universe is falling apart and degrading.
That is science. Pure science. Interesting, no one ever asks why? Why is that true? Why does it have to be true? My whole career has been spent in the field of wastewater treatment. I have been involved in designing entirely new wastewater treatment plants, I’ve designed repairs and upgrades, I’ve even operated plants myself. One of the facts I have long observed is that, in the end, the best wastewater operator is actually a maintenance man, someone who can fix things. Why is that? Because most of his time will be spent fixing all the things that break down and fall apart. He’ll spend very little time “operating” or just thinking about ways to make his plant run better. And that isn’t just wastewater treatment. That is every job, everywhere.
Everything falls apart. Everything eventually corrodes, breaks down, collapses. That is reality, yes? We all know it if we slow down long enough to observe it. Science has even enshrined it, given it a name – Entropy, and established it as an inevitable fact addressed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Yet still the question ought to linger, why?
Right here in verse 21, the NIV calls it creation’s “bondage to decay.” Verse 22 observes, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” What is going on? This takes us all the way back to the book of Genesis. This world wasn’t created to fall apart. “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (1:31). And over this entire material creation, the Lord placed Adam: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground ,,, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (2:26,28).
That was “the Garden of Eden” – Paradise. But what happened? Adam and Eve sinned and then God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you … By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food … ” (3:17-19). Notice “cursed is the ground.” Because of Adam’s sin, a curse fell on creation itself. The death Adam was warned against became not only his reality but the very reality of this entire material universe. Science knows there is Entropy. Our gospel tells us why.
Thankfully, our Gospel is literally “good news” and also tells us the answer to it all. Our passage says that creation is waiting for “the sons of God to be revealed,” at which time it will be brought into “the glorious freedom of the children of God.” In short, we know the Bible teaches us there will be a new heaven and new earth (II Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1). A time will come when “‘The wolf and the lamb will feed together, … They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain,’ says the Lord” (Isa. 65:25).
However, in the meantime, I am just amazed at how our Gospel is, in fact, our reality. To deny and ignore the Gospel is to live in delusion. How true were Jesus’ words, “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free!”
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