We Have the Firstfruits but Groan Inwardly
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:22-25
There is an important parallel between God’s creation and God’s children. ‘We know that the whole creation has been groaning … Not only so, but we ourselves …groan inwardly’ (8:22,23). Even though we are no longer in Adam but in Christ, we who no longer live according to the flesh but ‘have the firstfruits of the Spirit,’ we in whom God’s creation has already begun, even we continue to groan inside ‘as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies’ (8:23). We are caught in the tension between what God has started by giving us His Spirit and what He will consummate in our final redemption. The indwelling Spirit gives us joy (Galatians 5:22) and the coming glory gives us hope (5:2) but the life in between gives us pain.
Paul makes five affirmations here and we begin with the first two:
(1) ‘we … have the first fruits of the Spirit’ (8:23a)
The firstfruits was both the beginning of the harvest and the pledge that the full harvest would follow in due time. Replacing this agricultural term with a commercial one, Paul in other letters described the gift of God’s Spirit as the first instalment (deposit, pledge, down payment) which guaranteed the purchase would be completed (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:14). Although we have not received our final adoption or redemption, we have already received the Spirit as both the foretaste and promise of those blessings.
(2) ‘we … groan inwardly’ (8:23b)
We groan even though we have the indwelling Spirit. The very presence of the Spirit is a constant reminder of the incompleteness of our salvation because we continue to share with creation in the frustration, decay and pain; so one reason for groaning is our physical frailty and mortality. ‘Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling [our resurrection body] … For while we are still in this tent [our material body] we groan and are burdened’ (2 Corinthians 5:2,4). We groan too because our fallen nature hinders us from behaving as we should, and would altogether prevent us from it, were it not for the indwelling Holy Spirit (7:17,20). We long for our fallen nature to be destroyed and our body to be transformed. Our groans express both present pain and future longing.
So we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, the pledge, the Holy Spirit as the first instalment, guaranteeing the promised blessings will be ours. Although we have the indwelling Spirit, we groan inwardly, longing for the fullness of our salvation at Christ’s return.