Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Romans 8:23

Second testimony to the glorious future. οὐ μόνον δὲ sc. ἡ κτίσις not only all creation, but we Christians: we ourselves, τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ἔχοντες. τοῦ πνεύματος is gen of apposition: the spirit which Christians have received is itself t the first fruits (elsewhere, the earnest: see on Romans 8:17) of this glory; and because we have it (not although: it is the foretaste of heaven, the heaven begun in the Christian, which intensifies his yearning, and makes him more vehemently than nature long for complete redemption), we also sigh in ourselves υἱοθεσίαν ἀπεκδεχόμενοι, τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν. The key to these words is found in Romans 1:4. Christ was Son of God always, but was only declared to be so in power ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν, and so it is with believers. They have already received adoption, and as led by the spirit are sons of God; but only when their mortal bodies have been quickened, and the corruptible has put on incorruption, will they possess all that sonship involves. For this they wait and sigh, and the inextinguishable hope, born of the spirit dwelling in them, guarantees its own fulfilment. Cf. Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 2 Corinthians 5:2; and for ἀπολύτρωσις in this sense, 1 Corinthians 1:30.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Romans 8:23

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