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In our verse-by-verse study of Romans we are in Rom 8:23; at the phrase "though having the first fruits of the Spirit."
We noted that this phrase explains that since this is a real imputation of God's blessing to it's home of capacity righteousness that has been developed in the believer's soul from imputed righteousness in time it follows a fortiori that God's justice will also provide the lesser of the real imputation of rewards and blessings to the perfect resurrection body at the judgment seat of Christ.
Consequently, the blessings of maturity are the firstfruits and the down payment of the blessings that will be conveyed in eternity at the believer's evaluation.
These blessings are of the Spirit in the sense that only God the Holy Spirit can cause the grace perception necessary for the metabolization of God's Word in the soul that is required for the maturity adjustment to God's justice in time.
One might ask what about the blessings, or apparent blessings, during the interval between salvation and maturity adjustment to God's justice? The answer comes from four principles:
The blessing that occurs between salvation and spiritual maturity is God's logistical grace support.
Logistical grace includes many wonderful spiritual things, such as the provision of a right pastor and the teaching of Bible doctrine under the principle of GASP.
Logistical grace includes many wonderful temporal things such as food, shelter, clothing, transportation, loved ones, and friends.
While these things are wonderful and often beyond description they cannot be compared to the blessings that are imputed to the maturing believer at maturity adjustment to God's justice.
The next phrase "even we ourselves groan within ourselves" is from the nominative plural from the intensive pronoun "autos" (ourselves), "even we ourselves."
This is an intensive pronoun that is used in a reflective sense because we have reflexive pronoun as the object of the preposition that comes up immediately after the verb.
The verb is the present active indicative of "stenazo" (groan). The customary present tense describes what normally occurs when the maturing believer is given undeserved suffering.
The active voice: the maturing believer produces the action of the verb because of the undeserved suffering for blessing. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of undeserved suffering in the life of the maturing believer.
Then the prepositional phrase "en" (in) plus the locative plural from the reflexive pronoun "eautou" (ourselves) "within ourselves." Paul includes himself in this groan in 2Cor 12:9-10.
Strength in adversity is a blessing from God to the maturing believer. The groan is the reality of undeserved suffering from that God's justice permits to occur in the maturing believer's life. Suffering hurts, therefore the groan. The groan personalizes the maturing believer's response to the suffering.
But no matter how great or what form or category the suffering may take; it is a blessing from God to the maturing believer that is designed to create capacity for greater blessing. It is given at a time of prosperity to intensify blessing.
It is given in time of prosperity to demonstrate that God's power is greater than the power of the ruler of this world and the circumstances of life in the devil's world. It is given in time of prosperity to demonstrate and to guarantee future blessing in eternity, and it is a down payment on that future reward at the judgment seat of Christ.
Undeserved suffering can only be a blessing when the believer has mastery of the spiritual life. If the maturing believer can take the worst of life, obviously he can take the best of life. The extremes reveal the stability and cognitive invincibility of the believer in spiritual maturity.
The worst and the best occur simultaneously in the maturing believer's life. No disaster no matter how bad can trap and enslave the maturing believer.
Under the principle of undeserved suffering to the maturing believer neither personal nor national disaster can trap the believer and enslave him to the suffering or the disaster.
Undeserved suffering does not trap the maturing believer instead it frees him to explore new spheres of blessing because it reveals from cognitive invincibility from metabolized doctrine the believer is exclusively dependant on God for life and circumstances. Phil 4:13;
He is freed instead of being trapped. Undeserved suffering follows the two general trends of personal catastrophe and disaster or national or regional catastrophe or historical disaster.
Such undeserved suffering cannot trap the believer because the undeserved suffering to the maturing believer is a real imputation from the permissive will of God's justice God to righteousness in the believer's soul.
Therefore undeserved suffering to the maturing believer is neither earned nor deserved it is simply designed by God's justice as an imputed blessing because the believer has capacity to handle it with God's power.
Rom 8:23; "Waiting for the adoption" translated from the present middle participle from the compound verb "apekdexomai" (waiting) that was initially used in secular Greek literature to mean to draw a conclusion.
However, the Roman writer Heliodorus set a precedent for it by using the verb to refer to waiting. That is where the Koine Greek picked it up. It describes the idea of waiting for someone and here Paul uses it in the sense of waiting with confident expectation.
Therefore he means here to anticipate or to stand in eager anticipation, "waiting eagerly" or "standing in eager anticipation." It is in the customary present tense that describes what habitually occurs when the mature believer faces adversity and suffering.
It is a deponent verb in the middle voice so it is active in meaning. Therefore the mature believer produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial for the attitude of the mature believer in times of undeserved suffering.
Plus the accusative singular direct object from "huiothesia" (adoption) a technical word for adoption "eagerly anticipating the adoption." Here the adoption refers to the believer in the ultimate sanctification of the resurrection body at the exit resurrection.
"The redemption of the body" is the accusative of apposition from "apolutrosis" (redemption) plus the descriptive genitive singular from "soma" (body) with the definite article "ho" (the) so it refers exclusively to the biological body in resurrection, plus the possessive genitive from the personal pronoun "ego" (our) "the redemption of the our body."
The definite article makes it monadic so it refers specifically to the biological body and must be differentiated from the redemption of the soul at salvation.
Expanded Translation Rom 8:23; "And not only nature, but ourselves also, though possessing the firstfruits from the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly anticipating the adoption, the redemption (resurrection) of our body."
Rom 8: 24; "For in hope we are saved" is the postpositive conjunctive particle "gar" (for) that is used as an explanatory conjunction, plus "elpis" (hope) with the definite article "ho" (the) that is a specific future reference to the resurrection body.
In the Greek the word translated hope means confident expectation, or anticipation. So we can translate it, "For with reference to the expectation." This is the anticipation of the redemption of the body or resurrection.
Next is the aorist passive indicative of the verb "sozo" (saved or delivered) referring to salvation adjustment to God's justice. This is a constantive aorist tense that describes the momentary action of faith in Jesus Christ.
The constantive aorist tense gathers into one entirety the action of the verb. The action of the verb can be momentary or prolonged. Here it is momentary faith in Christ. The passive voice: at the moment of faith in Christ the person receives salvation.
The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action that describes a reality. So the content of that future hope is the resurrection body; "we were saved in hope" so we were saved for the purpose of having a future.
"But hope that is seen is not hope" the postpositive conjunctive particle "de" (but) used here as a transitional conjunction but it does not set up a contrast as it usually does, so we can translate it "now."
Plus the nominative singular subject "elpis" (hope) without the definite article is anartharous so it emphasizes the quality of our hope or our prospects. Plus the present passive participle of "blepo" (seen or to see). This is a tendential present that is used for an action that is anticipated is but not yet actually occurring.
The passive voice: the believer anticipates the receiving of the action of the verb. This is a temporal participle; "now when a hope is seen." This is followed by the negative "ou" (not) plus the present active indicative of "eimi" (is), and then the word "elplis" (hope) again as a predicate nominative.
So we have " now when a hope is seen it is not hope." This phrase emphasizes that "elpis" (hope) means prospect or expectation. This emphasizes the idea of ultimate sanctification at the exit resurrection in the future.
"For who hopes for what he sees?" The inferential use of "gar" (for) means "so" or "then." The nominative singular subject from the indefinite pronoun "tis" (what) is used to represent a category.
Plus the accusative neuter singular relative pronoun "hos" (what). Then the present active indicative of the verb "blepo" (sees) so we have "for what anyone sees" or "for what he sees."
This is a pictorial present tense that presents something that is in the process of occurring but has not occurred. The active voice: a nonspecific category of people (anyone) produces the action of the verb.
The indicative mood is potential of condition that depends on whether the believer knows, believes, and understands God's Word of Truth or not.
Then the nominative neuter singular from an interrogative pronoun "tis" (what) and the present active indicative from "elpizo" (hopes). This verb describes action in present time that is produced by an indefinite number of believers.
The indicative mood is interrogative. So, "who hopes for what he sees" is a good translation. In other words, expectation is a future reality not a present reality. Therefore hope must be defined in this context as the future reality of a resurrection body.
We cannot see heaven and all of its details, but anticipate the reality of heaven, the reality of eternity, and as mature believers we anticipate the rewards and blessings that will be a real imputation when that occurs.
Expanded Translation Rom 8:24; "For with reference to that future hope we have been saved: now when a hope is seen it is not hope: who hopes for what he sees?"