SEV Biblia, Chapter 8:23
Y no slo ellas, sino tambin nosotros mismos, que tenemos las primicias del Espíritu, nosotros tambin gemimos dentro de nosotros mismos esperando la adopcin, es a saber , la redencin de nuestro cuerpo.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Romans 8:23
Verse 23. And not only they, but ourselves also] Neither the Gentiles only, but we Jews also, (however we belong to a nation envious of the heathen,) to whom God hath granted the first fruits of the Spirit; we sigh among ourselves for their sakes, waiting for the adoption; that is, the redemption of our mystical body, whereof the Gentiles make a very great part. Lightfoot's works. vol. ii. p. 359 and 707. The scope and design of St. Paul in these verses may be thus summed up:-The apostle shows that the whole creation is in a suffering state, into which it has been brought by the disobedience of one man, Adam; therefore, it was made subject to vanity-pain, sickness, and death; not willingly, for mankind had no part in that transgression which "brought death into the world and all our wo;" but God subjected the whole, purposing to afford them a deliverance and infusing into every heart a hope that a more auspicious era should take place; and it is through the influence of this hope, which every man possesses, that the present ills are so patiently borne, because all are expecting better days. The great deliverer is the Messiah, and the Gospel days the auspicious era which God intended to bring forward. They who believe in Christ with a heart unto righteousness are freed from the bondage of their sinful corruption, and brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God; and they look forward with joyous expectation, waiting for the general resurrection, when their bodies also shall be redeemed from corruption, and the whole man, body and soul, be adopted into the family of heaven ABOVE, as their souls had been previously adopted into the family of faith BELOW. And although it may be said that the redemption provided by the Gospel can not be an object of hope to those who have never heard of it; yet, as every man has hope, and this hope is inspired by God for this very purpose; that it may be the means of supporting them in the ills of life, and God, in inspiring it, had respect to the glorious state of Christianity, therefore it is this state, in effect, that the whole creation are longing for. So Jesus Christ is said, by the Prophet Haggai, Haggai ii. 7, to be the desire of all nations; and yet not one of the nations of the earth had, at that time, heard of him.
And thus, as Dr. Whitby has very properly remarked, "desire and expectation are ascribed to creatures, in reference to things they want, and which tend to their advantage; notwithstanding they explicitly know nothing of them."
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 23. And not only they, but ourselves also , etc..] Not only they Gentiles, but we Jews likewise: which have the firstfruits of the Spirit : meaning either the apostles, who were all Jews, and who most of them received the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, which was the day of the firstfruits, ( Numbers 28:26); and to which there seems to be an allusion here; or else the Jewish converts in general: to the Jews the promises of the Messiah were made; to them he first came; the Gospel was first preached unto them, and some of them first believed in Christ; they had the grace of God communicated to them in conversion, which they received as the firstfruits, with respect to an after increase; or in regard to glory, like the firstfruits, grace is of the same kind with glory, and is a pledge and earnest of it; saints judge by grace the firstfruits, what glory is, and therefore long after it; now of these persons thus described it is said, even we ourselves groan within ourselves ; their groans were inward from their hearts, not hypocritical or were among themselves, common to them all; and that not merely on their own account, the corruptions of their hearts, the sufferings they endured for the sake of the Gospel, and in a longing expectation for the heavenly glory, but also for the conversion of the Gentiles, for which they incessantly laboured, and prayed night and day; waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body . Adoption is explained by the redemption of the body; and by the one may be known what the other means: by the redemption of our body is not meant the redemption of God's elect, body and soul, by the blood and death of Christ, which was already finished; and which the saints, who had received the firstfruits, were partakers of in themselves, and therefore could not be said to be waiting for it: but it designs either the redemption of the natural body, by the resurrection from the dead; when the bodies of the saints will be delivered from that mortality, corruption, weakness, and dishonour, under which they lie in the grave; when they will be refined and spiritualized, and freed from everything which makes them an incumbrance, and an uneasiness to their souls or spirits now; or else the redemption of the mystical body the church, of which the Gentiles make a considerable part, and is to be understood of a deliverance of the church, from the distresses and persecutions it then laboured under; or rather of a making up of the body, the church, by a redemption or deliverance of that part of it, which lay among the Gentiles, from that vanity and bondage of corruption, to which it was subject, into the manifestation and glorious liberty of the sons of God: and then by adoption is meant, the special grace of adoption, manifested to the Gentiles in their effectual calling; which the Jews who had received the firstfruits of the Spirit were waiting for, and had good reason to expect, from many prophecies in the writings of the Old Testament; and to which they were the more encouraged, by many appearances of the grace and power of God, attending the ministry of the Gospel among them; and which adoption will be more fully manifested in the resurrection morn; wherefore also the inheritance, which the whole mystical body the church will then enter upon the possession of, may well be called the adoption, because the saints are adopted to it; adoption gives them the title to it, none but adopted ones will enjoy it; and their enjoyment of it will be the full manifestation and completion of the grace of adoption; this saints are waiting for, both for themselves and others, and it is worth waiting for; for it is an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, which fades not away, reserved in the heavens, ( 1 Peter 1:4): and there is good ground to wait for it; it is a bequest of their heavenly Father, who has adopted them; it is a gift of his free grace; it is already in the hands of Christ, with whom they are co-heirs; and they have already the Spirit, as the earnest of it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 18-25 - The sufferings of the saints strike no deeper than the things of time last no longer than the present time, are light afflictions, and but for a moment. How vastly different are the sentence of the word and the sentiment of the world, concerning the sufferings of this present time Indeed the whole creation seems to wait with earnest expectation for the period when the children of God shall be manifested in the glor prepared for them. There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity which has come upon the creature by the fall of man. There is an enmit of one creature to another. And they are used, or abused rather, by me as instruments of sin. Yet this deplorable state of the creation is in hope. God will deliver it from thus being held in bondage to man' depravity. The miseries of the human race, through their own and eac other's wickedness, declare that the world is not always to continue a it is. Our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, quickens ou desires, encourages our hopes, and raises our expectations. Sin ha been, and is, the guilty cause of all the suffering that exists in the creation of God. It has brought on the woes of earth; it has kindle the flames of hell. As to man, not a tear has been shed, not a groa has been uttered, not a pang has been felt, in body or mind, that ha not come from sin. This is not all; sin is to be looked at as i affects the glory of God. Of this how fearfully regardless are the bul of mankind! Believers have been brought into a state of safety; but their comfort consists rather in hope than in enjoyment. From this hop they cannot be turned by the vain expectation of finding satisfactio in the things of time and sense. We need patience, our way is rough an long; but He that shall come, will come, though he seems to tarry.
Greek Textus Receptus
ου 3756 PRT-N μονον 3440 ADV δε 1161 CONJ αλλα 235 CONJ και 2532 CONJ αυτοι 846 P-NPM την 3588 T-ASF απαρχην 536 N-ASF του 3588 T-GSN πνευματος 4151 N-GSN εχοντες 2192 5723 V-PAP-NPM και 2532 CONJ ημεις 2249 P-1NP αυτοι 846 P-NPM εν 1722 PREP εαυτοις 1438 F-3DPM στεναζομεν 4727 5719 V-PAI-1P υιοθεσιαν 5206 N-ASF απεκδεχομενοι 553 5740 V-PNP-NPM την 3588 T-ASF απολυτρωσιν 629 N-ASF του 3588 T-GSN σωματος 4983 N-GSN ημων 2257 P-1GP
Robertson's NT Word Studies
8:23 {The first fruits} (tn aparcen). Old and common metaphor. {Of the Spirit} (tou pneumatos). The genitive of apposition. The Holy Spirit came on the great Pentecost and his blessings continue as seen in the "gifts" in #1Co 12-14, in the moral and spiritual gifts of #Ga 5:22f. And greater ones are to come (#1Co 15:44ff.). {Even we ourselves} (kai autoi). He repeats for emphasis. We have our "groaning" (stenazomen) as well as nature. {Waiting for} (apekdechomenoi). The same verb used of nature in verse #19. {Our adoption} (huioqesian). Our full "adoption" (see verse #15), "the redemption of our body" (tn apolutrwsin tou swmatos hemwn). That is to come also. qen we shall have complete redemption of both soul and body.
