Why does creation groan and travail in pain according to Romans 8:22?
According to Romans 8:22, the whole creation groans and travails because it is under constant duress, not as God intended. Creatures are in constant search of food and constant defense against being food—what is called ecology. Creation therefore waits with believers for the curse to be lifted when Christ returns.
Les explains that Romans 8:22 declares the whole creation groans and travails in pain. He connects this to the curse: everything in creation—rocks, rivers, trees, birds, fish, animals, and believers—looks forward to the day when the curse will be lifted. Most creation, like the cottontail he mentioned, is under constant duress, constantly searching for food and trying to protect itself from being food; he calls this ecology. That is not the way God intended it, so creation travails in pain together until now. In verse 23, the text adds that not only creation but believers also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, await the Lord's coming. Only believers can anxiously look forward to it; the unbeliever shrinks from it and is not ready, though he cannot think it away. Les emphasizes that Christ is coming, and the world is moving faster toward the final moment when He will intervene in human history and set things straight.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
More Questions
Why is creation under constant duress and pain?
Most of creation is under constant duress, constantly searching for food and trying to protect itself from being food, which is called ecology.
Why is the whole creation groaning and in pain?
The whole creation groans and travails in pain together, all of it, until now.
What does it mean that the whole creation groans and travails in pain?
The whole creation groans and travails in pain because it is under the results of the curse, up to the present time.
Do Christians also groan along with creation while waiting for the redemption of their bodies?
Believers are included in the groaning of creation - we who believe also groan within ourselves while waiting for the redemption of our body.