Romans 8:18

“ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ”

The term λογίζομαι, I reckon, here signifies: “I judge after calculation made.” The expressions which follow imply, indeed, the idea of a calculation. The adjective ἄξιος, worthy, comes, as the old lexicographers say, from the verb ἄγω, to drive, to cause to move, and denotes strictly a thing which is heavy enough to produce motion in the scale of the balance. The preposition πρός is used here, as frequently, to denote proportion. Consequently, the apostle means that when he compares the miseries imposed on him by the present state of things with the glory awaiting him in the future, he does not find that the former can be of any weight whatever in the balance of his resolutions. Why does he use the first person singular, I reckon, instead of speaking in the name of all Christians? No doubt because he would have them verify his calculation themselves, each making it over again for himself. And he has good right to take the initiative in comparison with them, as evidently suffering more than all of them.

This present time denotes the actual conditions of our earthly life in contrast with those of the new world which succeeds it. These are, on the one hand, the miseries arising from bodily infirmities and the necessities of life; on the other, those caused by the enmity of man and the sins of believers themselves. Paul, who endured more than any other of these two kinds of sufferings, yet calls them, 2 Corinthians 4:17: the light affliction of the present moment, in opposition to the eternal weight of glory which he sees before him.

This glory is to be revealed; it is therefore already; and indeed it exists not only in the plan of God decreeing it to us, but also in the person of Christ glorified, with whose appearing it will be visibly displayed. The apostle adds εἰς ἡμᾶς, in and for us. He might have written ἐν ἡμῖν, in us; but this expression would have been insufficient. For the glory will not consist only in our own transformation, but also in the coming of the Lord Himself, and the transformation of the universe. Thus it will be displayed at once for us and in us; this is expressed by the εἰς ἡμᾶς. Being unable to render the two relations into French by a single preposition, we have preferred to express the second, which is the most comprehensive.