Romans 8:22

The whole creation groaneth— How David groaned under the vanity of this life, may be seen Psalms 89:47 which complaint may be met with in some sense and in some degree in every man's mouth: so that even those who have not the first fruits of the Spirit, have uneasy longings after immortality, or of something to make them happy, which this world cannot afford them. It is true, that to be in pangs like a woman in travail, the metaphor here used, sometimes only signifies being in great distress, where there is no reference to any expected birth; but it seems very probable, that the Apostle, in these metaphors, here alludes to what he had been before saying, Romans 8:14; Romans 8:17; Romans 8:19; Romans 8:21. In all which places he describes real believers as the children of God; beautifully representing at the same time the sad condition of those, who, while they had faculties capable through divine gracefor standing in such a relation to God as his children, were lost in darkness and vanity, while ignorant of God, and the way of salvation; during which time they were even pained by the capability of their nature, it having no suitable object to act upon. The reader may observe a well-adjusted gradation from Romans 8:19. The world seems to wait and call, and groan for the spreading of the Gospel; and those among whom it prevails, are still in travail, as it were, with the hope and desire of a yet more exalted state after the resurrection, Romans 8:23. See Locke and Doddridge.