Romanos 8:22

‘For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers birthpangs together until now.'

Thus just as Christians are groaning within themselves over their temporary enslavement by sin which is not of their own will (Romanos 8:23; Romanos 7:14; Romanos 7:24), so does the whole creation groan together and suffer birthpangs together even to this present time, because it has been subjected to frustration not of its own will. Note the emphasis on togetherness (emphasised in the Greek of both verbs). The whole suffers as one. The fact that it ‘suffers birth pangs together' not only indicates that all parts suffer together, but also that what creation suffers is in fact only the first agonies which precede eternal bliss. Once the new creation has sprung out of the old the birth pangs will be forgotten. Ongoing history may seem a long time to us, but in the household management of God (Efesios 1:10) it is but the brief initial suffering which leads to glory ahead. Compared with eternity the present ages are simply a brief passage of time.