For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear (φόβον, a form of φόβος), Paul continued, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”¹  Human beings have been afraid of God ever since Adam died and hid from Him, saying, and I was afraid because I was naked.²  That is καὶ ἐφοβήθην (a form of φοβέω) ὅτι γυμνός εἰμι³ in the Septuagint, literally, “and I was afraid because naked I am.”   And naked we still are, because no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked (γυμνὰ, a form of γυμνός) and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account (λόγος).⁴  It is fitting that the fear that came upon us when Adam sinned is banished in Christ.

The word Abba is the childish word for father [Addendum 9/5/2024: or perhaps not].  It reminds me of the picture of John John Kennedy peeking out from under his father’s desk in the oval office at the White House.  In October of 1962 President Kennedy was the most feared man on the planet, with the power to plunge the world into nuclear war.  But to John John, he was Daddy.  The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.  And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) – if indeed we suffer with (συμπάσχομεν, a form of συμπάσχω) him so we may also be glorified with (συνδοξασθῶμεν, a form of συνδοξάζω) him.⁵

There are many things someone might suffer, but this linkage of suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him leads me back to chapter 6: Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory (δόξης, a form of δόξα) of the Father, so we too may live a new life.⁶  Once Jesus’ disciples knew that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God⁷ he instructed them⁸ not to tell anyone.⁹

From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer (παθεῖν, a form of πάσχω) many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.¹⁰

So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: “God forbid, Lord!  This must not happen to you!”¹¹  Mark emphasized that Jesus spoke openly about this.  So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.¹²  But [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s” [Table].  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.¹³  And Paul wrote, For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.¹⁴

So the suffering Paul had in mind I think was primarily the frustration and inner confusion associated with this death and resurrection experience, particularly that neither I (old man born of the flesh nor new man born of the Spirit) can do what I want:  For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.¹⁵  I’ve written in another essay in more detail that I think the essence of taking up one’s cross to follow Jesus in this death is not my will but yours be done,¹⁶ and a few more ideas about this suffering of death in another.  For I consider that our present sufferings (παθήματα, a form of πάθημα) cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us,¹⁷ Paul continued (Romans 8:19-21 NET).

For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God [e.g., all who are led by the Spirit of God¹⁸].  For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God who subjected it – in¹⁹ hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage (δουλείας, a form of δουλεία) of decay (φθορᾶς, a form of φθορά) into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

In school I learned about evolution, that marvelous creative force that made everything we see today.  In my real life I travel from medical conference to medical conference where I hear about genetic defects and diseases, the bondage of decay, the actual observable results of evolution.  The palliation of genetic defects and diseases is one of our last locally produced products and a mainspring of our economy.  While medical researchers may intend to find “cures” for genetic defects and diseases good economic sense would argue against that.  But there is another more pressing problem to consider, more long range and more far reaching.

Those who are faithful to their creator evolution, what I will call the evolutionary mind, face a daunting problem when it comes to “cures” for the products of evolution.  To my mind a cure would be found along the lines of investigation leading to an understanding of God’s original design of the genetic code for humankind.  This would not be conceivable to the evolutionary mind.  There was no grand design, no right way for the code to be written.  It was all happenstance that happened to produce life-forms that survived under given conditions.  For the evolutionary mind a “cure” must come from one’s own mind, evaluating the conditions people must thrive under and “Imagineering” so to speak how the code should read to accommodate those conditions.

Just as an aside, it occurs to me that back-breeding (e.g., inter-racial marriage) is still quite effective to overcoming some of the genetic burden that continues to accumulate over time.  When I was young such marriage was a curiosity.  Now inter-racial marriage seems to be a positive symptom of enlightened thinking among many young people.  If that trend continues and becomes standard practice it may well alleviate the necessity for any more Draconian measures forbidding intra-racial marriage.  And to my way of thinking it is the religious mind that would stand in the way of inter-racial marriage much like it would have bridled at God’s decrees against intra-familial marriage when genetic burden made that necessary.

Paul’s point, however, was that those who trust in Christ, or more specifically those led by the Spirit of God, wait for God’s solution, that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.  While the children don’t know exactly how this will take place, they assume it is along the lines of death and resurrection that they are experiencing, a destruction by fire and a creation of new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:8-13 NET).  Ultimately, the children trust that Abba, Daddy has everything under control.  The scorn and ridicule that elicits from those with an evolutionary mind may also be part of the suffering Paul wrote about.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together (συνωδίνει, a form of συνωδίνω) until now.  Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  For in hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes²⁰ for what he sees?²¹

This is what convinced me that for Paul, So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin,²² and, For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want,²³ were normative for the believer’s experience here on earth.  They are the suffering to which he referred.  Even being led by the Spirit is but a foretaste of the glory that will be revealed to us.  It is the foretaste that prompts us to pray, Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven [Table].²⁴

But if we hope for what we do not see, Paul concluded, we eagerly wait for it with endurance (ὑπομονῆς, a form of ὑπομονή).²⁵

Addendum: October 11, 2024
Tables comparing Matthew 16:20; Romans 8:20 and 8:24 in the NET and KJV follow.