Romans 8:20
New International Version
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

New Living Translation
Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,

English Standard Version
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

Berean Standard Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

Berean Literal Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the One having subjected it, in hope

King James Bible
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

New King James Version
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

New American Standard Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope

NASB 1995
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope

NASB 1977
For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope

Legacy Standard Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope

Amplified Bible
For the creation was subjected to frustration and futility, not willingly [because of some intentional fault on its part], but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope

Christian Standard Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility —not willingly, but because of him who subjected it —in the hope

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it—in the hope

American Standard Version
For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For the creation has been subjected to futility, not by its choice, but because of him who subjected it upon hope.

Contemporary English Version
Meanwhile, creation is confused, but not because it wants to be confused. God made it this way in the hope

Douay-Rheims Bible
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope:

English Revised Version
For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Creation was subjected to frustration but not by its own choice. The one who subjected it to frustration did so in the hope

Good News Translation
For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope

International Standard Version
because the creation has become subject to futility, though not by anything it did. The one who subjected it did so in the certainty

Literal Standard Version
for to vanity was the creation made subject—not of its will, but because of Him who subjected [it]—in hope,

Majority Standard Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

New American Bible
for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope

NET Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility--not willingly but because of God who subjected it--in hope

New Revised Standard Version
for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

New Heart English Bible
For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

Webster's Bible Translation
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope:

Weymouth New Testament
For the Creation fell into subjection to failure and unreality (not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it)

World English Bible
For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

Young's Literal Translation
for to vanity was the creation made subject -- not of its will, but because of Him who did subject it -- in hope,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Future Glory
19The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.…

Cross References
Genesis 3:17
And to Adam He said: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

Genesis 5:29
And he named him Noah, saying, "May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed."

Psalm 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

Ecclesiastes 1:2
"Futility of futilities," says the Teacher, "futility of futilities! Everything is futile!"

Romans 8:24
For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?


Treasury of Scripture

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope,

the creature.

Romans 8:22
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Genesis 3:17-19
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; …

Genesis 5:29
And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

Jump to Previous
Change Choice Creation Creature Failure Fell Frustration Futility Hope Power Reason Subject Subjected Subjection Vanity Willingly
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Change Choice Creation Creature Failure Fell Frustration Futility Hope Power Reason Subject Subjected Subjection Vanity Willingly
Romans 8
1. Those who are in Christ are free from condemnation.
5. What harm comes of the flesh;
13. and what good of the Spirit.
19. The glorious deliverance the creation longs for,
29. was beforehand decreed from God.
38. Nothing can sever us from his love.














(20) For the creature.--The Apostle gives the reason for this earnest expectation in the present state of nature; pointing out what creation is. If creation were perfect, and were fulfilling the noblest possible purpose, there would be no cause for looking forward hopefully to the future.

Was made subject to vanity.--"Vanity" = "emptiness" or "nothingness." Creation is fulfilling an unworthy instead of a worthy and noble end. (Comp. Genesis 3:17-18.) It was made subject to this "not willingly," i.e., by its own act or with its own concurrence, but "by reason of Him who hath subjected the same," i.e., in pursuance of the sovereign purpose and counsel of God. The one thing which takes out the sting from this impoverished and degraded condition is Hope.

It is needless to say that this is not Darwinism, but it is easily reconcilable with evolution. Indeed, such a theory seems to give it additional force and emphasis. It helps to bring out both the present "vanity" and hope for the future, and to show both as parts of one "increasing purpose" widening through the ages. "Allowing for irregularities and fluctuations, on the whole, higher and higher forms of life have appeared. There has been unquestionably an enormous advance between the times of the Eozoon Canadense and our own. And, further, we have to notice that a new kind of progress, of far greater intrinsic importance than mere physical improvement, has of late appeared. I mean intellectual and moral progress, as it is seen in man. . . . And this progress, I would say, is most important in our argument as to the character of God, for it is full of promise of far better things than this sad world has ever seen. It points most decidedly to a supremacy of the power for good, and a great hope of final happiness for our race." (Rev. S. T. Gibson, Religion and Science, p. 34.)

Verses 20, 21. - For the creature (or, creation, as before) was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope. Because (or, that; i.e. in hope that) the creature (or, creation) also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. The aorist ὑπετάγη ("was subjected") seems to imply that the present "vanity" and "bondage of corruption" were not inherent in the original Creation, or of necessity to last for ever. Thus the assertions of Genesis 1: and 31, stand unshaken, viz. that in the beginning God created all things, and that all at first was "very good." The ideas, resorted to in order to account for existing evil, of matter (ὕλη) being essentially evil, and of a δημιουργός, other than the Supreme God, having made the world, are alike precluded. It might serve as an answer to the argument of Lucretius against a Divine origin of things-

"Nequaquam nobis divinius esse paratam
Naturam rerum, tanta star praedita culpa"
Why the "creature" was thus "subjected" is not here explained. No solution of the old insoluble problem of τοθὲν τὸ κακὸν is given. All that is, or could be, said is that it was διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα, meaning God. It was his will that it should be so; this is all we know; except that we find the beginning of evil, so far as it affects man, attributed in Scripture to human sin. But he so subjected his creation in hope. This expression may refer to the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15, or to the never-dying hope in the human heart; to either or to both. The latter idea is expressed in the myth of Pandora's box. Further, the creature is said to have been so subjected "not willingly" (οὐχ ἑκοῦσα). No sentient beings acquiesce in suffering; they resent evil, and would fain flee from it. Man especially unwillingly submits to his present bondage. When in ver. 21 the hope is expressed of the creature (or creation) itself being eventually freed from the present bondage of corruption, it may be that the human part of creation only is in the writer's eye; but it may be also (there being still no expressed limitation of the word κτίσις) that he conceives a final emancipation of the whole creation from evil (cf. Ephesians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:23-27; 2 Peter 3:13). But if so, it is not said that the peculiar glory of the sons of God will extend to all creation, but only that all will be freed into the freedom of their glory; which may mean that the day of the revelation of the sons of God in glory will bring with it a general emancipation of all creation from its present bondage. Such a great final hope finds expression in the verse -

"That God, which ever lives and loves,
One God, one law, one element,
And one far-off Divine event,
To which the whole creation moves."


(In Memoriam.') The present condition of things is in ver. 20 denoted by ματαιότης, and in ver. 21 by τῆς δουλειάς τῆς φθορᾶς. The first of these words is the equivalent in the LXX. of the Hebrew XXX, which means properly "breath," or "vapour," and is used metaphorically for anything frail, fruitless, evanescent, vain. It is often applied to idols, and it is the word in Ecclesiastes where it is said that "all is vanity" (cf. also Psalm 39:5, 6). It seems here to denote the frailty, incompleteness, transitoriness, to which all things are now subject. "Ματαιότης sonat frustatio, quod creatura interim non assequatur quod utcunque contendit efficere" (Erasmus). Φθορᾶς intimates corruption and decay.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
For
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

the
(hē)
Article - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

creation
κτίσις (ktisis)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2937: From ktizo; original formation.

was subjected
ὑπετάγη (hypetagē)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 5293: From hupo and tasso; to subordinate; reflexively, to obey.

to
τῇ (tē)
Article - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

futility,
ματαιότητι (mataiotēti)
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3153: From mataios; inutility; figuratively, transientness; morally, depravity.

not
οὐχ (ouch)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

by its own will,
ἑκοῦσα (hekousa)
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1635: Willing, willingly, voluntarily. Of uncertain affinity; voluntary.

but
ἀλλὰ (alla)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

because of
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

the [One who]
τὸν (ton)
Article - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

subjected [it],
ὑποτάξαντα (hypotaxanta)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5293: From hupo and tasso; to subordinate; reflexively, to obey.

in
ἐφ’ (eph’)
Preposition
Strong's 1909: On, to, against, on the basis of, at.

hope
ἑλπίδι (helpidi)
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1680: Hope, expectation, trust, confidence. From a primary elpo; expectation or confidence.


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NT Letters: Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to vanity (Rom. Ro)
Romans 8:19
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