| Geneva Study Bible Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the {b} bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (b) From the corruption which they are now subject to, they will be delivered and changed into the blessed state of incorruption, which will be revealed when the sons of God will be advanced to glory. People's New Testament 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered. The Revised Version reads, The creation was subjected... in hope that the creation itself also, etc. Though subjected to vanity (Ro 8:20), it still retained the hope of final deliverance. From the bondage of corruption. Decay and death. Into the glorious liberty. The Revised Version says, The liberty of the glory. The present state is bondage to corruption. The hope is deliverance from the bondage into the liberty of the glory. In the day of the revelation of that glory, all things shall become new (Re 21:1,5). Wesley's Notes 8:21 The creation itself shall be delivered - Destruction is not deliverance: therefore whatsoever is destroyed, or ceases to be, is not delivered at all. Will, then, any part of the creation be destroyed? Into the glorious liberty - The excellent state wherein they were created. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 21. Because the creature itself also-"even the creation itself." shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption-its bondage to the principle of decay. into the glorious liberty-rather, "the liberty of the glory." of the children of God-that is, the creation itself shall, in a glorious sense, be delivered into that freedom from debility and decay in which the children of God, when raised up in glory, shall expatiate: into this freedom from corruptibility the creation itself shall, in a glorious sense, be delivered (So Calvin, Beza, Bengel, Tholuck, Olshausen, De Wette, Meyer, Philippi, Hodge, Alford, &c.). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 8:18-25 The sufferings of the saints strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer than the present time, are light afflictions, and but for a moment. How vastly different are the sentence of the word and the sentiment of the world, concerning the sufferings of this present time! Indeed the whole creation seems to wait with earnest expectation for the period when the children of God shall be manifested in the glory prepared for them. There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which has come upon the creature by the fall of man. There is an enmity of one creature to another. And they are used, or abused rather, by men as instruments of sin. Yet this deplorable state of the creation is in hope. God will deliver it from thus being held in bondage to man's depravity. The miseries of the human race, through their own and each other's wickedness, declare that the world is not always to continue as it is. Our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, quickens our desires, encourages our hopes, and raises our expectations. Sin has been, and is, the guilty cause of all the suffering that exists in the creation of God. It has brought on the woes of earth; it has kindled the flames of hell. As to man, not a tear has been shed, not a groan has been uttered, not a pang has been felt, in body or mind, that has not come from sin. This is not all; sin is to be looked at as it affects the glory of God. Of this how fearfully regardless are the bulk of mankind! Believers have been brought into a state of safety; but their comfort consists rather in hope than in enjoyment. From this hope they cannot be turned by the vain expectation of finding satisfaction in the things of time and sense. We need patience, our way is rough and long; but He that shall come, will come, though he seems to tarry. | 
