Despite subjecting creation to futility there has, as far as God is concerned, always been hope. In fact, right after man rebelled, God gave him a promise of hope: the offspring of Eve will ultimately bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Through this promise hope survives in a world abandoned to sinful human beings. It provides humanity with the hope that creation will ultimately survive under that conquering offspring of Eve. It is the hope that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God
(Romans 8:21). This hope for an eventual elevation of man and creation manifests in many human ideals and lay dormant in creation. A sense of unwillingness and obstinacy remain in man and in creation when it comes to death and futility. This unwillingness to accept the futility is the fruit of the expectation of a better world upon which people hope, consciously or unconsciously.
Simultaneous to the subjection of creation to futility by man there exists a hopeful expectation that God will turn it around for the better through a glorified offspring. Romans 8:20–21 should therefore really be read as one verse. Hence, they can be translated as: For creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of someone else, with the expectation that it will itself be set free from the bondage to corruption, to obtain the freedom of the glory of God’s children.
The Greek does not really allow for the treatment of Romans 8:21 as an independent statement referring to a future development. Since the fall of man in Genesis 3:1–24, both resistance and hope remain in creation as the consequence of the rebellion of Adam and Eve as well as of the simultaneous promise of deliverance given by their Creator.1
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope