The expectation of a better world set free from bondage is concretely and fully fleshed-out in the lives of Christians: And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies
(Romans 8:23). Christians now have the Holy Spirit by means of his indwelling in our hearts. He is not yet our glorification, however, but he does provide an advance and a guarantee thereof. He will most assuredly deliver it. Even during this period of the Spirit, however, believers remain subjected to the suffering of this time as well as to death. They are the ones who audibly groan about it. They, too, live unwillingly in a mortal body and undergo the pain of this existence in the context of a society that is both harsh and harmful. However, this groaning of the believers is by no means vague or without purpose. It is fueled by the knowledge that a better time is at hand—the time of which the Spirit constitutes the Advance, and the time in which baptized Christians will be officially adopted (huiothesia) as children of God. As children they already now call upon their Father (Romans 8:15), but they do not yet fully benefit from their status as children. They have not yet been fully brought into the house of the Father by their adoption (huiothesia cf. Romans 8:15). Only when they have been released from their mortal bodies and clothed with the glory of the Father, will they truly ascend to their rightful position and status in creation as adopted children of God. In the meantime, they suffer as princes and princesses in exile because they continually long for their return and restoration of the land of their Father.
The inward groaning of Christians highlights their unwillingness to subject themselves to the futility of the present world. Furthermore, underneath this groaning there lies a dormant future expectation—an expectation rooted in the hope of believers (Romans 8:24).1
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.