<p>8:22&nbsp;<i>For we know that the whole creation</i>&nbsp;&ndash; Gk. &ldquo;all&rdquo; creation, s.w. Rom. 11:26 &ldquo;all Israel&rdquo;. See on Rom. 8:21.</p><p><i>Has been groaning together </i><i>in the pains of childbirth until now</i>- Groans together with whom? Perhaps the idea is that creation together, all parts of it, groan together. But I suggest the groaning is together with us and the Lord Jesus. The Greek for &ldquo;groan&rdquo; is used about the groaning of the Lord Jesus in intercessory prayer in Mk. 7:34. The believers in Him likewise groan in awaiting the change of our nature which shall come at Christ&rsquo;s return (2 Cor. 5:2,4). This is the groaning we have heard throughout Romans 7:15-24, groaning at the hopelessness of our position as sinners. Paul perceived &ldquo;for we&nbsp;<i>know</i>&rdquo;, Gk. &lsquo;perceive&rsquo; that he wasn&rsquo;t alone in his groaning, but there is even within the natural creation some premonition that a redemption is yet to come, and a groaning in discontent at the present situation. Thus he didn&rsquo;t perceive nature as at peace with itself, as many today naively imagine. Rather is it groaning with us. And if we follow up Paul&rsquo;s hints that &ldquo;all creation&rdquo; has some reference to &ldquo;all Israel&rdquo;, their groaning which he perceived would have been in terms of &lsquo;not having found that which they sought after&rsquo;, as he put it in Rom. 11:7; they sought righteousness but didn&rsquo;t find it (Rom. 9:31). They were looking for the right thing in the wrong places and by the wrong way. And yet their groaning, our groaning, the groaning perceived in the natural creation, are in fact but birth pangs- we groan and travail in pain together. The birth which this leads to is the new day of God&rsquo;s Kingdom, the final birth of the Spirit which believers in Christ have experienced in prospect through baptism. And again, Paul&rsquo;s sub textual reference to the bankruptcy of the Law to save is still there, for the only other time he uses this word for &ldquo;travail&rdquo; is in his allegorical comment that Judaism is barren and doesn&rsquo;t travail, and yet the true Zion is in travail, groaning to bring forth many children (Gal. 4:19,27). And yet he is perhaps hinting that just as the Jews subconsciously knew that Jesus was Messiah &ldquo;this is the heir, let us kill him&rdquo;, so the Jewish system was in fact groaning and travailing towards the bringing forth of faith in Christ. The same idea of travailing in birth pangs is to be found in the descriptions of the situation just before the return of Christ (e.g. 1 Thess. 5:3). The significance of Paul&rsquo;s emphasis that this is happening &lsquo;right up until now&rsquo; might then be a hint that he expected the return of Christ imminently. However, as previously touched upon in this exposition, it could be that Paul believed we should live as if the return of Christ is imminent; he therefore interpreted prophecy, Scripture and contemporary situations in that manner, just as we should. The groaning of creation and of ourselves also is therefore but the prelude to something far better- the actual birth at the second coming of Christ. My own interpretation of the radical changes in natural phenomena on earth at this time is that it&rsquo;s all an indication that creation is indeed groaning, now as never before, in a subconscious pleading for the Lord&rsquo;s return.</p><p>The groaning and travailing could be a reference to natural disasters and the animal violence which there is within this fallen world. Our groanings, our struggling in prayer, is transferred to God by the Lord Jesus groaning also, but with groanings far deeper and more fervently powerful than ours (Rom. 8:22,23 cp. 26). See on Rom. 8:17; Col. 2:1. Romans 8 teaches that there is in fact just one Spirit; the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God, and is &quot;the Spirit&quot; in the believer (Rom. 8:9-11). There is &quot;one Spirit&quot; (Eph. 4:4). If the will of God is in us, if His will is embedded in our conscience, we will ask what we will, what our spirit desires, and it will be granted. This is because if our Spirit is attune with the Spirit of God and of Christ, our desires, our wish, is transferred automatically to Him. Whatever we ask being in the name of Christ, being&nbsp;<i>in</i>&nbsp;His character and the essence of His spirit, will therefore be done (Jn. 15:16). It doesn't mean that saying the words &quot;I ask in the name of Christ&quot; gives our request some kind of magical power with God. It must surely mean that if we are in Him, if His words abide in us, then we will surely be heard, for our will is His will. We are guaranteed answers if we ask in His name, if we ask what we will, if the word dwells in us, if we ask according to God's will... all these are essentially the same thing. If we are truly in Him, if the word really dwells in us, if our will has become merged with God's will, then we will only request things which are in accordance with His will, and therefore we will receive them. Thus the experience of answered prayer will become part of the atmosphere of spiritual life for the successful believer. The Lord knew that the Father heard Him always (Jn. 11:42). It is for this reason that the prayers of faithful men rarely make explicit requests; their prayers are an expression of the spirit of their lives and their relationship with God, not a list of requests. It explains why God sees our needs, He sees our situations, as if these are requests for help, and acts accordingly. The request doesn't have to be baldly stated; God sees and knows and responds. This is why Romans 8 appears to confuse the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ in the believer, and Christ himself as &quot;the Lord the Spirit&quot;. Yet what Paul is showing is that in fact if we are spiritually minded, if our thinking is in harmony with the Father and Son, prayer is simply a merger of our Spirit with theirs; the idea of prayer as a means of requesting things doesn't figure, because God knows our need and will provide. The whole creation&nbsp;<i>groans</i>; we ourselves&nbsp;<i>groan&nbsp;</i>inwardly; and the Spirit makes intercession with&nbsp;<i>groans</i>&nbsp;that can't be uttered. Clearly enough, our groans are His groans. He expresses them more powerfully and articulately than we can. It has been observed: &quot;As I read Paul's words, an image comes to mind of a mother tuning in to her child's wordless cry. I know mothers who can distinguish a cry for food from a cry for attention, an earache cry from a stomach-ache cry. To me, the sounds are identical, but the mother instinctively perceives the meaning of the child's nonverbal groan. It is the inarticulateness, the very helplessness, of the child that gives her compassion such intensity&quot;. In deep sickness or depression it can simply be that we find formal, verbalized prayer impossible. Ps. 77:4 speaks of this: &quot;I am so troubled that I cannot speak&quot; (formally, to God). It's in those moments that comfort can be taken from the fact that it is our spirit which is mediated as it were to God. Tribulation is read as prayer- hence even the Lord's suffering on the cross, &quot;the affliction of the afflicted&quot;, was read by the Father as the Lord Jesus 'crying unto' the Father (Ps. 22:24). This is sure comfort to those so beset by illness and physical pain that they lack the clarity of mind to formally pray- their very affliction is read by the Father as their prayer.</p>