Objection: Paul Said That the Entire Creation (Which Includes YOU) Groans and Travails in PAIN (Romans 8:22)
Romans 8:22:
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
So based on this, do WE have to groan in pain until Jesus returns?
NO! For starters, Romans 8:22 does NOT refer to believers because the very next verse says, “And not only they, but ourselves also…”:
Romans 8:23:
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Some people like to cite this verse to claim that healing is in the future because we are still waiting for the redemption of our bodies. However, that isn’t what Paul taught, as he also told the Corinthians that our bodies as well as our spirits have been bought at a price and belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We see Paul talk about the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:2 and 2 Corinthians 5:4: “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven…For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” This groaning is a desire for something better, but it is not talking about groaning with pancreatic cancer or ulcerative colitis or any other painful disease.
We already saw that “travailing in pain” does NOT refer to us. We can see that Paul does not refer to groaning as meaning agonizing in pain in the context 4 verses after the subject verse above:
Romans 8:26:
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
This kind of groaning denotes intensity in intercession, but you would be hard-pressed to make a case that the Holy Spirit is groaning in actual physical pain within us!
So we must conclude that the objector has misapplied Romans 8:22.