8:20 For the creature was made subject to {x} vanity, not {y} willingly, but by reason {z} of him who hath subjected [the same] in {a} hope,
(x) Is subject to a vanishing and disappearing state.
(y) Not by their natural inclination.
(z) That they should obey the Creator's commandment, whom it pleased to show by their sickly state, how greatly he was displeased with man.
(a) God would not make the world subject to be cursed forever because of the sin of man, but gave it hope that it would be restored.
8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity. The creation (Revised Version) was subjected to vanity; i.e. became empty; lost its original significance. The Greek word mataiotes, rendered vanity, means to seek without finding. God placed the creation under man's dominion, and when man fell the whole was subject to vanity by God.
In hope. A hope was left to creation in its fallen estate. A promise of final redemption was made to fallen man (Ge 3:15), and the creation is represented as sharing that hope.
8:20 The creation was made subject to vanity - Abuse, misery, and corruption. By him who subjected it - Namely, God, Gen 3:17, 5:29. Adam only made it liable to the sentence which God pronounced; yet not without hope.
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.
