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I. MAN IS MADE SUBJECT TO VANITY.

1. In the frailty of his body and its subjection to death, and in the precariousness of his life (Genesis 2:17).

2. In the unsatisfactoriness and uncertainty of his pursuits.

II. MAN UNDERGOES THIS SUBJECTION UNWILLINGLY. It was not a pleasant change from a body preserved in independent vigour and immortality by the efficacy of the Tree of Life to a mortal body; from gardening in Paradise to ploughing a stubborn and comparatively barren soil. So reluctant was Adam to the change that compulsion was necessary — "So He drove out the man."

III. THIS SUBJECTION WAS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE DIVINE PERFECTION. It was rendered necessary by Divine justice and wisdom, and executed by Divine power.

IV. THIS SUBJECTION IS ALLEVIATED BY HOPE. Redemption by Christ was the hope of the fathers, founded on God's promise — "The seed of the woman," etc. It is our hope now.

1. It is a hope of deliverance from vanity to a state answerable to the rank of "the sons of God." This deliverance is "the redemption of the body" and "the manifestation of the sons of God."

2. It is strengthened by the spiritual renovation which is the pledge of its fulfilment.Learn —

1. The folly and wickedness of a worldly mind.

2. The reasonableness of patience.

3. The duty of yielding to that Spirit who is working out our deliverance.

(C. Wills, M.A.)

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KJV: For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

WEB: For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.