GroshLink

During Advent our attention fixes not only upon the first coming of Christ, but also on the second coming and the new creation.  The other day, a posting of Peterson's The Message translation of Romans 8:22-25 caused me [Tom] to stop and ask whether a woman (particularly one who has experienced pregancy) would have worked this text out in the same manner.  I enjoy Peterson's work and I seldom ask about masculine influence on textual translation, but I couldn't help but wonder when I read these words: 

waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us.  But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. 

Peterson seems to have gone a little far with the pregnancy metaphor as there would appear to me (from the outside) a time when the joyfulness of expectancy reaches its limit.  The NIV doesn't carry the pregnancy metaphor as strongly through the entire passage and translates for the most part the same text as the following:

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 

For more of the NIV click here. Below is Peterson's The Message from Romans 8:18-28.

That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Maybe it works out later in the passage where Peterson notes how the Spirit knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God.  Any mothers with input?