are you sure that is not evidence for the 'new' destruction (Fall) 'since' Adam and Eve? The context of Romans 8 is not creation per se, but the hope of redemption in the midst of suffering (vss 17,18,23) including creation (and our bodies).
Am I sure? Yeah. I know quite a few pastors who understand it too, but they don't teach it to their congregations. I asked one pastor why not, and he said only about 25% of the congregation would understand it, and I asked what about that 25%, didn't God give it to them? There have been Christian Bible scholars that also understood this, E.W. Bullinger (1880s) was one of them, Barnes another. So it's not like this idea is something brand new that evolutionists came up with.
Firstly, I am not an evolutionist, so I know some reading this will make that mistake thinking that, simply because they are used to always hearing the tradition that Genesis 1:1 is about today's earth being created in the state it is in now, when it was not created this way. The earth today is in a state of vanity, bondage to corruption, according to Apostle Paul in that Romans 8 chapter.
Apostle Paul uses the idea of the creation being placed in 'vanity', the very same idea of Hebrew tohu translated "without form" in Genesis 1:2. In Isaiah 45:18 God uses that same idea, tohu, for when He said He did not create the earth tohu ("vain" per KJV). The "without form, and void" phrase (Hebrew tohu va bohu) is also found in Jeremiah 4 which also speaks of the earth having gone into vanity...
Jer 4:22-28
22 For My people is foolish, they have not known Me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by His fierce anger.
27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
KJV
That verse 27-28 is especially telling, because He is saying He would not make a full end, but for this (reason), the earth mourns, and the heavens above be black. What does that mean with the heavens above being black. Well, what does the sky today look like when the clouds fill with water? They turn dark, signaling a storm coming.
The majority of today's violent weather is caused because of holes in the cloud atmosphere surrounding the earth. Heat of the sun beads down upon the earth causing hot air and evaporation to rise up to meet cold air in the heights, and creates a swirling effect for violent storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, cyclones, etc. This the majority believe is a natural part of God's creation of Genesis 1:1. Here, and in Romans 8, God's Word shows that is not... a natural product of His creation. Everything in this present world is in a state of breaking down and decay. Today's state of the creation is imperfect.
And just the fact that God's Word reveals there was a time when His creation was not... in that bondage state (like with what Paul showed in Romans 8 and God in Jeremiah 4), that reveals God had a previous perfect creation prior to this present world that is in bondage to corruption.
If you do a word search of how Hebrew tohu ("without form") was used in The Old Testament, you'll discover that in the majority of cases it means something that was once in good state, that went bad, or to nothing. So the nothing idea isn't really about the start of some floating vapor nebula state in the beginning with Genesis 1:2; it's about the earth having gone into a worthless, good for nothing state, with all those waters overspread upon all of it. And the fact that the earth is already being mentioned in that Genesis 1:2 verse verifies that God had already made the earth back at verse 1.
Now, the idea that God placed His original creation in bondage because of Adam's fall, or because of the flood of Noah's day, there is nothing written for that time that He did such a thing. Even the above Jeremiah 4:23-28 Scripture could not apply, since there were 8 souls aboard the ark. And God did not tremble the earth for the flood of Noah's day.
And even Peter in 2 Peter 3:5-6 he is pointing to a time when God first spoke in creating the earth, pointing to Genesis 1:1, and then reveals God destroyed that old world by waters in the very next verse. Most think that was the time of Noah, but the
"by the word of God the heavens were of old" phrase is actually pointing back to Genesis 1:1 in the beginning, long before the days of Noah. or even Adam.
Plus, there is Scripture evidence (some in parable form) that during the time when Satan was originally exalted in God's Garden, following God, that nations existed upon the earth. The Revelation 12:3-4 Scripture specifically is one of those examples of the time when Satan first rebelled, drawing a third of the angels into rebellion with him, and that time is linked there to a beast system having ten horns, seven heads,
but ONLY "seven crowns". That was a kingdom of the previous world 'of old', not the one in Revelation 13 (ten crowns) which is for the very end of this world. Also in Ezekiel 31, which is a parable using "the Assyria", a title Isaiah 30 also uses to point to Satan about the lake of fire prepared for him (flesh king of Assyria not judged and sentenced yet today); revealed there is a time before Satan's rebellion of old, when he was exalted in God's Eden, and "all great nations" are linked to that previous time (Ezekiel 31:6).
And like I already said, if one follows even the KJV in Genesis 1 strictly with discipline, paying attention to what the Scripture actually says, and not allow men's traditions to creep into it, one will discover that at Genesis 1:1 in the beginning is the only time when God created earth matter. God moving the waters spread upon the earth to make the dry land appear is not a statement of creating earth matter. One should easily understand that the earth had to already had been in place with waters overspread upon it in order to move those waters to make the dry land appear.