Romans 8.26-The Spirit Intercedes For The Christian In His Weakness When He Does Not Know What To Pray
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday December 17, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:26-The Spirit Intercedes For The Christian In His Weakness When He Does Not Know What To Pray For
Lesson # 272
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:18.
This evening we will study Romans 8:26 and in this passage, Paul teaches that the Holy Spirit intercedes for the Christian in his weakness when he does not know what to pray with regards himself.
Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Romans 8:19, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”
Romans 8:20, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it.”
Romans 8:21, “In hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
Romans 8:23, “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”
Romans 8:24, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”
Romans 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
Romans 8:26, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Romans 8:26 resumes the discussion that Paul began in Romans 8:23 regarding the Holy Spirit and also presents “an additional” ministry that the Spirit performs on behalf of the Christian which sustains the Christian while he is experiencing underserved suffering.
“In the same way” is the adverb of manner hosautos (w(sauvtw$) (ho-sow-toce), which is comparing the operation of the Spirit of producing in the Christian the confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body mentioned in Romans 8:23 with that of the Spirit’s ministry in interceding in prayer for the Christian.
“Also” is the “adjunctive” use of the conjunction kai (kaiV), which is introduces a statement that presents an “additional” ministry or operation that the Holy Spirit performs on behalf of the Christian.
“Spirit” is the noun pneuma (pneuma), which refers to the Holy Spirit.
“Helps” is the verb sunantilambanomai (sunantilambavnomai) (soon-an-tee-lam-van-o-my), which is used of the Holy Spirit “assisting, coming to the aid” of the Christian when he does not know what to pray for.
The word does not indicate that the Holy Spirit takes the entire responsibility of praying from the Christian but rather “helps, assists, comes to the aid” of the Christian when he or she does not know what to pray for.
Notice also that Paul does not say that the Spirit removes the weakness but rather assists us in dealing with our weakness in that the Spirit sustains the Christian in his weakness.
This verb also reveals that because the Christian is weak because of his sin nature, the Christian is totally dependent upon the Spirit’s empowering presence to see him through his undeserved suffering, and problems with his sin nature.
Romans 8:26, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
“Our weakness” is composed of the noun astheneia (a)sqevneia) (as-then-i-ah), “weakness” and the personal pronoun hemeis (h(mei$) (hay-mice), “our.”
Just as the noun astheneia referred to the Christian’s weakness in this two-fold sense in Romans 6:19 so the word again refers to this two-fold weakness in Romans 8:26.
First of all, in Romans 8:26, the noun astheneia refers to the Christian’s weakness in the sense of his insensitivity and difficulty in comprehending spiritual truths, which is the direct result of possessing a sin nature and living in the cosmic system of Satan.
This in turn makes it difficult for the Christian to comprehend spiritual truths that the Spirit reveals in the Word of God.
Consequently, this makes it difficult for the Christian to pray since the Spirit teaches the Christian how to pray and what to pray for.
Secondly, the Christian is weak in the sense of having the temptation to live independently of the will of God, which again is the direct result of possessing the old Adamic sin nature and living in the cosmic system of Satan.
That astheneia denotes this two-fold weakness is indicated since Paul says that the Spirit has to come to the aid of the Christian and intercede for him when the Christian does not know what to pray for.
“For we do not know how to pray as we should” gives the reason why the Spirit needs to assist the Christian in his weakness.
“We do not know” is composed of the emphatic negative adverb ou (ou)) (oo), “not” and the verb oida (oi‚da) (oy-da), “we do know.”
The verb oida means, “to know for certain” and is emphatically negated by ou, thus together they mean, “we are totally uncertain.”
Thus, they denote that Paul and his fellow Christians in Rome are “totally uncertain” at times as to what they should pray for.
He is not saying that they were totally uncertain all the time.
Rather, he means that there are times because of the presence of the sin nature, which makes the Christian insensitive to the will of God in a particular matter and makes it difficult for them to pray according to the will of God that the Christian is totally uncertain as to what to pray for in certain situations.
Romans 8:26, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
“How” is the interrogative pronoun tis (tiv$) (tis), which means “what” since it refers to the will of God the Father in prayer.
The Roman believers were taught the manner in which they were to pray.
All prayer must be addressed to God the Father (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 2:18; 3:14; 5:20; Col. 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 1:6) and in the name or Person of or through intermediate agency of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14; 16:23-24; Eph. 5:20; Col. 3:17) and by means of the power of the Spirit (Eph. 2:18; 6:18; Jude 20).
The Roman believers as was the case with all the churches in the Roman Empire were even taught in general terms what they were to pray for.
Even though the Christian has been taught what to pray for, the interrogative pronoun tis in Romans 8:26 refers to the content which the Christian is totally uncertain of because his sin nature makes it difficult for him to ascertain the will of God in a specific situation.
This is further indicated by the expression katho dei, “as we should,” which is a reference to prayer in accordance with the will of God since it parallels the prepositional phrase kata theon, “according to God,” i.e. “according to God’s will, which appears in Romans 8:27.
Therefore, in Romans 8:26, the interrogative pronoun tis means “what” and refers to the will of God the Father in prayer, which the Christian is uncertain of at times because his sin nature makes it difficult to ascertain this at certain times.
Romans 8:26, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
“To pray” is the verb proseuchomai (proseuvxomai) (pros-yoo-khom-i), which refers to prayer in its general sense in relation to the will of the Father.
“As we should” is composed of the adverb katho (kaqov) (kath-o), “as” and the verb dei (dei) (die), “we should.”
The adverb katho denotes conformity to a particular standard or policy, which in our present context is praying in accordance with the will of the Father.
In Romans 8:26, the verb dei denotes the necessity, responsibility, or duty to pray, which is established by the command of the Father.
It refers to the fact that praying in accordance with the will of the Father is absolutely essential for the Christian.
This is indicated in that the expression katho dei, “as we should” parallels the prepositional phrase kata theon, “according to God,” i.e. “according to God’s will, which appears in Romans 8:27.
The verb refers to the fact that prayer in accordance with the Father’s will is absolutely necessary or essential for the Christian.
“But” is the adversative use of the conjunction alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a statement that presents the Spirit Himself and His ability to always pray in accordance with the will of the Father in contrast to the Christian’s inability to ascertain the will of the Father in prayer.
“Spirit” is the noun pneuma (pneuma), which refers to the Holy Spirit.
“Himself” is the intensive personal pronoun autos (au)tov$), which emphasizes the identity of the Spirit since He is the member of the Trinity that intercedes for the Christian when they do not know what to pray for in a particular situation because they do not know the will of the Father in that situation.
The word not only emphasizes the identity of the Spirit but also serves to mark the distinction between the Christian and the Holy Spirit who unlike the Christian always prays according to the will of the Father because He knows the mind of God and is totally concerned with the Father’s agenda.
Romans 8:26, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
“Intercedes” is the verb huperentunchano (u(perentugxavnw) (hoop-er-en-toong-khan-o), which refers to the Spirit’s intercessory prayer ministry, which He performs on behalf of every Christian without exception when the Christian does not know what to pray for because he or she does not know the will of the Father for that particular situation.
“With groanings” is the noun stenagmos (stenagmov$) (sten-ag-mos), which refers to intense groaning or sighing as the result of deep concern for someone.
It is used in an anthropopathic sense of the Holy Spirit expressing His intense and deep concern for the Christian when they do not know what to pray for because they do not know the will of the Father for themselves in regards to a particular situation.
In Romans 8:26, Paul employs an anthropopathism, ascribing the human emotion of groaning to the Holy Spirit, which He does not possess in order to communicate the Spirit’s attitude towards us when He intercedes for us when we do not know what to pray for in a given situation.
He is using language of accommodation to communicate the Spirit’s attitude toward us when He intercedes for us when we don’t know what to pray for in a given situation because of ignorance of the will of the Father with regards to that situation.
Romans 8:26, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
“Too deep for words” is the adjective alaletos (a)lavlhto$) (al-al-ay-tos), which is formed from the Greek negative prefix alpha and the verb laleo, “to speak,” thus the word literally means, “inexpressible.”
It is modifying the noun stenagmos, “with groanings” and thus denotes that the Spirit intercedes for the Christian with “inexpressible” groanings.
Roman 8:26 mentions one of three different sources from which the Father receives intercessory prayer for the Christian, namely the Holy Spirit.
God the Father receives prayer from three different sources in the church age: (1) God the Son (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25): He intercedes for the believer at the right hand of God the Father. (2) God the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:15, 26-27; Gal. 4:6): He makes intercessory prayer to God the Father for us when we don’t know what to pray for. (3) Believer-Priest (Heb. 4:16): He makes intercessory prayer for others and personal petitions for himself.
The believer-priest intercedes on earth for his fellow Christian, while the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for the believer in heaven at the right hand of the Father and the Spirit intercedes for the believer on earth while indwelling the Christian.
In Romans 8:18-27, he mentions three groans in this passage in anticipation of the resurrection of church.
In verses 18-22, he speaks of creation groaning and then in verses 23-25, he speaks of the believer groaning and now in verses 26-27, he teaches that the Spirit groans as well.