Romans 8.27-God The Father Knows The Mind Of The Spirit Because The Spirit Intercedes For The Saints According His Will
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 6, 2009
Romans: Romans 8:27-God The Father Knows The Mind Of The Spirit Because The Spirit Intercedes For The Saints According To His Will
Lesson # 273
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:18.
This evening we will study Romans 8:27 and in this passage, Paul teaches that God the Father knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to His will.
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 8:27, “And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
“And” is the “epexegetical” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which introduces a statement that “explains” Paul’s previous statement at the end of verse 26.
In Romans 8:27, Paul provides information regarding the Spirit’s intercession, which “explains” or “clarifies” how the Spirit’s intercession can be heard by the Father when this intercession is “with inexpressible groanings.”
“He who searches” is the verb ereunao (e)reunavw) (er-yoo-nah-o), which is used in relation to the activity of the Father who “carefully searches” the heart of the Christian where the Spirit’s intercession takes place with inexpressible groanings.
The Father understands the Spirit’s intercession on behalf of the Christian even though this intercession is “with inexpressible groanings.”
This verb speaks of the omniscience of the Father as well as the intimacy that is within the Trinity.
The fact that the Father searches the hearts of men is celebrated throughout the Scriptures.
1 Chronicles 28:9, “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”
Psalm 44:21, “Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.”
Jeremiah 17:10, “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”
Jeremiah 20:12, “Yet, O LORD of hosts, You who test the righteous, who see the mind and the heart.”
1 Thessalonians 2:3-4, “For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.”
Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
Romans 8:27, “And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
“The hearts” is the noun kardia (kardiva) (kar-dee-ah), which is that aspect of the soul, which circulates thought or mental activity and is where one’s frame of reference and memory center resides.
It is also the place where one’s vocabulary and the classification of thoughts reside as well as the conscience where the norms and standards reside.
A person’s entire mental attitude circulates in the kardia as well as the subconscience where various categories of things that shock or impress from adversity, sin, failure or disappointment are located.
Also, it contains the volition, which enables a person to make decisions.
Therefore, in Romans 8:27, the Father searches the heart of the Christian where not only the Christian’s thinking takes place but also where the Spirit’s intercession takes place.
“Knows” is the verb oida (oi‚da) which denotes that the Father has a “perfect, intimate knowledge” of the mind of the Spirit.
The word denotes not only the Father’s intimate knowledge of the Spirit’s mind but also the “perfection” of this knowledge since all three members of the Trinity are perfect.
The Father has a perfect, intimate knowledge of the Spirit since all three members of the Trinity are co-equal, co-infinite, and co-eternal, all inherently have the same attributes and have always and will always be in perfect agreement with each other.
They have always and will always experience perfect, uninterrupted fellowship with each other.
The word speaks of the omniscience of the Father and the intimacy that there is among the three members of the Trinity.
Since the Father searches the heart of the Christian, it follows logically that He would know for certain what the Spirit is doing in those hearts by way of intercession.
Romans 8:27, “And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
“What” is the interrogative pronoun tis (tiv$) (tis), which refers to the content or what the Spirit is thinking.
“The mind” is the noun phronema (frovnhma) (fron-ay-mah), which is used with reference to the “mental attitude” of the Spirit, which involves His sovereign will, desires and wisdom.
“Of the Spirit” is the noun pneuma (pneuma), which refers to the Holy Spirit.
“Because” is the conjunction hoti (o^ti) (hot-ee), which introduces a causal clause that presents the reason for the previous statement that the Father who searches the Christian’s heart, knows perfectly and intimately what is eternally the Spirit’s mind-set.
Therefore, this causal clause indicates that the Father knows and intimately and perfectly the Spirit’s mind-set “because” it is in accordance with His will that the Spirit intercedes for the Christian.
The Father knows perfectly and intimately the Spirit’s mind-set because they are always in agreement with each other.
Therefore, the Spirit’s intercession on behalf of the Christian is always in accordance with the Father’s will.
Romans 8:27, “And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
“He intercedes” is the verb entunchano (e)ntugxavnw) (en-toong-khan-o), which is used of the Holy Spirit “interceding” on behalf of the saints.
It refers to the Holy Spirit speaking to the Father on behalf of Christians.
“For the saints” is composed of the preposition huper (u(peVr) (hoop-er), “for” and the adjective hagios (a^gio$), which is hagiois (a(givoi$), “the saints.”
The believer is described as hagios in numerous passages in the Greek New Testament where the word is usually translated, “saints” (Col. 3:12; 1 Thess. 5:27; 1 Pet. 2:9; Heb. 3:1, etc.).
Hagios functions here in Romans 8:27 as it did in Romans 1:7 as a technical term describing all the members of the royal family of God in Rome who have been set apart through the Baptism of the Spirit at the moment of salvation in order to order serve God.
In Romans 8:27, the preposition huper is used with the genitive form of the adjective hagios, “the saints” and functions as a marker of participants who are benefited by an event.
Therefore, huper with the genitive form of hagios, “the saints” marks the Christian as “benefiting” from the Spirit’s intercession on their behalf.
“According to the will of God” specifies that the Spirit’s intercession on behalf of the saints “conforms to” or is “in accordance with” the Father’s will.