Future Glory
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Rom 8:26
Spirit also helpeth... Twelve Blessings of the Holy Spirit:
1. He sets free from sin (Rom. 8:2).
2. He cancels death penalty (Rom. 8:2).
3. He fulfills righteousness (Rom. 8:4-5).
4. He indwells believers (Rom. 8:9-11).
5. He gives life (Rom. 8:10).
6. He quickens the mortal body (Rom 8:11).
7. He mortifies sinful members (Rom. 8:13).
8. He leads children of God (Rom. 8:14).
9. He adopts into God’s family (Rom. 8:15).
10. He bears witness of sonship (Rom. 8:16).
11. He helps infirmities (Rom. 8:26).
12. He makes intercession for saints (Rom. 8:26).
helpeth... Greek: sunantilambanomai, joint help. It is the assistance afforded by any two persons to each other, who mu-tally bear the same load or carry it between them.
our infirmities:... Our physical, mental, or moral weakness or flaws (see, Mat. 8:17).
for we know... We would make many mistakes in prayer if the Spirit did not inspire us with proper desires and help us fulfill those desires in the will of God.
The Spirit itself... Himself, for He is a person.
Maketh intercession for... Greek: huperentungchano, to apply one’s self to intercede for another.
us with groanings... Greek: stenagmos, unutterable gushings of the heart. Only here and in Acts 7:34.
We see the problem that many Christians face when they are praying for others. We all pray to the very best of our ability, and still we do not always know what to pray for, or how to pray for a particular thing. This is when the Spirit takes over for us and prays for us. God’s Spirit knows exactly what the needs are.
The Spirit also groans along with creation and the believer. The reference is to the Spirit’s interpretation of the believer’s innermost feelings, which cannot be put into words as the Spirit knows what’s in the heart of man.
These verses point out that believers are not left to their own resources in their sufferings (Rom. 8:18) and groaning (Rom. 8:23). The Spirit helps (pres. tense, “keeps on helping”) us in (the Gr. here does not have the words rendered “us in”) our weakness. It is not that the Spirit helps in those occasional times when Christians are weak; their state is one of weakness and the Spirit continually helps them. The Greek word for weakness (astheneia) may include physical, emotional, and spiritual disability (cf. see Jas. 5:14) evidenced by inward “groaning” (Rom. 8:23). “Helps” translates synantilambanetai, a rich word that pictures someone helping another carry a heavy load. (It is used elsewhere in the NT only in Luke 10:40.)
One evidence of their weakness is the fact that believers do not know what they ought to pray (lit., “what we should pray as it is necessary”). In their weakness both the content and the manner of proper prayer eludes them, but the Spirit Himself comes to their rescue and intercedes (pres. tense, “keeps on interceding”) for us with groans that words cannot express. Natural Creation groans (Rom. 8:22) and believers groan (Rom. 8:23), and so does the Holy Spirit. This has nothing to do with praying in tongues, as some suggest. The groaning is done by the Holy Spirit, not believers, and is not stated in words. The help the Spirit gives (Rom. 8:26) is His interceding. “Intercedes” translates hyperentynchanei, which occurs only here in the New Testament; it means “approaches or appeals to someone.
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