Romans 8:26,27

“ And likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity;for we know not what we should ask in order to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. But He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the aspiration of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to God. ”

As the apostle had passed from the groaning of universal nature to that of the children of God, he now rises from the latter to that of the Holy Spirit Himself. This gradation is so evident that one is astonished it could have remained unobserved by so many commentators (see for example Meyer). But we must remark the significant difference between this second transition and the former. In passing from the groaning of nature to that of believers, he said: not only...but also. Now he simply says: and likewise also. There is no contrast indicated here; for the groaning of the Spirit is homogeneous with that of believers (likewise), though distinct from it notwithstanding (also), and though there is a gradation from the one to the other (δέ, now, which we have rendered by and).

If, with the Byzs., we read the plural ταῖς ἀσθενείαις, our infirmities, the word would denote the moral infirmities of believers. But so general an idea is out of place in the context. We must therefore prefer the Alex. reading: τῇ ἀσθενεία, our infirmity. This expression refers to a special infirmity, the fainting condition with which the believer is sometimes overtaken under the weight of present suffering; it is the want which makes itself felt in his ὑπομονή, that constancy, the necessity of which had been affirmed in the previous verse. The reading of F G: our weakness in prayer, would refer to our ignorance as to what should be asked (the proposition following). But this so weakly supported reading is certainly a gloss. Infirmity in prayer enters into the weakness of which the apostle speaks, but does not constitute the whole of it. The verb συναντιλαμβάνεσθαι, to support, come to the help of, is one of those admirable words easily formed by the Greek language; λαμβάνεσθαι (the middle) to take a burden on oneself; σύν, with some one; ἀντί, in his place; so: to share a burden with one with the view of easing him; comp. Luke 10:40. This verb is usually followed by a personal regimen, which leads us to take the abstract substantive here: our weakness, for: us weak ones (ἡμῖν ἀσθένεσιν). The Spirit supports us in the hour when we are ready to faint. The end of the verse will explain wherein this aid consists.

Before describing it the apostle yet further examines the notion: our infirmity. The case in question belongs to those times in which our tribulation is such that in praying we cannot express to God what the blessing is which would allay the distress of our heart. We ourselves have no remedy to propose. The article τό defines the whole following proposition taken as a substantive: “The: what we should ask. ” This is what we know not ourselves. The words as we ought do not refer to the manner of prayer (this would require καθώς), but to its object. Jesus Himself was once in the perplexity of which the apostle here speaks. “Now is my soul troubled,” says He, John 12:27, “and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.” After this moment of trouble and hesitation, his mind became fixed, and His prayer takes form: “Father, glorify Thy name.” In our case the struggle usually lasts longer. Comp. a similar situation in the experience of Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9.

In these extreme situations help is suddenly presented to us, a divine agent who raises us as it were above ourselves, the Spirit. The verb ὑ/περεντυγχάνειν is again a term compounded of three words: τυγχάνειν, to find oneself, to meet with some one; ἐν, in a place agreed on; ὑπέρ, in one's favor; hence: to intercede in favor of. It would seem that the regimen ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, for us, in the Byz. text, should be rejected according to the two other families.

How are we to conceive of this intercession of the Spirit? It does not take place in the heavenly sanctuary, like that of the glorified Christ (Hebrews 7:25). It has for its theatre the believer's own heart. The very term groaning implies this, and Romans 8:27, by speaking of God who searches the hearts, confirms it.

The epithet ἀλάλητος, which we have translated unutterable, may be explained in three ways. 1. Beza and Grotius have given it the meaning of mute, that is to say, purely inward and spiritual. But what end would such a qualification serve here? 2. Others understand inexpressible; such is the meaning of our translation; that is to say, that the understanding cannot fully grasp its object, nor consequently express it in distinct terms. Only, 3, we should have preferred to translate, had the language permitted it, by the word unformulated or unexpressed. In every particular case, he who is the object of this assistance feels that no distinct words fully express to God the infinite good after which he sighs. The fact proves that the aspiration is not his own, but that it is produced in his heart by the Spirit of Him of whom John said, “that He is greater than our heart” (1Jn 3:20). We here find ourselves in a domain analogous to that of the γλώσσαις λαλεῖν, speaking in tongues, to which 1 Corinthians 14 refers; comp. Romans 8:14-15, where Paul says: “When I pray in a tongue, my spirit (πνεῦμα) prayeth indeed, but my understanding (νοῦς) is unfruitful.” The understanding cannot control, nor even follow the movement of the spirit, which, exalted by the Spirit of God, plunges into the depths of the divine. Thus, at the moment when the believer already feels the impulse of hope failing within him, a groan more elevated, holy, and intense than anything which can go forth even from his renewed heart is uttered within him, coming from God and going to God, like a pure breath, and relieves the poor downcast heart.