Romans 8:26-28
by:
Dan Hill, PhD
Pastor, Southwood Bible Church
7655 South Sheridan Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74113
E-Mail: hill918@aol.com
Introduction to Romans 8:26-30
Paul sees the believer in time in these verses and describes what the Holy
Spirit does in the believer.
He uses one illustration that shows us how the Holy Spirit works in the
believers. This illustration of the Holy Spirit praying for us demonstrates
the way all the ministries of the Holy Spirit to the believer function.
MINISTRIES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO US
1. Comforting: John 15:26
2. Assuring: Romans 8:16
3. Teaching: John 16:12-15
4. Anointing: I John 2:20 and 27 (equip for a mission)
5. Guiding: Romans 8:14
6. Interceding: Romans 8:26
7. Convicting: Galatians 5:17
Romans 8:26
And 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 groaning too deep for words.
Romans 8:26-27: The Holy Spirit Prays for us:
The immediate context is in view as well as the larger context:
IN THE SAME WAY: As we await with perseverance the ultimate redemption
of the body with Hope, the Holy Spirit as awaits that with His ministry
of intercession.
The larger context looks back to the groaning of nature and the groaning
of the believer as we await ultimate redemption. As nature groan and as
we groan so does the Holy Spirit in us as He intercedes for us.
ALSO HELPS: We have certain responsibilities that the Holy Spirit using
the Word of God will lead us to accept. The one in view here is PRAYER.
We pray and when we do pray the Holy Spirit also prays for us.
But we pray in WEAKNESS, imperfect, immature, and insufficient prayers.
Our weakness put us into the position of simply not knowing what we should
pray.
WE DO NOT KNOW: Not just sometimes, all the time.
Even if we are praying in accordance with the Word of God the content of
our prayer is not a matter of our knowledge but the revealed will of God,
revealed in the Word by the Holy Spirit.
And even when we pray in exact concurrence with Scripture, we do not know
the perfect timing of God in any matter.
PRINCIPLE: We pray then in ignorance but the Holy Spirit prays for us with
perfect knowledge.
EXAMPLE: II Corinthians 12:8 Concerning this (the thorn in the flesh)
I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
Philippians 1:21-24, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I am to live on in the flesh, this {will mean} fruitful labor for
me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both
directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is
very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your
sake."
ILLUSTRATION: Augustine as an unbeliever was a nortoriously wicked man.
His mother Monica was a Christian. When Augustine decided to go to Italy
Monica prayed that he would not go, that God would prevent him. But he
went and there it was that became a Christian. Her prayer was one thing,
the prayer of the Holy Spirit was the opposite. Which one do you think
God will answer?
Topic: PRAYER
HE HELPS OUR WEAKNESS: Greek ASQENEIA and it is a dative of advantage.
1. There is an advantage to you to recognize your weakness
2. In II Corinthians 12:2 Paul stated: He (the Lord) has said to me, My
grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly,
therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ
may dwell in me.
3. Only in our weakness will the power of God be demonstrated. Here Paul
uses the power of Christ dwelling in the believer as a synonym for the power
of the Holy Spirit.
4. The ministry of the Spirit to us and in us is not one of power and power
but one of His power and our weakness.
5. Jesus Christ illustrated this as the precedent for our spiritual lives.
2 Corinthians 13:4 "For indeed He was crucified because
of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak
in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God directed
toward you."
6. This word was used for the OT heroes of faith.
Hebrews 11/34, "[Who] quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge
of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put
foreign armies to flight."
7. PRINCIPLE: It will only be from weakness that we will have the power
of the Holy Spirit active in our lives.
THE SPIRIT ALSO HELPS: The word HELP is a triple compound:
SUN + ANTI + LAMBANO and is used only twice in the NT, here and in Luke
10:40 where Martha asks for help in the kitchen from Mary.
The word means to come to the aid of another, helping them bear a load but
not taking the load from them. Means to help not eliminate. The use of this
word enlightens us to two application of the Spirit's ministry in us and
to us:
1. The Holy Spirit ministers to us in light of the Word of
God.
John 16:13, "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide
you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but
whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to
come."
2. The Holy Spirit has preserved the Word for us, He allows us to learn
the Word (illumination and interpretation). He gives us the strength to
obey the Word as we Walk in the Spirit by faith.
3. The Holy Spirit then works first in those things that are obvious from
the Word that we are to follow and obey. This is a conscious enabling of
the Holy Spirit to work the work of God in our lives.
John 6:28-29, "They said therefore to Him, What shall we do, that we
may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the
work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."
4. But much of our lives deal with things in which God has chosen to be
silent, and here the Holy Spirit works in those areas where there is no
mandate of Scripture.
Example: Prayer, we pray for that which we know from the Word of God we
are to have. But there are aspects of our lives in which we do not only
know what to pray but do not even know these areas exists. Here the Holy
Spirit comes to pray for us that which we cannot pray for ourselves.
Example: In teaching us we may know clearly from the Word of God some of
what we need to learn and we depend upon the Holy Spirit to teach us. But
there are things that we need to learn of which we are totally unaware.
And yet here the Holy Spirit teaches us those things also.
5. So then the Spirit helps us in areas in which we know we need His help
and in areas in which we do not even know of.
6. This word also looks at how the Holy Spirit helps us in tests, difficulties,
and problems in life.
7. The Holy Spirit is our strength, He enables us but does not automatically
deliver us apart from our continued decisions of faith dependence.
The Holy Spirit in us and His work does not eliminate our responsibility
to shoulder the load we are to shoulder and that responsibility is one of
faith and dependence upon Him.
PRINCIPLE: The Holy Spirit does not help us only in those areas in which
we think we need His help. He helps us in all areas, both that which we
are conscious of and that which we are not conscious of. And His help never
eliminates our volitional decision of faith dependence.
The word means to rescue in the sense that one happens upon another who
is in need of help and gives them aid. In this context the believer has
two who intercede on his behalf:
THE SPIRIT HIMSELF:
One question in this passage is whether the Spirit prays for us directly
or does he indirectly give us the words that we can pray for ourselves.
Here we are told that the SPIRIT HIMSELF, very emphatic construction, prays
for us. The parallel is later given to Christ praying for us and He does
not do so indirectly or through us but directly intercedes for us.
In v 27 it is God who searched the mind of the Holy Spirit, not the mind
of the believer.
SO THIS INTERECESSION IS DIRECT . . .
BUT WHY NOT JUST FORGET about prayer since ours are done out of ignorance
anyway?
1. Christians need to pray as part of the process of progressive
sanctification. Our prayers express our faith in Him and in His will.
2. In God's sovereignty He has conditioned many of His actions on human
asking. He often waits upon us to pray with faith so that when Divine Action
does occur we recognize it as from Him.
3. The Holy Spirit only prays for us as a helper, and thus, only when we
pray. If we do not pray, He does not intercede for us. He is prays "off"
of our requests.
GROANINGS TOO DEEP FOR WORDS:
GROANINGS is from a Greek word that includes the idea of deep emotion.
It is the sign of oppression, the groaning of one deeply troubled by the
pain of another.
Many assume that this means praying in tongues. That the groaning of the
Spirit come out when the believer prays in an unknown tongue.
But there is nothing here to indicate that these groaning are audible and
ever reason to see them as inaudible.
We have three groans in this passage:
v 22 The groan of nature: Silent
v 23 The groan of the believer: Silent
v 26 The groan of the Holy Spirit: Also Silent
Also they are too deep for words, unutterable. Which is why in the next
verse the Father know the content of the prayer because he knows the mind
of the Holy Spirit, not the words of the Holy Spirit spoken through the
believer. And remember as we noted, it is the Spirit Himself who directly
does the interceding, not through us.
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.
Verse 27 looks at the effectiveness of this ministry of the Holy Spirit.
And we can apply this same effectiveness to every ministry of the Spirit.
God the Father searches the heart of the believer who prays. And the Father
knows the mind of the Holy Spirit, because the Spirits intercession is always
according to the will of God.
Three principles from this verse about the Spirit's intercession for us:
1. They are Accurate: God know that the Spirit's groaning
are intercession and lay bear all the deep hidden needs the believer has
in his spiritual life.
2. They are for those who are special to the Father: The intercession
of the Spirit is for the Saints, those who have put faith in Christ and
are set apart to God and a part of His family. You listen closely to the
needs of those special to you.
3. They are compatible with Divine Will: God the Holy Spirit is God and
when He prays for us the Father knows that these groaning of intercession
are according to the Father's will.
And all prayers that are in harmony with divine will be answered
1 John 5:14,15, "And this is the confidence which we have before Him,
that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we
know that He hears us {in} whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests
which we have asked from Him."
The Holy Spirit loves us and the Holy Spirit desires for us to have the
Highest and best of God, and He is God. Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem,
the Holy Spirit prays for us with great emotions. The content of His prayers
would go beyond what we would understand or could even stand to hear.
THREE PRINCIPLES:
1. The Holy Spirit prays for us when we pray for ourselves.
If you want the Holy Spirit to pray for you, you need to start praying.
2. The Holy intercedes with those prayers that we would never know to pray
for ourselves. And God the Father hears from the Holy Spirit what we ourselves
could never have told Him.
3. While we are inadequate in our prayers, we have the assurance that when
we pray we never pray alone . . .
Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
This great promise of the Scriptures is so often quoted in times of need
by the Child of God that often the context in which it appears of overlooked.
But the context makes the promise even greater.
We can go back to verse 18 to see that Paul is talking about suffering.
At verse 25 we can then see what the believer does in the midst of the sufferings
of this life and that is to have endurance that comes from hope that comes
from faith.
Then in verse 26 we see what the Spirit does during of time of endurance,
He prays for us.
In verse 27 we see what the Father does in relationship to the Holy Spirit.
And now at verse 28 we see what the Father does in relationship to us.
PRINCIPLES:
1. As the believer suffers he is to endure by faith
2. As part of our faith we pray to the Father. Prayer is a tremendous
expression of faith.
3. The Holy Spirit prays for us and His prayers are answered. We may pray
take that the suffering be taken away (as Paul did in II Corinthians 12).
But the Holy Spirit may pray that it remain.
4. So then, even when suffering remains, we have a promise that God is
working all things together for His good, therefore our good.
The KJV translates this verse somewhat differently, "And we know that
all things work together for good . . ."
Leaving out the subject O THEOS, God. They make the subject all things.
But the verb is singular and all things PANTA, is plural. So while in some
situations that could be okay, here we have the subject expressed within
the verb.
Now in the Greek text the first limitation is given at the beginning of
the verse . . . And we know that to the ones loving God, all things work
together . . .
Having mentioned God as the object of the initial phrase, the verb then
which is singular looks to that object as the subject of the second phrase.
EXPANDED: To the ones loving God, God works all things together for good.
Also, in the previous verse it is the Father who is the subject, he is the
one who searches the hearts. And in the next verse, it is the Father who
is the subject. He is the one who foreknew, predestine, to be conformed
to the image of His Son.
PRINCIPLE: This is a direct work of God in our lives.
The words "for good" are EIS AGAQON which strengthens the fact
that this good is divine good and not merely that which we assume to be
good (KALOS) or even a relative good.
SO PAUL'S ASSERTION IS: God works all things in our lives together for
His good which is the very best for us.
BECAUSE IT IS THE FATHER WHO DOES THIS, there are a few things this assertion
does not mean:
1. It states that the end of all things will be divine good,
but it does not state when that goal will be achieved in the life of the
believer.
Philippians 1:6, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who
began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."
2. The assertion does not mean that all things in and of themselves are
good. There is not a blurring of distinctions between good things and bad
things but that all things will work together for good under God's sovereign
power.
3. This working together for good is not some automatic process of life.
That would be a positive fatalism. God alone can do this in our lives.
4. The assertion does not mean that everything you experience has a good
side. You may be the victim of anothers sin and God never calls sin or
evil good..
This is not a logical deduction based upon cold reason but a promise based
upon the character of our heavenly Father and our faith in Him and all that
He promises.
Reason and logic would say that this is just not so. All things do not
work together for good. But that is because we are limited in our understanding
and in our viewpoint. As with prayer, we look at life from our immaturity,
our in our imperfection and with our insufficiency. This limited ability
on our part is illustrated throughout the Scriptures:
After Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy needed food and they encountered
Joseph who they did not know and Simeon was detained by Joseph and the demand
was made that they not return without Benjamin Jacob lamented:
Genesis 42:36, "You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more,
and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are
against me."
But God was working this apparent evil together for good.
So rather than try and figure everything out, we instead put faith in our
heavenly Father who has given us a wonderful promise, He works all things
together for good . . .
ILLUSTRATION: This divine act of God could be compared to the skill of
the apothecary who can take several poisonous ingredients and put them together
in just the right dosage and make a medicine that is for our good.
1. The good end of all things may be in time or in eternity.
2. If in time we may be aware of the good or we may not. We may have suffering
in our lives that results in good for someone else and we may never be aware
of this.
3. In eternity all the pieces of our lives are going to fit and we will
see how they were put together the greatest good.
4. In time we are most often not aware of how man can intend something
for evil yet God can bring it about for good.
5. Therefore, we are left with only faith and trust in God that what He
has promised He will do.
Two Limitations are given in this verse: To the one loving God...To those
who are called according to [His] purpose
So we have ONE LIMITATION PRIOR TO THE ASSERTION, ONE FOLLOWING.
TO THE ONES LOVING GOD: Pres. act. part. of AGAPAW
It is here that we run into varied opinions. And the problem is the participle
which is an action word in the Greek language much as it is in English.
And if it is an action is it positional?
Does this refer to all believers or just to believers who are actively engaged
in loving God?
In the more than twenty times AGAPAW is used as a participle in the NT in
its context it at times appears to be positional of all believers and at
other times it appears to be volitional of some believers. In our verse
the key is the statement "And we know ..."
The benefit of this promise is not in the stating of the promise but in
the faith acceptance of the promise. Question, do you believe it? Do you
trust the One behind the promise?
Our faith in God (our trust in Him) and are love for Him are intricately
linked together. Just as you will not obey someone you do not trust you
will not love someone you do not trust. So it is faith which allows us to
know this truth. Apart from faith we will not know it, we will not love
God in a volitional way, and the promise, while true, does not benefit us.
SO THEN IS IT POSITIONAL? Yes, because the full burden is upon God to work
all things in the lives of His children towards His absolute divine good.
IS IT ALSO VOLITONAL? Yes, because to rest in this promise you have to
have faith in God and that faith allows you to love Him.
But does this make it CONDITIONAL? No, the grace of God in working all
things together for His good and therefore the very best for us is a grace
given to all believers.
Our love for God is not meritorious, our love for Him does not prompt Him
to begin working all things together for good. His work in our lives is
the work of grace.
TO THE ONES BEING CALLED ACCORDING TO [HIS] PURPOSE:
This limitation looks at the purpose for which we have been called.
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