The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace and supplication (cf. Zech 12:10). He teaches God’s children to pray. In Romans 8:26 the apostle Paul asks our attention for the fact that the Holy Spirit also him self intercedes for the saints. Behind the prayers of God’s children we see the mighty intercession of the Spirit. The New Testament church has two unequaled Intercessors, the merciful High Priest in heaven (Heb 7:25) and the Holy Spirit on earth. These two Intercessors never cease to bring the hard-pressed life of the believers before the throne of grace (cf. Heb 4:16).

In order to understand the intercession of the Spirit correctly, we may not overlook that in Romans 8 Paul places the praying of the Spirit in a certain context. In verse 18 the apostle speaks about the glory that will be revealed in the children of God. The last word of verse 30 is “glorified.” The intercession of the Holy Spirit is undeniably related to the glory for which the believers may hope. In this broken world the children of God may, full of hope, look forward to the day when their adoption as sons will be fully revealed.

This glory is coming! In the verses before our text Paul produces proofs to assure us that it is absolutely true.

First of all he points us to the wordless groaning of the whole creation. This creation, subject to decay because of man’s fall into sin, longs eagerly for the great day of liberation.

The need of creation is great. What suffering, disharmony, terror also in the animal- and plant kingdom! Everything God has created is yearning to be set free from the futility and bondage to decay.

In the second place, the apostle draws our attention to the groaning of the believers. In this too, Paul sees a confirmation that the glory is coming. Not only creation, but also God’s children, long eagerly for the day of liberation. Out of their present suffering, they pray for the glorious revelation of their adoption as sons.

In verse 26 the apostle goes into this even deeper. The glory has to come, for it is the Holy Spirit him self who prays for it! he pleads in the hearts of believers with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. He helps us in our weakness, Paul writes.

Our weakness ... the apostle explains this weakness when he adds, “We do not know what we ought to pray....” Our weakness is clearly a weakness in our praying. We do indeed pray -- the Spirit teaches us to say “Abba, Father” -- but we pray not as we “ought” to pray. Based on what Paul writes in verse 27 we may conclude that Paul with the word “ought” means: in accordance with God’s pleasure and will, according to his plan and counsel, in conformity with the purpose of his will. Our prayers remain imperfect. For we do not know how in all things in our life God works for our good (v. 28). We pray for healing when the Lord wants to use our sickbed to prepare us more and more for the inheritance that awaits us. We ask for all kinds of things while we do not know what we really need.

In this weakness the Spirit comes to help us. He supports us. He assists us. For “help” Paul uses the same word we find in Luke 10:40 where Martha thinks that her sister should help or assist her.

The apostle does not say that the Holy Spirit takes over our prayer. The Spirit does not take our place but helps us. He assists us in our prayers by interceding for us with groans that cannot be expressed in words. The Greek word Paul uses for “intercede” has a legal connotation. It reminds us of the work of a lawyer. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in our heart, he pleads for us in his prayer as our Advocate.

The Holy Spirit is the almighty, omniscient God. What we, small finite people cannot do, he can! he knows how to pray as he “ought”: in accordance with God’s plan and counsel, in perfect harmony with God’s will.

This intercession of the Spirit for believers surpasses our imagination. The groaning of the Spirit remains a mystery. Paul says that the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. This does not mean that it is one great wordless groaning but that these groanings of the Spirit cannot be interpreted in human words. They are too divine for that, too tender, too strong, and too great!

The apostle does not mention the secret intercession of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of God’s children in order to make us understand this mystery. Instead he wants to bind upon our hearts the comfort it gives. We are not left to ourselves with our imperfect prayers. We have a mighty Helper. No less a person than the Spirit makes intercession for us! We have an Advocate on earth who does not cease to plead our cause with the Lord.

In verse 27 Paul emphasizes yet the effectiveness of this help of the Spirit. Our prayers are always defective. The answer is often quite different from what we have in mind. The Lord in his wisdom does not always give us what we ask for. That is not the case with the Holy Spirit. His intercession is completely in accordance with God’s plan of salvation. There is not the slightest disharmony between his prayer and the will of God. The Lord knows the heart of man thoroughly (cf. Ps 7:9; Pr 15:11). He sees what men do not observe. This omniscient God also knows the groaning of the Spirit in the hearts of his children. He knows what the Spirit means when he intercedes for the saints. For what the Spirit means is in perfect harmony with all the good the Lord has in mind for his children. It is in complete accordance with his holy will.

The glorious future is coming! For all God’s children it will end in the glorification. For there is a three-voice choir: creation groans, God’s children groan, but especially the Holy Spirit is groaning. God groans to God. That is the ultimate assurance of the Christian’s hope.

There is still suffering in our time. The New Jerusalem still tarries. There are still the many tears and the brokenness of life. But we may look forward, full of hope, to the glory that will be revealed in us. For it is the Holy Spirit him self who intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.