The intercession of the Spirit is not a big subject in the scriptures, in fact, it is covered in only one scripture. The fact that we have only one scripture that explains this topic demands that we consider this scripture with diligent carefulness, and understand it in light of the rest of the Bible.  

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26).

Romans 8:26 has tempted many to say whatever their hearts desire to say about the intercession of the Holy Spirit, but we know that we cannot accept the heart’s means of interpretation. If we are honest with this scripture, then it certainly contains an important piece of information about the Holy Spirit, which, if understood properly, provides Christians with encouragement and confidence that all their needs are most certainly heard by the Father. However, if we treat this verse with dishonesty, then we adopt teaching that did not come from God. Let’s break this text down into bite-size chunks that will be easier for our minds to digest and gain a better understanding of these words.

 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses”. The word “helps” in the original Greek means to “lend a hand together with.” The same word is used in Luke 10:40: “But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’”  Applying the word “help” to the Spirit teaches us that He lends us a hand in our weaknesses. The specific weakness that Paul uses as an example is prayer. Two questions come to my mind: how does He help with prayer? And in what way is a Christian weak in prayer? The rest of verse 26 will answer both of those questions for us.

“For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought”. The word “know” in Greek is not talking about knowledge that is gained through personal experiences, but rather the type of knowledge that is natural to us (i.e. knowledge that we are born with). God, by His nature, knows exactly what we need; we do not. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow or what we need to prepare for tomorrow’s events; it is not our nature to be omniscient. It is God’s nature to always know exactly what we need.

The next statement: “as we ought” is interesting. The word “ought” in Greek literally means “must or necessity.” So, Paul is specifically talking about things that we must be praying for by necessity. Now, altogether the first part of the verse states that the Holy Spirit lends a hand to us in our weaknesses, such as our prayers, because it is not our nature to know specifically what we need right now and what we will need later, but the Spirit knows, and as we will see in the rest of this verse, it is He who will make requests for us to the Father in regard to all things that we need and yet don’t know about. The text actually says that “the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us.” Intercession is an interesting word; it refers to one who happens to come upon someone who is in trouble and pleads on their behalf. Let’s pay close attention to the word “Himself.” It is not through our prayers that He makes intercession, it is separate and apart from our prayers, the Spirit Himself pleads to the Father. Therefore, the way the Spirit “helps in our weaknesses” is not by guiding us in thought while we pray, but rather he pleads to the Father independently on our behalf. His work is completely separate from our prayers. It’s a wonderful thought to know that the Holy Spirit continually pleads to the Father on behalf of the saints. What unconquerable love the Spirit has for us! And I don’t want to forget to mention that His pleads on our behalf are done “with groanings which cannot be uttered.” That is to say that He pleads to the Father for us in ways, words, and an intensity that is impossible for us to comprehend.

The main thing to recognize here is that the Spirit does not alter or modify our own prayers in any way. They are offered to the Father exactly as we said them. However, apart from our prayers, He makes His own fervent requests for all things we need specifically that we do not even know we need.

As much of an encouragement that this text is, it does not vanquish our need to pray without ceasing. The text said that the Spirit helps in our weaknesses, such as not knowing about certain things to pray for, but there are so many other things that we know to pray for or about. And so many other things that we have been commanded to pray for (1 Timothy 2:1-4; James 5:16). Let us always remember that God did not advise us to pray without ceasing, he commanded it. Knowledge of the Spirit’s work is not to affect our work in prayer. We still need to be constant in our thanksgiving and praise to God in our requests for what concerns us for the day. That is the work God has given the saints every day on this earth.

Article by Tanner Campbell