Romans
Chapter 8 is a wonderfully uplifting chapter, following a very sobering assessment in preceding chapters concerning our true state before God.
All of mankind – you and I included, are God’s created people.
But we are also fallen beings.
We are no longer what God had purposed us to be.
Sin has distorted us –
more than we realize. By nature, we are under the wrath of God (Rom. 1:18-32). The Bible read and understood helps us to see
ourselves as God sees us. Paul was helped to see himself realistically in
Romans 7. But he also was helped at once
to see the solution to all our trouble: Jesus Christ the Saviour (7:24)!
And that is why he begins with that
great truth statement in Romans 8:1-2:
“There
is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law
of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and
death.”
Jesus Christ frees us from the righteous wrath of God! THEREFORE, look to Him and believe in Him! And then, look again at those two opening verses and find mention made of the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned 20 times in this chapter.
Who is the Holy Spirit? What is the nature of His Being? What is the
nature of His work? We are best helped
by considering Jesus’ own teaching concerning Him in John 14:15-18; 14:25-26;
16:7-15.
In a nutshell:
The Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4, Jn.14:16,26) and of the Lord Jesus (Jn.16:7).
Following Christ’s ascension (Lk. 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-11), the Holy Spirit would be the Helper (parakletos) who comes alongside and inside God’s people, being the Spirit of Truth (Jn.14:17;16:13; Rom.8:11). The Holy Spirit would not leave the people of Jesus as orphans (Jn.14:18) [Note, in Romans 8:15, He is the Spirit of adoption by who we cry Abba, Father!]. He is the One, says Jesus, “teaching you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn.14:26).
He is the One who will convict the world concerning sin.... (Jn. 16:8)
He is the outpoured Holy Spirit of Acts 2. It is He who makes all the
difference in us, because He embodies all that God is! He, the outpoured Spirit makes the difference
in us- experientially! Let us learn to appreciate Him, to honour Him, to praise Him as the third
member of the Holy Trinity!
Paul reveals Him in Romans 8 as the Spirit of life- the life - giving Spirit, who sets us free from religious formalism (i.e. mere adherence to the law) (8:2).
He helps us to walk not according to the flesh (i.e. by giving into sinful impulses) (8:4).
He helps us to set the mind on godly thoughts (8:5)
He produces life and peace in the soul (8:6).
He makes us feel that we belong to a new family, because He is the Spirit of adoption (8:15). To be a Christian is to be a son /daughter of God. To be a Christian means that we have new abilities through His indwelling presence and power. We are able to overcome sin. The Holy Spirit makes the difference even while you and I continue to live in a fallen body, and in a fallen world in which Satan exercises his destructive and deceptive rule.
If you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, remember that the Holy Spirit is the Helper - He helps you even when you still struggle with sin in every conceivable way (Romans 7:15-20).
Truly, this world is a battleground for the Christian. It is a peculiar mixture of suffering and glory. This is the subject we considered last time in 8:18-25. Take courage!
The Holy Spirit is here to help you in the midst of your groaning [1]. This is a word which we find three times in this chapter: 8:18,22,23. There we find that (i) creation groans (ii) we groan) (iii) the Spirit groaning on our behalf making our groans intelligible before the Father’s throne of grace. Groaning will accompany us (and all of creation) in this life, and on our way to future glory. We groan under the weight of the wages of sin.
Is there any help available? Jesus has saved us, and for this we are immensely thankful, but how will we cope NOW whilst living out our lives in this fallen world, and in this fallen body? The answer is : BY PRAYER!
I trust that these 2 verses will help and encourage you greatly.
THE
HOLY SPIRIT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE IN PRAYER: 8:26,27
Our text begins with an affirmation: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness“. That word ‘help’ is a very long word in the biblical Greek[2]- made up of three words. The word conveys the idea of assisting; to help another in sharing a burden – to jointly tackle a task.
The word is used in Luke 10:40 where Martha asks Mary to help her with food preparations.
Notice then, the Holy Spirit does not take
our responsibility away. He helps us. He
assists us, particularly in our state of weakness.
What is that state of weakness? Here it is: “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought....”. Isn’t that a real problem for us in prayer? How do we ever know what to pray for? We don’t always know what is best for us. If that frustrates you then remember that we are in good company.
Paul did not
always know where the Spirit of God would take him next (e.g. Acts 16:6-10 and
the Macedonian call).
Furthermore,
Paul asked the Lord three times to remove the thorn in his flesh in 2 Cor.12:8-10,
thinking that this was a hindrance to ministry, but God said, “no! My grace
is sufficient for you...”. Who would
have thought that the thorn in the flesh was a good thing for Paul?
And,
what should the Apostle Paul pray according to Philippians 1:23? Here he is at the end of his life and in
prison, potentially facing execution. He has a desire to depart and be with
Christ, for that is far better; but is it not perhaps better for the sake of
the church that he gets out of prison and remains useful a little longer? Can you sense the tension – we do not know
how to pray as we ought? What is
better? Well, God’s plans are better. They may take us via some strange providences,
but if the outcome is that He get’s more glory, then that is the better way.
In this regard I remind you also that even the Lord Jesus, experiencing life as a man (yet without sin) praying as a man, bearing our sins as a man, asked that this cup of suffering might pass from Him, knowing that God’s will, not His be done. Jesus knew what God's will was, and we know what God’s will was for Jesus, but can you see the real struggle involved in prayer in this fallen world? Can you hear Jesus’ real groaning? And aren't you thankful that He took the way of the cross?
You
and I will praise God in eternity for Christ’s active obedience!
Next, we read,
“...but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words”.
Here is the help that the Holy Spirit provides for us in prayer. Dear friends, God knows our weakness. He knows that we are subject to the fall and He bears with us, and He helps us by the Holy Spirit to articulate our groanings and perplexities in prayer.
The same idea is found in Matthew 11:28ff where Jesus says,
“Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ...”.
Here are people that are groaning under the weight of their crushing burdens – and Jesus says, “Come to me... I will help you.” Think of a heavy object that is too much to carry for you. Another person comes along and says, “let me help you”, and the two of you manage that heavy load. Your helper does not do all the work. He helps you. He helps to carry your heavy load successfully and effectively. This text does not teach us to be passive. The Holy Spirit helps us, and in this case, He helps us by interceding for us.
The
word[3] used for intercession is only
found here in the NT, and it translates best as making representation for
another person. He is, as it were, taking upon Himself my muddled thinking,
my overburdened mind, and my inability to formulate something correctly, and
with words unutterable He presents the
prayer in an understandable form before the throne of God. So, I am helped in
prayer.
I have a confession to make: I mostly
don’t know how to pray for you, particularly if I have little understanding of
your situation and your spiritual well being. I confess, that I mostly groan
and trust the Holy Spirit to make my prayers for you legible in the Father’s heavenly
courts.
Two
things must be said about the Holy Spirit’s groaning on our behalf :
(i) He is the omniscient Spirit. Sharing the
attributes of God, He knows everything. So, it cannot mean that He is
struggling to understand or interpret my prayer. His groaning simply amounts,
from my perspective, to being “too deep for words” (NIV groans that
words cannot express) - literally 'wordless' language. But the effect of the
Spirit’s groaning upon my groaning is that
my Heavenly Father receives an exact
interpretation of that which I actually need.
(ii) It cannot refer to speaking in
tongues, as some have maintained. The translation is “too deep for words”. This
excludes language – even tongues, which are also a form of language. This is much deeper. At any rate, the onus here is not on the
speaker but on the Holy Spirit, formulating
in wordless language my groaning before the throne of mercy. Thank God for the great help which is promised
to us in prayer. I am so encouraged by this!
Finally, in 8:27 we read,
“And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
God is the searcher of our hearts. He is also the One who is in eternal fellowship with the Holy Spirit. He knows the mind of the Spirit. Father, Son and Holy Spirit truly KNOW one another in the fullest sense of that word.
There is a actually never any explanation needed between them. They perfectly understand each other. And their greatest certainty and agreement is this: God‘s people, here called saints, must be brought safely home through this temporary trial, in which they will suffer many things. They must be helped in prayer and they must be glorified. The 8th chapter will take us steadily into that direction. The Holy Spirit has been given to that end, and the work of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit will be completed to that end. You, dear saint, are safe in God’s hands.
What
you read here is indeed high theology. But it has been written for people like you and I, who are not God. It
is written for people who see in a mirror dimly. What is utterly clear to God is not yet clear
to me, and when I look into His Word, and consider texts like these, I am given a
perspective that is not ordinary. This perspective tells me that, despite my
experience, God knows what He is doing.
And He knows and He helps His people in their weakness. He helps them in prayer.
This puts a fresh perspective on prayer and I trust that you will be bold enough to test God in this matter. Ask Him this week to help you in prayer.
No comments:
Post a Comment