Sermon 29 of the Series: “Romans: Gospel Blueprint.”
Review
Paul answered a hard question: if we are God’s children and heirs, why do we still suffer, and how should we view that suffering while we wait for the glory to come? He began by weighing the present against the future. The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (8:18). That glory already exists, but it is still hidden, and creation itself waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God (8:19). The apostle explained why creation waits. It was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope (8:20). One day it will be set free from its bondage to corruption and share the freedom of the glory of God’s children (8:21). Until then, the whole creation groans together in the pains of childbirth (8:22).
Paul then turned to believers. We also groan inwardly. We have the firstfruits of the Spirit, yet we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (8:23). In this hope we were saved, and hoping for what we do not see produces patience (8:24-25). Creation groans, and we groan. But that leaves a tender question for every weary believer: what help do we have while we wait, especially when we are too weak even to know how to pray? Paul answers that we do not groan alone. The Spirit Himself intercedes for us, and God is working all things together for good for those He has called.
The Spirit Helps
Paul has not left the subject of suffering. “Likewise” ties this verse to what came before: just as hope sustains us while we wait (8:24-25), so the Spirit also helps us. The “weakness” he names is the condition of believers who wait for the redemption of their bodies (8:23): already sons, yet still mortal and still groaning.
Romans 8:26a: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
The word “helps” carries the idea of taking hold of a heavy load together with someone. The Spirit does not remove us from the burden; He carries it with us. And Paul names one place where our weakness shows most clearly: prayer.[1] In suffering, we often do not know whether to ask for relief or for endurance.
Paul himself asked the Lord three times to remove his thorn, and the Lord answered that His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:7-9). Notice also the three groans in this chapter. Creation groans (8:22), we groan (8:23), and the Spirit groans (8:26). Prayer, then, is not a change of subject. It is how the suffering believer waits.
The Spirit Intercedes
Paul explains how the Spirit helps. We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And the Father, who searches hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit prays according to the will of God.
Romans 8:26b-27: For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27And 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.
Our inability to pray rightly is part of our weakness in this present age, and Paul does not tell us to fix it by trying harder to discover God’s will. He points us instead to the Spirit’s intercession. Our groaning is the cry of the sufferer who waits; the Spirit’s groaning takes up that cry and turns it into intercession. [2]
Even when our prayers are confused, or when we ask for what is not best, the Spirit’s prayer for us is always in line with the will of God. There is no gap between the Father who listens and the Spirit who prays. The Father hears both: our groaning and the Spirit’s intercession.
All Things for Good
Paul moves from what we do not know to what we do know. We do not know how to pray as we ought, but we know this: all things work together for good, and some ancient manuscripts make explicit what the context already implies: that God is the One who works them. The apostle describes the believer from two sides. From our side, we are those who love God. From God’s side, we are those called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
“All things” includes the sufferings of this present time that Paul has just described (8:18). Paul is not saying that all things are good or pleasant. He is saying that God turns even the most painful things believers endure into good.[3] But this is not a promise that every hardship will be reversed into comfort, wealth, or health.
The good must be defined by God, not by us. In context, it is the glory to come: the resurrection and the redemption of our bodies (8:17-23).[4] Notice also that the promise is not for everyone in general. It is for those who love God, and they love Him because He first called them according to His purpose. How God carries out that purpose, from eternity past to eternity future, Paul explains in the next two verses: the golden chain.
Application
1. Let us carry our burdens to God with the Spirit. When suffering leaves us weak, we do not pull away from God or pretend to be strong. We admit our weakness and remember that the Spirit takes hold of the load with us.
2. Let us pray even when we do not know what to say. We do not wait for the right words or a perfect understanding of God’s will. We bring our sighs, confusion, and burdens to the Father, trusting the Spirit intercedes for us according to God’s will.
3. Let us view our trials in light of God’s purpose, not our feelings. We must not use Romans 8:28 to promise ourselves or others comfort, wealth, or health. Instead, we ask how the Lord may be using our present difficulty to prepare us for glory, and we keep loving Him even when we cannot yet see the good.
[1] Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), 2nd ed. (Baker Academic, 2018), 435. Schreiner reads the weakness in verse 26 narrowly, as not knowing what to pray; Moo sees it as the broader condition of believers in this age (The Letter to the Romans, 546). Either way, prayer is where Paul locates it in this verse.
[2] Douglas J. Moo, The Letter to the Romans, 2nd ed. (Eerdmans, 2018), 546-47. Moo explains that not knowing what to pray for is part of our weakness in this life, and that the Spirit meets it with intercession that perfectly matches the will of God.
[3] Schreiner, Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), 442.
[4] Frank S. Thielman, Romans, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Zondervan Academic, 2018), 8:28. Thielman identifies the “good” as the resurrection of the dead: the glorification of God’s people with Christ and the redemption of their bodies from decay (8:17-23).
ALL THINGS FOR GOOD by Ed Pilapil Jr. When words run out, and prayers grow weak We do not know the thing to seek The Spirit helps, He takes our load He walks with us along the road He intercedes with groans unheard Too deep for any human word He prays according to God's will The Searcher of our hearts hears still And this we know, it's understood All things together work for good For those who love the Lord above Called by His purpose and His love So when the pain is hard to bear And all I have is groaning prayer The Spirit pleads, the Father hears His good outlasts my present tears
Study Guide
1. What does “likewise” connect to, and what is the “weakness” Paul names? How does it relate to the groaning of creation and of believers? (Ro 8:22-26a)
2. How does the Spirit help us when we do not know what to pray for? Why can we be confident that His intercession is effective? (Ro 8:26b-27)
3. To whom does the promise of verse 28 apply? What is the “good,” and how does Ro 8:17-23 help define it? (Ro 8:28)
