The Groaning of the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27)

Paul has already mentioned two different expressions of groaning in this passage – the groaning of creation and the groaning of Christians – with each connected to the future glory that God’s people will have. Now he mentions a third expression of groaning, one that comes from the Holy Spirit. The groaning of the Spirit is connected to some of the prayers offered by God’s people, which tells us that this is an experience that only believers know.

The first comment that we can make about the groaning of the Spirit is that it is connected to the other two expressions of groaning. Both those expressions were positive and not negative because they are concerned about the future entry by God’s people into their inheritance. The Holy Spirit has his eye on that day as well, so we can deduce that his groaning is one of sympathy with the groaning of Christians.

A second comment we can make is that this activity of the Spirit is intended as a support for Christians in their weaknesses. Of them, they have many, including persecution from the world and spiritual assaults by the devil. Yet Jesus has told his disciples in the Upper Room that the Holy Spirit would come to help them serve God.

This leads us to a third comment which is that the Holy Spirit has a special ministry of helping God’s people when they pray. Paul says elsewhere that believers should always pray, but he says here that there will be times when they will not know what to say in prayer. They may be in dangerous circumstances, or they may face a pair of difficult options, neither of which is wrong, but each of which has a wide range of consequences. We can groan in either situation, and what we need in both is a form of infallible requesting. Our gracious God has provided for this through the groaning of the Spirit. The Spirit’s groaning, says Paul, is according to the will of God, which the Spirit knows perfectly. His intercession is always in line with the purpose of God.

So we can see from Paul’s description that the groaning of the Spirit should be as precious to Christians as his work of enabling them to cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ Of course, we may call God ‘Father’ when we are going through very difficult situations. In such times, the difficulty is not in calling him ‘Father’. Instead, the difficulty is to know what to say to him in such moments.

Paul is telling his readers that there will be many times when they will be in ignorance about items of prayer. This dilemma is distressing. We might imagine that the Lord’s response in such a situation would be to give clarity of expression, to suddenly enlighten our minds and cause us to speak articulately about the problem. That is the type of solution that is looked for in situations of business problems or government matters. But it is often not the way that God addresses the dilemma of his people in distress.

The Comforter who groans in his people

So the Spirit groans along with his people. Paul describes the groaning of the Spirit as being beyond words, too deep for words. He says that more is said by these groans than is said by the most articulate prayer. Alfred Plummer, the commentator, once said, ‘ By the work of the Spirit, a heart without words may bring down the blessing of God.’ An obvious example of this from the Bible is Hannah. She was praying out of great sense of personal need as well as from having to face continual opposition. As she prayed, she was very energetic, but silent. Eli thought she was drunk. But she was praying with groanings that cannot be uttered.

It is possible to interpret the groaning of the Spirit as happening outside our souls, as if the Spirit groaned to the Father as well as us. But that is unlikely. The best way to interpret his groanings is to see an analogy with the witness of the Spirit mentioned earlier in the chapter. The Spirit, in his witnessing, strengthens our own sense of sonship. In a similar manner, the Spirit strengthens our groaning by creating it and sustaining it. He makes our desires into ardent ones.

What are the areas in which the Spirit will strengthen our prayers? We have already mentioned situations of spiritual darkness or times of anxiety. But there are other situations in which this strengthening is needed.

One such situation is the longing for stronger affections. For example, at the Lord’s Table the Christian may be expressing his love to Christ and yet sense that his love is not as strong as he would like it to be. He groans for stronger, more intense response to his Saviour. All he may say is a sigh, but that sigh is the product of the indwelling Spirit producing a request that is too deep or strong for words.

Another such situation is the desire for understanding of spiritual things, of appreciating what the Bible teaches about the great doctrines of the faith. The believer senses that she has been enlightened, she is aware that she understands now what she did not even want to know when unconverted. But the knowledge she has is the kind of knowledge that causes her to want to know more and she groans at her lack of knowledge. This too is a sign that the Holy Spirit is at work, accompanying her prayer with his empowering.

A third possible situation involves the desire to show the superiority of the Christian life to others. The Christian wants to give a good and vibrant testimony so that others will be attracted to Jesus through him. They don’t wish to give the impression that being a Christian is unattractive. The father of Dr. MacDonald, the Apostle of the North, used to pray that his face would always commend Christianity, no matter what he was feeling inside. Often, the desire to give a good impression of the Saviour to others causes the Christian to groan, but as with the other groans just mentioned this one is also a product of the Holy Spirit’s strengthening.

A fourth possible condition that results in groaning is the believer’s desire to have a focus on heaven, to have a longing for the glory to come, and that is the context of Paul’s description here. He wants to set his affections on things above, he desires to anticipate something of the glory that is yet to come. This, too, causes him to groan. And this groaning comes from the Holy Spirit.

A fifth area of concern is his sense of indwelling sin. The cry, ‘Oh wretched man that I am,’ is a groan, but it is not a negative groan because it anticipates the deliverance that Christ will give. Nevertheless the sensitive Christian is aware of how far he fails in coming up to the requirements of God’s holy demands, of his heart disobedience to his gracious Father, to his compassionate Redeemer and to the sensitive, indwelling Spirit. As he realises his sin, a recognition that is the evidence of the Spirit’s working, he confesses it with groans produced by the Holy Spirit.

The Searcher of Hearts

One of the psalms that we sing often is Psalm 139. In that psalm David begins by mentioning how the Lord has searched him throughout his life, even when he was in his mother’s womb. His experience of such divine searching has not made him reluctant for more. Instead, the opposite is the case and he prays in verses 23 and24: ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!’

God does not only search the hearts of individuals in isolation. The description of the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2 and 3 reminds us that Jesus searches the churches, and we should note what he says in Revelation 2:23 says: ‘And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.’ In addition to this description being evidence for the deity of the Son, it is also a reminder that he searches and judges local congregations of his people. In the vision of Jesus given in Revelation One, he is depicted as having ‘eyes of fire’, eyes that see everything in a penetrating manner.

In 1 Corinthians 2:10 Paul writes that ‘the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God’. In that passage, Paul is referring to the things of God that he has revealed to us by his Spirit. Yet the phrase he uses also points to an intra-Trinity activity in which the Spirit searches permanently and fully all that is in God. Something similar is said of the Son in Matthew 11:27: ‘All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’ And in John 10:14-15 Jesus says, ‘I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.’ In these verses, we are given an insight into the inner life of the Trinity in which they explore, with great mutual delight and satisfaction, the depths of God’s being and purposes.  

This activity of God is a combination of two of his incommunicable attributes (features and capabilities that only God can possess), that is, his omnipresence and his omniscience. He does not search each heart sequentially but simultaneously, and he searches every heart fully and is not ignorant of any details.

Searched by the Father

These attributes are possessed by each person of the Trinity. So a question that needs to be asked is, Which person is Paul referring to? The verse itself indicates that Paul is not referring to the Spirit when he distinguishes between the Searcher and the mind of the Spirit. So that leaves the choice to be between the Father and the Son. Given that the context refers primarily to our communion with the Father, it is likely that it is the Father who is searching the hearts of his children.

Paul’s words remind us that this search is a continuous one by the Father. There is not a moment when he is not searching our hearts. This is a reminder of the commitment of God to his people. Every day that I live, every moment that I breathe, the heavenly Father is searching my heart. It is not only a reminder of his commitment; it is also a description of his concerns. Every Christian should say this to himself every day, ‘What will be my heavenly Father’s concern today?’ And the answer each can give is, ‘Me.’

Obviously we can think of many reasons why the heavenly Father should search our hearts. He can search us in the way a doctor scans a patient in order to heal our spiritual wounds. He can search us in the way a lover looks for signs of affection from his beloved. He can search us in order to see what our desires after holiness are. And as Paul reminds us here, the heavenly Father searches our hearts in order to answer our deepest prayers.

The Father has sent the Spirit into our hearts so that the Spirit can take our weak, ignorant prayers and change them into requests according to the will of God. The Father and the Spirit have fellowship in listening to and responding to the prayers of believers. The Spirit prays according to the will of God, that is, he prays accurately, and the Father hears and gives according to his promises. This is a wonderful reality about the prayer life of Christians, that their wordless groaning are read with delight by the Father and given answers far above what they can ask or imagine.

When will the ultimate answer be given? The context indicates that it will be given at the time when the sons of God receive their inheritance. Then they will cease groaning for that day and the creation will cease groaning for its deliverance. As we see the answer to our prayers in the glory that we will have been given, we may also hear the heavenly Father say to his heirs, “I knew all along what you were asking for in your groans and now I have fulfilled your deepest longings.’

Response to the searching God

As we reflect on the marvellous fact that the heavenly Father searches our hearts, what features should mark our response. I will mention three that I think are appropriate.

First, we should be marked by humility. There are many reasons why we should be humble such as the example of Christ or the greatness of salvation. The fact that he is searching our hearts is an additional reason for humility.

Second, we should be marked by honesty. We can hide nothing from God. He is searching our hearts at every moment; he is scanning our hearts before we sin, as we sin, and after we sin. Honesty should cause us to confess our sins to the seeking God. We should also be honest about the quality of our Christian lives.

Third, we should be marked by hopefulness. The God who is searching our hearts comes as the doctor, the lover and the listener. Omnipotent as he is, he has not come to crush us but to bless us.