In the earlier sections of Romans 8, Paul tells us that, if we suffer with Christ, we will also be glorified with him (vv. 17,18). Now he gives us excellent reasons to endure faithfully whatever difficulties we may encounter:

  • Christ our intercessor shares our trials with us, understands our weaknesses, and powerfully intercedes for us with the Father (vv. 26,27).
  • No matter what happens, day by day, to those who live in hope, they can be assured that their experiences are designed by God for their ultimate good (v. 28).
  • The greatest reason of all is that the Lord God has marked us out, personally and individually, to receive His glory (vv. 29,30).

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express (v. 26).

Once again, we see, in the NIV, "the Spirit himself". "Himself" is also used by the RV, RSV and NET — as well as others. There should be no problem in reading "the Spirit" as having personality here, because here at least it is equivalent to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

The Greek for "helps us" is another "Sharing Word", pointing out what we share with Christ (see notes, p. 15). It is also a complex word, "sunantilambano", but one well worth understanding. Literally, it means:

To take hold of a heavy burden, together with others, so as to help them lift and carry it.

The same word is used in Luke 10:40, where Martha asks Jesus to tell her sister Mary to "help" her. This word suggests a partnership of working together. Christ has promised to help us bear our burdens, but only if we also do the best we can ourselves.

Christ helps us in our weakness: Because of our weaknesses, we do not know what we ought to pray for: The KJV and the NIV support this translation. But the NASB, NET, NEB and RSV understand Paul to say, 'We do not know how we ought to pray.' Both translations are possible. It is fair to say that sometimes we don't know what to pray for, and sometimes we don't know how to pray either!

First, the "what to pray for":

As to "what?", the Apostle John writes (1John 5:14):

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."

Since we are far from infallible in our knowledge, it is often true that we do not know the will of God perfectly. So we cannot expect ourselves to know what is the very best thing to pray for, although we are assured that the Lord himself knows.

Then, the "how to pray":

"How?" is answered by the relative shortness of the Lord's Prayer: "Be brief!" And also by Ecclesiastes 5:2: "God is in heaven… let your words be few!"

"The Spirit himself intercedes for us."

The Greek word (v. 26 notes) means: to meet, to stand alongside, to talk to — as a friend, a comforter, and an adviser.

"With groans…"

The "groans" are "sighs of compassion", as in verses 22 and 23. Christ's groans, or sighs, are compared with those of the believers. He can be the most effective intercessor because he knows our weaknesses — he has been "touched with the feelings of our infirmities" (Heb 4:15). So, when we groan, he groans too!

"…which cannot be expressed…" (notes, v 26)

This means "words we cannot hear". The Greek word does not mean speaking in tongues, or mumbling sounds without understanding. Instead, it means speech that cannot be expressed or uttered to us, because it is a private communication between Christ and His Father.

So how do we know that "the Spirit itself, or himself", in this verse, is another way of referring to Christ? For the same reasons as given earlier (see the notes on Romans 8:16…

…And also for these additional reasons:

  • Verse 26, in which "the Spirit" intercedes for believers, is parallel to verses 27 and 34, where Christ is undoubtedly meant as the intercessor. The Holy Spirit is not the intercessor for believers — that can only be Christ.
  • The "sighs of compassion" are a reflection of Christ's humanity and intense fellow-feeling with us:

"There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk… Then [Jesus] spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him… 'Be opened!' " (Mark 7:32-34).

"The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply" (Mark 8:11,12).

In all of the above we must find great comfort and hope. Now Christ speaks to his Father for us, even though we cannot hear him, and even though we do not know precisely what they say to one another.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will (v. 27).

The one who searches our hearts can only be Christ. In Revelation 2:23, he says: "Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds."

There is probably a time in each of our lives when we are frightened by the idea that Christ searches and knows our hearts — because, like Adam and Eve in the Garden — we may wish to hide ourselves from the searching gaze of God Himself (or, in this case, His Son).

But for Paul this is, instead, a real comfort — in the thought that Christ knows our thoughts. Why? Because this knowledge allows him better to communicate to the Father. And this in turn allows Father and Son to decide how to respond to the heart which is in need, and which yearns to express, but cannot truly express, its needs before God's throne.

Christ's intercession for us is always "according to God's will". So we should remember that it is not God's will that His dear children escape all sufferings, but it is certainly His will that such sufferings work for our ultimate spiritual good (v. 28).

Many times "we do not know what we ought to pray for" — that is, whether we should pray for deliverance from trials, or for strength to endure those trials.

How often do we pray, 'Father, let me be an instrument of Your will'; and then add, as a private aside, 'But, please, Lord, don't let it hurt too much!' Instead, we should pray for courage to face whatever comes:

  • In a dark garden, with tears on his cheeks, Christ prayed, "Not my will, but Yours be done".
  • Troubled by a "thorn in the flesh", Paul also prayed for deliverance, but then learned that God's strength could only realize its full potential in Paul's weakness.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (v. 28).

The KJV has "All things work together for good…" While this is accurate, it only makes sense if we recognize that God Himself is the One who makes sure that "all things" work for good. The NIV and the RSV show "God" as the subject — which only seems right.

The believer should be able to say, without a doubt that: 'God works in all things, for good.' A great, unfathomable Mind is always awake and working, overseeing "all things" in our lives — even adversities (vv. 17,18) and sufferings (v. 35) — and using them, every one, as tools to shape and polish, and at last to "create" His finished product — minds and characters and lives which glorify Him.

God is actively working, and this is evident because God is also the subject in the verses which immediately follow (vv. 29,30):

  • God knows us ahead of time;
  • God "predestines" us (we will discuss this word in a moment);
  • God calls us;
  • God justifies us; and at last
  • God glorifies us.

Of course, this verse does not say that God causes 'all things', period. Instead, it implies that He permits 'all things'. So when trouble or even tragedy touches a believer, we should not conclude that God has caused it. Troubles are caused by many things:

  • by the hurtful actions of others,
  • by our own ignorance,
  • by our own sinful desires, or
  • by our poor choices.

God does work in all things, even the worst possible, for the good of those who love Him. Christ is interceding for us, but such intercession does not always produce our physical and material comfort. And now we understand that this is the case: we need the sufferings to prepare us for the glory.

So Paul, taking his own advice, stops praying to have his "thorn in the flesh" removed. Now he is able to write:

"We are:

  • afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
  • perplexed, but not driven to despair;
  • persecuted, but not forsaken;
  • struck down, but not destroyed…

Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor 4:8,9,16,17).

Do we believe this? Can we decide to live as did Paul? Do we ever grumble, or doubt, or worry, or despair? If we do — when we do! — then we must, like Paul, see "Christ crucified". It is only through patient bearing up under our trials that we will ever come to know "the fellowship of his sufferings" (Phil 3:10). What a privilege it is to suffer with Christ (Rom 8:17)! It is a proof of our family relationship (Heb 12:7,8) and a guarantee of our future glory (Rom 8:17,18).

This last section (vv. 29,30) provides an outline of God's purpose referred to in verse 28. God's purpose with those who love Him consists of five steps:

  • foreknowledge,
  • predetermination,
  • calling,
  • justification (or declaring righteous), and
  • glorification.

The first four steps are already realities for believers now, and they guarantee the fifth and final step (vv. 17,18,21). All this may be said without implying that there is no chance of 'falling away', because there is such a chance.

So what shall we do? First, we must believe what God has promised. And then we must be "positive" in our personal lives, positive on the job, positive in our family, positive in our Bible classes, positive in our interactions with other brothers and sisters.

Only such an attitude will sustain us through trials and doubts. As our Lord's greatest trials approached, he could still think of his disciples, telling them: "Fear not."

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (v. 29).

"Foreknew" ("foreordained": KJV) is the Greek "proginosko" = to know in advance. The apostle Peter uses the same work in a helpful context, that is, that God foreknew Jesus, and chose him before he was born:

"For you know that… you were redeemed… with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen ['proginosko': known ahead of time] before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake" (1 Pet 1:18-20).

Note the Passover connection; this will help us as we continue.

Now, the next step: God has also "predestined" us. This word means to "mark out or determine beforehand". The Greek word is "pro-horizo", and signifies to draw lines or set bounds, beforehand….

The key word "horizo" is the source of our English word "horizon". The horizon is the boundary beyond which the sun cannot go, that is, the line of demarcation between earth and heaven.

We probably all have a pretty good idea what "predestination" is not. It is not 'eternal security'; it is not 'once saved, always saved'. But… the question here is: What does it mean?

Let us now return to the context in 1 Peter 1:18-20 [Open your Bibles to this passage, please]: The purpose of the Passover lamb's blood was to put a limit, in advance, upon the work of the Destroying Angel. Those who had faith sprinkled the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. In doing so they were marked out ahead of time (Exod 12) — "predestined", we might say — and thus were saved out of Egypt. All around the Jews there were other "firstborns". These were not marked out to be spared, but rather left — without the Passover blood — to perish in Egypt.

Did the Lord God, by Divine choice, "predestine" certain Jewish families in Egypt to be saved, while "predestining" others to be condemned? Of course not. He did not necessarily select, one by one, every person or every family — Jew or Gentile — who would come under the Divine provision. What God did was provide the command regarding the Passover lambs.

It was left to the Jews, by their own free will, to choose whether they would put the blood on their houses, and then to choose whether they would remain in those houses through the night of the Destroying Angel.

The Jews, and other "strangers" in Egypt, had to act in faith upon the promises which God had given them. If they did, then they were "predestined" (literally: marked out beforehand) to be spared or saved. The others, who chose differently, were also "predestined" — to perish.

Of course, those who chose to be saved out of Egypt had to continue to remember God and His promises, and continue to keep the Passover as an act of faith in what God had promised to do.

But it was still God's "predestination" in the first place. To paraphrase: through Paul, the Lord God seems to be saying:

I knew My Son, and chose him before he was born, to be the Saviour of all my children. Now I speak to My children:

'I have predestined My Son to be the place where you will be safe from the Angel of death. That place is one of absolute security. But you need to go there, do what I say, and — above all — remain there. Otherwise, you will not be "marked out" for My Glory!'

We may be sure that, whatever is expressed by this word "predestination", it should not rule out the free will of individuals to choose and obey. I suggest that what "predestination" means here is:

God knew His plan of salvation from the beginning, and He explained it to those whom He called. But it was their business to choose to go to the place of refuge and safety, and remain there, if they were to be saved!

I would rather not go any further in trying to unravel the age-old question of "predestination" vs. "free will". Sometimes, when I try, it gives me a headache. So I will leave it there, filed under the heading: 'Things I am not wise enough to understand… at least not yet!

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified (v. 30).

The last three parts of God's five-part plan are relatively easy:

(1) "Called" means that God oversees the preaching of the gospel, in every age — so that it reaches those who might hear. But not all who hear are necessarily "called":

  • they may not understand the message;
  • they may not care about the message; and/or
  • they may not actually believe the message.

But where to draw the line between those who have been "called" and those who have not been "called", is beyond our power. I suggest that this also ought to be left to God and His Son… and I will do so gladly!

(2) "Justified" means: "declared righteous". What does this mean specifically in Romans 8? It means Christ "condemned sin" (v. 3), so that, if we remain in him, we will not be condemned by our sins (v. 1).

(3) "Glorified" is in the past tense, not because it is actually a present possession, but because its future possession has been assured for us — but only if we remain faithful.

The key idea of this section (vv. 26-30) is this: God has marked us out for glory. He has taken all the steps necessary for our salvation. There is now no condemnation (as we were told in the very first verse of Romans 8). If we do as God says, then we are made free — His free sons and daughters!

More than this, we are God's dear children! We are precious; we are cherished; we are loved!

Paul purposefully disregards the possibility of failure, and concentrates solely on the glorious steps of salvation, building to a climax in the final section of Romans 8 (vv. 31-39).