I generally obtain electronic mail messages which ask theological questions, and I all the time give them a solution. Generally, I move these on by means of a weblog put up. Lately a brief query arrived which puzzled me a bit, but it surely generated a worthwhile alternate, which is likely to be of curiosity to others.
The query
A person referred to as “David” requested me: “Is it truthful to say that, like Calvin, you doubt that the Holy Spirit prays?”
My response
I replied as follows:
Pricey David,
Your query puzzled me a bit, since I didn’t know what aroused it. For starters, I puzzled why you say that Calvin doubted that the Holy Spirit prays. Romans 8:26-27 is probably the place the place Paul speaks most immediately of the Spirit’s ministry of prayer, and I believe that passage teaches us that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. In Calvin’s commentary on Rom 8:26, nevertheless, I believe I’m wanting on the grounds to your stating that Calvin doubted that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.
[I later learned that David’s question was aroused by my quoting Calvin on p. 263 of Providence & Prayer.]
Calvin wrote: “And the Spirit is claimed to intercede, not as a result of he actually humbles himself to wish or to groan, however as a result of he stirs up in our hearts these wishes which we must entertain; and he additionally impacts our hearts in such a approach that these wishes by their fervency penetrate into heaven itself. And Paul has thus spoken, that he may extra considerably ascribe the entire to the grace of the Spirit. We’re certainly bidden to knock; however nobody can of himself premeditate even one syllable, besides God by the key impulse of his Spirit knocks at our door, and thus opens for himself our hearts.”
Commenting on v. 27, Calvin encourages us that “we’re heard by God after we pray by means of his Spirit, for he totally is aware of our wishes, even because the ideas of his personal Spirit. . . . As then Paul had earlier than testified, that God aids us when he attracts us because it have been into his personal bosom, so now he provides one other comfort, that our prayers, of which he’s the director, shall on no account be dissatisfied.”
I don’t know why Calvin hesitates to take Paul’s assertion that the Spirit “intercedes for the saints,” in its most blatant sense, however Calvin’s personal rationalization of what’s going on has the identical energy of encouragement as a extra literal sense would have, in my estimation. Even by Calvin’s cautious rationalization, the Holy Spirit has an intercessory involvement within the strategy of our personal prayer. In Calvin’s commentary on these verses, he states that “the Spirit takes on himself part of the burden, by which our weak point is oppressed; in order that he not solely helps and succours us, however lifts us up; as if he went underneath the burden with us.”
I imagine that the Spirit of God is important to our prayer life and ministry, however I discover little or no mentioned in Scripture which teaches immediately concerning the Spirit’s intercession for us. Nonetheless, Paul clearly teaches that the Spirit “helps us in our weak point,” after we are unsure the way to pray and may do little greater than sigh. At occasions like this, the Spirit intercedes for us in response to the desire of God (Rom 8:26-27). Paul subsequently urges believers to “pray within the Spirit always” (Eph. 6:18).
It’s by means of the Spirit that each Jews and Gentiles have entry to God (Eph 2:18). As Gordon Price places it, emphasizing that salvation in Christ is conveyed in Trinitarian phrases: “Via the work of Christ and by the current ministry of the Spirit, we’ve got entry to the Father” (God’s Empowering Presence, 685).
Praising God is probably crucial factor we are able to do in prayer, however nobody can sincerely name Jesus “Lord” besides by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3), and it’s only when “God has despatched the Spirit into our hearts” that we’re inclined to name upon God as “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6). True worship is Spirit initiated as a result of God is spirit (Jn 4:23-24). A wonderful demonstration of this truth is seen in the best way the Gentiles within the family of Cornelius praised God when the reward of the Holy Spirit was poured out on them (Acts 10:46). For that reason, Paul asserts that solely the true “circumcision” (i.e., those that are circumcised of their hearts), can “worship within the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and don’t have any confidence within the flesh” (Phil 3:3).
In regard to the Holy Spirit’s intercessory ministry on our behalf, I’m a lot better happy by John Murray’s approach of talking (The Epistle to the Romans NICNT) than by Calvin’s, though Murray was an excellent fan of Calvin, as I’m. He wrote:
“The kids of God have two divine intercessors. Christ is their intercessor within the courtroom of heaven . . . , The Holy Spirit is their intercessor within the theatre of their very own hearts (cf. Jn 14:16, 17). Too seldom has the intercessory exercise of the Holy Spirit been taken under consideration. The glory of Christ’s intercession shouldn’t be allowed to put the Spirit’s intercession in eclipse” [Vol I, 311-12].
In regards to the groanings of which Paul wrote in Rom 8:26, Murray writes:
“They’re the concrete methods during which the intercession of the Spirit involves expression. . . . It isn’t adequate to say that they’re created and indicted by the Holy Spirit; they’re the intercessions of the Spirit and the groanings are however the best way during which these intercessions are registered within the hearts of God’s kids. . . . They’re, nevertheless, the media of the Holy Spirit’s intercession and so they ascend to the throne of grace within the type of groanings” [Vol. I, 312).
Re: Rom 8:27, Murray writes:
“It is the Holy Spirit who makes intercession. Since his intercession must be in accordance with the mind and will of God, this is the guarantee that the searcher of the hearts knows the content and intent of the intercession. . . . Since they are the intercessions of the Holy Spirit, they always meet with the understanding and approval of God. They are agreeable to us as well as are the intercessions of Christ at the right hand of God [Vol. I, 313].”
David’s scenario
Shortly after sending to David my response to his query, I realized that he has very severe well being issues, which have steadily threatened his life, so he discovered my feedback to him very encouraging. He has usually had events to utter the inexpressible groanings of which Paul wrote, occasions at which he doesn’t know the way to pray or what to wish for, however he cries out to God in his helplessness, and he can have the peace of mind of Scripture that in his inarticulate cries the Holy Spirit is at work deciphering his groans and interceding for him, to the Father. Of the effectiveness of that intercession, we are able to have little doubt, given the trinitarian nature of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
