The Prayer of the Regenerated.
“Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered.” —Rom. viii. 26.
Next in order comes the question: What is the work of the Holy Spirit in the prayer of the regenerated?
Here we distinguish (1) the prayer of the saint, and (2) that of the Holy Spirit for him.
The last we consider first, because, through the Apostle Paul, we receive clearest revelation concerning it: “Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that can not be uttered” (Rom. viii. 26). For the better understanding of this passage, observe:
In the firstplace, that the apostle refers to the prayer or groan arising not from the regenerated person himself, but from another in his behalf. It is not a prayer, but an intercession from the Holy Spirit for him.”1
In the secondplace, it is necessary to distinguish between the intercession of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus Christ the Righteous.
Christ intercedes for us in *heaven,*and the Holy Spirit on *earth.*Christ our Holy Head, being absentfrom us, intercedes outsideof us; the Holy Spirit our Comforter intercedes in our own heartwhich He has chosen as His temple.
There is a difference, not only of place, but also in the natureof this twofold intercession. The glorified Christ intercedes in heaven for His elect and redeemed, *to obtain for them the fruit of His sacrifice: “*If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John ii. i). But the object of the Holy Spirit’s petitions is the laying bare of all the deep and hidden needsof the saints before the eye of the Triune God.
In Christ there is a union of God and man, since, being in the form of God, He took upon Himself the human nature. Hence His prayer is that of the Son of God, but in union with the nature of man. He prays as the Head of the new race, as King of His people, as the one that seals the covenant of the New Testament in His blood. In like manner, there is to some extent a union between God and man, when the Holy Spirit prays for the saints. For, by His indwelling in the hearts of the saints, He has established a lasting and most intimate union, and by virtue of that union putting Himself in their place, He prays for them and in their stead.
In each instance there is intercession, but in each in a different manner. In his priestly capacity, as head of the family, the father prays for his family not because the members could not offer similar prayer, but on account of his calling as their head to represent them before God. All pray, but he as their head prays
for them all. And thus, as the Head of the Body, it is the calling of Christ to pray for the Body. Tho their prayer were perfect, His prayer would still be needed. All the members must pray, but He must pray for them all. Entirely different, however, is the prayer of the mother for her dying child. Being only five or six years old, the little one can scarcely pray for himself. He has not the slightest conception of what is happening to him, nor of his own needs. Then his mother kneels by his side and prays for him, “helping his infirmities, for he knoweth not what to pray for as he ought.” If he were twenty years older, there would be no need of it; he himself could understand his condition and pray for himself. And this applies to the intercession of the Holy Ghost. If the saint were what he ought to be, and could pray as he ought, there would be no need of this intercession. But, being imperfect and beset by weaknesses, not knowing what to pray for, the Holy Spirit helpeth his infirmities, and prays for him.
Christ intercedes for the body because He is the Head; even tho the prayers of the members were perfect and mature, He would still intercede with the Father in their behalf. But the Holy Spirit prays because the prayers of the saints are *imperfect, immature,*and insufficient. His prayer is, complementaryand necessary, inasmuch as the saint can not yet pray as he ought; hence decreasing as the saint learns to pray more and more correctly.
The intercession of the Holy Spirit is according to the saint’s *condition,*which is described in the seventh chapter of Romans. Surely, the Lord God might have been pleased to regenerate the sinner in such a way as to deliver him at once and completely from sin, and from all the after-effects of his old nature; but He has ordained it otherwise. Regeneration does not effect such a sudden change. It does indeed change his statebefore God at once and completely, but it does not place him at once in a conditionof perfect holiness. On the contrary, after regeneration it remains, on the one hand, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Rom. vii. 22; but also, on the other, “I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind.” (Rom. vii. 23) Hence the cry: “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. vii. 24)