Romans 8:27

The δέ, but, contrasts the knowledge of God, which thoroughly understands the object of this groaning, with the ignorance of the heart from which it proceeds. God is often called in the O. T. the καρδιογνώστης, the searcher of hearts. As to the blessing to which the aspiration of the Spirit goes forth in the believer's heart, he knows its nature, he discerns its sublime reality. Why? This is what is told us in the second part of the verse: Because this supreme object of the Spirit's aspiration is what God Himself has prepared for us. The groaning of the Spirit is κατὰ Θεόν, according to God. The preposition κατά, according to, denotes the standard; God does not require the man who prays to express to Him the things he needs, since the groaning of the Spirit is in conformity with the plan of God which is to be realized. If it is so, how should not God understand such a groan? For the Spirit fathoms the divine plans to the bottom, 1 Corinthians 2:10. It is obvious how far Meyer and Hofmann are mistaken in alleging that ὅτι should signify that and not because. They have not apprehended the bearing of the κατὰ Θεόν, according to God; Paul has a reason for making this word the opening one of the proposition. What is according to Him cannot remain unintelligible to Him. It is impossible to conceive a more superfluous thought than the one here substituted by the two commentators referred to: “God knows that the Spirit intercedes, and that He does so according to Him for the saints.” Did this knowing require to be affirmed? The last words, ὑπὲρ ἁγίων, literally, “ for saints,” are very weighty. These saints are beings in whom the Spirit already dwells. After what He has already done in them, is it not natural for Him to interest Himself in the completion of their salvation?

In the words: according to God and for saints, there is already enunciated a thought which is now to become that of the following passage, the thought of a divine plan conceived from all eternity in favor of the elect. It is to the accomplishment of this plan that the operation of the Spirit tends.

What a demonstration of the unutterable disorder which reigns throughout creation, and consequently of the state of imperfection in which it still is, notwithstanding the redemption which has been accomplished! Nature throughout all her bounds has a confused feeling of it, and from her bosom there rises a continual lament claiming a renovation from heaven. The redeemed themselves are not exempt from this groaning, and wait for their own renewal which shall be the signal of universal restoration; and finally, the Spirit, who is intimate with the plans of God for our glory (1 Corinthians 2:7), and who distinctly beholds the ideal of which we have but glimpses, pursues its realization with ardor. Thus is exhausted the first of the two leading ideas of this paasage, that of the συμπάσχειν, suffering with Christ. The apostle now passes to the second, that of the συνδοξᾳσθῆναι, being glorified with Him. The first was the condition (εἴπερ, if so be, Romans 8:17); the second is the final aim.