Romans 8:22–27

"It is going to heaven for justice," he replied. "You must have treated it badly. Remember always that there is one thing that cannot be endured by anybody or anything. That one unendurable thing is to be overworked and also neglected. For instance, you can overwork women—everybody does. But you can't neglect women—I defy you to. At the same time, you can neglect tramps and gypsies and all the apparent refuse of the State so long as you do not overwork it. But no beast of the field, no horse, no dog can endure long to be asked to do more than his work and yet have less than his honour. It is the same with streets. You have worked this street to death, and yet you have never remembered its existence. If you had a healthy democracy, even of pagans, they would have hung this street with garlands and given it the name of a god. Then it would have gone quietly. But at last the street has grown tired of your tireless insolence; and it is bucking and rearing its head to heaven. Have you never sat on a bucking horse?"

The moon labors for you, and is subject to the will of God. For vanity, the creature is subject not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it in hope. Therefore, she is not changed willingly: you are changed willingly. She groans and endures in her own change: you do not understand, and you often rejoice. She frequently awaits your redemption, so that she may be freed from the common servitude of all creation: you bring hindrance to both your redemption and her liberty. Therefore, it is your, not her, foolishness that while you wait and do not convert, she is still changing.

To groan in travail is to grieve.… The elements themselves show forth their works with care, for both the sun and the moon fill the spaces allotted to them not without travail, and the spirit of the animals demonstrates its servitude by loud groanings. All these are waiting for rest and to be set free from their servile labor. Now if this service were of any benefit to God the creation would be rejoicing, not grieving. But every day it watches its labor disappear. Every day its work appears and vanishes. Therefore it is right to grieve, because its work leads not to eternity but to corruption.

This is not to be understood simply as meaning that trees, vegetables, stones and the like sorrow and sigh—this is the error of the Manichaeans—nor should we think that the holy angels are subject to vanity or that they will be set free from the slavery of death, since they are immortal. Here "the creation" means the human race.

Every creature is represented in man, not because all the angels … are in him, nor the heaven, earth, sea and all that is in them, but because the human creature is partly spirit, partly soul and partly body.

Century by century God has guided nature up to the point of producing creatures which can (if they will) be taken right out of nature, turned into 'gods'. Will they allow themselves to be taken? In a way, it is like the crisis of birth. Until we rise and follow Christ we are still parts of Nature, still in the womb of our great mother. Her pregnancy has been long and painful and anxious, but it has reached its climax. The great moment has come. Everything is ready. The Doctor has arrived. Will the birth 'go off all right'?

the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now, thereby again showing that the whole creation, and especially the angels themselves, are burdened in this state of existence from being subservient to corruption and mutation. For since they are themselves mutable they are constantly absorbed in reflections about mutation, thinking over and hoping for liberty and longing to obtain it; and obtain it they shall, as has been stated, when men rise from the dead

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Observe, how he shames the hearer, saying almost, Be not thou worse than the creation, neither find a pleasure in resting in things present. Not only ought we not to cling to them, but even to groan over the delay of our departure hence. For if the creation doth this, much more oughtest thou to do so, honored with reason as thou art. But as this was not yet enough to force their attention, he proceeds.

Now Paul says that he and those like him know "that every creature groans together and suffers pain together until now," or, as it is found in other copies, "groans together and is in travail until now." But to groan together and to suffer together is to groan or grieve along with another who grieves or groans — that is, when one has himself no cause for groaning or grieving, yet he groans on behalf of him who has cause for groaning or grieving. And he says that the creature does these things because it has been made subject to vanity and has been placed in the servitude of corruption.

The angels themselves too, if you look to that opinion of Paul's which says that "they are all ministering spirits sent for service on account of those who receive the inheritance of salvation," you will understand that they perform something of this kind, and that they are subject to this corruption: I believe indeed that they too are so not willingly, but on account of him who subjected them in hope. "For who resists his will?" I too am invited by the prophetic utterances to understand something of this sort concerning the archangels. For what would you find of such vanity and such corruption as to wage wars in this world, and to stir up conflicts of kings and nations against one another? See, therefore, that among these matters also is reckoned a chief office of archangelic work, as the prophet Daniel testifies when he says that an archangel spoke to him, who told him that he had fought against the prince of the Persians, "and no one," he says, "was a help to me, except Michael your prince." Through these several points, then, it is discovered that the rational "creature" is "subjected to vanity not willingly, but on account of him who subjected it in hope." For the hope is that at some time there is to be a ceasing from these bodily and corruptible things. For this rational creature holds this expectation, that there may come the revelation of the sons of God, on whose account the angels are sent into ministry, so that they too, together with those to whom they have ministered, may receive the inheritance of salvation, so that of things earthly and heavenly there may be made one flock and one shepherd, and that "God may be all in all." And in order to confirm more evidently the things he had said, he added: "For we know that every creature groans together and suffers together until now." Above he had said: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy of the glory to come"; and whereas there he said that he "reckoned," in these words he says that he "knows" that every creature groans together and suffers together — namely, so that in this matter no doubt whatever may be entertained. For the creature, although it has been subjected unwillingly, nevertheless, since it yields to the will of him who subjected it, displays also a certain affection and charity toward those for whose sake it seems to have been subjected, and it grieves for their griefs, and groans for their groans. But if, as is found in other copies, we read it thus, "groans together and is in travail," we shall take "is in travail" according to that sense in which the Apostle says that he begot through the Gospel those whom he brought forth to the light through faith in Christ; or as he said elsewhere concerning others: "My little children, of whom I am again in travail, until Christ be formed in you." The creature, therefore, also travails with those whom it regenerates unto salvation. But if it should also seem to readers a thing to be inquired into, why in the foregoing he three times named the creature and nowhere said "every creature," while at the last he says: "For we know that every creature groans together and suffers together" — it can be understood thus: that it is not every creature that groans and grieves, that is, that which lies subject to the necessity of a corruptible body; but it is every creature that suffers together with those who grieve, and groans together with those who groan. Now every higher creature looks upon our contests and struggles, and grieves when we are conquered, but rejoices when we conquer; and much more than is the case with us, there is in them to rejoice with those who rejoice and to grieve with those who grieve.

Just as the angels rejoice over those who repent, so they grieve over those who are unwilling to repent.

Those which are budding are the righteous who are to live in the world to come; for the coming world is the summer of the righteous, but the winter of sinners. When, therefore, the mercy of the Lord shines forth, then shall they be made manifest who are the servants of God, and all men shall be made manifest.

How did the whole creation suffer this? The invisible creatures did it by thinking and feeling; the visible creatures did it by sharing in the thing itself.

But those who do not know nor worship God, are like birds which have wings, but cannot fly nor soar to the high things of God. Thus, too, though such persons are called men, yet being pressed down with sins, they mind grovelling and earthly-things. And the animals are named wild beasts, from their being hunted, not as if they had been made evil or venomous from the first-for nothing was made evil by God,39 but all things good, yea, very good,-but the sin in which man was concerned brought evil upon them. For when man transgressed, they also transgressed with him. For as, if the master of the house himself acts rightly, the domestics also of necessity conduct themselves well; but if the master sins, the servants also sin with him; so in like manner it came to pass, that in the case of man's sin, he being master, all that was subject to him sinned with him. When, therefore, man again shall have made his way back to his natural condition, and no longer does evil, those also shall be restored to their original gentleness.

By these words he urges the listener to despise the present. He speaks as if to say: do not be worse than creation and do not cling to the present; on the contrary, even groan that you do not yet possess the future glory. If creation groans, then all the more should you do so.

Then, when he says, "for we know," he presents the sign of this waiting, saying, "for we know," namely, we apostles, instructed by the Holy Spirit and also by experience, "that every creature groans and travails in pain, even till now."

If this is understood of sensible creation, it presents two difficulties. First, because he says, "groans and travails," for this seems to fit only the rational creature. But this can be explained so that groan is the same as the previous expression, "not willingly." For we groan against things repugnant to our will. Therefore, inasmuch as the defects of sensible creation are contrary to the natural desire of a particular nature, the visible creature is said to groan. When he says, "travails," it is the same as the previous expression, "waits." For travail is part of the process of producing offspring.

The second difficulty lies in the fact that he says, "every creature," because that would include the heavenly bodies; hence a Gloss says that the sun and moon do not complete their assigned span without labor. But this must be explained in such a way that labor is taken for motion, just as rest is sometimes taken for cessation from work, as God is said to have rested on the seventh day. Accordingly, by groaning is understood decay, which is an element of local motion, inasmuch as a body ceases to be in one place and begins to be in another. By travail is understood the destiny of heavenly bodies to be renewed.

But if it is understood of men, then human nature is said to be every creature, because it shares something with every creature: with the spiritual creature it shares intellect, with the animal it shares bodily life, with the bodily creature it shares bodily existence. Therefore, this creature, i.e., man, groans, partly because of the evils it suffers and partly because of the good things it hopes for, which are delayed: "many are my groans" (Lam 1:22). It travails, because it endures with affliction of soul the postponement of the glory it awaits: "hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Prov 13:12); "a woman in travail has sorrow" (John 16:21); "anguish as of a woman in travail" (Ps 48:6).

He says "even till now" because this groaning was not removed when we were made righteous, but it remains even till now, i.e., until death. Or "even till now," i.e., even though those in glory have been set free, the rest of us still remain. Or "even till now," because not only the ancient fathers who lived before Christ, but we also who did not live until the time of grace, suffer the same things. In 2 Peter, scoffers are described as saying: "where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation" (2 Pet 2:4).

It should be noted that God's creature can mean everything under God. Hence some try to explain the above words about every creature in such a way as to include angels. But it is quite awkward to suppose that they are subjected to futility or that they groan or are in travail, because they already have the glory, the likeness of which we await, for it says in Matthew: "they will be as the angels in heaven" (Matt 22:30). Therefore, ours is a more suitable explanation.

This adoption of sons is the redemption of the whole body, when he who is to be the son of God by adoption shall see face to face that Divine and Eternal Good; for there is the adoption of sons in the Church of God, when the Spirit cries, Abba, Father, as it is written to the Galatians. But this will be perfected when all shall rise again in incorruption power and glory who are counted worthy to see the Face of God, for then the human race will judge itself to be truly redeemed.

For Christians, this world is like the ocean. For just as the sea is whipped up by adverse winds and produces storms for sailors, so also this world, moved by the scheming of wicked men, disturbs the minds of believers. And the enemy does this in so many different ways that it is hard to know what to avoid first, for sources of tribulation are by no means wanting.

Paul now speaks about those of us who already believe. For although we serve the law of God with our spirit (i.e., our mind), our flesh still serves the law of sin for as long as we suffer mortal pains and anxieties.… Adoption is already guaranteed for those who believe, but it has been accomplished only spiritually, not physically. The body has not yet received its heavenly transformation, although the spirit, which has turned from its errors to God, has already been changed through the reconciliation of faith. Therefore even believers still await the revelation which will come in the resurrection of the body. This is the fourth state, when everything will be in perfect peace at eternal rest, completely free of malignant corruption or nagging torment.

The corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthly body pulls down a mind full of cares. For as soon as the Spirit comes to dwell in us and turns us to the study of virtue, the love of the flesh jumps up to combat it, and the law in our members, which is prone to silly lusts, begins a bitter struggle. That is why we groan waiting for the liberation of our bodies as a result of the adoption.

"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves." That is, having had a taste of the things to come. For even if any should be quite stone hard, he means what has been given already is enough to raise him up, and draw him off from things present, and to wing him after things to come in two ways, both by the greatness of the things that are given, and by the fact that, great and numerous as they are, they are but first-fruits. For if the first-fruits be so great that we are thereby freed even from our sins, and attain to righteousness and sanctification, and that those of that time both drave out devils, and raised the dead by their shadow or garments, consider how great the whole must be.

And if the creation, devoid as it is of mind and reason, and though in ignorance of these things, yet groaneth, much more should we. Next, that he may give the heretics no handle, or seem to be disparaging our present world, we groan, he says, not as finding fault with the present system, but through a desire of those greater things. And this he shows in the words, "Waiting for the adoption." What dost thou say, let me hear? Thou didst insist on it at every turn, and didst cry aloud, that we were already made sons, and now dost thou place this good thing among hopes, writing that we must needs wait for it? Now it is to set this right by the sequel that he says, "to wit, the redemption of our body." That is, the perfect glory.

Our lot indeed is at present uncertainty to our last breath, since many of us that were sons have become dogs and prisoners. But if we decease with a good hope, then is the gift unmovable, and clearer, and greater, having no longer any change to fear from death and sin. Then therefore will the grace be secure, when our body shall be freed from death and its countless ailments. For this is full redemption, not a redemption only, but such, that we shall never again return to our former captivity. For that thou mayest not be perplexed at hearing so much of glory without getting any distinct knowledge of it, he partially exposes to thy view the things to come, setting before thee the change of thy body, and along with it the change of the whole creation.

"And not only so, but we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting the adoption of sons, the redemption of our body. For by hope we have been saved. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it through patience." We have often taught that it is a habit of apostolic speech that, when he says "And not only so," and adds nothing to which it ought to be fitted, it must be referred to the things said above — as is given us to understand in the present passage also. For what he seems to be saying is of this sort: Not only does every creature groan together and suffer together; but we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves. For we too await the adoption of the sons of God, and the redemption of our body. Although by this very fact that we believe in Christ we already know that salvation has been granted us, nevertheless that salvation is still in hope, not in the sight of things visible. For if it were already seen, it certainly would not be hoped for. For a man hopes in order that he may see. But if he sees the things he was hoping for, it is superfluous to hope any longer for what he sees. We, however, do not have our hope in the things that are seen, lest our hope be empty, but in the things that are not seen. And therefore, because we hope for the things that are not seen, and they are so great and so glorious that they are obtained only through many labors and many tribulations and dangers, for that reason we await them through patience, as things that will scarcely come at some time. These things we have said by way of giving a certain direct and clearer order to the apostolic words themselves. Now, if it seems good, let us see what he indicates by this new expression, in which he said: "But we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit." For we know that it is written in the Law: "You shall not defraud the firstfruits of the threshing floor and the firstfruits of the winepress"; and again: "You shall bring the firstfruits of all your crops into the house of the Lord your God." What then? Just as the firstfruits of the threshing floor and the firstfruits of the winepress are of the same crop as the rest of the threshing floor is, or of the same liquid as the winepress is, will it likewise seem that what he calls the firstfruits of the Spirit is some one preeminent spirit out of the many remaining holy and blessed spirits? Or shall we rather understand this: that, according to what we have discussed above, there are many ministering spirits serving in ministry on account of those who receive the inheritance of salvation, under whom each of the believers is placed and trained as under guardians and stewards until the time prefixed by the Father — that is, until the soul arrives at the lawful age of perfection, where a man, having now passed beyond the spirit of bondage which he had received in fear, by which he was kept as by a tutor, is made worthy to receive the spirit of adoption, the firstfruits of the Spirit, through which, adopted into a son, he may also be joined to the company of the firstborn of the Church which is in the heavens? And just as it differs greatly to be a son rather than a slave, so the Holy Spirit differs greatly from the ministering spirits — the Spirit whose firstfruits Paul says that he and those like him possess. Let this be one way by which we have been able to track out the understanding of this saying. Let us now see another as well. We read in the apostle Paul himself that the gifts or graces of the Holy Spirit are called many spirits, as when he says: "But now, since you are zealous for spirits, seek that you may abound unto the edification of the Church"; and likewise elsewhere: "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" — calling the spirits of the prophets subject, not as though they were inferior to a better one, but for this reason, that one who has the spirit of prophecy is not compelled to speak unwillingly, as those are who have unclean spirits, but he speaks when he wills and when reason demands; whereas when it does not seem opportune to speak, he keeps silence, knowing well that there is a time for keeping silence and a time for speaking. And therefore it is not said to their reproach that the spirits are subject to the prophets, but with a view to the dispensation — just as we also take that saying about the Savior, that "then the Son himself also will be subject to him who subjected all things to himself." For here too "subject" is not said as though he were inferior. For how can he be called inferior who is the Son and is all the things that the Father is? "For all things," he says, "Father, that are yours are mine." But in those whom he subjects to the Father, namely those who believe in him — since he says that he is in each one of them, and says that he hungers and thirsts and is naked in them, and professes that he is fed and clothed in them — for that reason he too is said to be subject in them. But let these things be said by way of a certain digression. Now, however, let us return to the matter proposed. The diverse gifts of the Spirit, then, are called by Paul many spirits. And of these many gifts, whatever is highest and greatest the apostles without doubt obtained, so that they might be fit — as Paul himself says — ministers of the New Testament, and so that they might be able to fulfill the Gospel from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum. This gift of the Holy Spirit, therefore, which was conferred upon them more sublimely and more splendidly than upon the rest, he rightly called the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit. And therefore he says, "but we ourselves also." In which he seems especially to designate the apostolic dignity. "We" therefore, he says, "ourselves" — that is, the apostles — "having the firstfruits of the Spirit," we who have been chosen for this, that we should receive the firstfruits of the Spirit, "even we ourselves groan within ourselves." To such a degree, he says, is there no creature that is free from griefs and groans, that even we ourselves, who have received the highest and choicest gifts from the Holy Spirit, nevertheless, awaiting the adoption of sons — that is, the perfection of those whom we have been sent to teach and instruct — until we see them advance so far that they deserve to be adopted as sons, necessarily grieve and groan. So long, then, I say, as we who are being instructed by them are negligent, and delay, and put off the time of our amendment further, so long as we do not seek the invisible things but take delight in the visible, we stir up griefs for the apostles, and rouse, so to speak, the mourning and groans of the whole creation. For the whole creation groans together and suffers together, sighing over the losses caused by our hardness and dissembling. This is another order of explanation for us concerning the firstfruits of the Spirit; you will see whether it presents itself as one to be approved. But we shall still add a third as well. The same Apostle says again concerning the Lord Jesus Christ that he is "the firstborn of every creature." Perhaps, then, just as he is called "the firstborn of every creature," by some such reasoning the Holy Spirit too is called the firstfruits of the many spirits. Let this also be a third mode of exposition. But let the reader judge which of these better agrees with the apostolic sense. If, however, you take what he said, "And we ourselves having the firstfruits of the Spirit," as said of all who are seen to have obtained the grace of baptism, then that must be hoped for which the same Apostle said: "But if the firstfruits are holy, so also is the lump; and if the root is holy, so also are the branches." And even if this be so, nevertheless of that very lump, in which the multitude of the faithful seems to be indicated, the firstfruits will necessarily be seen to be placed in the apostles. For thus it is written, that "in the Church God has placed first apostles, second prophets, third teachers." Those therefore who have been appointed in the first rank are fittingly believed to have the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit's spiritual grace. Now let us see how he can say that he awaits the adoption of sons, when he said in the passages above that "the Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are sons of God"; and again, how he can hope for the redemption of the body, when he says elsewhere: "Christ has redeemed us." But, as it seems to me, he himself resolves this by the words that follow. For he says: "By hope we have been made safe." That we are sons, therefore, and that we have been redeemed, and that we have been saved, stands in hope. "For now we see through a mirror, and in an enigma; but then face to face": through a mirror, then, and in an enigma we receive both adoption and redemption. For "the fullness of times has come," and "God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons." We receive adoption, therefore, but that adoption which is through a mirror and in an enigma. But when the things that are perfect have come, then we shall obtain adoption "face to face." As for his saying "the redemption of our body," I think that he indicates the body of the whole Church, just as he says elsewhere: "But you are the body of Christ, and members in part." The Apostle therefore hopes that the whole body of the Church is to be redeemed, and he does not think that the things which are perfect can be given to the several individual members, unless the entire body has been gathered together into one. But it can also be understood in this way, that he calls "the redemption of our body" that redemption which is to come at the resurrection, when not only souls but bodies also will come "before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may carry back the proper things of the body according as he has done," and according to that which was said: "Fear rather him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Gehenna." And therefore each one must grieve in this world and groan, lest perchance through evil deeds and the negligence of the present life he fail to deserve to obtain the redemption of his body, but instead that sentence find him which condemns body and soul to the fires of Gehenna.

Not only do the angels, who are kinder than we are, grieve over these unrepentant people, but we who have the Holy Spirit groan for such people.

He adds that "we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit," that is, having tasted the future blessings, "groan," because we do not yet possess them, for we form our conception of the future blessings from the gifts we have received (for these gifts are the firstfruits). Then, lest the heretics have occasion to think that the world is evil and that this is why we groan, he says: "waiting for the adoption." How so? We have already been adopted: what other adoption then shall we receive? I speak, he answers, not of the adoption that is accomplished through baptism (for we have already received that adoption), but of the perfect glory, consisting in the incorruption of the body. This is the perfect redemption, the freedom and liberation from death and suffering, when from the state of adoption we shall no longer return to the slavery of sin.

After showing the excellence of future glory from the longing of the creature, the Apostle now shows the same from the longing of the apostles. For that cannot be a trifle which is desired so anxiously by great men. In regard to this he does two things. First, he states his proposition; second, he proves it, at "for we are saved by hope."

In regard to the first he does three things. First, he describes the dignity of those longing when he says: "and not only it," namely, the creature, awaits the glory of the sons of God, "but ourselves," namely, the apostles, "who have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit," namely, because the apostles had the Holy Spirit before others and more abundantly than others, just as earthly fruit which ripens earlier is richer and more delicious: "Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest" (Jer 2:3); "you have come to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven" (Heb 12:23). From this it is clear that the apostles are greater than all other saints no matter what their credentials, whether virginity or learning or martyrdom, because they have the Holy Spirit more fully.

But someone might say that some other saints have endured more torture and greater austerities for Christ than the apostles. But it should be recognized that the amount of one's merit depends principally, and in respect to essential reward, on charity. For the essential reward consists in the joy one has in God. But it is plain that one who loves God more will enjoy him more. Hence, the Lord promises that blessed vision to those who love: "he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). But according to the quantity of his works man merits an accidental reward, which is joy taken in those works. Therefore, the apostles performed the works they did with greater charity, which made their hearts prepared for much greater ones, if it had been opportune.

But if it is said: someone can try so hard that he will have charity equal to that of the apostles, the answer is that a man's charity is not derived from himself but from God's grace, which is given to each according to the measure of Christ's gift (Eph 4:7). Now he gives to each the grace proportionate to his calling. Thus, the most excellent grace was given to Christ, because he was called to have his human nature taken into the unity of his divine person; after him the greatest fullness of grace was conferred on blessed Mary, who was called to be the mother of Christ. Among the rest, however, the apostles were called to a greater dignity than all others, for they received from Christ himself the things that pertain to salvation and the commission to deliver them to others. Hence, the Church is in a sense founded on them, as it says in Revelation: "the wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Rev 21:14); and "God indeed has set some in the church; first apostles" (1 Cor 12:28). Therefore, God gave them a greater abundance of grace than the rest.

Second, he mentions the anxiety with which they wait, when he says, "we ourselves groan inwardly." This groaning indicates the distress caused by the postponement of something desired with great longing: "hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Prov 13:12); "I am weary with my moaning" (Ps 6:6). This groaning, however, is more internal than external, because it proceeds from the hidden feelings of the heart and because it is concerned with internal goods. Hence he says, "we ourselves groan inwardly": "my groans are many" (Lam 1:22).

Third, he mentions what is awaited, saying, "waiting for the adoption of the sons," i.e., for the completion of this adoption. For this adoption was begun by the Holy Spirit justifying the soul: "you have received the spirit of adoption of sons" (Rom 8:15). But it will be brought to fulfillment when the body is glorified: "we rejoice in the hope of sharing the glory of the children of God" (Rom 5:2). And that is why he adds: "the redemption of our body," so that as our spirit has been redeemed from sin, so our body might be redeemed from corruption and death: "I shall ransom them from death" (Hos 13:14); "he will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body" (Phil 3:21).

By hoping for what God has promised to us in Christ, we have made ourselves worthy of deliverance. Therefore we have been set free in the hope that what is coming in the future is no different from what we believe.

Life at a vile boarding-school is in this way a good preparation for the Christian life, that it teaches one to live by hope. Even, in a sense, by faith; for at the beginning of each term, home and the holidays are so far off that it is as hard to realise them as to realise heaven. They have the same pitiful unreality when confronted with immediate horrors. To-morrow's geometry blots out the distant end of term as to-morrow's operation may blot out the hope of Paradise. And yet, term after term, the unbelievable happened. Fantastical and astronomical figures like "This time six weeks" shrank into practicable figures like "This time next week", and then "This time to-morrow", and the almost supernatural bliss of the Last Day punctually appeared. It was a delight that almost demanded to be stayed with flagons and comforted with apples; a delight that tingled down the spine and troubled the belly and at moments went near to stopping the breath. Of course this had a terrible and equally relevant reverse side. In the first week of the holidays we might acknowledge that term would come again--as a young man, in peace time, in full health, acknowledges that he will one day die. But like him we could not even by the grimmest memento mori be brought to realise it. And there too, each time, the unbelievable happened. The grinning skull finally peered through all disguises; the last hour, held at bay by every device our will and imaginations knew, came in the end, and once more it was the bowler-hat, the Eton collar, the knickerbockers, and (clop-clop-clop-clop) the evening drive to the quay. In all seriousness I think that the life of faith is easier to me because of these memories. To think, in sunny and confident times, that I shall die and rot, or to think that one day all this universe will slip away and become memory (as Oldie slipped away into memory three times a year, and with him the canes and the disgusting food, the stinking sanitation and the cold beds)--this is easier to us if we have seen just that sort of thing happening before. We have learned not to take present things at their face value.

[Lewis reflects on how the nature of Joy — a longing that is itself a kind of possession — mirrors the paradox of Christian hope, where wanting and having are not opposites]

What I never realised was that it had returned--that the remembering of that walk was itself a new experience of just the same kind. True, it was desire, not possession. But then what I had felt on the walk had also been desire, and only possession in so far as that kind of desire is itself desirable, is the fullest possession we can know on earth; or rather, because the very nature of Joy makes nonsense of our common distinction between having and wanting. There, to have is to want and to want is to have.

You see that martyrdom for love's sake is taught. And should you wish to be a martyr for the recompense of advantages, you shall hear again. "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

It is the wholesome precept of our Lord and Master: "He that endureth," saith He, "unto the end, the same shall be saved; " and again, "If ye continue," saith He, "in my word, ye shall be truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." We must endure and persevere, beloved brethren, in order that, being admitted to the hope of truth and liberty, we may attain to the truth and liberty itself; for that very fact that we are Christians is the substance of faith and hope. But that hope and faith may attain to their result, there is need of patience. For we are not following after present glory, but future, according to what Paul the apostle also warns us, and says, "We are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we by patience wait for it." Therefore, waiting and patience are needful, that we may fulfil that which we have begun to be, and may receive that which we believe and hope for, according to God's own showing. Moreover, in another place, the same apostle instructs the righteous and the doers of good works, and them who lay up for themselves treasures in heaven with the increase of the divine usury, that they also should be patient; and teaches them, saying, "Therefore, while we have time, let us labour in that which is good unto all men, but especially to them who are of the household of faith. But let us not faint in well-doing, for in its season we shall reap." He admonishes that no man should impatiently faint in his labour, that none should be either called off or overcome by temptations and desist in the midst of the praise and in the way of glory; and the things that are past perish, while those which have begun cease to be perfect; as it is written, "The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in whatever clay he shall transgress; " and again, "Hold that which thou hast, that another take not thy crown." Which word exhorts us to persevere with patience and courage, so that he who strives towards the crown with the praise now near at hand, may be crowned by the continuance of patience.

We believe that our bodies also will overcome corruption and death. For the time being this is a hope, because it is not yet present, but it is a future certainty.

The truth is that the tradition of Christianity (which is still the only coherent ethic of Europe) rests on two or three paradoxes or mysteries which can easily be impugned in argument and as easily justified in life. One of them, for instance, is the paradox of hope or faith—that the more hopeless is the situation the more hopeful must be the man. Stevenson understood this, and consequently Mr. Moore cannot understand Stevenson. Another is the paradox of charity or chivalry that the weaker a thing is the more it should be respected, that the more indefensible a thing is the more it should appeal to us for a certain kind of defence. Thackeray understood this, and therefore Mr. Moore does not understand Thackeray.

As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is a mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength at all. Like all the Christian virtues, it is as unreasonable as it is indispensable.

Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate. It is true that there is a state of hope which belongs to bright prospects and the morning; but that is not the virtue of hope. The virtue of hope exists only in earthquake and eclipse. For practical purposes it is at the hopeless moment that we require the hopeful man, and the virtue either does not exist at all, or begins to exist at that moment. Exactly at the instant when hope ceases to be reasonable it begins to be useful.

"For we are saved by hope," he says. Now since he had dwelt upon the promise of the things to come, and this seemed to pain the weaker hearer, if the blessings are all matter of hope; after proving before that they are surer than things present and visible, and discoursing at large on the gifts already given, and showing that we have received the first fruits of those good things, lest we should seek our all in this world, and be traitors to the nobility that faith gives us, he says, "For we are saved by hope." And this is about what he means. We are not to seek our all in this life, but to have hope also. For this is the only gift that we brought in to God, believing Him in what He promised shall come, and it was by this way alone we were saved.

If then we lose this hope, we have lost all that was of our own contributing. For I put you this question, he would say, Wert thou not liable for countless sins? wert thou not in despair? wert thou not under sentence? were not all out of heart about thy salvation? What then saved thee? It was thy hoping in God alone, and trusting to Him about His promises and gifts, and nothing besides hadst thou to bring in. If it was this then that saved thee, hold it fast now also. For that which afforded thee so great blessings, to a certainty will not deceive thee in regard to things to come.

For in that it found thee dead, and ruined, and a prisoner, and an enemy, and yet made thee a friend, and a son, and a freeman, and righteous, and a joint-heir, and yielded such great things as no one ever expected even, how, after such munificence and attachment, will it betray thee in what is to follow? Say not to me, hopes again! expectations again! faith again! For it is in this way thou wert saved from the beginning, and this dowry was the only one that thou didst bring in to the Bridegroom. Hold it then fast and keep it: for if thou demandest to have everything in this world, thou hast lost that well-doing of thine, through which thou didst become bright, and this is why he proceeds to say, "But hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?"

After this he says: "For by hope we have been made safe. But hope that is seen is not hope." Just as he had said above concerning the creation, that "it was subjected to vanity on account of him who subjected it in hope," so here too concerning himself and whomever he knows to be counted together with himself, he says: "For by hope we have been made safe"—just as he also joined his own groanings to the groanings of the creation. But how salvation lies in hope, and how hope is not placed in those things which are seen but in those which are not seen, we have already taught above. This alone we shall briefly add: that both from these words, and from those in which he says, "Not looking at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen," he teaches us that among the good things to come we ought to hope for none of those things which are now seen, or which can be seen—not even if you look at this visible heaven, not even if you look at the earth. Hear concerning these things, that "heaven and earth will pass away," for they are visible; and what you see, why do you hope for it? Nothing at all, therefore, is to be hoped for in the future from the things which are seen. For "the eye has not seen what God has prepared for those who love him." But the eye does see heaven and earth; it is not right, therefore, to believe that this which is seen has been prepared by God for those who love him; but rather a heaven—or rather heavens far more eminent and lofty than that firmament which can be seen with the eyes. But an earth too is to be hoped for, yet not this one which is called dry land and lies open to the eyes, but that will be the land of the meek which the eye has not seen. For the Apostle's meaning is plain, teaching that in the things to come we are not to hope for things visible and corporeal, but for things spiritual and eternal: since "the things which are seen are temporal," and come to an end with time, "but the things which are not seen are eternal," and these the Apostle teaches are to be hoped for. For this reason also the very restoration of our body is effected from corruptible into incorruptible, and from mortal into immortal, and from weakness it is restored into power, and from an animal body a spiritual body is made, so that, when it has been made spiritual, it may be able also to enjoy the invisible goods: which goods, not seeing them in the present age, we hope for through hope, and await through patience.

We have not yet seen the things that we were promised, but we live in hope. What we see is not hoped for, but we own it if it belongs to us. Christians have no hope in what can be seen, for we have been promised not what is present but what is to come in the future.

Since he was speaking of future things, which many did not believe, he urges: do not doubt, O believer, concerning what I say; on the basis of what you have already received, be confident also concerning the future. Just as before, when God granted you great blessings, you brought nothing except faith alone, so now also, in hope of future blessings, make use of faith. For hope is truly hope precisely when its object is something unseen; for if one sees, then what is there to hope for?

Then when he says, "for we are saved," he proves what he had said with the following reason: hope is concerned with things not seen in the present but awaited in the future. But we have been saved through hope; therefore, we wait for the completion of salvation as something future.

First, therefore, he presents the minor premise, saying: "for we," the apostles and the rest of the believers, "are saved by hope," namely, because we hope for our salvation: "we have been born anew to a living hope" (1 Pet 1:3); "hope in him at all times, O people" (Ps 62:8).

Second, he presents the major premise, saying, "but hope," i.e., the thing hoped for, "that is seen," as though possessed at present, "is not hope," i.e., not something hoped for, but something possessed. For hope is the expectation of something future: "wait for me, for the day when I arise" (Zeph 3:8).

Third, he presents proof of the major, saying, "for who sees that which he hopes for?" As if to say: hope implies a movement of the soul toward something not possessed. But when something is already possessed, there is no need for one to be moved toward it. And it should be noted that because hope somehow springs from faith, he attributes to hope something that belongs to faith, namely, that it is concerned with something not seen: "faith is the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11:1).

Patience is greatly approved of by God, for by daily waiting it desires the coming of the kingdom of God and does not doubt just because it delays.

Patience trains up the longing. Wait, for he waits. Walk on steadfastly that you may reach the end. He will not leave that place to which you are moving.

The certainty of our hope is prefigured by the egg. No offspring is as yet discernible in the egg, but the birth of the bird to come is hoped for. The faithful do not yet look upon the glory of the fatherland on high in which they believe at the present time, but they await its coming in hope.

Patient waiting is necessary that we may fulfill what we have begun to be and, through God's help, that we may obtain what we hope for and believe.

"But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." That is, if thou art to be looking for everything in this world, what need is there for hope? What is hope then? It is feeling confidence in things to come. What great demand then doth God make upon thee, since He Himself giveth thee blessings quite entire from His own stores? One thing only, hope, He asks of thee, that thou too mayest have somewhat of thine own to contribute toward thy salvation. And this he intimates in what he proceeds with: "For if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." As then God crowneth him that undergoes labors, and hardnesses, and countless toils, so doth He him that hopeth. For the name of patience belongs to hard work and much endurance. Yet even this He hath granted to the man that hopeth, that He might solace the wearied soul.

The reward for faith with patience is great, because we believe what we do not yet see, and we are as sure of what we have not yet received as if we have already received it. As Paul says to the Hebrews: "You have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised."

Therefore, one must not seek everything here: we "wait with patience" for the future. When you hear of patience, understand by it the idea of struggles and strenuous labors. For a Christian must endure, awaiting that which is unseen but expected through faith.

Fourth, he presents the conclusion, saying, "but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Hence it should be noted that patience, properly speaking, inclines one to tolerate tribulation with a certain evenness of mind: "be patient in tribulation" (Rom 12:12). But because the postponement of something good has an aspect of evil, even the continued wait for absent goods with evenness of mind is attributed to patience, although these pertain more to long-suffering; "be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord" (Jas 5:7). But patience is taken in both ways here, because the apostles awaited glory with evenness of mind, along with the delay and tribulation.

Our prayers are weak because they ask for things contrary to reason, and for this reason Paul shows that this weakness in us is helped by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. The Holy Spirit helps because he does not allow anything we ask for before the proper time or against God's wishes to happen.Paul says that the Spirit intercedes for us not with human words but according to his own nature. For when what comes from God speaks with God, it is obvious that he will speak in the same way as the one from whom he comes speaks. For the Spirit given to us overflows with our prayers in order to make up for our inadequacy and lack of foresight by his actions and to ask God for the things which will be of benefit to us.

It is clear from what follows that Paul is speaking here about the Holy Spirit.… "We do not know how to pray as we ought" for two reasons. First, it is not yet clear what future we are hoping for or where we are heading, and second, many things in this life may seem positive but are in fact negative, and vice versa. Tribulation, for example, when it comes to a servant of God in order to test or correct him may seem futile to those who have less understanding.… But God often helps us through tribulation, and prosperity, which may be negative if it traps the soul with delight and the love of this life, is sought after in vain.The Spirit sighs by making us sigh, arousing in us by his love a desire for the future life. "The Lord your God tempts you so that he might know whether you love him," that is, to make you know, for nothing escapes God's notice.

The Spirit that intercedes is nothing but the same charity which the Spirit has wrought in you.… Charity itself groans in prayer, and he who gave it cannot shut his ears to its voice. Cast away care, let charity make request, and the ears of God are ready to listen. The answer comes—not what you want but what is to your advantage.

The Holy Spirit, who intercedes with God on behalf of the saints, does not groan as if he were in need and experiencing distress. Rather he moves us to pray when we groan, and thus he is said to do what we do when he moves us.

We must not deduce from this that either the apostle or those to whom he spoke were unacquainted with the Lord's Prayer. We think that the reason Paul says that we do not know how we should pray … was because temporal trials and troubles are often useful for curing the swelling of pride or for proving and testing our patience, and by this proving and testing winning for it a more glorious and precious reward; or for chastising and wiping out certain sins, while we, ignorant of these benefits, wish to be delivered from all trouble.

But if many are groaning, what does the mention of one signify? "The voice of the turtledove," it says. Why not "of turtledoves"? Perhaps the Apostle resolves this, where he says that "the Spirit himself intercedes for the saints with unutterable groanings" (Rom 8:26). So it is. He himself is introduced as groaning, who makes others groan. And however many they be whom you hear groaning thus, the voice of one sounds through the lips of all. Why not his, who forms that very voice in the mouth of each according to the needs of each? Finally, "to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit" (1 Cor 12:7). His own voice makes each one manifest and indicates his presence. And hear from the Gospel, that the Holy Spirit has a voice. "The Spirit," he says, "breathes where he wills, and you hear his voice; and you do not know whence he comes or where he goes" (Jn 3:8). Even if that one did not know, who, a dead teacher, was teaching the dead the letter that kills; let us know, who, having been translated from death to life through the life-giving Spirit, prove by certain and daily experience, with him illuminating us, that our prayers and groanings come from him, and go to him, and there find mercy in the eyes of God. For when would God make void the voice of his own Spirit? But he himself knows what the Spirit desires, because he intercedes according to God for the saints.

Although God is most generous and more ready to give than we are to receive, nevertheless He wills to be prayed to by us, so that He may have occasion to bestow the gifts of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Moreover, He wills to be prayed to not only by mental prayer, which is "the ascent of the intellect to God," but also by vocal prayer, which is "the petition of fitting things from God," not only through ourselves, but also through the Saints as through helpers divinely given to us, so that what we are less worthy to obtain through ourselves we may be able to obtain through the Saints.

And because we know not what we should pray for as we ought, lest we wander in uncertainty, He handed down to us a form in the prayer which He composed, in which under the sevenfold number of petitions the universality of things to be sought is comprehended.

I've just found in an old note-book a poem, with no author's name attached, which is rather relevant to something we were talking about a few weeks ago—I mean, the haunting fear that there is no-one listening, and that what we call prayer is soliloquy: someone talking to himself. This writer takes the bull by the horns and says in effect: "Very well, suppose it is", and gets a surprising result. Here is the poem:

They tell me, Lord that when I seem To be in speech with you, Since but one voice is heard, it's all a dream, One talker aping two.

Sometimes it is, yet not as they Conceive it. Rather, I Seek in myself the things I hoped to say, But lo!, my wells are dry.

Then, seeing me empty, you forsake The listener's role and through My dumb lips breathe and into utterance wake The thoughts I never knew.

And thus you neither need reply Nor can; thus, while we seem Two talkers, thou are One forever, and I No dreamer, but thy dream.

_Dream_ makes it too like Pantheism and was perhaps dragged in for the rhyme. But is he not right in thinking that prayer in its most perfect state is a soliloquy? If the Holy Spirit speaks in the man, then in prayer God speaks to God. But the human petitioner does not therefore become a "dream". As you said the other day, God and man cannot exclude one another, as man excludes man, at the point of junction, so to call it, between Creator and creature; the point where the mystery of creation—timeless for God, and incessant in time for us—is actually taking place. "God did (or said) it" and "I did (or said) it" can both be true.

In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him. He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something 'out there', in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you. Perhaps some people might find it easier to begin with the third Person and work backwards. God is love, and that love works through men—especially through the whole community of Christians. But this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and the Son.

If he but form the thought in the secret chamber of his soul, and call on the Father "with unspoken groanings," He is near, and is at his side, while yet speaking.

He is called advocate because he intercedes with the justice of the Father for the error of sinners. He who is of one substance with the Father and the Son is said to entreat for sinners, because those whom he has filled, he makes into those who entreat. Hence Paul also says: For the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. But he who entreats is less than he who is entreated; how then is the Spirit said to entreat, who is not less? But the Spirit himself entreats because he inflames those whom he has filled to entreat.

It is not possible, says Paul, for us human beings to have a precise knowledge of everything. So we ought to yield to the Creator of our nature and with joy and great relish accept those things which he has decided on and have an eye not to the appearance of events but to the decisions of the Lord. After all, he knows better than we do what is for our benefit, and he also knows what steps must be taken for our salvation.

"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities." For the one point is thy own, that of patience, but the other comes of the Spirit's furnishings, Who also cherisheth thee unto this hope, and through it again lighteneth thy labors. Then that thou mightest know that it is not in thy labors only and dangers that this grace standeth by thee, but even in things the most easy seemingly, it worketh with thee, and on all occasions bears its part in the alliance, he proceeds to say, "For we know not what we should pray for as we ought."

And this he said to show the Spirit's great concern about us, and also to instruct them not to think for certainty that those things are desirable which to man's reasonings appear so. For since it was likely that they, when they were scourged, and driven out, and suffering grievances without number, should be seeking a respite, and ask this favor of God, and think it was advantageous to them, by no means (he says) suppose that what seem blessings to you really are so. For we need the Spirit's aid even to do this. So feeble is man, and such a nothing by himself. For this is why he says, "For we know not what we should pray for as we ought." In order that the learner might not feel any shame at his ignorance, he does not say, ye know not, but, "we know not."

And that he did not say this merely to seem moderate, he plainly shows from other passages. For he desired in his prayers unceasingly to see Rome. Yet the time when he obtained it was not at once when he desired it. And for "the thorn" that was given him "in the flesh," that is the dangers, he often besought God, and was entirely unsuccessful. And so was Moses, who in the Old Testament prays to see Palestine, and Jeremiah when he made supplication for the Jews, and Abraham when he interceded for the people of Sodom.

"But the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." This statement is not clear, owing to the cessation of many of the wonders which then used to take place. Wherefore I must needs inform you of the state of things at that time, and in this way the rest of the subject will be cleared. What therefore was the state of things then? God did in those days give to all that were baptized certain excellent gifts, and the name that these had was spirits. For "the spirits of the Prophets," it says, "are subject to the prophets." And one had the gift of prophecy and foretold things to come; and another of wisdom, and taught the many; and another of healings, and cured the sick; and another of miracles, and raised the dead; another of tongues, and spoke different languages. And with all these there was also a gift of prayer, which also was called a spirit, and he that had this prayed for all the people. For since we are ignorant of much that is profitable for us and ask things that are not profitable, the gift of prayer came into some particular person of that day, and what was profitable for all the whole Church alike, he was the appointed person to ask for in behalf of all, and the instructor of the rest. Spirit then is the name that he gives here to the grace of this character, and the soul that receiveth the grace, and intercedeth to God, and groaneth.

The Holy Spirit importunes the divine ears on our behalf "with sighs too deep for words," thereby discharging his duties as advocate and rendering his services in our defense. He has been given to dwell in our bodies and to bring about our sanctification.

"Likewise the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings. And he who searches hearts knows what the Spirit desires; because he intercedes for the saints according to God." When he had said in the preceding passages that every creature groans together and suffers together with those who are set in the contest of this life—that is, labors along with them and lends them strength—and had then also recalled that Paul himself and those like him utter groanings on behalf of those who labor, so that by these things he might console those set in the struggle, when they saw all the saints and the whole creation laboring with them in affection and joining their groanings to theirs: he now adds something higher and more sublime. Do not think it a small thing, he says, that all creation groans and suffers together with us; let it not seem a small thing that we ourselves groan for your labors. Even in the divine nature itself there is a certain affection of compassion toward our struggles (for I join myself also with you), and the Spirit himself "helps our weakness." In short, we do not know what we ought to pray, what we ought to ask from God. For sometimes we desire things contrary to our salvation, weakness compelling us. For just as one who is set in a bodily illness asks of the physician not the things that befit or conduce to health, but the things that the craving of his present sickness has suggested: so we too, languishing in the weakness of this life, sometimes ask of God what is not expedient for us. In short, I myself, Paul, who speak these things to you—when, on account of the sublimity of the revelations, lest I be exalted, there had been given me by the Lord "an angel of Satan to buffet me, three times I asked the Lord that it might depart from me," not knowing what I was praying: and therefore, because I did not know how to pray as I ought, the Lord did not hear me, but said to me: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." So then, "we do not know what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings." Paul perceives something great, I know not what, in groanings: for behold, this is now the third time he sets down groanings. For he says both that "the creation groans together," and that "we ourselves groan," and that "the Spirit himself intercedes with God by groanings on behalf of the saints." He has indeed added, concerning these groanings which he says are offered to God through the Spirit, that they are unutterable. But this he said neither of the groanings of the whole creation nor of his own. And consider whether in these groanings we can understand a great deal of confidence and freedom in the sight of God—namely, that the prayer which is offered to God with sorrow and groaning receives from the Holy Spirit the confidence to ascend to God. In short, Adam, when he had sinned, lost his confidence, and hid himself from the face of God. But holy David says that "my groaning is not hidden from you." But let us see what it is that he says: "The Spirit himself intercedes for us." For John too indicates that Jesus does this, when he says: "Little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin; but if any of us has sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus the just, who also intercedes for us." And here, the Spirit intercedes for us. And this the Spirit does by helping our weakness. But what our weakness is, the Lord himself teaches when he says: "The spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak." Therefore our weakness descends from the weakness of the flesh. For it is the flesh that lusts against the spirit; and while it presses in its own lusts, it impedes the purity of the spirit and clouds the sincerity of prayer. But when the Spirit of God has seen our spirit laboring in resisting the flesh and in cleaving to him, he stretches out his hand and helps its weakness: and just as a teacher, taking on an untrained pupil who is wholly ignorant of letters, in order to be able to teach and instruct him, must needs bend down to the pupil's beginnings, and himself first pronounce the name of the letter so that the pupil may learn by answering, and the teacher himself becomes in a certain way like the beginning pupil, speaking those things and rehearsing those things which the beginner ought to speak and rehearse: so also the Holy Spirit, when he has seen our spirit disturbed by the assaults of the flesh, and not knowing what it ought to pray as it ought, himself like a teacher leads off the prayer, which our spirit—if indeed it desires to be a pupil of the Holy Spirit—may follow after: he himself offers the groanings by which our spirit may be taught to groan, that it may render God propitious to itself. But if the Spirit indeed teaches, and our spirit—that is, our mind—does not follow, then by its own fault the teacher's instruction becomes fruitless for it. And Paul, knowing that this mystery is enacted within a person, used to say: "For if I speak in tongues, my spirit prays, but my mind is without fruit"—calling his spirit the grace of the Holy Spirit which is given by God to human beings. Whence also, exhorting us not to have this benefit of the Holy Spirit fruitless, he adds and says: "What then is it? I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind: I will say a psalm with the spirit, I will say a psalm also with the mind." Therefore, although Paul himself has marked these things as unutterable, and as being enacted with unutterable groanings, nevertheless, so far as it was possible for us, we have set forth a certain image of the things which are divinely enacted and which he himself brings forward rather covertly. But let the one who is spiritual examine all things, and if he can investigate anything deeper than these, let him keep it with himself: for "the faithful man conceals matters in his spirit." Yet those must be admonished who ask of God prosperity for themselves in the present life, and health, or riches, or honors, that they do not know what they pray as is expedient. For it often happens that these present gains and worldly dignity turn out to the harm of the soul or to its everlasting reproach. And therefore that must rather be held to which the Lord taught us to say in prayer: "Your will be done."

I would like to know how the saints cry out to God without a voice. The Apostle teaches that: "God gave the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying: Abba, Father!" And he adds: "the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings." And again: "but he who searches the hearts knows what the Spirit desires, because he asks for the saints according to God." Thus, then, when the Holy Spirit intercedes with God, through the silence of the saints a cry is heard.

The Spirit helps us in accordance with the hope we have, so that we may request not earthly things but heavenly ones. For our ability is weak unless it is helped by the Holy Spirit. We still see through a glass darkly, and often what we judge to be helpful is actually harmful. Therefore our requests may not be granted by divine providence, as Paul says elsewhere.

Herein also you ought to recognise the Paraclete in His character of Comforter, in that He excuses your infirmity from (the stringency of) an absolute continence.

Do not think that you will be set free by things which are harmful. You do not know what is good for you in the way that God does. Therefore, give yourselves to him who holds the key to the universe. For even if you ask nothing but merely groan under the impulse of the grace which dwells in you, he handles your affairs wisely and will ensure that you get what you need.

Having mentioned patience, he encourages the listener and says that the Spirit also helps us. Therefore do not grow weary in hope and patience: you bring only hope and patience, and the Spirit helps you. He shows how the Spirit helps in our weaknesses. We are so weak that we do not even know what we should pray for. All of us in general are so weak; so weak am I, Paul, as well. For Paul also prayed for deliverance from the "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:8) and to come to Rome (Rom. 1:10), and Moses prayed to see Palestine (Deut. 3:23–25), and Jeremiah prayed for the Jews (Jer. 11:14), not knowing what was necessary. Paul says this now because at that time the believing Romans, being subjected to persecutions and insults, naturally desired rest, and not receiving it, fell into despondency. So then, he proves that no one among men knows what it is profitable to ask for. Therefore, he says, you must endure, and what is profitable for you, this the Spirit alone knows. For this reason he adds the following as well. In antiquity, God bestowed upon the baptized many and various gifts, which were generally called "spirit." One had the gift of prophecy, another the gift of wisdom, yet another some other gift. In exactly the same way, God also bestowed the gift of prayer, which was likewise called "spirit." Since, not knowing many things beneficial for us, we ask for what is useless, in the earliest times the gift of prayer would descend upon some one person, who alone would pray and also teach others to ask for what was beneficial for all. So by "spirit" he means here a gift of this kind, and a soul that has received the gift of prayer, that intercedes before God and groans. For such a spiritual man would stand with great contrition and with powerful groaning. Now we see a sign of this in the deacon, who standing offers earnest supplications on behalf of the people.

Then he shows how we are helped by the Holy Spirit in the defects of the present life, when he says, "likewise, the Spirit." First, for the fulfillment of desires; second, for the direction of external events, at "and we know that" (Rom 8:28). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he states his proposition; second, he clarifies it, at "for we do not know."

First, therefore, he says: it has been stated that our mortal bodies will be vivified by the Holy Spirit, when our weakness shall be removed from us. Likewise in the present life in which we are still subject to weakness the Spirit also helps our infirmity, even though he does not take it away entirely: "the spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heart of my spirit," as though weakness was not yet entirely removed, "for the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me" (Ezek 3:14); and in this way he helped me: "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt 26:41).

Then he clarifies what he had said, when he says "for we do not know." First, he shows the need for the Spirit's help, which pertains to a weakness of the present life; second, he indicates the way he helps, at "but the Spirit himself"; third, he shows the efficacy of the help, at "and he who searches."

First, therefore, he says: I am correct in saying that the Spirit also helps our infirmity. For in this we suffer a weakness that we do not know what we should pray for as we ought: "why does God surround with darkness the man whose way is hid?" (Job 3:23).

And it should be noted that the Apostle says there are two things we do not know, namely, what we should ask for in prayer and the manner in which we ought to ask. But both seem to be false. For in the first place we know what we should ask for, because the Lord taught us: "hallowed be your name" (Matt 6:9), and so forth. The answer is that we can know in a general way what it is suitable to pray for, but we cannot know this in particular. First of all, if we desire to perform a virtuous deed, which is to fulfill God's will on earth as it is in heaven, it can happen that the virtuous deed does not befit this or that person. For example, the quiet of contemplation is not expedient for a person who can press onward usefully in action, as Gregory says in Morals on Job 5:26: "you shall come to your grave in ripe old age." Hence it says in Proverbs: "there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death" (Prov 14:12). Second, a person desires a temporal good to sustain life, which is to seek one's daily bread, but it puts him in danger of death. For many have perished because of riches: "riches were kept by their owner to his hurt" (Eccl 5:13). Third, a person desires to be freed from a bothersome trial which, nevertheless, is for him a guardian of humility. For example, St. Paul sought the removal of a thorn of the flesh, but it had been given him to keep him from being too elated by the abundance of revelations (2 Cor 12:7).

Likewise, it also seems that we know how to pray as we ought, since it says in James: "let him ask in faith, with no doubting" (Jas 1:6). Here, too, the answer is that we can know in general, but we cannot discern exactly the special motive; for example, whether we are asking from anger or from a zeal for justice. Hence in Matthew, the petition of the sons of Zebedee was refused because, although they seemed to be asking to share in divine glory, their petition proceeded from vainglory or from elation (Matt 20:20).

Then he tells the way the Holy Spirit helps when he says, "but the Spirit himself asks for us with unspeakable groanings." This statement seems to support the error of Arius and Macedonius, who held that the Holy Spirit is a creature and lower than the Father and Son. For intercession is the role of a lesser person. But if from the fact that he is said to intercede we understand that he is a creature subject to suffering and inferior to the Father, then from the fact that he intercedes with groanings, we should suppose that he is a creature subject to suffering and not yet enjoying beatitude—which no heretic has ever said. For a groan proceeds from pain that pertains to wretchedness. Consequently we must explain "asks," i.e., makes us ask, as in Genesis: "now I know that you fear God" (Gen 22:12), i.e., I have made you know.

For the Holy Spirit makes us ask, inasmuch as he causes right desires in us, because to ask is to make desires known. Now right desires arise from the ardor of love, which he produces in us: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). But with the Holy Spirit directing and inciting our heart, our desires cannot but be profitable to us: "I am the Lord who teaches you to profit" (Isa 48:17); therefore, he adds, "for us." But when we desire something strongly and pray for it longingly, we suffer its delay with pain and groanings; therefore, he adds, "with groanings," which he causes in our heart, inasmuch as he inspires us to desire heavenly things which are postponed for the soul. These are the moanings of the dove, which the Holy Spirit causes in us: "moaning like doves" (Nah 2:7). They are unspeakable: either because they concern an indescribable thing, namely, heavenly glory: "he heard things that cannot be told" (2 Cor 12:4); or because those movements of the heart cannot be sufficiently described, inasmuch as they proceed from the Holy Spirit: "who can explain the wisdom of the heavens?" (Job 38:37).

It is clear that the prayer of every spirit is known to God, from whom nothing is secret or hidden. How much more then should [the Father] know what the Holy Spirit, who is the same essence as himself, is saying?

By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in silence, the shouting of the saints is heard in the presence of God.

"But He that searcheth the hearts." You see that it is not about the Comforter that he is speaking, but about the spiritual heart. Since if this were not so, he ought to have said, "He that searcheth" the Spirit. But that thou mayest learn that the language is meant of a spiritual man, who has the gift of prayer, he proceeds, "And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit," that is, of the spiritual man.

"Because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Not (he means) that he informs God as if ignorant, but this is done that we may learn to pray for proper things, and to ask of God what is pleasing to Him. For this is what the "according to God" is. And so this was with a view to solace those that came to Him, and to yield them excellent instruction. For He that furnished the gifts, and gave besides blessings without number, was the Comforter. Hence it says, "all these things worketh one and the self-same Spirit." And it is for our instruction that this takes place, and to show the love of the Spirit, it condescendeth even to this. And it is from this that the person praying getteth heard, because the prayer is made "according to the will of God."

You see from how many points he instructs them in the love that was shown them and the honor that was done them. And what is there that God hath not done for us? The world He hath made corruptible for us, and again for us incorruptible. He suffered His Prophets to be ill-treated for our sake, sent them into captivity for us, let them fall into the furnace, and undergo ills without number. Nay, He made them prophets for us, and the Apostles also He made for us. He gave up for us His Only-Begotten, He punisheth the devil for us, He hath seated us on the Right Hand, He was reproached for us. "For the reproaches of them that reproached thee," it says, "fell upon me."

"And he who searches hearts knows what the Spirit desires, because he intercedes for the saints according to God." He shows indeed that by God not so much our words in prayer are weighed as the heart and the mind: for it is he who searches hearts and reins. But as to his saying a second time that "the Spirit intercedes," this is what he teaches: that no small dispensation is enacted among human beings through the Holy Spirit also. For although the only-begotten Son of God was incarnate and suffered for the salvation of the human race, and by his death destroyed death, and by his resurrection restored life, nonetheless magnificent things are no less actively enacted through the Holy Spirit as well, apart from incarnation. Only this much is different: that he died for the ungodly (for so Paul himself shows when he says: "For while we were yet weak, Christ in due time died for the ungodly"), but the Holy Spirit no longer intercedes for the ungodly, but "for the saints": and he intercedes not according to the flesh, but "according to God." Christ, however, is not said to have died according to God, but according to the flesh. Therefore the Spirit is said to offer his intercession for the saints not in words, but "in groanings": and not in these common groanings, but in "unutterable" ones. For how can what the Spirit of God speaks to God be narrated, when sometimes not even our own spirit can set forth in speech what it feels and understands?

Paul has called a gift of the Spirit "the Spirit." … He makes us request with groans which cannot be described, just as God is said to tempt us in order to know, i.e., in order to make us know, what kind of people we are. Even in popular usage the master is said to accomplish what he orders to be done by others, as in statements like "he built a house" or "he wrote a book," though he neither built nor wrote.

You see that all the good promptings which bring us to repentance result from the activity of the Spirit, and pure prayer, which brings all these good promptings to completion, is also stirred up in our soul as the result of the Spirit's activity. He too, in a hidden way, initially arouses us to groans at the memory of our sins.

"Spirit" here does not mean the substance of the Spirit but rather the grace which is given to believers. By this grace we are encouraged to struggle, we are inflamed to pray more earnestly, and with ineffable sighings we implore God the Savior. The holy apostle wrote this out of the experience of his own suffering. For he himself had asked to be set free from evils, not once or twice but three times, but he did not get what he asked for. Rather, he heard God say: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." But when he learned this, he willingly embraced the things which he had asked to be set free from and said: "I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

That man, he says, stands and prays not because God is unaware of our needs. He who searches the hearts knows "what the mind of the Spirit is," that is, of the spiritual man; He intercedes on behalf of the believers who are in the church, for they are saints, namely for what is pleasing to God. And this happens so that we may learn to ask "according to the will of God," that is, what is pleasing to God. Therefore, if the Spirit intercedes for us, do not grieve when you are afflicted.

Then he shows the efficacy of the help with which the Holy Spirit aids us, saying: "he who searches the hearts," i.e., God, who alone searches the heart: "you who tried the minds and hearts" (Ps 7:9). But God is said to search hearts, not as though he investigates the secrets of the heart, but because he knows clearly the hidden things of the heart: "I will search Jerusalem with lamps" (Zeph 1:12).

God, I say, searches hearts and "knows," i.e., approves, according to what it says in 2 Timothy: "the Lord knows who are his" (2 Tim 2:19), "what the Spirit desires," i.e., what he makes us to desire: "all my desires are known to you, O Lord" (Ps 38:9). But the desires which the Holy Spirit causes in the saints are accepted by God, "because he asks for the saints," i.e., makes them ask "according to God," i.e., for things pleasing to God: "the desire of the just ends in all good" (Prov 11:23). As an example of this the Lord said to the Father: "not as I will, but as you wilt" (Matt 26:39).