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.

We must understand this in the same way as we understand Paul's groaning on account of the gospel for those whom he has brought to the light by faith in Christ, or as he said elsewhere: "My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!"

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.

Even though because of the fact that we believe in Christ our salvation is assured, nevertheless it still remains something to be hoped for; it has not yet been realized.There are different ways of interpreting "the first fruits of the Spirit." Just as the first fruits of the threshing floor and the wine press are of the same substance as what follows, is it not also true that the Holy Spirit is the first and best of a multitude of other spirits? So to have the first fruits of the Spirit means to have the Holy Spirit, as opposed to a host of other ministering spirits. The first fruits may also refer to the many gifts of the Spirit. … We apostles, says Paul, have the first fruits of the Spirit, because we were chosen to groan in travail as the Spirit himself does. There is no creature so free of sorrows and sighings that we, who have received the highest and choicest gifts of the Spirit, are not obliged to grieve and sigh over, awaiting the adoption of sons, that is, the perfection of those whom we have been sent to teach and instruct until we see them making enough progress that they deserve to be adopted as sons. A third possibility is that the first fruits of the Spirit refers to Christ himself, since he is the first born of every creature.

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?"

I have already spoken in general terms about hope, but here I would add only that Paul teaches us not to expect that in the future life we shall possess any of the things which we can see here and now, for all these things will pass away.

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.

Just as a sick man does not ask the doctor for things which will restore him to health but rather for things which his disease longs for, so likewise we, as long as we are languishing in the weakness of this life, will from time to time ask God for things which are not good for us. This is why the Spirit has to help us.The weakness which the Spirit helps us with is our flesh.… Whenever the Holy Spirit sees our spirit struggling with the flesh and being drawn to it, he stretches out his hand and helps us in our weakness.

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."

Paul shows here that God pays less attention to the words we use in prayer than he does to what is in our heart and mind.

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).