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A Note on Romans 8:26–27

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

George MacRae
George MacRae
Affiliation:
Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA 02138
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Extract

Paul's remark about the intercessory prayer of the Spirit in Rom 8:26–27 is unparalleled in the NT and has traditionally caused difficulties for the translator or interpreter. There is, for example, the tendency in modern versions to soften the statement that “we do not know what to pray for as we ought” to “we do not know how to pray as we ought” (RSV). The problem here may be a failure to acknowledge Paul's eschatological perspective in the immediate context in Romans 8 in which the focus is on the invisibility of what the Christian is called upon to hope for (8:24–25). Neglect of the context has also led to a failure in many modern versions to preserve the continuity of the metaphor στενάζειν/στεναγμός in vv 22, 23, 26: the RSV, for example, renders the noun in v 26 “sighs” but translates the verb “groans” in the other verses. Such a shift of language makes the initial ὡσαύτως of v 26 a problem, for it is precisely the repetition of στενάζειν/στεναγμός which undergirds the comparison. It is not the intention of this note to discuss these issues in detail, but to concentrate on the meaning of v 27.

Type
Articles
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 73 , Issue 1-2 , April 1980 , pp. 227 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1980

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References

1 For a general discussion of the passage, see the author's expository article in Int 34 (July, 1980). See also Niederwimmer, Kurt, “Das Gebet des Geistes, Röm 8,26f.,” ThZ 20 (1964) 252–65Google Scholar; Goedt, Michel de, “The Intercession of the Spirit in Christian Prayer (Rom. 8. 26–27),” Concilium 79 (1972) 26–38.Google Scholar

2 Cf, e.g., Käsemann, Ernst, An die Römer (HNT 8a; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1973) 233–34.Google Scholar

3 Origen in his Peri euchēs 2.4 quotes 1 Cor 2:10 in the context of his introductory discussion of Rom 8:26–27 (and again in 14.5), but it is by no means clear that he understands the one who searches hearts to be other than God the Father.

4 1 Clement's version of Prov 20:27 unmistakably attributes to the divine Spirit the searching of the innermost parts of a person: πνευᵔμα κυρίου λύχνος ρευνωᵔν τ ταμιειᵔα τηᵔς γαστρός (1 Clem. 21:2).

5 Cf. Blass, F., Debrunner, A., and Funk, Robert W., A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1969) 447(8). Another Pauline example of this usage is found in 1 Cor 15:56.Google Scholar