1. How the Spirit Makes Intercession
James Buchanan
A special operation of the Spirit is mentioned in the Scriptures, by which He aids His people when they pray; it is spoken of as common to all believers and permanent through all ages of the Church. This cheering truth is implied in God’s promise of old: “I will pour upon the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications”. It is implied also in the declared duty of all believers, which is described in Paul’s exhortation, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”. But the most emphatic testimony on the subject is contained in the words of the Apostle, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered” (Rom 8:26).
That the Spirit of God does in some way make intercession for the saints is abundantly evident from these passages; but it may be useful to inquire (1) in what sense this is to be understood, or in what way the Spirit acts as a Spirit of grace and supplication; and (2) what lessons, whether of warning, direction, or encouragement, may be deduced from the doctrine of His agency in prayer.
- In explanation of this doctrine, it is not to be understood as implying that the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us in His own person, or that He directly addresses His prayer to the Father on our behalf. Christ, as Mediator, prayed for His disciples while He was yet on earth and He still makes continual intercession for them in heaven, by appearing in the presence of God for them. But the Holy Spirit is never represented in Scripture as interceding
1The first part of a chapter from Buchanan’s book, The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit.
in the same way, either by offering up His own personal request, or by appearing for His people at the throne.
He does intercede, however, in another way: by dwelling in them as “the Spirit of grace and supplication”, disposing and enabling them to pray for themselves. He is the Spirit of supplication, just as He is the Spirit of faith, repentance and hope. He is the author of these spiritual graces, the source whence they flow and by which they are continually sustained. Yet these graces exist in the believer and are exercised by him, so as to form part of his own personal character; just so the Spirit is said to make intercession for him, when He stirs him up to intercede for himself and gives him grace to ask what blessings he in particular requires. That this is the sense in which the doctrine is to be understood appears from several expressions which imply that, by the Spirit’s grace, believers are taught and enabled to offer up their own supplications at the throne.
First of all, it is not the Spirit considered as a distinct person of the Godhead that is said to intercede, but “the Spirit that dwelleth in you”, even “the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father”. Second, it is expressly said that the Spirit “helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought” – our own prayers being directly referred to. And His interposition is designed to remove those hindrances and supply those defects in us which would otherwise impair or interrupt our communion with God. Third, it is added that He “maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered”, an expression which cannot be applied personally to the Spirit but is aptly descriptive of that moral earnestness and deep concern which He awakens in our own hearts. Accordingly it is added, “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit”. These various expressions are sufficient to show that, by the intercession of the Spirit, we are to understand the earnest supplication and prayer which we are disposed and enabled, by His grace, to offer up.
If anyone doubts the necessity of the Spirit’s aid in the exercise of prayer, there is enough in the words of Paul to convince him of his error; for even an inspired man, classing himself along with other believers, says, “The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought”. This humbling confession of our infirmity and ignorance, and of our simple dependence on the grace and strength of the Spirit, is indeed much at variance with the natural feelings of the human heart, which is prone to self-sufficiency and presumptuous confidence in its own unaided powers. But there is reason to fear that those who have never felt their need of the Spirit’s grace in the exercise of prayer have either never prayed at all, or if they have observed the outward form, they are still strangers to its spiritual
nature as the greatest work, the highest and holiest service of the soul, by which it holds communion with God in the exercise of those graces of faith, love and hope, which are all inspired and sustained by the Holy Spirit.
The careless and presumptuous sinner, or the cold and formal professor, may be conscious of no difficulty in prayer which cannot be overcome by the power of his own natural faculties; he may content himself with the repetition of a form of words, such as his memory can easily retain and recall. Caring for no further communion with God than what may be implied in the occasional or regular use of that form, he is not sensible of any infirmity such as calls for the aid of the Spirit. But these are not the feelings of any true believer, for never is he more sensible of his own infirmity, and of his absolute dependence on the Spirit’s grace, than when he seeks to spread his case before the Lord in the hour of prayer, and hold communion and fellowship with Him as his Father in heaven.
He has some idea, however inadequate, of the greatness and majesty of God; and some sense, however feeble, of the spirituality of his service. He knows that “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth”; but he is conscious at the same time of much remaining darkness, of the corruptions which still cleave to him, and of the manifold distractions to which his mind is subject, even in the most solemn exercises. He knows what those “infirmities” are of which Paul speaks, and will be ready to join with him in the humbling confession, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought”.
His own experience teaches him that the spirit of prayer is not the natural and spontaneous product of his own heart, but that it was implanted there and must be continually sustained by grace from on high. Long after he has been enabled to come with comfort to the throne of grace and pour out his heart with much of the peace which a spirit of adoption imparts, he may be reminded, by the variations of his own experience, that he must be dependent, from first to last, on the Spirit’s grace for all his earnestness and all his enjoyment in prayer. What believer has not occasionally felt his own utter emptiness, and the barrenness even of this precious privilege, when, left to himself, he attempted to pray while the Spirit of prayer was withheld?
You may have retired at your usual hour to your closet and fallen upon your knees and used even your accustomed words, but you felt that your affections were cold, your desires languid, and your whole heart straitened and oppressed. You strove once more to renew your request and with greater urgency than before, but in spite of all your efforts your thoughts began to wander, even in God’s immediate presence. And as you rose from your knees, you were ready to exclaim, “O that it were with me as in months past! O that
I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments.” On such occasions you complain of unbelief, of a wandering mind, of a hard and unfeeling heart; and these complaints are frequently heard amongst God’s people, for I believe that He often visits them with such experiences for the very purpose of impressing them with a humbling sense of their own infirmity, and reminding them of their dependence on the Spirit for the right use and enjoyment of all the means of grace.
The grace of the Holy Ghost is then indispensable, if we would maintain the spirit of prayer and enjoy its exercise; but we must ever remember that in this, as in every other part of His work, He acts by the use of means and in a way that is wisely adapted to the rational and moral nature with which we are endowed. He acts upon us, not as mere machines, but as moral agents; and by various considerations and motives He teaches and disposes us to pray. Every part of His work as the Spirit of grace has a tendency to prepare us for prayer; for whether He acts as a reprover, convincing us of sin or as a sanctifier subduing our corruptions, or as a comforter giving us peace and joy in believing, or as a teacher enlarging our views of divine truth and confirming our faith in it, all the operations of His grace are subservient more or less directly to the exercise of prayer.