‘But also, in the same way, the Breath [Pneuma] is joining with assertively taking hold of helping our weakness. For we do not know precisely what it is necessary and proportionate to pray for, but the Breath [Pneuma] itself makes intercession with inexpressible groans and sighs. 27 Now the diligent searching of the hearts perceives what the thoughts, purposes and inclinations of the Breath [Pneuma] are, for down from God set apart above, it is striking the mark’, (Romans 8 v 26, 27).
Paul has said that despite the present suffering, (verse 17, 18), Christians, ‘by means of steadfast endurance’, (verse 25b), eagerly await the end result of their deliverance, namely ‘the full ransom and release of their body’, (verse 23b). But there is more. The Breath of God is joining by taking the initiative and assertively taking hold of helping Christians in their weakness and lack of strength. What does Paul mean when he refers to the Christian’s ‘weakness’? He tells us right away. Christians don’t know ‘precisely what it is necessary and proportionate to pray for’. They don’t know what would really be best for them or what God might be willing to grant them. They are to a great extent still ignorant of the character of God, the reasons for His dealings, the principles of His government, and their own real needs, such that they are sometimes in real, deep perplexity. They are surrounded with trials, exposed to temptations, potentially subject to debilitating illness, and to calamities. Asking for the right things to the right degree and proportion is the difficulty, and it arises in part from the dimness of their vision of heavenly realities in their present state, during which they have to ‘walk by faith, not by sight’. But the Breath is ‘in the middle’ as it were, to intercede. The Breath enters above and beyond to make petitions and make appeals that hit the mark spot on.
‘The diligent searching of the hearts perceives what the thoughts, purposes and inclinations of the Breath [Pneuma] are’, (verse 27). The ‘diligent searching and examination of hearts’ is an indirect linguistic expression that refers to a particular and unique ability of God. Because neither good angel messengers, nor bad angel messengers, can search into the hearts of human beings. Neither can an individual human being know the heart of another, nor can any individual fully know even his or her own heart - this ‘searching of hearts’ is the prerogative of God. This diligent searching of hearts, of the Christian’s deep inner core, means that God knows ‘what the thoughts, purposes and inclinations of the Breath [Pneuma] are’. The heart constitutes the deep inner core, the ground, of an individual’s thoughts, emotions and intentions and it is where the Breath resides. The Breath is making intercession for the Christian, and God knows and perceives the movement of the Breath, not only because He searches hearts, but also because the Breath is down from God and is striking the mark ‘spot on target’.
