Pentecost: In Anticipation of the Spirit Exegesis of Romans 8:2227

NT 502: The Letters of St. Paul Professor Stephen Fahrig

Paul M. Nguyen Congregationis Oblatorum Mariae Virginis May 3, 2013

Nguyen 2 Pauls letter to the Romans is a masterpiece of theology addressing both Jews and Gentiles in the newly-founded Roman church. Scholars widely agree that Paul wrote this letter in Corinth between 56 and 58 AD.1 This longest Pauline letter, placed first in the canon for that reason, presents a mature theology of justification and the application of faith to the moral life that serves well as foundational material for reading and interpreting the remainder of his epistolary corpus. In Romans, Paul also justifies the mission to the Gentiles while still affirming both the historical primacy and the continuing significance of the Jews in the economy of salvation. The passage we shall explore, Romans 8:2227, occurs in all three Sunday lectionary cycles for the vigil of Pentecost, and speaks of the relationship between creation and the Spirit, and how our salvation is effected by our Spirit-filled practice of the virtue of hope. In the letter to the Romans, our passage falls in the center; it is numerically centered within the eighth of sixteen chapters in the letter, and rests at the seam between Pauls discussion of a primarily Gentile church (Chapters 18) and the next, which will include the Jews (Chapters 911).2 Seen another way, the theological body of the letter, which traced the history of salvation up to and including the Christological period, concludes in Chapter 8, treating life in the Spirit. This leads into the paraenetic section of the letter, in which Paul presents guidelines for that very Spiritlife. Specifically, our passage is preceded by a discussion of the redemptive value of suffering, and that personal suffering is required to follow Christ in faith. In our opening verse, Paul invokes the cosmic perspective to acknowledge that all of creation has been groaning as if to give birth. He then shows that we must have hope, and we can ground our hope in the Spirit, given to us as a deposit or guarantee of blessing to come. Achtemeier points out that since the Spirit is sent to groan and intercede on our behalf, we are incapable of communicating with God,
1 2 Leander E. Keck, Romans, The HarperCollins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version, ed. Harold W. Attridge (New York: HarperOne, 2006). Brendan Byrne, Sacra Pagina Series, vol. 6, Romans, (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1996), 283.

Nguyen 3 and that the renewal and salvation of the world depends precisely upon becoming capable of communicating with Him once again.3 In fact, according to Byrne, Paul develops a tripartite theology of groaning, that of creation, that of ourselves, and that of the Spirit. 4 Because of this critical central position, the theology contained in this passage orients much of Pauline teaching, unifies this letter, and presents a timeless message applicable to the church even today. Though the ancient translations generally agree, and modern translations generally follow them, there are some notable divergences. One arises in verse 24, in which a rhetorical question is posed regarding hope and what is seen. The Greek New Testament opens with what is faithfully translated in the NRSV and NABRE as For in hope we were saved, and the Vulgate agrees with this (accepting the use of the Latin perfect tense in place of the Greek aorist). The next phrase varies a bit more. The NRSV has hope that is seen, but the NABRE has hope that sees for itself is not hope. The Greek uses the middle voice for the verb to see (), so the meaning it expresses actually lies between the fully active sees and the fully passive is seen. It is also used in the adjectival participial form in Greek, best translated in English as seen hope. The Latin opted for the passive voice indicative verb form: Spes autem, quae videtur, non est spes. Perhaps what the NABRE introduced helps nuance what the Greek suggested, by incorporating the subject hope into its own action of seeing. What is introduced here ultimately is clarified by the argument that follows. It is sufficient to grasp that once the object of hope is in sight, one no longer hopes for it, but we hope for something unseen, and while we wait, though weak, the Spirit will help us. Another discrepancy in translation centers around the term commonly translated weakness, in verse 26. This is implicitly inserted as a condition coexistent with our

3 4

Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans, Interpretation Series (Louisville: John Knox, 1985), 141143. Byrne, Sacra Pagina Series, vol. 6, Romans, 254273.

Nguyen 4 patient/enduring waiting (v. 25). The Greek has and the Latin has infirmitatem nostram, but the NRSV, NABRE, and NIV all render in our weakness. The Greek term connotes sickness or ailment, something deeper and more grave than a weakness. In the total theological picture, this is the weakness of the flesh, concupiscence, which ever battles against the holy ones practice of virtue. The Latin infirmity (rendered as such by the King James Version), can refer to either bodily aliments or spiritual ones, and thus bridges the allegorical and anagogical sense of this phrase for the reader. In both the Greek and the Latin, the help of the Spirit is grammatically directed at the infirmity indicated, and the NABRE preserves this somewhat as comes to the aid of our weakness, but the NRSV and NIV present the Spirits assistance directed at us, who only then are acknowledged to be weak. Finally, in verse 27, the phrase in the NRSV the mind of the spirit is fairly ambiguous. The Greek text, , connotes purpose or thought (of the spirit). The Vulgate rewrites the phrase as quid desideret Spiritus, or what the Spirit desires, which, though it is grammatically distant from the structure of the phrase in the Greek, nonetheless faithfully translates the subject and object of the knowing. The NABRE follows the Latin grammatical form in the auxiliary pronoun, but maintains the substantive structure as in the Greek: what is the intention of the Spirit. With those discrepancies established, we now turn to the key words that form Pauls exposition in this pericope. The first is groaning. This is a word present throughout this pericope and deserves some attention. As indicated above, the subjects of this verb are first all creation, then we ourselves, and finally the Spirit. The connotation of this groaning ([]) is in the context of childbirth, that is, the sound one makes in pain and laboring heavily to bring forth new life. Creation does so simply (v. 22). We do so inwardly, awaiting

Nguyen 5 adoption and the redemption of our bodies (v. 23). The Spirit intercedes with unspoken groans (v. 26). This intercession carries into the final verse, in which the Spirit intercedes (understood to intercede through these unspoken groans) according to the will of God. That is, the Spirit does not merely groan or strain to bear some arbitrary fruit, but rather to bear that specific fruit willed by the God. The next key word is first fruits (v. 23) Paul opened this passage indicating that all creation has been straining as though to give birth (v. 22). Here, he asserts that we possess the first fruitsthat is, the first and choicest cropnot of creation, but of the Spirit. Perhaps this is the foretaste that makes us aware of what we lack, that we might hope and wait for it (v. 25). This passage speaks frequently of the Spirit. The Greek also means breath, or that by which something lives, or that which shows that one is alive. Figuratively, breath has been synonymous with life; God breathed into the clay mans nostrils the breath of life ( ), and at the end of Jesus life, he gave up his spirit ( ). We know from the total Pauline corpus that this term refers to the Holy Spirit, the second person of the Trinity, the advocate whom Christ promised to send and who we see descend upon the apostles and Mary as narrated in the opening chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. Paul speaks of living in the Spirit, of being temples of the Holy Spirit, and of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. In our passage, we see the Spirit both working in men (vv. 23, 26, 27), and as related to the Father in the Trinity (v. 27). This pericope also includes two verses that speak of hope. It is first introduced as the means or locus of our salvation (v. 24). The term reaches back to the Greeks, whose concept may be summarized as subjective projections of the future, 5 that is, they pertain to the one who

Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Elps, The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1985).

Nguyen 6 hopes. Even in Plato, the concept of hope looked beyond death for resolution of present difficulties. In Jewish eschatology, the restoration of Israel is the theme of hope. 6 Here, the emphasis Paul draws out in verse 24 is that hope has nothing to do with what is visible or tangible in this life. Rather, we hope for what is beyond us and, realizing this, we must wait through steadfast endurance or with patience (v. 25). The verb for knowing occurs three times in this passage. The first-person plural form appears twice: positively in verse 22 and negatively in verse 26; at first we know; later we do not. Finally, in verse 27, God knows, and what he knows is the mind or intention of the Spirit. This reinforces our need for the assistance of the Spirit, since without God and His perfect knowledge, we may or may not know. Finally, the verb intercede (()) occurs twice in this passage. Both times, it is the Spirit who intercedes, first for us in general (v. 26), and later for the saints or the holy ones (v. 27). The first time, an intensified form is used (indicated by the prefix -) along with the explanation of the unspeakable groaning. The root Greek term, , meant to hit a target or to obtain something. The compound form, prefixed with -, as found in the New Testament, refers to this sense of asking or pleading to obtain something. 7 The form found in verse 26 is unique in the New Testament, though occurs once more in Romans and another time in Hebrews (7:25), all with the same basic meaning of intercede. For two words in this passage, a significant grammatical shift occurs. The term hope is used three times as a noun in verse 24, but is then used as a verb in the question of verse 24 and the antecedent clause of the conditional in verse 25. This grammatical shift directly evidences the shift within the text from false hope to the unknown hope in which we may participate to the

6 7

Ibid. Bromiley, Tynchn, The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.

Nguyen 7 ultimate hope in which we certainly participate (grammatically, we finally become the hoping subjects) as we await our unseen redemption. Surely then, in this hope, we may be saved. The other term with which a significant grammatical shift occurs is groaning; in fact, the opposite happens. In verses 22 and 23, first all creation groans and then we groan, but in verse 26, the Spirit intercedes for us with (unspeakable) groans. Whereas in the former cases, those groaning did so generally and without specific purpose, in the latter case, the groans were intentionally used by the Spirit to intercede for us. This pericope opens with an acknowledgement of the struggles within creation (v. 22). The focus narrows to we ourselves, who groan inwardly awaiting redemption (v. 23). Through Pauls discussion of visible and invisible hope (or hope in the visible and invisible), he distinguishes the visible material world of creation from the spiritual realm promised through faith (v. 2425). This allows for the culminating doctrine concerning the Spirits intercession for us to have full force. We pray with words, which rest in the material, but the Spirit intervenes to obtain from God our salvation by these sounds of yearning that transcend words (v. 26). Finally, while the Spirit intercedes for us and, in our hearts, we desire and hope, God searches our hearts and knows the mind of the Spirit; that is, God knows both sides of this story (v. 27). One final clarification is provided by the use of . If the spirit intercedes for the holy ones, and they are holy precisely by their conformance to God, then the Spirit who intercedes for them according to the will of God (or according to God as in the Greek and Latin) makes an infallible request, and certainly agrees with God since the Spirit conforms to Gods will and the will and intention of the Spirit are known to God. One Pauline theme hidden in this passage is his eschatology. Pauls writings evidence his belief that the new age had been inaugurated but not yet realized. Likewise, the previous age

Nguyen 8 lingered even as the new began.8 This already-but-not-yet perspective is expressed in the line concerning we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit (v. 23). The former age of all creation (cf. v. 22) has been there, groaning all along, and we with it. But now we have received something new, something from the Spirit, and at the very least this is hope. We retain the weakness of our fallen creation, but we can also begin to reach beyond it, straining and groaning, but also waiting in patient endurance for the intercession of the Spirit, who meets us there and compensates for our incompetency at prayer. The Sunday lectionary places this reading within the Vigil Mass of Pentecost, the great feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and Mary gathered in the Upper Room. In Year C, it is part of a longer reading that begins with Romans 8:8, and thus includes a fuller Pauline pneumatology. Because of our shorter readings emphasis and focus on the Holy Spirit, it is fitting for the celebration of Pentecost. However, the role of the Spirit working through our patient expectation and longing with groans is, more importantly, soteriological. The Spirit will come to meet us in our weaknesswe who have received the first fruits of the Spirit by our baptism and reception of sacramental graceand pray for us to God when we lack the words, and strengthen us to wait patiently and conform ourselves to the will of God. The very discussion of hope in the middle of the reading could even be the anticipation of the Spirit, toward whom we are straining, like the apostles who were promised the Advocate, and, in the narrow sense, that hope could be for the fullness of the arrival of the Holy Spirit the next day. In that even broader sense, the arrival of the Holy Spirit enabled the apostolic mission of evangelization to begin, and so the groaning of all creation to give birth can finally be heard and strengthened such that creation might bear fruit to the glory of God, with the assistance of His Holy Spirit, according to His will.
8 Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Anchor Bible, vol. 33, Romans (New York: Doubleday, 1993), 510.

Nguyen 9 References Achtemeier, Paul J. Romans. Interpretation Series. Louisville: John Knox, 1985. Bromiley, Geoffrey W. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament , edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1985. Byrne, Brendan. Sacra Pagina Series. Vol. 6, Romans. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1996. Keck, Leander E. Romans. The HarperCollins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version, edited by Harold W. Attridge. New York: HarperOne, 2006. Myer, Joseph A. The Anchor Bible. Vol. 33, Romans. New York: Doubleday, 1993.