8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, 4 but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 8:27 And he 5 who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit 6 intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.
1 tn Grk “slavery again to fear.”
2 tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).”
3 tn Or “in that.”
4 tn Or “for we do not know what we ought to pray for.”
5 sn He refers to God here; Paul has not specifically identified him for the sake of rhetorical power (for by leaving the subject slightly ambiguous, he draws his audience into seeing God’s hand in places where he is not explicitly mentioned).
6 tn Grk “he,” or “it”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.