Suppose a man decides to settle some dispute by litigation. His case may be good, but he knows nothing of court procedure, or how to carry his case by debate and argument. He is incapable of presenting the facts so as to convince the judge, so he calls to his aid a lawyer who accepts the man as his client, and conducts the case on his behalf. So do these two divine Advocates, though in different ways.
Notice that there is a difference in the location of these two intercessors. Christ intercedes “at the right hand of God” (Rom. 8:34). He is our “Advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1). The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, intercedes in the hearts of men (Rom. 8:27). Christ’s intercession is apart from us; the Holy Spirit’s is within us. We cannot help, nor can we hinder the intercession of Christ Jesus, our great High Priest. Whether we follow hard after Him or follow afar off, whether we are hot or cold, spiritual or carnal, His intercession continues unceasingly. “I am praying . . . for those whom Thou hast given Me” (John 17:9). Nothing we do can touch that intercession, for it proceeds on the ground of what He has done for us, His death and resurrection, not what we have done or are doing for Him. It is therefore not affected by our
ups and downs. What an encouragement to know that He has inscribed our names on His “prayer list” for all time.
When we turn to the intercession of the Spirit the position is very different. It is a solemn fact that we may facilitate or frustrate the Spirit’s intercession in us, by our cooperation or the lack of it. Though Christ does not require us for His intercession, the Holy Spirit most assuredly does for His. Here we can no longer be spectators, we must be participators. Christ prays for us in the sense that He makes us the object of His praying. The Holy Spirit prays for us in the sense that He makes us the vehicle of His praying. He prays on our behalf by enabling us to pray—helping us in our weakness—who do not
know how to pray as we ought.
The life truly possessed by the Holy Spirit is the indispensable channel of the Spirit’s intercession. There
appears to be no suggestion in Scripture that the Holy Spirit ever intercedes except through the believer. This is emphasized in Romans 8:15–16 in the Revised Standard Version by an interesting variation in wording from the King James Version: “When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit Himself bearing
witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Notice what Paul is saying, “When we cry . . . it is the Spirit.” We do the crying, but the Holy Spirit does the inspiring of the cry.
Compare this with the day of Pentecost when “they began to speak . . . as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). Notice that Romans 8:16 does not say that the Spirit bears witness to our spirit, but with our spirit. The divine Spirit and the human spirit become joint witnesses by the cry that comes from within
us.