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In Romans, Paul describes the Spirit praying for believers through groans. Exegesis on the Soul, a Nag Hammadi text, echoes this language and values prayer from within more than prayer spoken aloud.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Romans 8:26
New Testament
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.
Exegesis on the Soul 5:1
Nag Hammadi
And so it is appropriate to pray to the Father and to invoke him with all our soul, sighing, not outwardly with the lips, but with the inward spirit that comes from the depth, repenting the former life we led, confessing our sins, understanding the vacuous lie we lived in, and the hollow zealotry, wailing because of the darkness and the wave that engulfed us, weeping for ourselves so that he would show us compassion, hating ourselves because of what we are now. The Savior again said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be pitied. Blessed are those who are hungry, for they will be filled.” ‒ (Matthew 5:4-6), (Luke 6:21) He said once more, “If one does not hate his soul he cannot follow me.” ‒ (Luke 14:26)
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Notes and References
“... Closely connected to the emphasis on the sincerity of repentance and prayer, the Exegesis on the Soul seems also to promote especially an inward prayer of the soul, which it assigns higher value than external audible prayer: It is therefore appropriate to pray to the Father and for us to call up to him with all our soul, not with the external lips, but with the spirit within, the one which came from the deep,44 sighing,45 and repenting for the life we have led, confessing the sins, perceiving the empty error we were in and the empty haste, weeping like we were in the darkness and the wave, mourning ourselves so that he may have pity on us, hating ourselves as we are now. Exeg. Soul 135.4–1546 [...] 44 Cf. 1Cor 2:10–13. 45 Cf. Rom 8:26. ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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