“but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” - can the Holy Spirit literally intercede with groanings? Romans 8:26-27

Question

Romans 8:26-27 (ESV):

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Questions:

• Does the Holy Spirit literally have a mind of his/its own (v27) which allows him/it to pray/intercede for the saints before God (v26, v27)?
• Can the Holy Spirit literally experience pain while interceding, manifested in groanings too deep for words (v26)?
• How and when does this "groaning intercession" by the Spirit take place? Through the believer who is used as a vessel (i.e. the groaning is performed by the believer himself/herself, influenced by the Spirit)? Or is the intercession performed by the Spirit directly, without the believer's intervention and thus without being necessarily aware of it?

Answer 1

Among the answers, I would like to add the practical sense and possibly the sense in which the OP is seeking to understand how the Holy Spirit groans.

Yes the Holy Spirit can speak, pray, groan on His own, without the need of a human body to inhabit through which He can express Himself.

But given that He was sent to live inside of the believer, the Spirit can share the biological machine with the believer. Therefore when the Spirit is using the body, two spirits are experiencing the same event from two different perspectives.

So you have the spirit of man or as Paul would have it, the inner man, living inside the outer man or the carnal man, or the flesh or the body or the biological machine housing. And you can have the Holy Spirit living inside too. (A demonized person will have any number of demon spirits also, another subject, another discussion, for another time).

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:19‬ ‭

As such the Holy Spirit can opt to take charge while a believer is praying (especially if He is invited and asked to do so) and He will groan using your very body. It’s a shared experience.

You can feel the whole experience, you can if you want, stop it (I don’t recommend it) and it’s felt on all levels, physically (audibly, through the physical senses for example i.e. tears, deep sighing requiring your mouth movement, eye movement) and it’s felt emotionally too, as well as your mind is engaged but often times is fruitless because you’re not sure why you’re groaning, for what reason, you just know that the Spirit is helping you in your praying and you give Him permission to continue.

The Spirit’s groaning are without words, but every time I’ve experienced them, they were extremely significant prayers for very troubling circumstances that would follow in the future. Things I could never have known to pray for and each time very troubling experiences. Every time I credit being able to come through because of those specific groaning prayers. The Spirit actually reminds me and let’s me know, this is what I was groaning about on your behalf back then, and each time I definitely needed it.

You cannot manufacture a genuine groan of the Spirit because it has to be His groaning through your body. If you’re groaning through your body, then it’s not the Spirit doing the groaning, it’s your own groaning. These Spirit groans are special and for me personally they are rare for exceptional circumstances.

“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” ‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:21‬ ‭

The men spoke but it was actually the Holy Spirit talking through them. It was not man’s will, it was produced by the Holy Spirit, using the man who gave himself over to be used by God.

This phenomenon is not natural, it is above the natural. Take Samson, His strength required the Spirit to act on Samson’s body

“Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”” ‭‭Judges‬ ‭16:28‬ ‭

What did you ask for exactly? The Spirit to use his body

“Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.” ‭‭Judges‬ ‭14:6‬ ‭

If the Spirit of God can tear a lion in two, crash a whole building using the body of a human and Samson experienced the move of the Spirit and shared in the events, The Holy Spirit most certainly can groan using the body of a believer.

Reading over this verse it occurred to me that in the same chapter the Holy Spirit prompts the believer to speak.

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:15‬ ‭

We do the crying, we say the words “Abba! Father!” But it’s actually the spirit. In other words for someone on the exterior unless they were given a spirit of discernment, they would conclude that you are crying and saying Abba Father. But Apostle Paul, inspired by the Spirit makes the distinction that this is done by the Spirit.

In like manner, from the exterior a person groaning by the Spirit would appear to be groaning of their own accord, however it’s really the Spirit groaning through them. It’s a very holy/sacred moment, where the believer is merely the ‘vessel’, through which the Spirit is choosing to manifest.

Answer 2

Note the various (correct) translations of Rom 8:26, the last phrase:

• NIV: wordless groans
• NLT: groanings that cannot be expressed in words
• BLB: inexpressible groanings
• NKJV: groanings which cannot be uttered
• HCSB: unspoken groanings

Paul is clearly struggling to express what cannot be put into words. There are times when Christians pray earnestly to God expressing emotions that cannot be put into words - Paul assures us that our parakletos is eminently capable of conveying such deep feelings to God.

Note the comments of Ellicott:

With groanings which cannot be uttered.—When the Christian’s prayers are too deep and too intense for words, when they are rather a sigh heaved from the heart than any formal utterance, then we may know that they are prompted by the Spirit Himself. It is He who is praying to God for us.

Barnes also is similar:

The context speaks of intercession expressed in ‘groanings which cannot be uttered,’ and which, unexpressed though they are, are fully understood ‘by Him who searches the heart.’ Plainly, therefore, these groanings come from human hearts, and as plainly are the Divine Spirit’s voicing them.

Barnes has an extended discussion about this too large to reproduce here.

Answer 3

When we make a campfire and the firewood starts to crackle, we say "fire crackles", when in fact, it is not the fire that crackles, but firewood crackles through the influence of a silent fire.

Similarly, Holy Spirit cannot "groan", for only that groans which has some need and deficiency and problem, Holy Spirit, however, being God, has no need, no deficiency and no problem. Therefore, it is our problem-beset souls that groan through the influence, through inspiration, of the non-groaning or groan-less Holy Spirit present in them. Of course, Holy Spirit cares for human plights, but Himself does not have those plights; of course, He, whose presence brings freedom (2 Cor. 3:17), cares for those in slavery of sins, but as God can have no sins and is not only free, but more than that, the Principle of liberation and freedom. Again, to use the same simile: fire evokes cracklings from the firewood, but we can say only metonymically that "fire crackles", for it does not. Similarly, Spirit evokes groans and sighs of comfort from us, but can we say that "Spirit groans Himself"?

Thus, to read correctly this sentence, one can say that "Holy Spirit intercedes for us with o u r groaning, too deep for o u r words", for it is we who groan in comfort and for comfort through the influence of the Holy Spirit the Comforter. Look: "too deep for words", that is to say, as the "words" that we utter through Holy Spirit are our words in our languages (for Holy Spirit does not speak any language being beyond all languages), so also sighs or groanings are ours, for Holy Spirit does not sigh. When I console somebody by many comforting words through Holy Spirit, I can also do the same by sighing to express my compassion and consolation, my sighing being a wordless "word" of comfort to a distressed person, even more eloquent than uttered word.

And, actually, it is so clear, for Paul speaks about a very physical or psychosomatic thing - a sigh, στεναγμός. We deeply sigh sometimes and if somebody asks, "why have you sighed?" we can start explaining by many words and still fail, so deep the thought and feeling that made us to sigh was. But to sigh you need to have physical organs, lungs, respiratory system, which the Holy Spirit does not have. In my language in which Gospel was translated in 4th century, even a word was coined for the Biblical στεναγμός'sigh': სულით-ითქვნა (sulit-itqvna), "to say by Spirit", that is to say, sighing is "saying" through Spirit.

Answer 4

Thank you for asking this question,

I would start by asking what is Paul meaning by the word "Spirit".

0. By believing (the Gospel) the believer get's the Spirit ("Pneuma"). (For example Gal. 3:2)

1. Paul many times contrasts the flesh ("Sarx") and the Spirit ("Pneuma"), or "Soul" ("Psykhee") and the Spirit ("Pneuma"). I think that behind this is the distinction between the natural person and the "kainee ktisis", "New Creation". As at least Lutherans say that there still exists the old Adam and the new creation, and thus "simul justus et peccator", "Righteous and sinner at the same time". 1. Cor. 15:35-58 seems to indicate, that the new creation accomplishes in a person, when the Spirit has became everything. That will not happen in this life, but the Spirit will always conquer more and more in the believer. But the point is that there lives the Spirit and the old Adam in the believer at the same time.

2. That Spirit has different manifestations in different people. 1. Cor. 12. But the basis is still the Resurrection of Jesus, new life, and the cancellation of debts.

And the more precice questions:

Does the Holy Spirit literally have a mind of his/its own (v27) which allows him/it to pray/intercede for the saints before God (v26, v27)?

Paul refers to a state which is caused in the believer by the Spirit. Rom. 8:6 explains this by differentiating thoughts that are from the old Adam and from the Spirit, which is manifest in the Good News. The world "fronema" is the same as in Rom. 8:27. "The mind (or thought) of the Flesh is death, and the mind (or thought) of the Spirit is life and tranquility." The Spirit creates that kind of feelings, although it isn't having similar feelings, although somehow analogical possibly.

Can the Holy Spirit literally experience pain while interceding, manifested in groanings too deep for words (v26)?

Possibly, but the person can have pain in Spirit, as Paul says about Timothy: "I didn't have rest in the Spirit because it didn't find Timothy for me". (2. Cor. 2:13)

How and when does this "groaning intercession" by the Spirit take place? Through the believer who is used as a vessel (i.e. the groaning is performed by the believer himself/herself, influenced by the Spirit)? Or is the intercession performed by the Spirit directly, without the believer's intervention and thus without being necessarily aware of it?

I think Paul knows what the Spirit is doing, but still it is impossible to express it. 1. Cor. 2:15: "A Spiritual person evaluates everything", however points out that (and the context) that a person who has the Spirit can see some of the effects of the Spirit.

Answer 5

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. ﹘ Genesis 1:1-2

At the birth of all creation the Spirit of God “was hovering” over the waters. This imagery of the waters at creation calls to mind the waters of childbirth, one of the underlying metaphors that weave through the texts of both the OT and NT. In the passage in question, Paul’s use of the metaphor recalls the verses of Genesis, as if to say that creation is still in the process of becoming or of realizing the full vision of what God wants it to be.

• For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ﹘ v. 22

Together with creation, we too, as recipients of the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves.

• And not only that, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters ﹘ v. 23

The word “groan” evokes a sense of aching, a longing and yearning. Together with creation, we are anxiously waiting to be freed from subjection to futility and corruption, to be redeemed and reborn, as it were, as the children of God.

• For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ﹘ vv. 20-21

And we are waiting in hope, but in a hope that we cannot fully grasp or see.

• For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ﹘ v.24

Because of our limitation, i.e., we cannot see that for which we are to hope and pray, the Spirit comes to our aid and intercedes for us. The Spirit “testifies with our spirit” (v.16, emphasis added). This is a joint testimony, a prayer that is manifest, not in words, but by groanings that well up from deep within us.

• Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ﹘ v. 26

• “And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” ﹘ v. 27

The juxtaposition of the words hearts and mind seems key to answering the question, not of the how or the when, but of the where. They suggest that the mind of the Spirit is not to be found in the intellect, but in the heart. Thus the prayer that the Spirit intercedes for us arises, not from the mouth, the body or the mind, but from the depths of our heart.

How this happens is a mystery of the Spirit at work within the soul “according to the will of God” (v. 27). But there is an underlying sense that what we yearn for has already been implanted within us.

For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. ﹘ Psalm 139:13-14

Like a seed that holds within itself the promise of new life, we too hold within ourselves the blueprint of God’s vision of who we are called to be, a vision that we must "labor" to bring into being. This is an ongoing process that is happening “until now” (v. 22).

Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they sprout I proclaim them to you... 14 Now like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant. 15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills And wither all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into coastlands And dry up the ponds. 16 I will lead those who are blind by a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them And uneven land into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone. ﹘ Isaiah 42:9-16

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ﹘ 2 Corinthians 5:17

Answer 6

Great questions, great topic.

May I please place the nature of groaning to one side for the moment? I would value the opportunity to first place these 2 verses into their context, then propose the meaning of the Spirit's intercession. We will return to the groaning aspect along the way - I promise. :)

18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

It's a sad reality that many Bibles, commentaries and we ourselves separate the 3 above paragraphs into separate, and seemingly unrelated, topics. The truth is, they need to be read and understood as 1 continuing topic.

Firstly, all of creation has its sights on the same ultimate outcome as the children of God! It and we will share in God's glory together. Creation groans under the suffering and decay of waiting (8:22). Creation is not alone, because we groan too, also because of the sufferings of this present time as we wait for the glory to be revealed (8:18,23). But not just that. We have the hope of seeing the glory, but we are blind till we get there. "Hope that is seen is not hope." But we hang in there, blind to the journey, but full of hope.

Now, what is the end of this blind, yet hopeful journey - this "freedom of the glory of the children of God" (8:21)? We are told a bit further down: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family." (8:29).

We are to be conformed to the image of God's Son - that's how we become the children of God mentioned in 8:18-25. Our fate is tied to Jesus (see Romans 6 to see why this is so). The revelation of the children of God (8:19) will be our "adoption, the redemption of our bodies." (8:23), the celebration of the "firstborn within a large family" (8:29). This is amazing stuff, but how will it happen? How will we become conformed to the image of God's son? After all, we're blind for the duration, groaning in suffering as we journey in the dark to that end.

One aspect of this growth we experience is the Holy Spirit's work in us "who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (8:4). We know that "for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit" (8:5). Indeed, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" (8:2). But this doesn't mean we now know the way forward - the journey to our final glory is still dark for you and I. We don't know what really is good for us, what we need in order to grow to be more like Jesus. Hebrews 12:7-11 makes it clear:

7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? 8 If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. 9 Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. 11 Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

How does God determine his actions, in order to bring about our growth as his children? Back to Romans 8:26-27 - "the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." The Spirit, who is our loyal partner throughout our journey, knows us and knows what we need. What we groan, he helps us in our weakness and takes it to God, interceding - groaning - on our behalf. Oh, how wonderful to have the Holy Spirit as our perfect companion, who knows the will of God for us and can take our journey needs to God for us!

But what then? God hears the Spirit, and he makes it happen!

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose (8:28).

And so the Holy Spirit and God our Father work together to understand us as we groan in our suffering on our trek to becoming more and more like Jesus. To ensure the success of his plan, to celebrate Jesus as the firstborn in a large family, God listens to the Spirit as he relays our groans, and then does everything necessary to bring our collected journeys to that glorious finish.

All of Romans 8 works together too. To understand verses 26-27, we need to read them as part of the whole.

I hope this helps. :)

Thank you, Grant.

Answer 7

Most Christian scholars will freely recognize that Jesus references the Holy Spirit in speaking of the "Comforter" that he would send. But who was this "Comforter"?

The Comforter

Readers of Greek know that God's Word identifies the Comforter as being Jesus Christ.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Paraklētos, that he may abide with you for ever; (Jhn 14:16)

But the Paraklētos, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (Jhn 14:26)

But when the Paraklētos is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (Jhn 15:26)

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Paraklētos will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. (Jhn 16:7)

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have a Paraklētos with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1Jo 2:1)

Unfortunately, translators have chosen to obscure this beautiful truth by saying "Comforter" in every place except for the one text which identifies the Comforter as being Jesus Christ. Why would they have done this? Perhaps they were Trinitarian and wished to support the Trinity dogma. In any case, the Greek text does not lie, and it clearly shows that our Comforter is Jesus.

And this is just what we should expect, because the Bible teaches plainly that we have only one mediator between us and God: the man Christ Jesus.

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).

"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things that that of Abel." (Hebrews 12:24)

If Jesus is our mediator, and the the action of interceding is an act of mediation, then we know that our intercessor/mediator must be Christ.

Once we recognize Jesus' part in this, it is simple to answer the other questions:

Does the Holy Spirit literally have a mind of his/its own (v27) which allows him/it to pray/intercede for the saints before God (v26, v27)?

Yes.

Can the Holy Spirit literally experience pain while interceding, manifested in groanings too deep for words (v26)?

Yes.

How and when does this "groaning intercession" by the Spirit take place? Through the believer who is used as a vessel (i.e. the groaning is performed by the believer himself/herself, influenced by the Spirit)? Or is the intercession performed by the Spirit directly, without the believer's intervention and thus without being necessarily aware of it?

No, at least, not necessarily. Jesus pleads his blood before the Father on behalf of repentant sinners, and it may be that those sinners are helped to have a change of heart and a desire to seek repentance through his ministration; but Jesus can speak on their behalf independent of it coming from their own lips.

Answer 8

There are too many verses to mention so I have tried to limit.

Does the Holy Spirit literally have a mind of his/its own (v27) which allows him/it to pray/intercede for the saints before God (v26, v27)?

2 different types of spirit

1 The spirit is the Divine Power of God, that God uses, to help and guide his servants Gods Holy spirit / guidance / knowledge / strength etc…

1. (Genesis 1:2) – from beginning of time - 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

2. Matthew 1:18-20 - “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit…” (note not a spirit but of)

3. John 16:13" Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, comes (not a spirit but He someone with Gods spirit of truth / guidance)

4. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 18) Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19Do not extinguish the Spirit.

5. Psalm 51:10-11 - And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me

6. But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29)

7. Ephesians 1:13-14 where believers are said to be “sealed” with the Holy Spirit,

8. " And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district." Luke 4:14

9. 45 All the circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. Acts 10:45

10. Micah 3:8 8 "But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin."

11. Luke 1:15 15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb."

12. “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Matthew 3:11NASB)

13. Ephesians 1:13-17 - 13 "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. 15 "For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him."

14. Acts 7:55-57 where we read about the stoning of Stephen. 55 "But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse."

15. Acts 8:14-17 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Such expression would not be made if the holy spirit were a divine person

2 A body that becomes a spirit when someone dies and cannot die again

1. Luke 39-43 39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; 43and He took it and ate it before them.

2. Rom 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

3. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28

Q - Can the Holy Spirit literally experience pain while interceding, manifested in groanings too deep for words (v26)?

1. This is a peculiar passage and there is NO evidence that backs this assumption

*** Q - How and when does this "groaning intercession" by the Spirit take place? Through the believer who is used as a vessel (i.e. the groaning is performed by the believer himself/herself, influenced by the Spirit)? Or is the intercession performed by the Spirit directly, without the believer's intervention and thus without being necessarily aware of it?***

As above no evidence to back the assumption