For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 24, and so forth For we are saved by hope, as it is the will of God we should be, waiting and hoping with patience for the things which we have not seen, which neither the eye hath seen, nor the ear hath heard, &chapter 1 Corinthians 2:9.—And the spirit also helpeth our infirmity … asketh for us with unspeakable groanings. [4] If we understand this according to the common exposition, of the divine spirit of the Holy Ghost, the sense is, says Saint Augustine that the Holy Ghost maketh us ask: but we may understand the spirit of God and his grace, diffused in our souls, and in particular that gift of the Holy Ghost, called the spirit of prayer, given to the new Christians, which taught them what to ask, and how to pray. See Saint John Chrysostom Witham.