StrongerBible

huperentugchanō

ὑπερεντυγχάνω

GreekG5241“intercede, make intercession for us”

Appears 1 time · tap a cell to see the verses

Rom 8:26
Compound of
huperὑπέρabove/for159G5228
entugchanōἐντυγχάνωto call on5G1793
Word studyResearch-gradehoo-per-en-toong-KHA-noverb

What huperentugchanō means

to intercede: to step in and plead with God on someone else's behalf

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

This word appears only once in the whole Bible, in Romans 8:26, where Paul says the Spirit intercedes for us. Paul seems to have coined it. There is no trace of it in any Greek writer before him, and after him it turns up almost only in Christian authors who are echoing this verse. He needed a word for something no existing Greek word quite named: the Spirit's own pleading with God on our behalf.

The word is built from an ordinary verb that meant to approach someone in authority and put in a formal request, the kind of language used for petitioning a king or a governor. To the front of it Paul adds a prefix that means "on behalf of," so the idea of pleading for another is folded right into the word itself. In the very next verse he drops back to the plain verb and spells out "on behalf of the saints," which shows that the fuller word here is already carrying that same sense.

In Romans 8 the Spirit intercedes "with wordless groans," and scholars have long argued over what those groans are: silent longings, inarticulate sighs, or even ecstatic prayer. That debate is about the groans, not about this word. What the word itself contributes is clear: when believers do not know how to pray, the Spirit takes up their need and pleads for them before God. The picture matches verse 34, where Christ intercedes for us in heaven; here the same work is done by the Spirit from within the human heart.

Rom 8:26

Disputed

Whether the ὑπερ- prefix on this compound carries its substitutionary "on behalf of" sense or an intensifying "beyond measure" force in Romans 8:26.

  • majorityThe prefix absorbs an implied ὑπέρ τινος, so the word means plainly "intercede for," matching the explicit ὑπὲρ ἁγίων of v. 27 and ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν of v. 34; the ancient scribes who added ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν after the verb read it this way.; BDAG, s.v. ὑπερεντυγχάνω; LSJ, s.v. ὑπερεντυγχάνω; O. Bauernfeind, "τυγχάνω, ἐντυγχάνω, ὑπερεντυγχάνω," TDNT 8:238-245; C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans, ICC (1975), 1:423-424; Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Romans, AB 33 (1993), 517-520
  • minorityBoth nuances operate at once, with the substitutionary sense primary and an intensive shading added by Paul's rhetoric.; Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT (2nd ed., 2018), 522-528; Robert Jewett, Romans, Hermeneia (2007), 517-523
  • minorityThe prefix chiefly intensifies, in line with Paul's fondness for ὑπερ- compounds in this letter (cf. ὑπερνικάω in Rom 8:37); the Spirit intercedes surpassingly or abundantly.; James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1-8, WBC 38A (1988), 476-482

What scholars say about huperentugchanō

ὑπερεντυγχάνω is a NT hapax legomenon (Rom 8:26) and almost certainly a Pauline coinage: unattested in classical or pre-Christian Hellenistic Greek, absent from the documentary papyri (Moulton-Milligan has no entry), from the LXX, and from Philo and Josephus, and thereafter confined to Christian writers dependent on this verse (Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 126; Origen; Chrysostom, Hom. in Rom. 14; Lampe's Patristic Greek Lexicon). The formal lexica are unusually unanimous on the gloss "intercede on behalf of": BDAG, LSJ, Louw-Nida 33.348, and Thayer (who classes it as "ecclesiastical"). Bauernfeind (TDNT 8:238-245) treats the compound as ἐντυγχάνω ὑπέρ τινος with the preposition drawn into composition and judges the ὑπερ- substitutionary rather than intensifying. The prefix nonetheless sits within Paul's marked habit of stacking ὑπερ- compounds (BDF 116, 230; cf. ὑπερνικάω in Rom 8:37), so Dunn (WBC 38A, following Schlier), and earlier Calvin ("abundantly intercedes"), defend an intensive force, while Moo and Jewett read both nuances as operative with the substitutionary primary. The Byzantine addition of ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν after the verb (א-corrector C K P Ψ 33 614 Byz), which Metzger rates {A} against, is ancient evidence that scribes heard the prefix as an absorbed "on behalf of" and felt free to re-supply it. The larger controversy over Rom 8:26 is exegetical rather than lexical, concerning the στεναγμοὶ ἀλάλητοι: Kasemann and Fee read Spirit-prompted glossolalia, against a majority (Cranfield, Moo, Dunn, Fitzmyer, Schreiner, Wright, Jewett) that takes the groans as unspoken or inarticulate; that debate turns on the adjacent vocabulary, not on ὑπερεντυγχάνω itself. Verse 26 also echoes Isaiah 59:16 LXX (οὐκ ἦν ὁ ἀντιλημψόμενος) in its opening verb συναντιλαμβάνεται, and the Servant who "made intercession for the transgressors" (Isa 53:12, Heb. פגע) forms the thematic though not verbal background.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ὑπερεντυγχάνωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ὑπερεντυγχάνωlexicon
  • J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 33.348lexicon
  • O. Bauernfeind, "τυγχάνω, ἐντυγχάνω, ὑπερεντυγχάνω," TDNT 8:238-245theological-dictionary
  • C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans, ICC (1975), 1:423-424commentary
  • Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT (2nd ed., 2018), 522-528commentary
  • James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1-8, WBC 38A (1988), 476-482commentary
  • Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Romans, AB 33 (1993), 517-520commentary
  • Ernst Kasemann, Commentary on Romans (ET 1980), 239-241commentary
  • Gordon D. Fee, God's Empowering Presence (1994), 575-586monograph
  • Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (2nd ed., 1994), 458reference

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of ὑπερεντυγχάνω

present active indicative 3s

ὑπερεντυγχάνει

Rom 8:26