Romans 8:27--Translating and Theology

Greek: ὁ δὲ ἐραυνῶν τὰς καρδίας οἶδεν τί τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅτι κατὰ θεὸν ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἁγίων.

ESV: "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."

NWT 2013: "But the one who searches the hearts knows what the meaning of the spirit is, because it is pleading in harmony with God for the holy ones."

HCSB: "And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit’s mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

NABRE: "And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will."

One issue has been how τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος should be rendered: most translate the noun phrase with some form of "mind." I find it interesting that NABRE uses a neuter pronoun for the spirit which hardly anyone but NWT does, and NABRE is a Catholic Bible. David Bentley Hart follows suit with the neuter pronoun although he employs "mind" in Romans 8:27:

"And he who searches out the heart knows what the spirit’s mind is, for in accord with God it makes intercession on behalf of the holy ones."

Looking at GNT lexica, here are some explanations I've noticed for φρόνημα

BDAG: φρόνημα, ατος, τό (fr. φρήν via φρονέω; Aeschyl., Hdt. et al.; Vett. Val. 109, 2; 2 Macc 7:21; 13:9; Philo, Joseph.; Hippol., Ref. 1, 2, 1 [philosophical: ‘point of view’]) the faculty of fixing one’s mind on someth., way of thinking, mind(-set), in our lit. (only Ro 8) w. focus on strong intention aim, aspiration, striving (φρονέω 2.—Diod S 11, 27, 2 of aspiration for control of the sea; Jos., Bell. 1, 204; 4, 358 φρόνημα ἐλευθερίου=striving for freedom, desire for independence.—διὰ φρονημάτων καὶ ἔργων ἀρετῆς Did., Gen. 195, 4) w. subjective gen. (Appian, Ital. 1) τῆς σαρκός Ro 8:6a, 7. τοῦ πνεύματος vss. 6b, 27.—DELG s.v. φρήν II. M-M. TW.

See Louw-Nida 26.15. Te word φρόνημα could possibly be understood as "outlook" or "way of thinking." The gloss for φρόνημα is "thoughtful planning."

According to the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology:

φρόνησις (phronēsis), way of thinking, frame of mind, intelligence, good sense (G5860); φρονέω (phroneō), think, judge, give one's mind to, set one's mind on, be minded (G5858); φρόνημα (phronēma), way of thinking, mentality (G5859); φρόνιμος (phronimos), intelligent, discerning, sensible, thoughtful, prudent (G5861).

Paul A. Holloway (Philippians): "Neither φρονεῖν nor its cognate noun φρόνηµα appears in 1 Thessalonians, while in the Corinthian letter archive the verb appears only two times and in Galatians only once. But this changes dramatically in Romans where over the course of sixteen chapters φρονεῖν and φρόνηµα appear thirteen times."

William Mounce gives the definition "frame of thought, will, aspirations" for φρόνηµα: he translates Romans 8:27, "And God, who searches our hearts, knows the desire of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God"

I would encourage all readers to see the study note for Romans 8:27 in NWT 2013: the main rendering is "meaning" but mind (thought) is posited as another translational possibility. NWT explains the occurrence of φρόνηµα with God's spirit as likely personification.

Henry Alford suggests "intent" or "bent" for φρόνηµα but contemporary translators seems to like "mindset," which we could understand as a mental disposition or attitude.

Sophocles writes: ἀμήχανον δὲ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐκμαθεῖν ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην, πρὶν ἂν ἀρχαῖς τε καὶ νόμοισιν ἐντριβὴς φανῇ (Antigone 175ff).