Thursday, July 12, 2018 - Ephesians 6:19
The Importance of Intercessory Prayer, Pt. 1
Grace
Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher,
Jim Rickard
Stand in Warfare –
Eph 6:10-20.
4. The Energy, vs. 18-20, God’s Appeal for Prayer in the
Church.
Vs. 19,
Intercessory Prayer.
Eph 6:19, “And pray
on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to
make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.”
This continues the theme began in vs. 18, “In spiritual conflict prayer
is vital; victory is won when we are on our knees.” This verse changes the object of prayer from
ourselves and other members of the body of Christ to Paul himself. Or, as we
would today, pray for those who are witnessing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This prayer has the pattern of all
of our prayers, both a Request (petition), and a Desire. As you may know, God
answers both aspects of our prayers, both the Request and the Desire. His
answers range from Yes, Yes; to Yes, No; to No, Yes; to No, No, respectfully.
He answers both our requests and desires in every prayer, in every situation.
This passage begins with the
Coordinating Conjunction KAI, “and,”
to include this intercessory prayer for one individual with the previous exhortation
to pray for “all the saints.” Interestingly, “pray” or PROSEUCHOMAI is not in
this sentence in the Greek. That why it is italicized in the NASB. But it is
implied with the Coordinating Conjunction KAI with the following Preposition
HUPER and the Personal Pronoun EGO that translates, “for me.” In addition to praying for themselves and other members of
the body of Christ, Paul is requesting personal prayers for himself and his
ministry. That is why the NASB translates it “on my behalf.”
The Request
Next, we have the specific
request, “that utterance,” which
begins a Purpose HINA clause “that,” with the Noun LOGOS that means, “word,
subject, a matter, thing, speech, declaration, message, proclamation, etc.”
Here, LOGOS means preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, specifically verbally,
given the following words in this sentence. In context we could say, “the
ability to speak,” or the “the words that proceed.” This sets up the purpose or
why Paul is asking for their prayers.
“May be given,” is the Verb DIDOMI, δίδωμι that means, “give, give
out, hand over, etc.” It is in the Aorist, Passive, Subjunctive.
The Subjunctive
mood goes along with the HINA, “that” purpose clause. It is Paul’s desire
to speak the gospel going forward in his ministry and therefore, he petitions
the early church to pray that it might be so.
The Constative Aorist tense
views the action of verbally evangelizing and witnessing from this day forward
as a whole.
The Passive Voice tells us that Paul recognizes that he
receives the ability to verbally evangelize and witness the gospel of Jesus
Christ from God. It is not by his ability, but by the power of God the Holy
Spirit working through him.
“To me,” is the Personal Pronoun EGO in the Dative of Indirect
Object that tells us Paul is asking for this prayer for himself, so that he is
given the ability to preach by God.
Next, we have, “in the opening of my mouth,” which
begins with the Preposition EN and the Dative Noun ANOIXIS, ἄνοιξις that is
only used here in the NT. It is an hapaxlegomena. It denotes the act of “opening.” It is a Hebrew idiom
expressing, “to speak boldly,” as we
see in Ezek 29:21; cf. 2 Cor 6:11.
Paul is asking for the opening, in
this case, “of my mouth,” the
Genitive Singular of HO STOMA. So, Paul is requesting prayers for himself so
that he can speak the truth of God’s Word, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul then adds to the request by
asking not only for the opportunity to witness, but how he would like to speak
the gospel, “with boldness,” which
is the Dative Preposition EN with the Noun PARRHESIA, παῤῥησία that means,
“outspokenness, frankness, unreservedness in speech, plainness; freely, openly
publicly; courage, assurance, boldness, and fearlessness.” In Greek literature,
the term primarily refers to freedom of speech, the sort of speech appropriate
to a free human being. Therefore, not only is Paul requesting prayer for the
ability to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, but to do so with great courage
and confidence, which too, God provides. Cf. 1 Thes 2:2; Acts 9:27, 29; 13:46; 19:8; 26:26; 28:31; Phil 1:20; Philem
8.
The Desire
Next, we have an Infinitive of
Result clause to indicate the outcome Paul desires, “to make known the mystery of the gospel.”
The Infinitive is found in the
first word in the Greek for “to make
known,” which is GNORIZO, γνωρίζω in the Aorist, Active, Infinitive that
means “make known, reveal, point out, or declare.” We could say, “with the
result that it is made known.” This word may have originated as a combination
of the root GINOSKO, “to know,” and HORIZO, “determine or cause to happen,”
with the resultant idea of causing someone to know something that he previously
did not know, comprehend, or understand. It stresses obtaining new information
or understanding.
The Culminative Aorist views the completed action of
teaching for comprehension.
The Active Voice, Paul desires to teach
unbelievers so that they come to the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ.
The Infinitive of intended Result, shows us Paul’s great desire and request
for prayer; to teach the gospel so that people are saved. Therefore, we see the
intensity of this word, and the intense desire of Paul to reach the lost souls
of this world.
We have noted this word in Eph 1:9; 3:3, 5, 10. Eph 3:3 says that God made known the
mystery of the Church to Paul by revelation. Now Paul desires to make that same
knowledge known to the unbelievers of the world.
What Paul desires to be made known
is, “the mystery of the gospel,” HO
MUSTERION HO EUAGGELION. MUSTERION, μυστήριον is the Accusative Noun that
means, “Secret, secret teaching, mystery, anything hidden or unrevealed.” We
noted this back in Eph 1:9, 3:3, 4, 9,
in the other “made known” passages in this letter, and in Eph 5:32, regarding Christ’s relationship to the Church. Here, it
is linked with EUAGGELION, εὐαγγέλιον that means, “good news or the gospel,”
which we noted in Eph 1:13; 3:6; 6:15.
The greatest Divine secret of all
time is the now-revealed mystery of Christ, who has come to redeem the world
through His death on the Cross, 1 Cor
2:1-2, cf. 9-10. In addition, this mystery includes the radical revelation
that salvation is offered to the Jews and Gentiles on the same basis, which
“has been made known,” e.g., Eph 2:1f.;
3:3ff. As such, Paul regarded this revelation of the universal scope of
God’s redemption as his purpose and therefore, asked the Church to pray for him
in this endeavor, Eph 6:19; cf. Col 1:26-27.
The “mystery of the faith” and the
“mystery of godliness,” 1 Tim 3:9, 16,
are also linked to the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world.
Following the statement, “great is the mystery of godliness,” we have the famous
Christ-hymn that summarizes the gospel story of Jesus.
The idea that “mysteries” are now
“revelations” is also represented in the Book of Revelation. John explained the
“mystery” of the seven lampstands, Rev
1:20, and the mystery of God which is “completed,” refers to the
eschatological program already preached by the prophets that is destined to
reach its fulfillment, Rev 10:7.
Therefore, that which was hidden, but is now revealed openly, is also to be
proclaimed openly.
Paul did not depend on his natural
speaking ability and knowledge, but he relied on the Spirit for words to be
given to him. Thus, he asked for the prayers of his brothers that he might be
given the words to speak the mystery of the gospel.
As the Christ Centered Commentary
notes, “The greatest theologian-missionary of all times is asking for prayer!
That should encourage you! He has the position (as do we) of being an
"ambassador," a representative of Jesus; but, he knows he does not
have sufficient resources to communicate the gospel effectively, so he calls on
the Church to pray for him. Instead of feeling self-pity or resentment, he asks
for prayer for the mission!” Cf. Col
4:3-4.
Col 4:3-4 “Praying at the same time for us as well, that
God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the
mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4that I
may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
If Paul asked for the prayer
support of the Church, (and he had been to the third heaven and back), if Paul
needed the prayers of the saints, how much more do you and I need them! As
such, there is no man so richly endowed with gifts as not to need this kind of
assistance from his brethren and God, so long as he remains in this world.
Why is this an important prayer
not only for Paul, but for all of us? It is because Satan does not want you to
have the right words to say or to be bold in the face of temptations and
conflict. Evangelism is part of the spiritual warfare we are all a part of. Our
society today, likes Paul’s in his day, is very much opposed to it. Therefore,
we need God’s power to do it faithfully, consistently, confidently,
shamelessly, and bravely. And, if your prayers help another believer defeat Satan,
then that victory will help you too.
If Paul proclaimed the gospel boldly while being imprisoned,
whatever the difficulties of your circumstances might be, you have no reason to
be ashamed of and every reason for confidence in proclaiming the gospel of
Jesus Christ, to which you owe your Christian existence. You are not to think
of yourselves as a little group that needs to hide away. Rather, you have a
gospel that is to be announced freely and openly in
the midst of the hostile surrounding world.
Paul’s request teaches an
important lesson about the purpose of prayer. There is no doubt that Paul
prayed for his own needs, Rom 15:30–32;
2 Cor 1:11; Phil 1:19; 1 Thes 5:25; 2 Thes 3:1; 2 Philem 22, yet, the main
emphasis of this prayer request was that God would give him the enablement to
present the gospel message with boldness. This is consistent with Jesus’
teachings to His disciples that His children should seek His kingdom and His
righteousness first, and depend upon Him to supply their needs, Mat 6:33. Therefore, Paul did not ask
them to pray for his comfort or safety, but for the effectiveness of his
witness and ministry. Perhaps Christians would receive more answers to prayer
if they followed Paul’s example and pray more for the power to proclaim the
gospel, rather than always asking God for things for self.
So, we see that it is not armor or
weapons that make the warrior, it is courage and strength. As the Christian has
no resources of strength in himself, and can succeed only as helped from God,
Paul urges the duty of prayer. As such, the believer should avail himself to
all kinds of prayer: He is to pray on every suitable occasion; he is to pray in
the Spirit by His guidance and according to God’s will, cf. Rom 8:26-27; he is to be alert and persevering
in praying because it is easy to lose focus, cf. Luke 18:1; Rom 12:12; Acts 2:42; he should pray not only for
himself but for all the saints, he is to pray for others; he is especially to
pray for the delivery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with boldness and clarity,
vs. 19-20.
No comments:
Post a Comment