Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - Ephesians 6:20
The Importance of Intercessory Prayer, Pt. 3,
The Strength Received.
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.
Eph 6:20, “For which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I
ought to speak.”
This verse continues Paul
petition for intercessory prayer on his behalf by the Church. He recognizes the
strength received through the power of intercessory prayer.
“For which,” is the
Preposition HUPER with the Genitive Relative Pronoun HOS that relates this
continuation of Paul’s petition for intercessory prayer to communicate the
Mystery Gospel of Jesus Christ back to vs.
19, where the petition began.
“I am an ambassador,” is the verb PRESBEUO, πρεσβεύω in the
Extending from the Past Present, Active Indicative, 1st Person,
Singular that means, “to act as an ambassador or representative for someone.”
This is one of two uses of this term in the NT. The other is in 2 Cor 5:20, that tells us all believers
are to “act as ambassadors” for Christ, where it is used in the 1st
Person Plural. Paul, like all who are to witness the gospel of Jesus Christ are
royal ambassadors of God, 1 Peter 2:9,
“…so that you may proclaim the
excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light.”
The word was commonly used in
classical Greek to denote an aged person or elder, and the activity of an
official envoy of a ruler or government who legally represented the authority
responsible for sending him.
Given that the English word
ambassador can be used as a noun or a verb, here the Greek is telling us that
this is an action to be performed. Therefore, we should translate this “I am to act as an ambassador.”
Next we have some definition to
Paul’s present state with “in chains.”
It is the Dative of Manner of the Preposition EN Plus the Dative Singular Noun
HALUSIS, ἅλυσις that means, “chain or captivity.” It is an old Greek word from
the negative prefix A, the verb LUO, “loose,” and the suffix SIS that indicates
action. Literally, it means, “not loose,” and became the term for, “being in
bondage, tied up, in chains, shackled, handcuffed, imprisonment, etc.” In
addition, in our passage the singular “chain” is used. The Romans would bind a
prisoner to a soldier by a single chain, in a kind of free custody, cf. the
singular in Acts 28:16, 20. The term
“bonds” was used when the prisoner’s hands and feet were bound together, cf.
the plural in Acts 26:29; 12:6.
Here, “imprisonment,” is the better context as Paul was under house arrest at
the time and guarded by Roman soldiers, cf. Acts 28:20; 2 Tim 1:16.
In the ancient world, as today,
ambassadors were to be received with all the respect due to the ones who sent
them; as heralds, they were to be immune from hostility even if they
represented an enemy kingdom. Paul, an “ambassador” of the greatest King and
the greatest Kingdom, Eph 6:20, is
instead chained in Rome for his mission of peace, Eph 6:15. In Greek literature, a true philosopher was characterized
by his “boldness,” or frank speech. Therefore, we see that Paul was an
ambassador in chains, and yet he did not lose his courage, but preached with as
much boldness as ever, Eph 3:1-13.
He had just written about the spiritual warfare, and now we see that he was
experiencing the onslaught of the enemy at the very moment he was writing. Paul
was an ambassador in chains; cf. Acts
28:16, 20; Eph 3:1; 4:1; Phil 1:7, 13-14, 16; Col 4:3, 18; Philemon 1, 9-10, 13.
So far we have, “for which (on behalf of the mystery gospel), I am
acting as an imprisoned ambassador.”
Then we have the reiteration of
Paul’s desire in the petition for intercessory prayer, “that in proclaiming it, I may
speak boldly.”
This is a HINA of Result clause,
which begins with HINA for “that.” Then
we have Dative Preposition EN “in,” with the Dative Personal Pronoun AUTOS in
the Neuter, 3rd Person, Singular for “it,” that refers back to the “mystery gospel” that Paul desires to
proclaim. “Proclaim” is not found in the Greek but is the context here. That is
why it is in italic in the NASB.
Next we have, “I may speak boldly,” which is the Verb PARRHESIAZOMAI,
παῤῥησιάζομαι that means, “to speak openly, fearlessly, boldly, or freely.” We
had the Noun of this word, PARRHESIA, in vs. 19.
It is formed from PAN, “all”;
RHESIS, “speech, word”; and ERO, “say, speak,” and means “freedom to say all.”
In classical Greek it refers to fearless and frank speaking with the freedom to
speak openly even in the face of opposition. It was also used to express the
openness of intimate conversation with a friend, which also hints at the
relaxed mental attitude we should have while witnessing. Later, it was used to
denote the freedom of speech that someone who is morally pure has; he need not
fear the public scrutiny of his life which his words might incite. In the NT it
is used of the fearless and free proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
cf. Acts 9:27,29; 13:46; 14:3; 18:26;
19:8; 1 Thes 2:2, even in chains before kings Acts 26:26. Therefore, it means, “to speak openly, boldly, and
without constraint.”
Here it is in the Aorist, Middle,
Subjunctive as part of the HINA purpose clause.
The Constative Aorist Tense
views the entirety of the process of witnessing with confidence and boldness.
The Middle Deponent Voice: gives this an active meaning, with results
that go back to Paul; “He may speak
boldly.”
The Subjunctive Mood is for the “Results Clause.” This is
the desired result Paul is looking for when asking for their prayers. As such,
Paul, who was “in chains” or “imprisoned,” desired to speak the gospel of Jesus
Christ just as a free man would.
1 Thes 2:2, “But after we had already suffered and been
mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to
you the gospel of God amid much opposition.”
In essence, this is the third time
in this petition for intercessory prayer that Paul emphasized speaking boldly
in regard to the mystery gospel of Jesus Christ; twice in vs. 18 and now here. Three is the number of Divine perfection.
Therefore, when we speak the gospel with bold confidence, we are operating as
God has designed and would intend for us to do.
Finally we have, “as I ought to speak,” which is the
Subordinating Conjunction HOS, “as,”
with the Personal Pronoun EGO, “I,”
the Verb DEI, and the Verb LALEO. Here
we have two verbs. The first is DEI, δεῖ that means, “it is necessary, must,
ought, has to, or should,” do something. It says that something “must” be done
without indicating the source or intensity of the demand. It is in the Present,
Active, Indicative, for the reality of the ongoing action that Paul should
adhere to. This is simply how he should speak. This is what is expected of the
professional Christian in fulltime Christian service. And, we know from
Scripture, that this is only considered Divine good when performed through the
filling of God the Holy Spirit.
Then we have LALEO, λαλέω that
means, “to speak, proclaim, say, communicate, or utter sounds,” in the Aorist,
Active, Infinitive. We saw this word in Eph
5:19, for how we are to encourage to one another, “with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” It relates more to the
external sound rather than to the content of what is said. Yet, in this case we
know what the content is, the mystery gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, this
simply emphasizes the communication of that gospel.
The Constative Aorist views the entirety of the
action of Paul witnessing / proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Active
Voice, Paul is to communicate this information.
The Epexegetical
Infinitive clarifies the previous HINA result clause, to indicate this is
Paul’s desired outcome in his petition to the Church for intercessory prayers
on his behalf. He desires to speak boldly and confidently the mystery gospel of
Jesus Christ, as he should speak, being an ambassador for Christ in chains.
From the time of his conversion, Acts 9, Paul was consumed with one main goal in life; to proclaim
the gospel to the world. He considered himself a special appointee of Jesus
Christ. Just as a King, Caesar, President, etc., of a country appoints an
ambassador to represent him personally in another country, so too did God
appoint Paul to represent Him and His gospel to the world. Remember, an
ambassador does not speak for himself, but for the prominent person he
represents. This gives a certain amount of boldness to the ambassador, because
it is not his words but that of his sovereign. How much more this should be
true of a representative of Jesus Christ.
Fear hinders us from preaching Christ openly and fearlessly.
That is why the absence of all restraint and disguise in confessing Christ is
demanded from his ministers. As we have noted, evangelism is spiritual warfare.
The culture opposes it. Therefore, we need God’s power to do it faithfully and
confidently. That is why Paul asks for these prayers on his behalf.
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