Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
praying at the same time for us also, that God may open to us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ, on account of which also I am bound,
Paul writes from prison. He does not ask the Colossians to pray for his release, but for an open door for the message. Two questions follow. What is this "mystery of Christ"? And why is the man who carries it in chains?
Paul had just been urging the church to pray. Now he tells them what to ask for on his behalf.
Urging others to pray made the Apostle feel his own deep need of the prayers of the Lord's people. So he asks them to pray that God would open a door for him to speak. And once that door is open, he asks to be able to unfold the mystery of Christ, and to do it in the right way, as he "ought to speak."
Paul does not ask to force the door open. He asks God to open it. One writer traces this back to the opposition the message meets.
This naturally leads on to the truest service in this day and world, and Paul had a special commission for it — the making known of the mystery of Christ. The whole world is set against that mystery, and so is he who is the usurping "prince of this world." So if it is to have its way, God must open a door for it. For this, then, the apostle seeks the prayers of the disciples.
Notice also that Paul asks for one door, not many. One writer draws from that a lesson for how we pray for the Lord's work today.
Sometimes we hear news from the Lord's work, and someone writes that there are many open doors. But Paul does not ask for many doors. He only asks for one, because you cannot pass through many doors at one time. So he asks for prayer that the Lord might open one door for him, so that he might announce the mystery of Christ. That mystery takes in the whole of Christian truth. We pray for the gospel, and this is important, but it is not everything. We should pray that the whole of Christian truth is proclaimed.
A mystery in this sense is not a puzzle left unsolved. It is something once hidden that God has now made known.
Paul asks the Colossians to pray for him and for his fellow workers. Above all, he asks that God will open the door for him to declare the full truth of the mystery of Christ. This mystery of Christ takes in both Christ and His body, the Church. It is no longer a mystery, now that God has revealed it through the apostle Paul.
Paul adds that he is in prison "on account of" this message. The truth he wants freedom to preach is what cost him his freedom.
How little the Apostle was discouraged even at this late day! He writes to the Colossians from prison. His testimony to the mystery of Christ is what put him there. And that same mystery is what he still wanted them to pray about for him before God.
Another writer adds why the message met such resistance, and what Paul made of the prison.
Sad to say, people in the flesh, whether Jews or Gentiles, oppose this wonderful message of the grace of God. But Paul was not intimidated. He saw his imprisonment as another field for his service, and depended only on God to open the door for it.
The request turns the Colossians from spectators into participants in the work.
Our prayers are not to be mainly personal or even selfish. Paul urged the Colossians to pray for him, that he might make clear that "mystery of Christ." He had spoken of it earlier in the letter. He wanted them to be intercessors on behalf of the work of God, and so to take a share in the conflict connected with it.
The One asked to open the door is the One who provided the message at great cost.
The very fact of having such a gospel to pray for may well be the greatest encouragement. How could He, who at such a cost has provided salvation, fail to answer a desire of heart so completely in sympathy with His own heart? This is something we may pray about with boldness and confident expectation. Here is the secret of confidence: when we have learned to identify ourselves with Christ's interests on earth as our real concern.
- Need. Paul tells others to keep praying, then puts himself among those who need prayer. He asks for an open door to speak, and for the ability to unfold the mystery in the right way.
- Door. He asks for one door, not many, since no one can walk through several at once. Only God can open it, because the whole world and its prince stand against the message.
- Message. The truth he wants room to speak is the mystery of Christ: Christ and His body, the Church. It was hidden once and is now revealed, and it takes in the whole of Christian truth, not the gospel alone.
- Chains. That very testimony put him in prison, yet he is not discouraged. He treats the prison as one more field of service, and still asks the Colossians to pray for the message that put him there.
- Share. Prayer that looks past our own needs gives ordinary believers a real part in God's work. And we may pray with boldness, since the One who provided salvation at such cost will not fail to answer a heart in sympathy with His own.
to the end that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.
Paul writes from prison, and he asks the Colossians to pray — not for his release, but for an open door for his message. Verse 4 says what that door is for: truth made plain, and spoken the way it deserves.
Prison did not stop him. He treats it as one more place to serve, and he wants the full truth about Christ told there.
Paul asks the Colossians to pray for him and his fellow workers, above all that God will open the door for him to declare the full truth of the mystery of Christ. This mystery takes in both Christ and His body, the Church. It is no longer a mystery, because God has now revealed it through the apostle Paul... Paul was faithful in proclaiming this wonderful truth, and that is why he was in chains, a prisoner (v.3). Sad to say, people in the flesh, whether Jews or Gentiles, oppose this wonderful message of God's grace. But prison did not frighten Paul. He saw it as another field for his service, and it needed only God to open a door for it. He was sure he ought to speak the truth of God wherever an opportunity came (v.4), yet he felt his own real need of prayer.
The world stands against this message. So God must open the way — and the message itself is the reason to pray with confidence.
This leads on to the truest service in this day and world, and Paul had a special commission for it — making known the mystery of Christ. The whole world is against that message, and so is the usurping "prince of this world". So if it is to go forward, God must open a door for it. That is why the apostle asks the disciples to pray... And the very fact that we have such a gospel to pray for may well be the greatest encouragement. How could He, who provided salvation at such a cost, fail to answer a desire of heart so completely in tune with His own heart?
after
Paul asks for two things, and verse 4 is the second. An open door is one thing. Handling the message well once you are through it is another.
Urging others to pray made the Apostle feel his own deep need of prayer from the Lord's people. So he asks them to pray that God would open a door for him to speak. Then, with that door open, he asks to be able to unfold the mystery of Christ, and to do it in the right way, as he "ought to speak".
Paul's aim is to make the message clear. Foggy speech fails that test, however solemn it sounds.
When people are only half taught, their thoughts and their words tend to be in a cloud. They often imagine that, because they are hard to understand, they must be very deep. The truth is that where you are certain of the truth you know, you can afford to be simple... As a rule, the closer someone lives to God, the simpler he will be with people. Simplicity can go very well together with depth. But we must remember that depth is a very different thing from being unclear.
Years into his service, and writing from custody, he still puts himself in the hands of a small group of believers he had never met.
Yet it is remarkable to see how the Apostle values and asks for the prayers of saints... The value of united prayer is great; but God makes much of individual waiting on Him, and very especially in the interests of His Church and the gospel — of Christ, in short — here below. How little the Apostle was discouraged even at this late day! He writes to the Colossians, from his imprisonment because of his testimony to that very mystery of Christ, which he still desired to be the object of their requests on his behalf before God.
Prayer like this pulls the one who prays into the work itself.
Paul urged the Colossians to pray for him, so that he could make clear that "mystery of Christ" which he had spoken of earlier in the letter. He wanted them to pray for the work of God, and so to take a share in the conflict that goes with it.
The ask is small and large at once:
Paul does not ask for many doors. He asks for only one, because you cannot pass through many doors at one time... He asks for that one door so that he might announce the mystery of Christ, which takes in the whole Christian truth. We pray for the gospel, and this is important, but it is not all. We should pray that the whole Christian truth is proclaimed.
- Door. The message meets real opposition, so God Himself must open the way. That is why Paul asks for prayer.
- Content. What comes through the door is the mystery of Christ: Christ and His body, the church, and not the gospel alone.
- Manner. An open door is only half the answer. Verse 4 asks Paul to unfold the truth well, "which is how I ought to speak."
- Clarity. Making it clear rules out fog. Depth and obscurity are not the same thing, and being sure of the truth you know lets you speak simply.
- Share. Praying this prayer is not watching from the side. It puts you into the conflict beside the worker.