praying at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in [the] Spirit, and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and for me in order that utterance may be given to me in [the] opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the glad tidings,
Paul ends his description of the armour by asking the church at Ephesus to pray — not for all saints only, but for him. What does he ask them to pray for? And why is "the mystery of the gospel" the thing he needs help to say?
The chapter has just called every believer to constant prayer for all the saints. Then Paul puts himself inside that circle. One commentator sees this as a kindness to the readers.
Last of all comes activity for others, just as before there was dependence for ourselves… What a gracious way to encourage and strengthen believers! It gives them a sense of the value of their prayers, both in God's sight and in fellowship with the most blessed apostle God ever gave the church. … He felt his own need and the need of the work.
The request was not a formality.
No doubt, as an apostle of Christ, he was in one sense independent of their prayers… But he felt two things too deeply: the reality of his own weakness, and the blessing of spiritual fellowship. So he valued with all his heart every genuine expression of sympathy towards him.
He is writing from prison. The obvious thing to ask for is freedom. He does not ask for it.
Great servant of God though he was, he wanted the prayers of others who were not so great as he was. But he asked for prayer with one aim. Not that he might be let out of prison and his circumstances made easier, but that he might finish his ministry in full, even as a prisoner.
He asks that speech be given him. Even after years of preaching and repeated fillings of the Spirit, he treats the right word as something he cannot manufacture.
It is beautiful to see the apostle here. He does not rely on having been filled again and again with the Spirit for special testimony. He asks instead that, now as always, he may magnify Christ in his body with all boldness… Notice that he does not ask them to pray that he may be filled with the Spirit, but that he may speak the Word with boldness.
The good news he carries is not the kind people already expected.
It was not good news with a plain and obvious meaning, as in earlier days — the keeping of promises that belonged to the age or ages of this world. It was the mystery that none of this world's rulers knew, or they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Another writer ties the word to Paul's changed sense of his own errand.
When he was free he thought of himself more as an ambassador of the Gospel, urging people to be reconciled. Now, as a prisoner, he sees himself as an ambassador of the mystery — the mystery he opened up briefly in the earlier part of the letter. It is called "the mystery of the Gospel" because the one springs out of the other and follows on from it. If we do not understand the Gospel, we cannot understand the mystery.
Boldness sounds like the least likely gap in such a man. But the message itself made enemies, and the messenger knew what he was carrying.
We learn from this that a particular spiritual gift is not enough to make Christian ministry prosper. Much more is needed. The deep distrust of himself that always stayed with this chosen vessel of God's grace was, in fact, what kept him morally safe… By the phrase "mystery of the Gospel" we are to understand the full teaching of the grace of God in the calling of the Church, which is the most striking display of that grace.
The verse leaves a standing job for ordinary believers who will never preach.
Paul wanted to keep on with this precious ministry, so he asked the saints to pray. He knew well that the enemy would be glad to silence this wonderful truth. In these last days the truth of the mystery is so little known among God's people. Should there not be constant prayer to God that this precious truth may be announced with boldness in the power of the Spirit?
- Asked — The greatest servant in the letter asks for prayer himself. That tells the weakest reader their prayers carry weight.
- Given — He asks for words as a gift. Past fillings of the Spirit do not remove the need for a fresh supply.
- Not freedom — He wants his ministry completed in prison, not his chains removed.
- The mystery — What he longs to say is the secret no ruler of this age knew: God's grace shown in the calling of the church. It grows out of the gospel, and no one grasps it without the gospel.
- Boldly — Self-mistrust, not confidence, kept him safe. Pray now what he asked then: that this truth go out with boldness in the power of the Spirit.