PAUL MAKES A PERSONAL APPEAL FOR PRAYER
Col. 4:1-4“Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.”
Paul says, “Withal praying also for us.” Paul believed that prayer was an essential part in the Christians life. He believed that prayer was essential to the Christian who lives constantly in enemy territory. Not to pray is to take God for granted. It is to take His work in our hands and operate for Him in our own strength. Paul knew that the Colossians were facing the enemy in the person of the Gnostic heresy. So he tells them to pray. He also has confidence in their prayers so he asks them to pray for him. The word “withal” means “at the same time.” In other words, Paul says while you are praying for yourselves and the work there, pray for me. Include me in your prayers.
Then he makes two specific requests. First, “that God would open unto us a door of utterance. When we talk about open doors for service we are using the language of Scripture. God must open doors to us. Paul needed an open door for utterance. This means that the door was shut at the time of the request. Now who do you suppose closed that door? We have three basic enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. I am sure in my mind that Satan had shut the door. Paul was a danger to the kingdom of Satan.
We have a good illustration of this in Acts 19. We have the story of how certain vagabond Jews tried to mimic the ministry of Paul in casting out demons. In verses 13-22 we are told, “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
Paul said in substance, “Pray for us also that God will open unto us a door of utterance.” He knew that God had to give the opportunity to speak.
Then Paul gets specific concerning the message he wants God to give him the opportunity to preach. He says, “to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds.” The mystery of Christ is defined in Colossians 1:27. It is not a hidden mystery, it is a revealed mystery. It is revealed in the gospel. This was and is a hated message. Satan will help you preach a perverted gospel because it only sets his children more firmly in their unsaved condition. But when the pure gospel is preached, Satan’s kingdom loses population! So Satan attacks the gospelizer through the world and the flesh. In Paul’s case, he was in prison for preaching the gospel. The answer to his situation was prayer.
Paul’s second request is, “That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.” This second request is for clarity of presentation. The words “make manifest” translates “phaneroo” and means, “to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown, to manifest,” This is an aorist active subjunctive verb. The aorist tense is a potential (subjunctive mood) point of time. It means that Paul wanted in the future to have an opportunity to do this. He is doing it in prison through his inspired pen as he writes to them. He is speaking here about publicly declaring the mystery of the gospel to those who have not heard.
The word “ought” translates “dei” and means, “it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper.” It is a present indicative verb. This means that Paul recognized his present obligation.
