A life of Worship
This passage explains the priority of prayer and order in worship.
Introduction
1. Pray for Others in your Everyday Worship. (1-7)
Paul uses several words for prayer in verse 1, as he does elsewhere.2 While such a listing can be redundant, it is more likely that Paul is expressing the breadth of prayer in its various aspects, each of which is relevant here. One might have expected that Paul would begin with the most general word, but instead he starts with deeseis (“requests”), perhaps because he is mainly concerned here with a focused request. He immediately follows with proseuchas, the more general word for prayers. Next he urges enteuxeis (“intercessions”; the NIV uses the singular as more idiomatic in a collective sense); this is the nature of the initial prayer here, offering petitions on behalf of the rulers. Finally he mentions eucharistias (“thanksgivings,” again singular in the NIV), which he already indicated in Philippians 4:6 should accompany requests. The thanksgivings are for the rulers, for whom we not only pray but are thankful, a remarkable concept in the age of the Roman emperors. The plural form extends to the words for “kings,” which would include even the likes of Nero, and for “those in authority,” modified by the word “all,” thereby including local authorities as well as imperial.
Paul uses several words for prayer in verse 1, as he does elsewhere.2 While such a listing can be redundant, it is more likely that Paul is expressing the breadth of prayer in its various aspects, each of which is relevant here. One might have expected that Paul would begin with the most general word, but instead he starts with deeseis (“requests”), perhaps because he is mainly concerned here with a focused request. He immediately follows with proseuchas, the more general word for prayers. Next he urges enteuxeis (“intercessions”; the NIV uses the singular as more idiomatic in a collective sense); this is the nature of the initial prayer here, offering petitions on behalf of the rulers. Finally he mentions eucharistias (“thanksgivings,” again singular in the NIV), which he already indicated in Philippians 4:6 should accompany requests. The thanksgivings are for the rulers, for whom we not only pray but are thankful, a remarkable concept in the age of the Roman emperors. The plural form extends to the words for “kings,” which would include even the likes of Nero, and for “those in authority,” modified by the word “all,” thereby including local authorities as well as imperial.