Colossians 1.9-Paul Encourages Colossians By Informing Them He Habitually Interceded in Prayer for Them
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 8, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:9-Paul Encourages the Colossians By Informing Them He Habitually Interceded in Prayer for Them
Lesson # 11
Colossians 1:3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. (NASB95)
“For this reason” indicates that the apostle Paul and his companions in Rome interceded in prayer for the faithful believers in Colossae “because” they heard of their conversion and that they were operating in the love of God toward each other.
“Also” indicates that in addition to giving thanks to the Father for them, Paul and his companions in Rome also interceded in prayer for the Colossians.
“Since the day we heard of it” refers to the conversion of the Colossians when they first exercised faith in Jesus Christ which resulted in the imputation of Christ’s righteousness which in turn resulted in the Father declaring them justified.
“We have not ceased” is composed of the following: (1) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (2) verb pauomai (παύομαι), “we have ceased.”
These two words indicate that Paul and his companions in Rome “never cause themselves to cease” praying for these faithful believers in Colossae.
The middle voice is a causative middle which indicates that Paul and his companions in Rome never “permitted themselves” to cease praying for the Colossians from the day they heard about the Colossians’ conversion to Christianity.
“To pray for you” is composed of the following: (1) preposition huper (ὑπέρ), “for” (2) personal pronoun su (σύ), “you” (3) verb proseuchomai (προσεύχομαι), “to pray.”
The verb proseuchomai refers to the intercessory prayer of Paul and his companions in Rome on behalf of the faithful believers in Colossae but without reference to the fact that it is intercessory.
The present tense of the verb proseuchomai is a customary present used to signal an action that is to regularly occur indicating that Paul and his companions in Rome “made it their habit of” interceding in prayer to the Father on behalf of these faithful Christians in Colossae.
The middle voice of the verb is intensive which indicates that Paul and his companions in Rome made it their habit of “occupying themselves” with intercessory prayer to the Father on behalf of these faithful believers in Colossae.
The personal pronoun su functions as the object of the preposition huper, which functions as a marker of benefaction to another which indicates that each and every one of these believers benefited from Paul’s intercessory prayer to the Father.
“And to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” specifies for the reader the content of the intercessory prayer that Paul and his companions in Rome never permitted themselves to cease praying.
“With the knowledge of His will” is composed of the following: (1) noun epignōsis (ἐπίγνωσις), “the knowledge” (6) noun thelēma (θέλημα), “the will.”
The noun epignōsis refers to an “experiential knowledge” of the Father’s will in the sense of personally encountering through the process of experiential sanctification or fellowship the Father’s will as it is revealed by the Holy Spirit in the pages of Scripture and prayer.
It also refers to being affected by this encounter with the Father’s will and this will in turn result in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
“In all spiritual wisdom” is composed of the following: (1) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (2) adjective pas (πᾶς), “all” (10) noun sophia (σοφία), “wisdom.”
The noun sophia means “wisdom” and speaks of God’s wisdom, which refers to the person, work, life and teaching of His Son Jesus Christ and is revealed by the Holy Spirit through the gospel and thus the word speaks of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The noun sophia is modified by the adjective pas which means “absolute” since it pertains to being free from imperfection which indicates that this wisdom is “absolute” in the sense that it is free from imperfection.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is absolute in the sense that it is free from imperfection because the person, work, life and teaching of Jesus Christ were perfect because He is the sinless God-Man.
The noun sophia is the object of the preposition en, which is a marker of means indicating absolute wisdom is the means by which these faithful believers in Colossae will enter into an experiential knowledge of the Father’s will.
“And understanding” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) noun sunesis (σύνεσις), “understanding” (3) adjective pneumatikos (πνευματικός), “spiritual.”
The conjunction kai is a marker of result meaning it is introducing a word which presents the result of the Colossians having an experiential knowledge of the Father’s will by means of a wisdom which is absolute.
The noun sunesis means “insight, discernment” since it pertains to the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure, skill in discerning, and the power to see what is not evident to the average mind.
This word refers to the ability to choose what is God’s will and what is not.
It is modified by the adjective pneumatikos which means “spiritual” since it pertains to that which is produced by obedience to the Holy Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God and denotes that this discernment is produced by the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:9 For this reason also, from the day we ourselves heard about all of you, we never permit ourselves to cease making it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you. Specifically, we make it our habit of occupying ourselves with making urgent requests that (God) would cause all of you to be filled with that which is experientially knowing His will by means of a wisdom which is absolute resulting in a discernment which is spiritual. (Author’s translation)
The apostle Paul proceeds to inform the faithful believers in Colossae the reason why he and his companions in Rome interceded in prayer for them.
They prayed for the Colossians because they heard about their conversion to Christianity and that they were exercising the love of God toward each other.
Colossians 1:9 emphasizes with the Colossian believers that Paul and his companions were concerned for them and cared for them and is designed to encourage the Colossians to continue persevering by continuing to obey his apostolic teaching.
It is also an expression of the love of God in the lives of Paul and his companions in Rome since the believer who loves their fellow believer will pray for their fellow believer.
Paul does not mean that he prayed without every stopping but that he never forgot to pray for the Colossians day and night (cf. Acts 20:31; Eph. 1:16).
This statement also speaks of perseverance which is one of the characteristics of an effective and productive prayer life (Matt. 7:7; 26:39-44; Luke 11:9-10; 18:1-8; 21:36; Rom. 12:12; 15:30; Acts 1:14; 6:4; 12:5; Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Tim. 5:5; 2 Tim. 1:3; Col. 1:9; 4:2, 12; Heb. 10:22).
Then, after telling the Colossians that he and his companions prayed for them because of hearing of their conversion and that they were operating in the love of God, the apostle Paul identifies specifically the content of this intercessory prayer.
He tells the Colossians that he and his companions made it their habit of occupying themselves with making urgent requests that God would cause all of them to be filled with that which is experientially knowing His will.
This refers to personally encountering through the process of experiential sanctification or fellowship the Father’s will as it is revealed by the Holy Spirit in the pages of Scripture and prayer and also refers to being affected by this encounter with the Father’s will.
This will in turn result in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
God would cause them to be filled with an experiential knowledge of His will through the work of the Holy Spirit who enables the Christian to have an experiential knowledge when they obey His commands and prohibitions in the gospel.
This “wisdom” mentioned in Colossians 1:9 speaks of God’s wisdom, which refers to the person, work, life and teaching of Jesus Christ and is revealed by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, the word speaks of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is absolute in the sense that it is free from imperfection because the person, work, life and teaching of Jesus Christ were perfect because He was the sinless God-Man.
This experiential knowledge which is achieved by means of a wisdom which is absolute results in a discernment which is spiritual which pertains to the result of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively.
It pertains to the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure, skill in discerning, and the power to see what is not evident to the average mind.
This word refers to the ability to choose what is God’s will and what is not.