Colossians 4.3a-Paul Requests Colossians Intercede in Prayer for Him and His Companions
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 12, 2017
Colossians: Colossians 4:3a-Paul Requests Colossians Intercede in Prayer for Him and His Companions in Rome
Lesson # 105
Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned. (NASB95)
“Praying at the same time for us as well” is composed of the following: (1) verb proseuchomai (προσεύχομαι), “praying” (2) adverb hama (ἅμα), “at the same time” (3) conjunction kai (καί), “as well” (4) preposition peri (περί), “for” (5) personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “us.”
The conjunction kai is adjunctive meaning that it is introducing a temporal clause which presents an addition to the previous request in Colossians 4:2 which required that the Colossians continue existing in the state of being vigilant in prayer with thanksgiving.
The adverb hama denotes the coincidence of the two requests Paul makes of the Colossians.
The first request appears in Colossians 4:2, which required that they continue existing in the state of being vigilant in prayer with thanksgiving.
This request is to be the means which they were to obey his explicit command in this verse which required that each of them continue making it their habit of being dedicated to persevering in prayer.
The second request appears here in Colossians 4:3 and is also to coincide with the Colossians obeying this command in Colossians 4:2.
This second request demanded that each of them continue making it their habit of occupying themselves with intercessory prayer on behalf of Paul, Timothy and their companions in Rome.
Therefore, this word hama indicates that the Colossians’ obedience to these requests are to coincide with each other.
Thus, Paul wants the Colossians to continue making it their habit of being dedicated to persevering in prayer while being vigilant in prayer and continuing to intercede in prayer on behalf of himself, Timothy and their companions in Rome.
The verb proseuchomai refers to the intercessory prayer of the faithful believers in the Colossian Christian community on behalf of the apostle Paul and his companions in Rome but without reference to the fact that it is intercessory.
The plural form of this verb again speaks of Paul, Timothy and their companions in Rome and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing on exceptions.
The verb proseuchomai functions as a temporal participle indicating that “while” the Colossians continue to make it their habit of being dedicated to persevering in prayer, they were to continue making it their habit of occupying themselves with prayer on behalf of Paul and his fellow companions in Rome.
The present tense of the verb proseuchomai is a customary present which indicates that Paul wants the Colossian Christian community to “continue making it their habit of” interceding in prayer to the Father on behalf of Paul, Timothy and their companions in Rome.
This interpretation of the present tense is supported by Paul’s teaching in Colossians 1:3-5 and 2:5 which affirm the Colossians were already obeying the commands in this epistle including this request for intercessory prayer on behalf of himself, Timothy and their companions in Rome.
The middle voice of the verb is intensive indicating that Paul wants the faithful believers in the Colossian Christian community to continue making it their habit of “occupying themselves” with intercessory prayer to the Father on behalf of Paul, Timothy and their companions in Rome.
The genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego means “us” referring to Paul, Timothy and their companions in Rome.
This word is the object of the preposition peri, which means “on behalf of” since the word functions as a marker to show benefaction expressing the fact that Paul and his companions would benefit from the Colossians interceding in prayer for them.
Colossians 4:2 Each of you must continue to make it your habit of being dedicated to persevering in prayer while continuing to exist in a state of being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. 3 Also, each of you at the same time continue to make it your habit of occupying yourselves with prayer on behalf of each one of us. Specifically, that the Father would make possible for each of us an opportunity for our unique message, namely, to communicate the mystery, which is concerning the one and only Christ because of which, I am in fact imprisoned. (Author’s translation)
As we noted in our study of Colossians 4:2, the apostle Paul issues the Colossian Christian community two commands.
One is explicit and the other is implicit.
The first required that each of them continue making it their habit of being dedicated to persevering in prayer.
The second command is implicit since it is couched in a temporal participle clause which instructs the Colossians as to what they must continue doing while obeying the first explicit command and requires that they continuing existing in the state of being vigilant while in prayer.
Thus, the apostle wants them to continue existing in the state of being vigilant in prayer while obeying the command to continue making it their habit of being dedicated to persevering in prayer.
Now, here in Colossians 4:3, Paul issues another implicit command which is also couched in a temporal clause and required that the Colossian Christian community continue making it their habit of occupying themselves with prayer on behalf of himself and each of his companions in Rome.
Therefore, Paul wants the Colossians to continue being dedicated to persevering in prayer while continuing to make it their habit of interceding in prayer for him and each of his companions in Rome.
His companions would include not only Timothy but also Aristarchus, Barnabas’s cousin Mark, Jesus who is also called Justus, Epaphras their pastor, and Luke according to his statements in Colossians 4:10-14.
Therefore, in Colossians 4:3, Paul wants the Colossians to intercede in prayer for him and each of his companions in Rome.
God the Father receives prayer from three different sources in the church age: (1) God the Son (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25): He intercedes for the believer at the right hand of God the Father. (2) God the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:15, 26-27; Gal. 4:6): He makes intercessory prayer to God the Father for us when we don’t know what to pray for. (3) Believer-Priest (Heb. 4:16): He makes intercessory prayer for others and personal petitions for himself.
The believer-priest intercedes on earth for their fellow Christian, while the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for the believer in heaven at the right hand of the Father and the Spirit intercedes for the believer on earth while indwelling the Christian.
Intercessory prayer is a function of the church-age believer’s royal priesthood, which allows the believer to represent themselves in prayer before the Father.
God calls every church-age believer to intercede on behalf of all men, especially one’s fellow believers, since every church-age believer is a royal priest.
One of the essential elements to a productive prayer life is intercession, which means to pray for both the temporal and spiritual needs of believers and unbelievers, friends and enemies (Luke 23:34; Eph 1:16-23; 3:14-19; 6:18; 1 Ti 2:1-4).
Intercessory prayer refers to praying for both the temporal and spiritual needs of believers and unbelievers, friends and enemies (Luke 23:34; Eph 1:16-23; 3:14-19; 6:18; 1 Ti 2:1-4).
It is an expression of the love of God in our lives and, therefore, directly relates to what the Scriptures teach on love.
Believers are commanded to offer up intercessory prayers for all men, since God desires all men to be saved, without exception and without distinction (1 Jn. 2:2; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9; John 3:16-17).
The Christian is taught to pray for the deliverance from his or her enemies (Ps. 54:1-3; 55:1-3; 88:1-3; 102:1-2; 109:1-5; Acts 12:5; Philippians 1:19) and this particular objective entails that God protect us from our enemies, but also that we pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44-45; Luke 6:28).
The Christian is taught to pray for the spiritual and temporal needs of members of the royal family of God (Ephesians 6:18; Col 1:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; James 5:16; 3 John 2; 2 Co 13:9; Romans 15:30-31).
They are to pray for the spiritual growth of members of the body of Christ (Colossians 4:12; Ephesians 1:15-19; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10; Philippians 1:9; Colossians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 13:9).
The Christian is encouraged to particularly pray for the sick in the royal family of God (Jam 5:14-15a) and are taught to pray for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
The Christian is taught to pray for the proliferation of the Word of God in one’s community, country, and world (2 Thessalonians 3:1).
We should habitually pray that the Word of God increase and spread throughout the world.
For unbelievers, may the Gospel reach their ears, and for believers, may an accurate teaching of God’s Word encompass their lives.
Another objective is praying that God protect us and other believers from getting involved in evil.
Also, we should pray that believers apply the Word of God, so that God may be glorified and divine-good may increase (2 Corinthians 13:7).
The Word of God does not condemn praying for material prosperity and good physical health; rather, we are encouraged to pray for our prosperity and the prosperity of others (3 John 1:2).