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Title: The Prayers of St. Paul
Author: W. H. Griffith Thomas
Release Date: November 1, 2009 [EBook #30389]
Language: English
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THE SHORT COURSE SERIES
THE PRAYERS OF ST. PAUL
GENERAL PREFACE
The title of the present series is a sufficient indication of its purpose.
Few preachers, or congregations, will face the long courses of expository
lectures which characterised the preaching of the past, but there is a
growing conviction on the part of some that an occasional short course, of
six or eight connected studies on one definite theme, is a necessity of
their mental and ministerial life. It is at this point the projected
series would strike in. It would suggest to those who are mapping out a
scheme of work for the future a variety of subjects which might possibly
be utilised in this way.
The appeal, however, will not be restricted to ministers or preachers. The
various volumes will meet the needs of laymen and Sabbath-school teachers
who are interested in a scholarly but also practical exposition of Bible
history and doctrine. In the hands of office-bearers and mission-workers
the "Short Course Series" may easily become one of the most convenient and
valuable of Bible helps.
It need scarcely be added that while an effort has been made to secure, as
far as possible, a general uniformity in the scope and character of the
series, the final responsibility for the special interpretations and
opinions introduced into the separate volumes, rests entirely with the
individual contributors.
A detailed list of the authors and their subjects will be found at the
close of each volume.
_Volumes Already Published_
A Cry for Justice: A Study in Amos.
By Prof. JOHN E. MCFADYEN, D.D.
The Beatitudes.
By Rev. ROBERT H. FISHER, D.D.
The Lenten Psalms.
By the EDITOR.
The Psalm of Psalms.
By Prof. JAMES STALKER, D.D.
The Song and the Soil.
By Prof. W. G. JORDAN, D.D.
The Higher Powers of the Soul.
By Rev. GEORGE M'HARDY, D.D.
Jehovah-Jesus.
By Rev. THOMAS WHITELAW, D.D.
The Sevenfold _I Am_
By Rev. THOMAS MARJORIBANKS, B.D.
The Man Among the Myrtles.
By the EDITOR.
The Story of Joseph.
By Rev. ADAM C. WELCH, B.D., Th.D.
The Divine Drama of Job.
By Rev. CHARLES F. AKED, D.D.
A Mirror of the Soul: Studies in the Psalter.
By Rev. CANON VAUGHAN, M.A.
In the Upper Room.
By Rev. D. J. BURRILL, D.D., LL.D.
The Son of Man.
By ANDREW C. ZENOS, D.D., LL.D.
The Joy of Finding.
By Rev. ALFRED E. GARVIE.
The Prayers of St. Paul.
By Rev. W. H. GRIFFITH THOMAS, D.D.
PRICE 60 CENTS NET PER VOLUME
_The Short Course Series_
EDITED BY
REV. JOHN ADAMS, B.D.
THE
PRAYERS OF ST. PAUL
BY THE
REV. W. H. GRIFFITH THOMAS, D.D.
PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT LITERATURE AND EXEGESIS
WYCLIFFE COLLEGE, TORONTO
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1914
TO
W. G. J.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. GRACE AND HOLINESS 1
1 Thessalonians iii. 11-13
II. CONSECRATION AND PRESERVATION 15
1 Thessalonians v. 23, 24
III. APPROBATION AND BLESSING 27
2 Thessalonians i. 11, 12
IV. LOVE AND PEACE 39
2 Thessalonians iii. 5, R.V.; 2 Thessalonians iii. 16
V. KNOWLEDGE AND OBEDIENCE 55
Colossians i. 9-12
VI. CONFLICT AND COMFORT 73
Colossians ii. 1, 2
VII. WISDOM AND REVELATION 89
Ephesians i. 15-19
VIII. STRENGTH AND INDWELLING 109
Ephesians iii. 14-19
IX. LOVE AND DISCERNMENT 125
Philippians i. 9-11
APPENDIX 139
INDEX 143
One of the most valuable elements in the Epistles of St. Paul is their
revelation of the writer's spiritual life. While they are necessarily
doctrinal and theological, dealing with the fundamental realities of the
Christian religion, they are also intensely personal, and express very
much of the Apostle's own experience. They depict in a marked degree the
sources and characteristics of the spiritual life. This is especially seen
when the various prayers, thanksgivings, doxologies, and personal
testimonies are considered.
I.
GRACE AND HOLINESS.
I.
GRACE AND HOLINESS.
"Now God Himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our
way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one
toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the
end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God,
even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His
saints."--1 THESS. iii. 11-13.
There are few more precious subjects for meditation and imitation than the
prayers and intercessions of the great Apostle. He was a man of action
because he was first and foremost a man of prayer. To him both aspects of
the well-known motto were true: "To pray is to labour," and "To labour is
to pray."
There is no argument for or justification of prayer; nor even an
explanation. It is assumed to be the natural and inevitable expression of
spiritual life. Most of the Apostle's prayers of which we have a record
are concerned with other people rather than with himself, and they thus
reveal to us indirectly but very really what St. Paul felt to be the
predominant needs of the spiritual life.
In this series of studies we propose to look at some of these prayers, and
to consider their direct bearing upon our own lives. Taking the Epistles
in what is generally regarded to be their chronological order, we
naturally commence with the prayer found in 1 Thess. iii. 11-13. In this
passage we have what is not often found, a prayer for himself associated
with prayer for others.
1. HIS PRAYER FOR HIMSELF (ver. 11).
Let us notice _Who it is to Whom he prays_--"God Himself and our Father,
and our Lord Jesus Christ." The association of Christ with God as One to
Whom prayer is addressed is of course very familiar to us, but it ought
never to be forgotten that when the Apostle penned these words the
association was both striking and significant. For consider: these words
were written within twenty-five years of our Lord's earthly life and
ascension, and yet here is this quiet but clear association of Him with
the Father, thus testifying in a very remarkable and convincing way to His
Godhead as the Hearer of prayer. And this fact is still more noticeable in
the original, for St. Paul in this verse breaks one of the familiar rules
of grammar, whether of Greek or English. It is well known that whenever
there are two nouns to a verb the verb must be in the plural; and yet here
the Greek word "direct" is in the singular, notwithstanding the fact that
there are two subjects, the Father and Christ. The same feature is to be
found in 2 Thess. ii. 17. It is evident from this what St. Paul thought of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is in such simple, indirect testimonies that
we find the strongest and most convincing proofs that the early Church
believed in the Deity of our Lord.
Let us consider _what it is for which he prays_--"Direct our way." He asks
for guidance. There had been certain difficulties in the way of his
return to Thessalonica. He had been hindered, and now asks that God would
open the way for him to go back to his beloved friends. Nothing was
outside the Apostle's relationship to God, and nothing was too small about
which to pray to God. As it has been well said: "Nothing is so small that
we do not honour God by asking His guidance of it, or insult Him by taking
it out of His hands." The need of guidance is a very real one in every
Christian life, and the certainty of guidance is just as real. "The steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii. 23); and this is as
true now as ever. "I will guide thee with Mine eye" (Ps. xxxii. 8) is a
promise for all time, and we may confidently seek guidance in prayer
whenever it is needed. The answer to our prayer will come in a threefold
way. God guides us by His Spirit, reigning supreme within our hearts. He
also guides us by the counsels and principles of His Word. These two agree
in one, for the Holy Spirit never guides contrary to the Word. And then,
in the third place, He guides us by His Providence, so that when the
Word, the Spirit, and Providence in daily circumstances agree we may be
sure that the guidance has been given.
2. HIS PRAYER FOR OTHERS (vers. 12, 13).
Consider the _immediate request_ he makes--"The Lord make you to increase
and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men." He asks for
_love_ on their behalf, that God would grant them this greatest of all
gifts--"the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever
liveth is counted dead before Him." Love in the New Testament is no mere
sentiment, for it involves self-sacrifice. It is not limited to emotion;
it expresses itself in energy. It does not evaporate in feeling; it
expresses itself in fact. "Love is of God," for "God is love"; and the
Apostle in praying this prayer asks for the supreme gift of their lives.
The measure of the gift is noticeable--"Increase and abound in love." The
"increase" has to do with their inner life, their hearts being more and
more enlarged in capacity to possess this love; the "abounding" has to do
with their outward life, and points to the overflow of that love towards
others.
Consider, too, the _objects_ of this love--"Toward one another, and toward
all men." There was, first of all, the special love to be shown toward
Christians, according to the "new commandment" (John xiii. 34). In the New
Testament the emphasis is laid again and again upon brother-love, or love
of the brethren, and the brotherhood. This was something entirely new in
the world's history--a new tie or bond, the union of hearts in Christ
Jesus. To see how these Christians loved one another was a proof of this
new affection based upon the new commandment. But, further, their love was
to extend beyond their fellow-Christians--even to "all men," just as we
have in St. Peter's Epistle, in that long chain of graces, first, love of
the brethren, and then, love towards all (2 Pet. i. 7).
And yet it may perhaps be asked, How is it possible for us to love
everybody? What about those who are not lovely and lovable--how can we
love these? It may help us to remember that there is a clear distinction
between _loving_ and _liking_. While it is impossible to _like_ everybody,
it is assuredly possible to love everybody. A mother loves her wayward
son, but she cannot like him, for there is practically nothing "alike"
between them. In the same way we may love with the love of compassion if
we cannot love with the love of complacency, and thus fulfil our Lord's
command and realise the answer to the Apostle's prayers. This, we may be
perfectly certain, is the supreme thing, and our Christianity will count
for nothing in the eyes of men if it is not permeated and energised
through and through with active, whole-hearted, Christ-like love.
Consider the _ultimate purpose_ he expresses--"To the end He may stablish
your hearts unblameable in holiness." The love for which he prays is to be
expressed in holiness. The meaning of holiness throughout the Old and New
Testaments is "separateness." The idea is that of a life separated unto
God, dedicated, consecrated to His service. Wherever the words "holiness,"
"sanctification," and their associated and cognate expressions are found,
the root idea is always that of separation rather than of purification. It
involves the whole-hearted and entire dedication of the life to God. The
cognate word "saint" does not strictly mean "one who is pure," but "one
who belongs to God."
The sphere of this holiness is to be in "your hearts." It is always to be
noticed that in Scripture the "heart" includes the intellect, the
emotions, and the will. In a word, it is the centre of our moral and
spiritual being; and when this is understood we can see at once the point
and importance of the heart being holy, for it is only another way of
saying that our entire being is to be separated from all else in order to
be possessed by, and consecrated to, God.
The standard of holiness is also brought before us in this
prayer--"Stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness." The Apostle prays
that they may be steadfast, not weak and vacillating. The great need was
for solidity and steadfastness, as it is in the present day, for it is
only when the heart is established by grace and in holiness that it can in
any true sense serve God. This emphasis on a fixed or stablished heart is
brought before us several times in Holy Scripture (cf. Ps. lvii. 7, cviii.
1, cxii. 7; Heb. xiii. 9).
And steadfast hearts will be "unblameable" hearts, hearts that are not
blameworthy. A clear distinction is to be drawn between unblameable hearts
and unblemished hearts. A little child may perform a task which in the
result is full of blemishes, though the child, having done his best, is
entirely without blame. In like manner, though the believer is not free
from blemish, it is nevertheless possible for him to live free from blame.
This is the meaning of the Apostle, and the reason of his prayer.
In all this we can see the close connection between love and holiness.
When our hearts are filled to overflowing with the love of God to us, and
of our love to Him, the inevitable result is holiness, a heart separated
unto God, "strengthened with all might," and "ready unto every good work."
Consider the _great incentive_ he urges--"Before God, even our Father, at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." The Apostle puts
before his readers the great future to which they were to look, and he
urges upon them this love and this holiness in the light of the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and all that it will mean to the people of God. St.
Paul draws a wonderful picture of that day in a very few words. He speaks
first of all of God's presence there: "Before God, even our Father." Then
he reminds us of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And last of all he
tells us that "the saints" will be there also. Thus, surrounded by our
fellow-Christians, and in the presence of our God and Saviour, we shall
see as we are seen, and know as we are known, with hearts "unblameable in
holiness."
This, then, is what the Apostle prays for his beloved friends in
Thessalonica--abounding love and perfect holiness. This is Christianity
and the normal Christian life. How simple it all is, summed up in the
words Love and Holiness. And yet how searching it is! The simplest things
are often the most difficult, and while it is possible for the believer to
do great things and to shine in great crises, it is not always so easy to
go on loving day by day, and to continue growing in grace and holiness,
until the heart becomes so stablished in grace that our Christianity
becomes the permanent character of our life. Yet this is God's purpose for
each one of us. And the fact that the Apostle prayed for this is a clear
proof that an answer was expected, and that the purpose can be realised.
II.
CONSECRATION AND PRESERVATION.
II.
CONSECRATION AND PRESERVATION.
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also
will do it."--1 THESS. v. 23, 24.
As we consider these prayers of the Apostle, we become increasingly aware
of what he felt to be the most important elements in the Christian life.
The prayers all have reference to Christian living, and whether we think
of the character of the life portrayed, or the standard held up in them,
we can readily see their intense practical value for daily living. We may
be pretty sure that those things for which he prayed on behalf of his
converts were the things he regarded as most essential in Christian
character and conduct.
The prayer that now calls for consideration is that found in 1 Thess. v.
23, 24.
1. THE PETITION.
He prays for their _sanctification_--"Sanctify you wholly." As already
noted, the root idea of sanctification, and of its cognate expressions,
"holiness," "holy," and the like, is _separation_. We see this very
clearly in connection with buildings or things which are said to be "holy"
or "sanctified." It is obvious that no thought of purification is
applicable to buildings and inanimate objects. We must, therefore,
understand sanctification in this case as equivalent to consecration. This
is also the root-meaning of the word "sanctify" in relation to persons,
and it may be questioned whether the word, as used in the original, ever
really includes in it the idea of purification; the latter thought has
another set of words altogether. The Apostle therefore prays that they may
be consecrated, set apart from all else, for the possession and service
of God. This meaning may be aptly illustrated from our Lord's words about
Himself: "For their sakes I _consecrate_ Myself, that they also may be
_consecrated_ through the truth" (John xvii. 19).
The _extent_ of this consecration is very noteworthy--"Sanctify you
wholly." The word rendered "wholly" is used in connection with the Old
Testament sacrifices in the Septuagint, and implies the entire and
complete separation of the offering for the purpose intended. The
Christian life must be wholly, entirely, and unreservedly consecrated to
God, no part being reserved or held back, but everything handed over and
regarded as permanently and completely belonging to Him.
He prays for their _preservation_--"Preserved blameless." The consecration
is to be maintained in continual preservation, in and for God. The
consecration as an act is to be deepened into an attitude, so that, day by
day, and hour by hour, the separated life may be maintained, and preserved
in readiness for every call that God may make.
The _extent_ of this preservation is also observable--"Your whole spirit
and soul and body." The spirit is that inmost part of our life which is
related to God. The soul is the inner life regarded in itself, as the seat
and sphere of intellect, heart, and will. The body is the outward vehicle
and expression of the soul and spirit through which we are enabled to
serve God. The order of these three should be observed. It is not, as we
often say, and sing in certain hymns, "body, soul, and spirit," but the
very reverse--"spirit, soul, and body." The Apostle starts from within and
works outward, thereby reminding us that if the spirit or deepest part of
our nature is wholly surrendered to God, this fact will express itself in
every part of our nature, and we shall be consecrated wholly. What a
searching requirement this is, and what a solemnity and responsibility it
gives to life! Whether in relation to God, or in relation to man, whether
for worship or work, character or conduct, prayer or practice, we are to
be wholly consecrated, and continually kept for the Master's use--
"That all my powers with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite."
2. THE PRE-REQUISITE.
"The God of Peace Himself." The Divine title associated with this prayer
as its definite presupposition and pre-requisite is very significant, as,
indeed, is every title of God. There is always some special point of
direct connection between the way in which God is addressed and the prayer
that follows. In the present instance the prayer for consecration and
preservation is addressed to "The God of Peace Himself."
The Apostle lays special stress upon the fact that it is God "Himself" Who
consecrates and keeps us. As with salvation, so with consecration--it is
and must be Divine. The work is entirely beyond any mere human power, and
while there is a truth in our frequent reference to consecration as
something that we ourselves have to effect, it is far more scriptural,
and, therefore, much more helpful, to endeavour to limit the idea of
consecration to the Divine side, and to think of it as an act of God, to
which the corresponding human act and attitude is that of _dedication_. It
is God Himself Who separates us, marks us off as His own, and designates
us for His use and service. It is God Himself, and no one else, for we are
here brought into personal and blessed association with the Divine power
and grace.
Further, God is described as "The God of Peace," and we naturally ask what
it means, and why peace is thus associated with consecration and
preservation. This title, "The God of Peace," is found very frequently in
the writings of St. Paul, and it deserves careful consideration in each
passage. There is a twofold peace in Scripture, sometimes described as
"peace with God" (Rom. v. 1), at others as "the peace of God" (Phil. iv.
7); and they both have their source in the "God of Peace" (Phil. iv. 9).
Peace is the result of reconciliation with God. Our Lord made peace by the
Blood of His Cross (Col. i. 20), and the acceptance of His atoning
sacrifice through faith brings peace to the soul. This consciousness of
reconciliation in turn causes a blessed sense of restfulness and peace to
spring up in the heart, and thus we have the peace of God within us.
The connection between peace and holiness is close and essential. It is
impossible for anyone to understand consecration until they have
experienced reconciliation. Holiness must be based on righteousness, and
righteousness is only possible to those who have accepted the Lord Jesus
as God's righteousness through faith. So long as there is any enmity in
the heart, or even any uncertainty as to our acceptance in Christ Jesus,
holiness is an impossibility. May not the forgetfulness of this fact be
the cause of surprise and disappointment at Christian Conventions from
time to time? May it not be that many go to such gatherings longing to be
made holy who have not settled this question of their standing before God
and their peace as the result of acceptance of Christ's atonement? To
understand and experience what holiness means before enjoying peace with
God is like trying to take a second step before attempting the first. Only
through peace can holiness come, and only as we have blessed personal
experience of God as the God of peace can a prayer like this be answered.
3. THE PROSPECT.
"Unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Once again the Apostle prays
with special reference to that glorious day to which he was always looking
and pointing his readers. As he looks forward to that day he uses again a
favourite word, "blameless," and suggests to us the great and wonderful
possibility of being so consecrated and preserved that we may lead a
blameless life day by day until the coming of our Lord. Holiness is thus
associated once again with the great future. The Apostle finds in the
coming of the Lord one of the most potent reasons why Christians should be
consecrated and preserved. This close and intimate connection between
holiness, and what we term the Second Advent, needs much stronger
emphasis in daily living and in church teaching than it often has in the
present day. There is, in its way, nothing more powerful as a reason for
holiness than the thought of the certainty and imminence of the Lord's
coming.
4. THE PROMISE.
"Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it." Lest we should be
tempted to think that so wonderful a prayer could not be fulfilled in
daily experience, the Apostle adds this blessed assurance that God, Who
puts this ideal before us, will enable us to realise it. The promise is
undoubted--"Who also will do it." What He has promised He is also able to
perform. If only our hearts are right with Him, and are willing to say,
"Yea, let Him take all," God will, indeed, consecrate and preserve us
blameless unto the end. The guarantee of this lies in His Divine
faithfulness. "Faithful is He that calleth you." We are touching the
bed-rock of Divine revelation when we contemplate the faithfulness of God.
This phrase is often found in the New Testament: "God is faithful." "The
Lord is faithful." "Faithful is He." "This is a faithful saying." If our
hearts will only rest upon this we shall find in it, not only the most
exquisite joy and assured peace, but also the ground of our perfect
confidence that He will accomplish His purposes in us, and glorify Himself
in our lives.
It is well and necessary from time to time to look at holiness from the
human point of view, and to see our duty and responsibility; but it is
equally essential and important that we should also dwell upon holiness,
as in the passage before us, from the Divine standpoint, and keep well in
view the glorious realities of God's faithfulness, God's power, God's
grace. To be occupied unduly with self in the matter of holiness is to
become self-centred, morbid, fearful, and weak; to be occupied with God is
to be restful, quiet, strong, confident, and ever growing in grace.
III.
APPROBATION AND BLESSING.
III.
APPROBATION AND BLESSING.
"Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you
worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of His
goodness, and the work of faith with power: that the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the
grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."--2 THESS. i. ii, 12.
Two words sum up the Christian life--Grace and Glory; and both are
associated with the two Comings of the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace
particularly with the first Coming, and Glory especially with the second.
This twofold aspect of Christianity comes before us in the prayer of the
Apostle which we now have to consider.
1. THE REASON OF THE PRAYER.
This thought is brought before us very clearly in the Revised Version:
"_To which end we also pray_." In the Authorised Version it is:
"_Wherefore also we pray_." Following the original, the R.V. refers
definitely to what has preceded. The whole context is a reason for the
prayer which now follows.
The _Triumphant Future_ is part of the reason of his prayer. "When He
shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be marvelled at in all
them that believe in that day." The Apostle looks forward to "the crowning
day" that is coming, and bases upon this glorious hope the prayer that
follows.
The _Testing Present_ is another part of the reason for this prayer. The
Church of Thessalonica was suffering persecutions and afflictions, and was
passing through the fire of testing (vers. 4-7); and it was this
fact--their then-existing severe experiences--that prompted the Apostle to
pray for them, as well as to express the hope concerning their deliverance
from the furnace of affliction.
Thus present and future are blended in his thought, and form the ground or
reason of his intercession.
2. THE NATURE OF THE PRAYER.
Two elements sum up this beautiful prayer.
He asks for the _Divine Approval_ on their life: "That God may count you
worthy of your calling." God's "calling" is His summons into His kingdom.
The kingdom may be regarded both as present and future. In the Gospels it
would seem as though the "calling" were limited to His invitation or
appeal, while in the Epistles it appears to include the believer's
response to the call. For this reason it is sometimes spoken of as God's
"calling," and at others, as in this case, as "your calling." The thought
of a Divine calling responded to by the believer is prominent in the
teaching of St. Paul, and should be carefully studied. Even in these
Epistles to the Thessalonians, the idea is frequently found (1 Thess. ii.
12, iv. 7, v. 24; 2 Thess. ii. 14).
"Count you worthy" is a notable phrase repeated from verse 5: "Counted
worthy of the kingdom of God." Seven times this verb is used by St. Paul.
As we ponder it we catch something of the wondrous glory of our life as
contemplated by the King of Kings. Surely, it may be said, the believer
can never be "worthy"; and this is true if he is considered in himself.
But just as it is with justification, which means "accounted just," so
with sanctification--by the unspeakable grace of God we are actually
"counted worthy." Hooker's well-known words about justification may be
quoted in this connection as illustrating the thought of worthiness in
sanctification. "God doth justify the believing man, yet not for the
worthiness of his belief, but for His worthiness Who is believed." So we
may say, God doth count the believing man worthy, yet not for any personal
worthiness, but for the worthiness which is wrought by grace. We must,
however, not fail to notice that the believer is responsible for his use
of grace, and that the very thought of God counting us worthy has included
in it the thought of scrutiny with a view to decision.
He seeks the _Divine Blessing_ on their life: "And fulfil every desire of
goodness and every work of faith with power." This, which is the rendering
of the R.V., seems, on the whole, the more intelligible and appropriate.
It means, "all that goodness can desire, and all that faith can effect."
It blends together the two ideas of _aspiration_ and _activity_--the
aspiration of goodness and the activity of trust--and it prays that God
would fulfil _with power_, or powerfully, every aspiration that comes from
goodness, and every activity that springs from faith. Just as in the
familiar words of the Collect for Easter Day, God first puts into "our
minds good desires," and then by His "continual help" we are enabled to
"bring the same to good effect." By "His holy inspiration we think those
things that are good, and by His merciful guiding we perform the same."
3. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE PRAYER.
Notice the twofold consequence here stated.
He expects that _God will be glorified in us_. Glory in the New Testament,
and, indeed, in the whole Bible, is the outshining of splendour, and the
Apostle seeks in answer to prayer that Christ may reveal in our lives the
glory of His grace. This includes both our present and future lives.
Christ is to be manifested by and glorified in us here, and He will be
manifested by and glorified in us hereafter (ver. 10). What an unspeakable
privilege and what a profound responsibility lie in this simple fact that
Christ is to shine forth from our lives, and that men around us are to see
something of Christ as they associate with us. One of the most beautiful
testimonies ever given to a Christian was that of a poor dying outcast
girl to a lady who had befriended her: "I have not found it hard to think
about God since I knew you."
He also expects that _we shall be glorified in Christ_. This is, in a way,
more wonderful still. There is to be a reciprocal glory; and, actually,
marvellous though it seems, we are to have our share of glory in Christ.
This, again, has its application to the present, as well as to the future,
for every life that is loyal to Christ is glorified in union and
communion with Him. And in the great future it will be seen and known on
every hand who have been faithful to their Lord and Master. "Then shall
the righteous shine forth as stars in the kingdom of their Father."
4. THE GUARANTEE OF THE PRAYER.
The Apostle scarcely ever prayed without reminding himself and his readers
of the secret whereby prayer is answered. Accordingly he closes this
prayer with a reminder that the guarantee of its fulfilment is the grace
of God--"According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
God is the _Source_ of all grace. How lovingly the Apostle speaks of "our
God" and "our Lord Jesus" in this verse! Elsewhere in his Epistles we also
find this appropriating phrase, "Our God" (1 Thess. ii. 2, iii. 9; 1 Cor.
vi. 11). As in the still more personal phrase, "My God," which we find
about seven times in his writings, St. Paul expresses his consciousness of
personal possession and the blessed reality of fellowship with God. "This
God is _our_ God," as the Psalmist says.
Christ is the _Channel_ of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ being associated
with God in this connection is a reminder that it is "the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ" as much as the grace of our God. He mediates grace to
us, and through faith in Christ we are linked to God as the "God of all
grace."
What a cheer and inspiration it is to have the assurance and guarantee
that even a prayer like this, with its high standard and far-reaching
possibilities, can and will be answered. Christianity provides not only an
appeal, but a dynamic. He Who bids, enables; He Who calls, provides. The
Gospel of Jesus Christ is at once a precept, a promise, a provision, and a
power. The religions of the world often tell us to "Be good," but it is
left for Christianity to proclaim that "He died _to make us good_." As a
result, the Christian can say with Augustine: "Give what Thou commandest
and then command what Thou wilt." That is: "Only give me the spiritual
power, and then I can do anything that Thou requirest of me." As the
Psalmist cried: "I will run in the path of Thy commandments, when Thou
hast set my heart at liberty."
Thus the Christian life is at once a life of Grace and a life of Glory.
"First Grace, then Glory." "No Grace, no Glory." "More Grace, more Glory."
"If Grace, then Glory."
"Grace, 'tis a charming sound,
Harmonious to the ear;
Heaven with the echo shall resound,
And all the earth shall hear."
IV.
LOVE AND PEACE.
IV.
LOVE AND PEACE.
"The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the
patience of Christ."--2 THESS. iii. 5, R.V.
"The Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by all means."--2
THESS. iii. 16.
It is striking to note the number of prayers in these two short Epistles
to Thessalonica. They are probably the earliest of the Apostle's writings,
and the frequency of his prayers is a significant testimony to his thought
for his converts and their needs.
Hardly less striking is the variety of the prayers, of which we have
already had several proofs. There are still two prayers to be considered
in the second Epistle, very terse petitions, yet full of suggestiveness
and importance. It will be convenient to consider these two together, not
only because of their brevity, but also because of the spiritual
connection between them.
1. THE GOAL.
The context of the prayer is noteworthy. The Apostle had been asking for
their prayers, more particularly for deliverance from evil men. Then comes
the strong assurance that God in His faithfulness would keep them from
evil, together with the expression of his own personal confidence
concerning them that they would be faithful to his counsels and commands.
And then follows the prayer of our text in which he asks that their hearts
may be directed to that Divine goal which is, and ever must be, the true
home of the soul.
"_Your hearts._" Once again does the Apostle lay stress on this central
reality of their spiritual and moral being. The heart is the citadel of
the life, and the usage of the term in the Word of God must ever be kept
clearly before us. It includes, as we have already seen, intellectual,
emotional, and volitional elements. There is no such contrast in the New
Testament between "the head" and "the heart" as we are now often
accustomed to make, for intellect, feelings, and will are all comprised in
the Biblical meaning. If, therefore, the heart is right, all else will be
right. It was for this reason that Solomon gave the counsel to keep the
heart "above all keeping," since "out of it are the issues of life."
"_Into the love of God._" The phrase seems to suggest the direction of the
heart towards a goal--"_Into_ the love." This must mean first and foremost
the love of God to us, for this is the true goal and home of the soul.
Home is at once a protection, a fellowship, and a joy. "There's no place
like home;" and there is no place like the love of God as a home for the
soul. In that love we find constant protection, for all the refuge and
safety of a true home are experienced there. In that love we find the
fullest, truest fellowship, for "truly our fellowship is with the Father,
and with His Son Jesus Christ"; and we know also "the fellowship of the
Holy Ghost." Not least of all, in this home of the soul, is perfect and
permanent satisfaction. Just as when the door closes upon us and we know
that we are within the privacy, comfort, cheer, and fellowship of home, we
find blessed restfulness and satisfaction, so when the soul enters the
home of God's love it soon realises the fulness of satisfaction, for it is
"satisfied with favour, full with the blessing of the Lord." Love that is
deep, unfathomable, constant, pure, unchanging, Divine, is our everlasting
home. It is recorded that Spurgeon once saw a weathercock with the words
on it, "God is love." On remarking to the owner that it was very
inappropriate, since God's love did not change like a weathercock, he
received the reply that the real meaning was, "God is love whichever way
the wind blows." This is the experience of the believer. Whatever comes,
wherever he is, he knows that "God is love."
It is possible, perhaps probable, that this phrase, "the love of God," may
also include our love to God. At any rate, in several passages it is
almost impossible to make a rigid distinction between the two ideas (cf.
Rom. v. 5). The one is the source of the other, and "we love Him because
He first loved us." Love from God begets love to God, and when once the
soul has entered into God's love as its goal and home, love at once begins
to be the spring, the strength, the sustenance, and the satisfaction of
its life.
"_Into the patience of Christ._" The Authorised Version has somewhat
misread this verse by translating it "into the patient waiting for
Christ," which would need another expression in the Greek. It really
refers to active, persistent, steady endurance rather than to patient
waiting. It refers to present patience, not to a future prospect. The
patience of Christ must mean the active endurance which is like His, the
endurance of which He is the pattern. How marvellously He "endured the
contradiction of sinners against Himself"! How striking is the statement
that "He set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem"! Whether in
suffering or in service, our Lord "endured as seeing Him who is
invisible"; and having endured to the end, He became our Saviour.
But "the patience of Christ" is also the endurance which comes from Him.
He is not only our pattern, but also our power, since He enables us to
endure with a like endurance to His own. As the Apostle says elsewhere: "I
have power for all things in Him who is empowering me." To have a pattern
without the power to realise it, to have our Lord's example without His
efficacy and energy, would be of little practical use except to discourage
and to mock us; but He who sets the standard supplies the strength, and
our hearts are thus enabled to enter into and abide in the endurance of
Christ.
The need of patient endurance is obvious. Those early Christians of
Thessalonica were soon put to the test. A few days and their new-born
experiences were severely proved. Persecution, ostracism, suffering, and,
it may be, death put a real strain upon their Christian profession; yet
they endured, and the Apostle's prayer was answered; for we know with
what joy he received tidings of their endurance and continuance (ch. i.
4). The same endurance is needed to-day, though the circumstances are very
different. Sin is still powerful, and trials, suffering, sorrow and death
are found on every hand. Many things would tempt us from our allegiance
and continuance. Like the Psalmist, we see the wicked prospering, and we
are ready to burst out with the faithless cry: "I have cleansed my heart
in vain, and washed my hands in innocency." Or we have been toiling in the
vineyard for long without seeing any fruit, and like the prophet, we are
tempted to cry: "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for
nought." Then we hear the voice of the Apostle reminding us of "the love
of God" and "the patience of Christ."
The secret of patience is love. If only we live in the love of God we
shall thereby find the grace of patience. The union of love and patience
was exemplified in our Lord's earthly life. He kept His Father's
commandments and abode in His love, and if only we will continue in His
love we shall thereby be enabled to keep His commandments, and endure as
He endured.
2. THE GUIDE.
"_The Lord direct your hearts._" We need direction. Sin has blinded us,
and kept us from knowing the way home into the love of God, and into the
endurance of Christ. Still more, sin has biassed our hearts, and kept us
from going along the way. Thus we need nothing short of a Divine
direction. If the Lord does not make straight our way home we never shall
arrive there.
How does our Lord direct our hearts? First, by constant and
ever-increasing experience of His love. "God is love," and as it is of the
essence of love to communicate itself, God is ever revealing to our hearts
and bestowing upon them His own Divine love. Along the straight pathway He
guides the soul into deeper and fuller experience of His unchanging,
unerring, and unending love.
He also guides by bestowing upon us an ever-fuller experience of the power
of Christ. Patient endurance is not learned all at once, and the Lord
leads us as we are able to bear His disclosures and His discipline. Every
lesson of testing brings with it a fresh experience of grace, and every
call to endure carries with it the assurance of sufficient strength and
power.
The means used for our direction, as we have already seen, are three in
number, but the truth is so important that it needs renewed emphasis. The
Lord directs us _by His Word_. Its examples, its counsels, its promises,
its warnings, it anticipations, its incentives all come with force and
blessing upon the heart, impelling it to go the right way home. He also
directs us _by His Holy Spirit_ dwelling within us. The Divine Spirit
possesses and purifies our thoughts, cleanses and clarifies our motives,
freshens and fertilises our soul, sanctifies and sensitises our
conscience, guides and guards our will; and thus "every virtue we possess,
and every victory won, and every thought of holiness" are the work of the
Holy Spirit of God in guiding and directing our hearts into the love of
God and into the patience of Christ.
The Lord also guides _by His Providence_. He uses the circumstances of our
daily life to indicate His will. The discipline, the thousand and one
little events and episodes, the ordinary experience of daily duty, the
shadows and the sunshine, are all part of His providential guidance as He
leads us along the pathway home into the love of God. All things are
continually working together for good to them that love God.
Now we pass to consider the second and complementary prayer.
3. THE GIFT.
In this concluding prayer of the Epistle the Apostle sums up by speaking
of that which is in some respects the greatest gift of God in Christ, the
gift of perfect and perpetual peace.
Our first need is _peace of conscience_. The burden of sin weighs heavily
upon the awakened soul, and the condemnation of the law consciously weighs
upon it. As we look back over the past, and realise what it has been, we
long for rest in the removal of condemnation and the bestowal of
forgiveness. Our hearts cry out for peace with God.
Our second need is _peace of heart_. The soul set free from the burden of
condemnation and guilt soon finds the need of a new strength, new
interests, new hopes. The past has been obliterated by mercy, but the
present looms large with difficulty. Temptations to fear and
discouragement arise, and the soul longs for peace. Peace with God by
reconciliation must therefore be followed by the peace of God through
restfulness of heart day by day.
Our third need is _peace of fellowship_. The true Christian life is never
solitary, but is lived in association with others. Our relationship to
Christ necessarily carries with it a relationship to those who are in
Christ with us, and as a consequence the peace which is ours in Christ is
expressed in peace and fellowship with our fellow-believers. The context
of this prayer shows that the Apostle had this aspect of peace in mind,
and no true peace can be enjoyed with God that is not shared with our
fellow-Christians. Our Lord has broken down the wall of partition between
us; He has made us all one in Himself, for He is our peace.
4. THE GIVER.
The source of this threefold peace is "_The Lord of peace Himself_." By
His death He brings us peace of conscience, by His Resurrection life peace
of heart, by His Holy Spirit peace of fellowship. "Peace I leave with you"
is the legacy of His Death. "My peace I give unto you" is the gift of His
Spirit. On the Resurrection evening He came with this twofold peace.
First, He said, "Peace be unto you," and "showed them His hands and His
side," thus assuring them of peace of conscience through His Death. Then
He said unto them _again_, "Peace be unto you," and bestowed upon them His
Holy Spirit, thus guaranteeing to them peace of heart. His own peace,
which had been so marked a feature of His own life and ministry, was now
to be theirs. He, the possessor of peace, was now to be the provider of
peace to them.
The title, "The Lord of peace," in this passage is very noteworthy. It is
only found here, though the title "God of peace" occurs several times.
What are we to understand by it? Surely it is a hint to us that only in
His Lordship, acknowledged and experienced by us, can we find peace. In
very significant words we read in the prophet of "His government and
peace." First government and then peace, since peace is only possible as a
result of government. In like manner we read in the psalm of
"righteousness and peace," for it is only as He is "the Lord our
righteousness" that He becomes the Lord our peace. When the government is
upon His shoulder, and He is the Lord of our life, the inevitable and
blessed result is "peace, perfect peace."
The continuity of this peace is very noteworthy--"Give you peace
_always_." It is a constant peace. It is independent of circumstances, and
does not change with changing experiences, since it is independent of our
variableness, and depends entirely upon the Lord of peace and His Divine
gift. Peace is associated with our permanent relationship to God in
Christ, and a relationship of this kind is unalterable by any experiences
or circumstances. The Lord gives peace always.
The channels of this peace are also significant--"Peace always _by all
means_." "In every manner," by all conceivable channels and methods this
peace comes. No circumstance or condition of life can be ours which does
not give some opportunity for the bestowal, experience, and enjoyment of
peace. Not only does peace come "always," but "all ways."
Love, Patience, Peace--how beautiful and suggestive the combination and
association! Patience is the fruit of love, and peace is the fruit of
patience. When the soul is dwelling in the love of God patience and peace
flow naturally into the life, and are as naturally exemplified in it. And
so the heart rejoices in the love, reproduces the patience, and reposes in
the peace of the Lord of peace, because it is ever at rest in the presence
and grace of "the God of love and peace."
V.
KNOWLEDGE AND OBEDIENCE.
V.
KNOWLEDGE AND OBEDIENCE.
"For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to
pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge
of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might
walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every
good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with
all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and
long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father."--COL.
i. 9-12.
The Epistles of the (first) captivity of the Apostle (Philippians,
Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon) represent his maturest experiences. As a
consequence the prayers found in them are particularly noteworthy,
revealing some of the deepest things of the writer's spiritual life. In
this respect they are at once tests and models for us; and it is perhaps
not too much to say that careful and prolonged prayerful meditation on
the prayers found in these Epistles will prove one of the most valuable
and helpful methods of deepening the spiritual life. The first of these we
now consider.
1. THE REASON OF THE PRAYER.
Colosse was one of the Churches which Paul had neither founded nor visited
(ch. ii. 1). Christianity was brought there by Epaphras, one of his
disciples (ch. i. 7). But the Apostle was as keenly interested in its
spiritual welfare as if he had been instrumental in founding it. So when
he had heard of their faith and love (ch. i. 4), and the fruitfulness of
their life (ch. i. 6), he thanked God on their behalf (ch. i. 3), and
prayed this prayer. Deep interest in the spiritual life of others was one
of the prominent marks of the Christian character of St. Paul. His was no
self-centred life, for he was ever keenly alert to appreciate the marks of
grace in others. This is a test, and at the same time a rebuke, for us.
How unlike we are to a Christian of the type of Barnabas, of whom we
read: "Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad" (Acts
xi. 23). This is only possible by having "a heart at leisure from itself";
and when we are thus deeply interested in the marks and manifestations of
the Divine working in other people's lives we shall not only praise God on
their behalf, but also, like the Apostle, pray for them; and thus the
blessing will extend and deepen.
2. THE NATURE OF THE PRAYER.
The main point of his prayer was that they might be "_filled with the
knowledge of His will_." The will of God known and done is the secret of
all true living. It was the key-note of our Lord's earthly life. He came
to do the will of the Father, and in one of the deepest experiences of His
life He said: "Not My will, but Thine be done." He told His disciples that
His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him; and He taught them to
pray, "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." The will of God is
the substance of revelation, for what is the Bible from beginning to end
but the revelation of God's will for man? Perhaps the most all-embracing
prayer is: "Teach me to do Thy will"; and certainly the ideal life is
summed up in the phrase, "He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
Well might the Apostle pray for these Christians of Colosse to be filled
with the knowledge of God's will.
The word rendered "knowledge" means "mature knowledge," and is one of the
characteristic words of these four Epistles written from Rome. The Apostle
evidently regarded mature knowledge, or deep spiritual experience, as the
pre-eminent mark of a ripening Christian. In this respect St. John bears
the same testimony, in his reference to the three stages of the Christian
life represented by "little children," "young men," and "fathers." The
little children _have_; the young men _are_; the fathers _know_ (1 John
ii. 12-14). This spiritual knowledge or experience is the great safeguard
against error, in that it gives power to distinguish between good and
evil, between truth and falsehood.
The measure of this knowledge is to be carefully noted--"_filled with_ the
knowledge of His will." The word also implies a fulness which is realised
continually--not a bare knowledge, but its completeness; not an
intermittent stream, but a perpetual flow. When the soul experiences this
it is provided not only with the greatest safeguard against danger, but
also with the secret of a strong, growing, powerful Christian life.
The characteristics of this knowledge should be observed: "_In all wisdom
and spiritual understanding_." "Wisdom" is a general term which implies
the capacity and faculty for adapting the best means to bring about the
best ends in things spiritual. "Spiritual understanding" is the specific
coming or putting together of principles by means of which true action is
taken. It really means "putting two and two together," comparing ideas and
principles, for the purpose of adopting the best in any given course of
action. Of the importance and necessity of wisdom and spiritual
understanding scarcely anything need be said. Christian wisdom, Christian
understanding, Christian perception in the thousand and one things of
life--this surely is one of our greatest necessities and choicest
blessings. How many errors would be avoided, how many wanderings checked,
by means of this spiritual wisdom! Still more, how much joy would be
experienced and how much genuine service rendered, if we were always
saying and doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.
"_Filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding._" This means for its complete realisation constant touch
with that Book which presents the clearly expressed will of God. The will
of God is in that Word, and when the Word is illuminated by the Spirit of
God we come to know His will concerning us. No one will ever have the full
knowledge of that will, no one can possibly be mature in experience, if
the Word of God is not his daily, definite, direct study and meditation.
It purifies the perception of the faculties by its cleansing power; it
illuminates the moral faculties with its enlightening power; it controls
the emotional faculties with its protective power; it energises the
volitional faculties with its stimulating power; and thus in the constant,
continuous use of the Word of God in personal practice, with meditation
and prayer, we shall become "filled with the full knowledge of His will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding."
3. THE PURPOSE OF THE PRAYER.
Knowledge is not an end in itself, but the means to an end; and so the
Apostle states the purpose for which he asks this knowledge of God's will:
"_That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all-pleasing ... fruitful ...
increasing ... strengthened ... giving thanks_."
Their life is to be influenced by this knowledge--"_walk worthy of the
Lord_." Knowledge is to be translated into practice. "Walking" is the
characteristic Bible word descriptive of the character of the Christian
life, the full expression of all our powers. As it presupposes life, so it
means energy, movement, progress; and for this, knowledge is essential.
How can we walk unless we know why and whither we go? The knowledge of
God's will gives point and purpose to the activities of life.
"_Walk worthy of the Lord._" What a profound and searching thought is
here--"Worthy of the Lord." Surely this is impossible; yet these are the
plain words of the inspired writer. To walk worthy of the Lord--it is
almost incredible, and yet this is one of the possibilities and glories of
grace. The Apostle is fond of the word "worthy." We are to walk worthy of
our vocation (Eph. iv. 1), worthy of the Gospel (Phil. i. 27), worthy of
the saints (Rom. xvi. 2), worthy of God (1 Thess. ii. 12). We may be
perfectly sure that Paul would not put such an ideal before us if it could
not be realised. God's commands always imply promises.
"_Unto all pleasing._" Bishop Moule beautifully renders this phrase: "Unto
every anticipation of His will" (Colossian Studies). "Teach me to do the
thing that pleaseth Thee" (P. B. version). What a glorious ideal! We are
so to walk as to please Him in everything. Not only doing what we are
told, but anticipating His commands by living in such close touch with Him
that we instinctively know the thing that will please Him. These words
sound a depth of the spiritual life with which comparatively few are
familiar; and yet here they are, facing us definitely, with their call to
realise that which God has placed before us.
The specific details of this worthy walk are next brought before us in
four pregnant phrases:
"_Being fruitful in every good work._" Notice every word of this sentence.
Our life is to be characterised by good works, and in each and every one
of these we are to be fruitful, manifesting the ripeness, and, if it may
be so put, the beauty and lusciousness associated with fruit. Mark, too,
that it is "fruitful _in_ every good work," that is, in the process of
doing the work, and not merely as the result or outcome of it. The very
work itself is intended to be fruitful apart from particular results.
There may be very few results of our service for God, but the service
itself may and should be fruitful.
"_Increasing in the knowledge of God._" Notice the difference between the
knowledge of His will and the knowledge of Himself. "That I may know
_Him_" (Phil. iii. 10); "They might know _Thee_" (John xvii. 3); "Ye have
known _Him_" (1 John ii. 13). The knowledge of His will will lead us to
the knowledge of Himself, and beyond this it is impossible to go.
"_Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all
patience and longsuffering with joyfulness._" The Apostle's thought pours
itself out in rich abundance in these words. It seems as though he could
not adequately express the possibilities and characteristics of the
Christian life about which he prays. They are to be "strengthened," and
not only so, but "with all might." The principle or standard of it is
"according to His glorious power," and the end of it is "unto all patience
and longsuffering with joyfulness." The man of the world might see in this
phrase an anticlimax, when it is said that the end of strength is
patience and longsuffering; and yet Christianity finds its ideal in energy
expressed in character, activity manifesting itself in passivity, and
might in meekness.
Notice, too, the suggestive addition, "_with joyfulness_." Patience and
longsuffering without joy are apt to be cold, chilly, unattractive. There
is a stern, stoical endurance of suffering which, while it may be admired
sometimes, tends to repel. But when patience and longsuffering are
permeated and suffused with joyfulness, the very life of Christ is lived
over again in His followers. Resignation to the will of God is only very
partially a Christian virtue; but when we take joyfully the things that
come upon us we are indeed manifesting the very life of God Himself.
"_Giving thanks unto the Father._" This is the crowning grace for which
the Apostle prays--thankfulness. How much it means. The heart full of
gratitude and gladness, the life full of brightness and buoyancy, the
character full of vitality and vigour. The joy of the Lord is, indeed,
the strength of His people, and when this element of thanksgiving
characterises our life, it gives tone to everything else, and crowns all
other graces.
4. THE CHARACTER OF THE PRAYER.
We have seen what the Apostle desired for the Christians of Colosse, and
in so doing we have learnt some of the deepest secrets of Christian
living. It remains to notice the characteristics of this prayer, in order
that our prayers may be taught and guided and inspired with power.
His prayer was _urgent_--"_Since the day we heard_." From the moment the
tidings came by Epaphras of the Christian life in Colosse the Apostle's
heart went up to God in prayer.
His prayer was _incessant_--"_Do not cease to pray_." Again and again he
asked, and kept on asking, so fully was his heart drawn out in prayer for
these Christians whom he had never seen.
His prayer was _intense_--"_And to desire_." This was no mere lip service.
His heart had evidently been stirred to its core by the tidings of the
Christian life at Colosse, and as he heard of their faith, their love,
their hope, their holiness, their service, a deep, intense, longing desire
came into his soul to seek for still fuller and deeper blessing on their
behalf. What a man he was, and what prayers his were!
His prayer was _offered in fellowship with others_--"_Since the day we
heard_." Timothy was associated with the Apostle in these petitions.
United prayer is one of the greatest powers in the Christian Church. "If
two of you shall agree as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall
be done." Personal prayer is precious, united prayer is still more
powerful.
Thus in these verses we have one of the fullest, deepest and most precious
of the Apostle's prayers, and as we consider its union of thought and
experience, of profound teaching and equally profound revelation of
Christian life, we learn two of the most urgent and necessary lessons for
the Christian life to-day.
The first of these shall be given in the words of Bishop Moule: "Beware of
untheological devotion." If devotion is to be real it should be
characterised by _thought_. There is no contradiction between mind and
heart, between theology and devotion. Devotional hours do not mean hours
when thought is absent. Meditation is not abstraction, nor is devotion
dreaminess. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy _mind_" is an
essential part of the commandment. If genuine thought and equally genuine
theology do not characterise our hours of devotion, we lose some of the
most precious opportunities of grace and blessing. A piety which is mere
pietism, an evangelicalism which does not continually ponder the profound
truths of the New Testament, can never be strong or do any deep service.
We must beware of "untheological devotion."
We must also beware of "undevotional theology." This is the opposite
error, and constitutes an equally great danger. A hard, dry, intellectual
study of theology will yield no spiritual fruit. Accuracy in knowledge of
Greek, careful balancing of aspects of truth, large knowledge of the
doctrinal verities of the New Testament, are all essential and valuable;
but unless they are permeated by a spirit of devotion they will fail at
the crucial point. _Pectus facit theologum_--it is the heart that makes
the theologian; and a theology which does not spring from spiritual
experience is doomed to decay, to deadness, and therefore to disaster.
When, therefore, our devotions are theological, and our theology is
devotional, we begin to realise the true being, blessing, and power of the
Christian life, and we go from strength to strength, from grace to grace,
and from glory unto glory.
VI.
CONFLICT AND COMFORT.
VI.
CONFLICT AND COMFORT.
"For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for
them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the
flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in
love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to
the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of
Christ."--COL. ii. 1, 2.
Although he was in prison the Apostle was constantly at work for his
Master, and not least of all at the work of prayer. If ever the words
_orare est laborare_, "to pray is to labour," were true, they were true of
St. Paul, for to him to pray was to work with all his might, as we shall
see from a study of another of the prayers offered in his Roman prison.
1. WHAT PRAYER MEANS.
Prayer is described as a _conflict_. We have a similar expression used of
the prayers of Epaphras, in the words "labouring fervently" (Col. iv.
12). The same word "conflict" is associated with faith, "the good fight of
faith" (1 Tim. vi. 12), and with the "good fight" of the Apostle's entire
life (2 Tim. iv. 7). Prayer regarded as a conflict includes the two ideas
of toil and strife.
The toil of prayer shows us the work involved in it. Sometimes we hear the
expression, "If you can do nothing else, you can pray," as though prayer
were the easiest of all things. As a simple fact, it is the hardest. No
man knows what prayer means unless he knows what it is to "labour" in
prayer. The strife involved in prayer implies opposition--the opposing
force of one who wishes above all things to check and thwart our prayers.
We discern something of this opposition in the well-known words, "We
wrestle" (Eph. vi. 12); and the words of the hymn are as true as they are
familiar--
"And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees."
The Apostle knew by spiritual experience that to pray was to rouse up
against himself a mighty opposition, and it was this force that made his
prayer such a "great conflict." No believer should be surprised at his
prayers "being hindered" (1 Pet. iii. 7). It is evidently one of Satan's
main objects to get the Christian to restrain prayer. The Christian man or
the Christian Church that continues instant in prayer may rest assured of
malignant opposition from the hosts of spiritual wickedness in high
places. On the other hand, we may be sure that Satan scarcely troubles
himself about the believer or congregation whose private, family, and
public praying is neglected or thought little of. Prayer is, therefore, a
"great conflict." It is not solicitude only, but a struggle; not merely
anxiety, but activity. As Bishop Moule says: "Prayer is never meant to be
_indolently_ easy, however simple and reliant it may be. It is meant to be
an infinitely important transaction between man and God. And therefore
very often, when subjects and circumstances call for it, it has to be
viewed as a work involving labour, persistency, conflict, if it would be
prayer indeed" (_Colossian Studies_, p. 124). The Bishop goes on to quote
a familiar incident which illustrates this great truth: "A visitor knocked
betimes one morning at the door of a good man, a saint of the noblest
Puritan type--and that was a fine type indeed. He called as a friend to
consult a friend, sure of his welcome. But he was kept waiting long. At
last a servant came to explain the delay: 'My master has been at prayer,
and this morning he has been long in getting access.'"
The practical question for us is whether this is our idea of prayer, or
whether we are merely playing at prayer, and not regarding it with true
seriousness. If we know what it is to have "great conflict" in prayer,
happy are we. If we do not, we may well ask God to search our hearts and
change our minds about prayer.
Prayer is characterised by _unselfishness_. The conflict of the Apostle
was not self-centred. It was on behalf of others: "Great conflict I have
for you, and for them at Laodicea." This is the essence of
prayer--intercession on behalf of others. If our seasons of prayer are
largely taken up with prayers for our own needs, however genuine, we are
failing at a crucial point; but if our time is mainly taken up with
prayers for others, we shall soon find that our own blessings begin to
abound. "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth."
Prayer also implies _sympathy_. The Apostle was praying for people whom he
had never seen, and probably never would see. This is not easy--indeed, is
very difficult--but it is a real test of spirituality. "Out of sight, out
of mind." We are tempted to limit our prayers to friends whom we know,
causes in which we are interested, subjects spiritually near and akin to
us. Not so the Apostle, whose heart went out to the whole Church of God in
every place where he knew through friends that little bodies of Christians
were to be found. His sympathy was at once quick, wide, and deep, and it
is one of the supreme tests of true spirituality to have a sympathy
possessed of all these three characteristics. Our sympathy may be quick
and yet narrow, or wide but not deep, or even deep and not wide; but to be
at once quick, wide, and deep in sympathy is to be a true follower of
Christ.
As we ponder these things--conflict, unselfishness, sympathy--do not our
hearts condemn us? Instead of conflict, how easy-going have been our
prayers! Instead of unselfish, how self-centred, instead of sympathetic,
how contracted! Thus the Apostle searches and tests us as we dwell on his
wonderful life of prayer.
2. WHAT PRAYER BRINGS.
What were the objects for which the Apostle prayed so earnestly on behalf
of these unknown Christians? What were the precise gifts that he sought
for them from God? This is no unnecessary question, for the same gifts
will surely be suitable to us.
He asked for spiritual _strength_: "That their hearts might be comforted."
St. Paul always went to the very centre and core of things, and so we find
him constantly praying with reference to the "hearts" of these Colossian
Christians. Since, as we have seen, the "heart" in Scripture is the centre
of our moral and spiritual being, if the heart is right, all will be
right, for "out of it are the issues of life." He prays that their
"hearts" might be comforted--that is, in the full sense of the word,
encouraged, exhorted, strengthened. "Comfort" includes the three elements
of strength, courage, and consolation. We must be strong, brave, and
cheery. This is the full meaning of the term "Comforter" as applied to the
Holy Spirit. He is the One Who gives strength, courage, and consolation.
This, too, is the true meaning of the familiar phrase of the English
Prayer Book, "Comfortable words"--words that minister strength, fortitude,
and cheer. The fact that this thought of "hearts comforted" was often in
the mind and on the lips of the Apostle shows the importance he attached
to it (2 Thess. ii. 17; Eph. vi. 22). With hearts made strong, courageous,
and cheerful, Christians can face anything; while with hearts that remain
weak, fearful, and sad the Christian life is a prey to all the
temptations of the Evil One. It is exactly similar with a Church or a
congregation of Christians, for one of the supreme needs in any community
is comforted hearts--the centres of life made strong, courageous, and
happy. Then it is that Churches live, grow, extend, and witness for Christ
in the demonstration of the Holy Spirit the "Comforter."
He asked for spiritual _unity_: "Being knit together in love," or, quite
literally, "having been compacted in love." He prayed that these
Christians might be kept together, knit together, joined together in a
spirit of love. Solitary Christians are always weak Christians, for "union
is strength." If Christians are not knit together, the cause of Christ
must necessarily suffer, for through the severances caused by division the
enemy will keep thrusting his darts. That is why the Apostle elsewhere
urges them "earnestly to strive to keep the unity of the Spirit" (Eph. iv.
3). One of the greatest powers that Satan wields to-day is due to the
disunion among the people of God. It is true of the Christian home,
congregation, and denomination. The wedge of discord is one of the enemy's
most powerful weapons. On the other hand, where the brethren dwell
together in unity, the Lord commands His blessing. In almost every Epistle
the Apostle emphasises unity, and we can readily understand the reason.
This unity is only possible "in love." It is the love of God _to_ us that
unites us to Him, and it will be the love of God _in_ us that unites us to
our brethren. There is no power like love to bind Christians together. We
may not see eye to eye on all aspects of truth; we may not all use the
same methods of worship and service, but if we love one another God dwells
in us and among us, and adds His own seal of blessing to the work done for
Him. Let every Christian be fully assured that in so far as he is
striving, praying, and labouring for the union of God's people in love, he
will be doing one of the most powerful and blessed pieces of work for his
Master, and one of the greatest possible pieces of disservice to the
kingdom of Satan. Contrariwise, the Christian man or Christian Church that
stands out for separateness and exclusiveness is one of the best allies of
Satan, and one of the most effective workers for the kingdom of darkness.
He asked for spiritual _certitude_: "Unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding." Wealth is a favourite metaphor of St. Paul, and is used
to denote the fulness and abundance of the Christian life as conceived by
him. Mark how he piles phrase upon phrase--"understanding," "fulness of
understanding," and then "wealth of fulness of understanding." To the
Apostle, the mind was one of the essential powers and principles of the
Christian life. So far from thinking according to a modern fashion that
the less one uses the mind the better Christian one is, St. Paul,
following his Master, ever emphasised the duty and glory of loving God
"with all the mind." This wealth of the fulness of "understanding" means
an abundance of conviction, both intellectual and moral, that Christianity
is what it claims to be, and that the Christian life is the perfect
satisfaction of all the different parts of man's nature. He prays that
they may "rise to the whole wealth of the full exercise of their
intelligence" (Moule). Just as we find elsewhere "the fulness of faith"
(Heb. x. 22), "the fulness of hope" (Heb. vi. 11), and "much fulness" (1
Thess. i. 5), so here the Apostle desires them to enjoy to the full the
intelligent grasping of assurance of Christian truth which was theirs in
Christ.
In the same spirit Luke writes to Theophilus: "That thou mightest know the
certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed." A firm
conviction of the understanding is one of the greatest needs, as it is
also one of the greatest blessings, of the Christian life. If a Christian
cannot say, "I know," "I am persuaded," he is lacking in one of the prime
essentials of a vigorous experience. Let us ponder, then, this remarkable
phrase, "the whole wealth of the fulness of intelligence," and see in it
one of the absolute necessities of daily experience.
But how does it come? It is the result of the foregoing "comfort" and
"love." Hearts made strong mean minds fully assured. Hearts full of love
mean intellects full of knowledge and conviction. Let no one say that love
is blind: on the contrary, it is love that sees and knows. It was the
Apostle of love who was the first with spiritual insight to say, "It is
the Lord," on that memorable early morning on the Lake of Galilee. It is
the Christian with a heart strong and full of love who will have the
"wealth of the fulness of intelligence." The same is true of a Church, for
when it is strong and united in love, there will come such an influx of
conviction and certitude that the world will be impressed by the
demonstration of the truth of the Christian Gospel.
He asked for spiritual _knowledge_: "To the full knowledge of the mystery
of God and the Father, even Christ" (not as A.V.). Here, again, we have a
favourite word of these Epistles, "full knowledge," that is, ripe, mature
experience; and it means the experience of all that is summed up in the
one word "Christ." In view of the dangerous errors, then rife and
increasing, of a special knowledge confined only to a few, to an
intellectual aristocracy, the Apostle lays stress upon the possibility of
every Christian becoming acquainted in personal experience with all the
knowledge of God that is stored up in Christ. He declares Christ as the
Image of God (ch. i. 15), as the Head of the Church (ch. i. 18), as the
One in Whom all fulness dwells (ch. i. 19), as the Redeemer from sin (ch.
i. 20), as the Hope of glory (ch. i. 27), as the One in Whom are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (ch. ii. 3). There is no mistiness
here, no vagueness, no hesitation, no limitation, but a full, free, open
opportunity for all believers to become acquainted with Christ in His
Divine fulness. This is the crowning-point of the Apostle's prayer, for in
the full knowledge of Christ everything else is included. This knowledge,
at once intellectual, moral, and spiritual, is the safeguard from all
error, the secret of all progress, and the guarantee of all blessing.
Let this prayer, then, be our constant and careful study. We shall find
in it much to rebuke the shallowness, the selfishness, the dulness, and
the sluggishness of our prayers; and we shall also find in it a model of
instruction, and the inspiration of all true petition and intercession.
The Christian who learns from the prayers of the Apostle will learn some
of the deepest secrets of the Christian life.
VII.
WISDOM AND REVELATION.
VII.
WISDOM AND REVELATION.
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and
love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making
mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling,
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of His mighty power."--EPH. i. 15-19.
If prayer for others is a barometer of our own spiritual life, we can
realise what St. Paul felt was necessary for himself by his prayers for
others. In Ephesians there are two petitions, and nothing fuller and
deeper is found in any of the Apostle's writings. This Epistle represents
the high-water mark of Christian privilege and possibility.
1. THE FOUNDATION.
We see from verse 15 that his prayer is closely and definitely based on
what precedes, and this introduces us to a feature not hitherto found. Up
to now the prayers at the opening have been recorded almost immediately
after the personal greetings. But here a long paragraph intervenes, and
the prayer is not recorded until after fourteen verses full of spiritual
teaching have been given. This section deserves special attention because
it is the basis of the prayer. Let us review it briefly in order to obtain
the true perspective of the petition.
The key-thought is in verse 3, where the Apostle praises God for having
actually blessed them "with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ." Then comes a wonderful statement of the way in which these
blessings had become their own. (_a_) They had been eternally purposed in
God the Father (vers. 3-6_a_); (_b_) they had been historically mediated
through God the Son (vers. 6_b_-12); (_c_) they had been spiritually
applied by God the Spirit (vers. 12-14). And in connection with each
Person of the Sacred Trinity practically the same phrase occurs in this
paragraph, showing that all the blessings were given in order that they
might be used for the Divine glory: "To the praise of the glory of His
grace" (ver. 6); "To the praise of His glory" (ver. 12); "To the praise of
His glory" (ver. 14).
Now it is upon this wealth of provision that the Apostle bases his prayer:
"On this account." God had so wonderfully blessed them in Christ by His
Spirit, and this fulness of blessing was so clearly intended to be used to
the praise and glory of God that he could pray, as he does here, assured
that the answer would come. God's revelation of Himself is invariably and
inevitably the foundation of our prayers. Because of what He has done and
is doing we can be sure of grace. Because His power has provided "all
things that pertain to life and godliness" we can be certain of power for
daily living.
2. THE APPEAL.
The names and titles of God are particularly noteworthy and are always
full of spiritual significance, shedding light on the passages in which
they occur. St. Paul prays to "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ." This
title as it stands is unique, though already he has referred to "the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 3), and will refer again to
"the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" in connection with prayer (ch. iii.
14). "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ" seems to suggest the highest point
and peak of power and grace. God, as the God of Christ, is the primary
source of all blessing.
He is also "the Father of Glory." This, too, is a phrase not found
elsewhere. He is the Father to Whom all glory belongs as its Divine
source. In Acts vii. 2 He is "the God of glory," and in 1 Cor. ii. 8
Christ is "the Lord of glory." In Rom. vi. 4 Christ is said to have been
raised from the dead "by the glory of the Father." Glory is a
characteristic quality of God. It is the manifestation of His splendour
and the outshining of His excellence. All radiance, all brightness, all
magnificence come from Him and are intended to be returned to Him in
praise. The glory of God in Romans is threefold: it is God's proof for
man's past life (ch. iii. 23); it is God's prospect for man's future life
(ch. v. 2); it is God's principle for man's present life (ch. xv. 7). And
the association of glory with prayer seems to suggest that the praise of
His glory which is to characterise our life can only come from God Himself
as the Father of glory. If our lives are to be lived "to His praise," His
must be the power. If our lives are to manifest His glory, His must be the
grace. "Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory."
3. THE REQUEST.
Now we come to this profound prayer which teaches the inmost secrets of
the spiritual life.
(1) A Divine Gift. "May give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation." He
has spoken of the wealth of blessing stored up in Christ (ver. 3), and of
God's grace abounding to us in all wisdom and prudence (ver. 8). Now he
asks for wisdom and illumination to perceive all this for themselves as a
personal experience. The word "spirit" seems to refer to their human
faculty, though of course as indwelt and possessed by the Divine Spirit.
But the absence of the definite article from the word "spirit" seems to
suggest a gift rather than a Person. The Holy Spirit of God enters into
our spirit, and the result is wisdom and revelation. These two words refer
to general illumination and specific enlightenment. He desires his readers
to enter fully into the meaning of these great realities to which he has
given such full expression (vers. 1-14).
(2) But this Divine gift is only possible by means of a simple yet
important condition. It is "in the full knowledge of Him." The word
rendered "knowledge" is characteristic of these prison epistles, and
always means "full knowledge," the mature experience of the spiritual man.
It is invariably connected with God; it refers to the deep, growing,
ripening consciousness which comes from personal fellowship with Him.
Philosophy can only say "Know thyself," but Scripture says, "Know God."
This is how wisdom and revelation become ours, and Christian history and
experience testify abundantly to the simple yet remarkable fact of
spiritual insight and moral understanding which are due solely to
fellowship with God. Nothing is more striking than the fact of a deep,
spiritual apprehension and appreciation which are independent of
intellectual conception and verbal expression. Believers can have a true
spiritual consciousness of God without the possession of great capacity or
attainments. Many whose natural education and intellectual opportunities
have been slight have had this spiritual perception in an uncommon degree,
and it always marks the spiritually ripe Christian. It is not the one
whose intellectual knowledge is critical, scholarly, and profound, but he
whose spiritual insight is suffused with grace, love, and fellowship. This
does not mean that natural knowledge or culture is to be despised or
avoided as evil, but that the two kinds of knowledge should be carefully
distinguished. The Christian Church has at least for the last three
hundred years set great store by knowledge and science, but deeper than
all this is the spiritual instinct, insight, knowledge, and illumination
which constitute the supreme requirement of the true Christian life. We
can see this spiritual perception in its various stages in several
passages of the New Testament. We have seen how St. John divides believers
into three classes (1 John ii. 12-14). But while in his repetition the
Apostle can vary the description of the "children" and the "young men,"
when he has to speak the second time of the "fathers" he has nothing new
to say, for they cannot be otherwise or more fully described than as those
who "know Him Who is from the beginning."
(3) The immediate consequence of this fellowship is that the eyes of the
heart become permanently enlightened (Greek). Keeping in view the
Scripture truth of the "heart" as including the elements of Mind,
Emotion, and Will, the result of fellowship with God is that every feature
of the inner life becomes purified and enlightened. The mind is
illuminated to perceive truth, the emotions are purified to love the good,
and the will is equipped to obey the right. It is not that new objects
meet the gaze so much as that a new and deeper perception is given to
enable the heart to see and understand what had hitherto been dark and
difficult. This illuminated heart is one of the choicest blessings of the
spiritual life and one of the greatest safeguards against spiritual error.
"Ye have an unction ... and ye know" (1 John ii. 20). "The Son of God hath
come, and hath given us an understanding" (1 John v. 20). Many of the
problems affecting the spiritual life are solved only in this way.
Criticism, scholarship, intellectual power may be brought to bear upon
them, but they will not yield to this treatment. The illuminated heart of
the babe in Christ is often enabled to understand secrets which are hid
from the wise and prudent.
(4) The outcome is a permanent spiritual experience. "That ye may know,"
_i.e._ possess an immediate, instinctive, direct knowledge (eidenai).
Three great realities are thereupon mentioned as the objects and
substance of our spiritual knowledge.
(_a_) The first is "What is the hope of His calling." "His calling" is the
appeal and offer of the Gospel with all its Divine meaning and purpose,
and "the hope of His calling" is that which is intended by and included in
the offer of God. This "hope" is either that _to_ which God calls us, or
_by_ which He calls; either objective or subjective; either the substance
or the feeling. Hope when regarded as objective, as the substance of our
experience, is full of promise, on which the believer fixes his faith.
Hope when regarded as subjective, as the possession of the soul, is full
of inspiration, as it encourages and confirms belief that "He is faithful
that promised." Hope as an objective reality is fixed on Christ, and since
God has a purpose in calling us, we can exercise hope. Hope as a
subjective realisation is based on the fact of experience. God calls us
by the Gospel, and therefore hope becomes possible. Hope is the top-stone
of life and follows faith and love (cf. ver. 15). Faith draws the curtain
aside; hope gazes into the future; while love rejoices in the present
possession of Christ. Faith accepts; hope expects. Faith appropriates;
hope anticipates. Faith is concerned with the person who promises; hope
with the thing that the person promises. Faith is concerned with the past
and present; hope with the future alone. Hope is invariably fixed on the
future and is never to be regarded as merely a matter of natural
temperament. It is specifically connected with the Lord's Coming, and we
are thus reminded that the calling of God covers past, present, and
future. It starts from regeneration and culminates in the resurrection of
the body at the Coming of Christ.
(_b_) The second is "The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints." This may mean the wealth which God possesses _for_ them or _in_
them; our wealth in Him or His in us. If we take it in the former sense
it will mean that God is the inheritance and we are the heirs; that the
saints now possess imperfectly, and anticipate in its fulness, the
inheritance of grace, the spiritual Canaan which they are to enjoy here
and hereafter. If, however, we take it, as is more likely, in the latter
sense, it will mean that we are the inheritance and God is the Possessor
and Heir. We must never forget that the Biblical ideas associated with
"heir" and "inheritance" always refer to possession, and not, as in
ordinary phraseology, to succession. In the Bible the heir does not merely
expect, but already enjoys in part that which he will possess in full
hereafter. Adopting, then, the second of these interpretations, the saints
belong to God and are precious in His sight. They are His _peculium_, or
special treasure, like Israel of old (Deut. iv. 20). They have been formed
for Him and are to show forth His praise (Isa. xliii. 21). He sets store
by them, as is suggested by the significant words, "Hast thou considered
My servant Job?" There are several indications in Scripture that God
values and trusts His people; "I know him, that he will command his
children and his household after him" (Gen. xviii. 19). "The Lord taketh
pleasure in His people" (Ps. cxlix. 4). "The steps of a good man are
ordered by the Lord: and He (that is, God) delighteth in his way" (Ps.
xxxvii. 23). And the "wealth" is a further proof of the value placed on
believers by God. Five times in Ephesians the Apostle uses this metaphor
of "riches," showing his thought of those who have been "bought with a
price" (1 Cor. v. 20). Believers are God's riches, wealth, treasure; they
belong to Him in view of that day on which He will enter in full upon His
inheritance when He comes to be glorified and admired in them that believe
(2 Thess. i. 10). And we are to see this, to know it, to realise the
spiritual possibilities of each believer and all God's people together as
God's own inheritance.
(_c_) The third is "the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who
believe." In this marvellous association of almost inexpressible thoughts
the dominant note is "power" (dúnamis), and the Apostle prays that the
Ephesian Christians may know what this means. Power is a characteristic
word of St. Paul as expressive of Christianity. The Gospel is "the power
of God unto salvation" (Rom. i. 16). By the Resurrection Christ was
designated "the Son of God with power" (Rom. i. 4). He is "the power of
God" (1 Cor. i. 18). Man needs power, not merely a philosophy or an ethic,
but a dynamic, and it is the peculiar privilege of His Gospel to bring
this to us. But let us try to analyse this power. There are no less than
four comparisons stated or illustrations given. (1) It is exactly the same
power that God wrought in Christ at the Resurrection. Nothing less than
this is the standard of the Divine working. We are to possess and
experience the spiritual and moral dynamic exercised by God on Christ when
He raised Him from the dead. This is described as "the exceeding greatness
of His power." The same adjective is used of grace (ch. ii. 7), and of
love (ch. iii. 19), and it is intended to express the superabundance of
that power which was put forth in the Resurrection and is now exercised
on our behalf. Then the four words used for power are particularly
noteworthy: "power," "energy," "strength," "might." Each conveys an aspect
of this great spiritual force. "Might" is power in _possession_;
"strength" is power as the result of _grasping_, or of coming into contact
with the source of that power; and "energy" is a power in _expression_.
(2) Not only so, but the power exercised by God in the Ascension is also
intended to be bestowed on and experienced by us. When we are told that
Christ was set at God's right hand far above all powers, we can understand
something of the Divine might exercised. (3) Still more, it is the same
power by means of which God put all things under the feet of Christ. This,
too, is the Divine force and energy for believers. (4) Not least of all,
it was Divine power that gave Christ to be "the Head over all things to
the Church," and it is exactly this power that is exercised on our behalf.
When we contemplate all this as intended by God for us, we can see
something of the vigorous and victorious life He can and will enable us
to live.
As we review this wonderful prayer it is impossible to avoid noticing that
the first petition refers mainly to the past ("His calling"); the second
mainly to the future ("His inheritance"); and the third mainly to the
present ("His power"), though of course each petition has its bearing on
the other two points of time. Every part of our life is thus adequately
supplied and intended to be abundantly satisfied. Nor may we omit to
observe that all through the prayer the emphasis is on God: _His_ calling;
_His_ inheritance; _His_ power. Everything is regarded from the Divine
standpoint, because we are not our own but His. The contemplation of this
glory of the Divine love and grace overwhelms the soul with "wonder, love,
and praise."
In the presence of such a prayer, dealing with such profound realities,
three thoughts naturally arise in our minds. (_a_) How little we know, and
how much we might and should know. (_b_) How little we are, and how much
we might and should be. (_c_) How little we do, and how much we might and
should do. And yet if we will but remind ourselves of the simple secret of
true living, as here described, we might become and accomplish infinitely
more than we have ever experienced up to the present. "To us-ward who
believe." Faith is the simple yet all-sufficient secret. Trust relies on
God and receives from Him. It puts us in contact with the source of
blessing, and in union with Him we shall find spiritual illumination,
spiritual insight, spiritual experience, and spiritual power that shall
all be lived and exercised to His praise and glory.
VIII.
STRENGTH AND INDWELLING.
VIII.
STRENGTH AND INDWELLING.
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He
would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be
strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fulness of God."--EPH. iii. 14-19.
"In no part of Paul's letters does he rise to a higher level than in
his prayers, and none of his prayers are fuller of fervour than this
wonderful series of petitions. They open out one into the other like
some majestic suite of apartments in a great palace-temple, each
leading into a loftier and more spacious hall, each drawing nearer the
presence chamber, until at last we stand there" (MACLAREN).
The second prayer in Ephesians possesses remarkable affinities with the
first; indeed, the two are complementary, and many of the expressions
call for close comparison.
1. THE STANDPOINT.
"For this cause" (ver. 14). To what does this phrase point back? Some
associate it with verse 1, "For this cause," thinking that St. Paul,
having been diverted from his main teaching in verses 1-13, here resumes
it in the form of a prayer. But perhaps it is still better to regard the
resumption of the main teaching as coming in ch. iv. 1, where the Apostle
again speaks of himself as "the prisoner." This would make ch. iii. wholly
parenthetical, so that instead of the present prayer being based on the
teaching of ch. ii. the Apostle is led here to speak of his ministry (ch.
iii. 1-13) and its outcome. His ministry is a gift, a trust, a
stewardship, and its purpose is the proclamation of the Gospel and its
results in the accomplishment of God's purposes for Jew and Gentile. On
this view the standpoint of the prayer is associated closely with his
ministry and its effects, as seen in the immediately preceding verses. It
is because of his remarkable ministry, given to him by God, and all the
spiritual privileges brought to the Gentile Christians thereby that he is
able to work for them (ver. 13), and also to pray for them (ver. 14).
Thus, while the prayer in ch. i. looks at their life from the standpoint
of the Divine purposes, this prayer will be occupied with their spiritual
privileges in Christ.
2. THE ATTITUDE.
"I bow my knees unto the Father" (ver. 14). The intense reverence of the
Apostle in this allusion to bowing his knees is particularly noteworthy.
As a rule the Jews stood for prayer (Luke xviii. 11-13), and prostration
seems to have been an exceptional posture. But in connection with
Christians, kneeling is mentioned (Acts vii. 60, ix. 40, xx. 36). Nothing
could more beautifully express the true attitude of the soul before God
than this posture of the body. At the same time the use of the word
"Father" indicates the other side of the truth and confidence with which
we approach God. He is at once our God and our Father (ch. i. 17), and
our attitude must be expressive both of our adoration and of our
assurance. He is great and good, and we approach Him as the Holy One and
the Loving One.
3. THE ADDRESS.
"The Father from Whom every family in heaven and earth is named." It is
interesting that the title "God" is not associated with this prayer as in
ch. i., although the thought of Deity is found in the allusion to bowing
the knees. And in addition to God as the Father He is described as the One
"from Whom every family (Greek, 'fatherhood') in heaven and earth is
named." This seems to mean that whatever element of family life exists, it
comes from God, that all true spiritual life in heaven or earth has its
origin in the Father. The scope of the prayer is particularly noteworthy,
as we contemplate God as the Fount of every fatherhood and the Parent of
all men everywhere. Such a statement will do more than anything else to
guard us against narrow or purely selfish desires as we approach God in
prayer.
4. THE APPEAL.
"That He would grant you" (ver. 16). As in the former prayer, the Apostle
is clear that what he is about to ask is essentially a Divine gift. It
comes from above, whether he is seeking knowledge (ch. i. 17) or power
(ch. iii. 16). At every step God must give and the believer must receive.
It would be well for us in our Christian experience to emphasise this
simple but searching truth. "Every good and every perfect gift comes from
above."
5. THE STANDARD.
"According to the riches of His glory" (ver. 16). Here again we begin to
realise something of the fulness of the prayer to be offered. The measure
of the Apostle's desire is not our own poverty, but God's wealth; we are
to look away from ourselves to the infinite riches of the Divine glory. In
the former prayer he asked that we might know the riches of God's glory.
But here there is something more; we are to experience them in our heart
and life.
6. THE PETITIONS.
In general St. Paul asks for two great spiritual blessings, the inward
strength of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling presence of Christ. These
are inseparable, and we may regard the first as essential to the second,
and the second as the effect of the first. But the prayer goes into detail
and each part of the petition calls for careful meditation.
(1) "Strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man" (ver.
16, R.V.). As wisdom was the burden of the former prayer (ch. i. 17), so
strength is the main thought here. The order, too, is significant; wisdom
and power, since power without knowledge would be highly dangerous. This
strength comes from the Holy Spirit; He is the Agent of God's enabling
grace. And the strength is to extend "into the inward man." The contrast
seems to be between the inward and the outward, as in 2 Cor. iv. 16; Rom.
vii. 22. The strength is not of the body, or of the mind, but of the soul.
The "inward" is not exactly identical with the "new" man, but emphasises
the inner essential life of the spirit as contrasted with the outer life
of the body. "The hidden man of the heart."
(2) "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (ver. 17, R.V.).
This is the outcome of the inward strength of the Spirit, and almost every
word needs attention. The indwelling of Christ is virtually identical with
that of the Spirit (ch. ii. 22), although of course Christ and the Holy
Spirit are never absolutely identified in Holy Scripture (2 Cor. iii. 17,
18). It is only in regard to the practical outcome in the believer's
experience that the indwelling of Christ and the Spirit amount to the same
thing. This is to be a permanent indwelling and not a mere passing stay,
just as believers together are described as a temple for God's permanent
habitation (ch. ii. 22, Greek). This permanent indwelling of Christ is to
be "in your hearts." Almost every prayer is thus concerned with the
"heart," the centre of the moral being, and the Apostle prays that Christ
may make His home therein. This is no mere influence, but a Personal
Presence, the Living Christ within, and it is to be "through faith." It is
faith that admits Christ to the heart, allowing Him to enter into every
part of the "inward man." And the same faith that admits Him permits Him
to remain, reside, and rule. Faith, in a word, is the total response of
the soul to the Lordship of Christ.
(3) "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love" (ver. 17). Here again the
original expressions imply permanent results, and the two words "rooted"
and "grounded" are beautifully complementary. The one refers to a tree,
the other to a house, and the expressions point to those hidden processes
of the soul which are the result of Christ's indwelling and the Holy
Spirit's working. The power of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ
tend to our permanent inward establishment in the element and atmosphere
of Christian love. This is one of the seven occasions in this short
Epistle where we find the Pauline phrase, "in love," referring to the
sphere and atmosphere of our fellowship with God. The love no doubt means
primarily and perhaps almost exclusively God's love to us, as that in
which we are to "live, and move, and have our being."
(4) "May be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth
and length and height and depth" (ver. 18, R.V.). Here again the emphasis
is on strength, and the Apostle prays that we may have full strength to
grasp, may be quite able to accomplish this purpose. Spiritual ideas can
never be appropriated by intellectual action alone. It is not by brilliant
intellect but by spiritual insight that we become "able to comprehend."
Although there is now no specific reference to love, it would seem as
though the idea of verse 19 is already in view, and, assuming this to be
the case, we have four aspects of the Divine love which we are to be
strong to grasp. Its "breadth" means that there is no barrier to it,
reminding us of the extent of the Divine counsels; its "length" tells us
of the Divine foreknowledge and His thought of us through the ages; its
"height" points to our Lord in heaven as the goal for the penitent
believer; its "depth" declares the possibility of love descending to the
lost abyss of human misery for the purpose of redemption. And the ability
to grasp the Divine love in this fourfold way is to be experienced with
"all the saints." It is impossible to accomplish it alone; no spiritual
exclusiveness is thinkable in this connection, to say nothing of the lower
forms of egotism and selfishness. Twice in this brief writing does the
Apostle refer to "all the saints" (ch. vi. 18), thereby reminding us of
the place and power of each saint in the spiritual economy of God. One
saint will be able to comprehend a little, another saint a little more,
and so on, until at length all the saints together are "strong to grasp"
the Divine love. The wider our fellowship the fuller and firmer our hold
of the love of Christ. This is doubtless why public worship is so strongly
emphasised in the New Testament. "Where two or three are gathered
together in My Name, there am I." The experiences of our
fellow-worshippers are always intended to be, and usually will be, of help
to our own fuller realisation of our Lord and Master. The soul is
justified solitarily and alone, but it is sanctified only in the community
of believers.
(5) "And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge" (ver. 19). If
we are correct in interpreting verse 18 of the Divine love, the present
verse will be the climax of this part of the prayer, and it has been
helpfully suggested that we have here the "fifth dimension" of the love of
Christ after the four already mentioned. Not only are they to experience
breadth and length and height and depth but also the inwardness; they are
to know by personal experience the love of Christ as it can only be known
by those who have fellowship with Him. It is a love that surpasses
knowledge, just as His power surpasses everything (ch. i. 19). The paradox
of knowing that which surpasses knowledge will not be misunderstood from
the standpoint of spiritual experience, because it is the difference
between apprehending and comprehending. We know, and know deeply,
increasingly, blessedly, and yet all the while there are infinite
stretches of love beyond our highest experiences.
(6) "That ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God" (ver. 19, R.V.).
This is the climax of the prayer and is the culminating purpose of the
work of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ. Strength, indwelling,
love, and knowledge are to issue in fulness, and we are to be "filled unto
all the fulness of God." In the former prayer this fulness is associated
with Christ and with His body the Church (ch. i. 23), but here it is
specifically associated with God and ourselves as believers in Christ.
When these two passages are associated with ch. v. 18, which speaks of the
fulness of the Spirit, we have the word "fulness" connected with each
Person of the Blessed Trinity. What it means for the soul to be filled to
overflowing with the presence of God itself is beyond our comprehension;
it can only be a matter of personal experience as we seek to fulfil the
proper conditions. Such a prayer for the fulness of God is best expressed
in Miss Havergal's words--
"Lord, we ask it, scarcely knowing
What this wondrous gift may be;
But fulfil to overflowing,
_Thy_ great meaning let us see."
IX.
LOVE AND DISCERNMENT.
IX.
LOVE AND DISCERNMENT.
"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in
knowledge and all judgment: that ye may approve things that are
excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of
Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by
Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."--PHIL. i. 9-11.
One of the most beautiful elements in the Pauline Epistles is the intimate
relation which evidently existed between the Apostle and his converts.
This is especially the case in the Epistle to the Philippians, for in no
other writing is there such a full revelation of the heart of St. Paul and
of his love to those with whom he was united in Christ. As, therefore, he
knew them so intimately, so he prayed for them, the prayer revealing at
once their need, and his conviction as to essential things. Prayer is
always strong in proportion to our acquaintance with the spiritual life of
others, and feeble so far as we are ignorant of their needs.
1. THE DEFINITE REQUEST.
Let us mark the opening words: "this I keep on asking" (Greek). There was
one thing for which he asked continually, and this seemed to him to sum up
everything in their life.
(1) He prayed for love; "your love." As they already possessed life, he
wished it to be expressed in love. The Epistle is full of this subject. No
writing is so truly characterised by the love of St. Paul for his
converts, or of his converts for St. Paul (see ch. iv. 14-18). Let us
again remind ourselves that love in the New Testament is something
definite, tangible, strong, practical, intense. It is more than sentiment,
though of course it includes that; it is more than emotion, though
undoubtedly it includes that; it is more than desire, though obviously it
includes that. Love is the outgoing of the entire nature in
self-sacrificing service. It is the sympathy of the heart and the devotion
of the life to its object. As such it is the supreme proof of the reality
of our Christian profession. "If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments"
(John xiv. 15, R.V.). "Lovest thou Me ... feed My sheep" (John xxi. 16).
"Seeing ye have purified your souls ... love one another from the heart
unfeignedly" (1 Pet. i. 22, R.V.). It was with no cynicism, but with a
wonderful astonishment, that the heathen used to say, "See how these
Christians love one another." When therefore the Apostle prayed for love
he was asking that the Philippian Christians might possess and manifest
the very finest, truest, most powerful, and most attractive proof of their
Christian life.
(2) He prayed for abounding love; "that your love may abound." Not only
some, but abundant love; not a little, but much. Love to be real must be
kept full, intense, overflowing; it calls for continual reinforcement,
replenishing, and the abundance of love is the measure and proof of the
possession of abundant life.
(3) He prayed for increasing love; "that your love may abound yet more and
more." Expression is piled upon expression in order to emphasise the
importance of love and its progress. Love is intended to grow and not to
remain stationary. Just as life makes progress, so must its result
similarly develop in love. The motto for the Christian is "more and more."
This is why there is so much in the New Testament about growth, for just
as it is with natural life so it must be with spiritual. Constant
increase, development, progress, extension, expansion must mark it at
every step.
(4) He prayed for discerning love; "that your love may abound yet more and
more in knowledge and all discernment" (R.V.). The two words "knowledge"
and "discernment" are particularly noteworthy. One expresses the
principle, the other the application. Again we observe this word
"knowledge" as a characteristic expression of the Apostle in these
prison-epistles. "Full knowledge" (Greek) is one of the marks of a
growing Christian life, and is proved by spiritual perception, spiritual
feeling, spiritual discernment. There is a world of difference between
intellectual ability and spiritual insight. Many people are clever, but
not spiritual, while many people are often truly spiritual without being
possessed of much intellectual capacity. Much is said in Scripture about
_sight_ in regard to things spiritual. "Except a man be born again, he
cannot _see_" (John iii. 3). "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall _see_ God" (Matt. v. 8). There are many people in our congregations
of average intellect, and perhaps with mental powers decidedly below the
average, who are nevertheless full of profound spiritual wisdom because
love to Christ has given them keenness of vision and depth of insight.
2. THE IMMEDIATE PURPOSE.
This constant progress and abundance of love was intended for a very
practical purpose; "so that ye may approve the things that are excellent"
(ver. 10, R.V.). The discernment already mentioned was intended for
spiritual discrimination. They were to be enabled to distinguish, to
prove, and thereby to approve. As Lightfoot points out, "love imparts a
sensitiveness of touch, a keen edge to the discriminating faculty in
things moral and spiritual." In things spiritual at least love is not
blind, but keen-sighted. It is endowed with a spiritual discernment which
is able to distinguish not only between good and bad, but between good and
better, between better and best, and between best and excellent. The
words, "approve the things that are excellent," occur also in Rom. ii. 18,
and the meaning seems to be first that they were to "distinguish the
things that differ," and then as a result they were to "approve the things
that transcend." This spiritual discernment is particularly needful
to-day, as the Christian soul is surrounded by so many views and voices.
Much that appears on the surface to be attractive and charming contains
within it the elements of spiritual danger and disaster, and it is only
by spiritual discernment which comes from abounding and increasing love to
Christ that the soul is safeguarded against evil and led to approve and
follow the things that are superior. It is a vivid picture that the
prophet gives of the Messiah when he describes Him as endowed by the
Spirit of God and made of "quick scent in the fear of the Lord" (Isa. xi.
3, Hebrew). It is this "quick scent" that by the same Spirit the Lord
Jesus Christ bestows upon those who love Him with all the heart.
3. THE PERMANENT RESULT.
Every Christian grace is intended for practical and permanent effect in
character. Our lives are not to be intermittent, but continuous in their
expression of grace and blessing, and all that the Apostle has been
praying for and desiring on behalf of his Philippian Christians was
intended to develop and express in them the solid and permanent realities
of Christian character.
(1) Sincerity; "that ye may be sincere" (ver. 10). This has to do with
motives. The word is thought to mean "tested in the sunlight." Our lives
are to be manifestly true, genuine, sincere, "transparent." "Motive makes
the man," and from time to time it is essential that we should allow
ourselves to be tested and judged in the sunlight of our perfect
fellowship with Christ, just as St. Peter, when asked by his Master, said,
"Lord, Thou knowest all things." Sincerity is one of the essential
features of the true Christian life. The believer, if he is to do the will
of God and commend the Gospel to others, must have no doubtful _arrière
pensée_ but a life lived moment by moment in the perfect brightness of the
presence of perfect holiness.
(2) Consistency; "void of offence" (ver. 10, R.V.). This has to do with
conduct. Not only are we to be inwardly true, but outwardly sure. Our
lives must not hinder others, or put a stumbling-block in their way. Just
as the Master said, "Blessed is he whosoever is not put to stumble by Me,"
so must it be with every follower of Christ. Our lives are to be
stepping-stones, not stumbling-blocks.
(3) Character; "being filled with the fruits of righteousness." This has
to do with our permanent life both within and without, though the emphasis
is on being rather than on doing. Character is the highest point and peak
of the Christian life, for just as fruit is the outcome of the life of a
tree, so character is the fruit of Christian living, and is the best proof
of its existence. The Apostle's word suggests that we are to be
"permanently filled" (Greek) with the fruits of righteousness, those
things that are right, straight, true, correct, upright, without any
deflection on either side. The Lord Who is our Righteousness works in us
the fruits of righteousness by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
4. THE ULTIMATE OBJECT.
The Apostle looks forward "unto the day of Christ" (ver. 10, R.V.), and
then speaks of the Christian life being lived "unto the glory and praise
of God" (ver. 11). Everything is to tend towards the manifestation of the
splendour of God in human life whereby others will be led to acknowledge
and praise Him (Matt. v. 16). And this will reach its culminating point in
the "day of Christ," that time when Christian people will stand before
their Master and receive the reward of their life and service rendered to
Him (ch. i. 6, ii. 16). This was the Apostle's constant thought, and
towards this he strained every nerve (ch. iii. 11-21). It expresses the
highest ideal of Christian living, for day by day we are to live with this
wonderful thought of "the glory and praise of God," and day by day we are
to look forward to the coming of Christ as that day in which our life will
find its fullest realisation, its complete satisfaction, and its unending
joy. And all this reminds us of the essential simplicity of life, for
there is nothing complex, or involved, or mysterious, or difficult in a
life lived day by day to the praise of God and in the light of the coming
of our Master.
As we review this prayer we may feel perfectly sure that the Apostle meant
it to be answered, and indeed, he himself gives us the hint of how this
may come to pass when he tells us that the fruits of righteousness are
"through Jesus Christ." This is only another way of expressing what he has
already shown, his confidence that the possession of the Christian life is
the guarantee of its complete realisation and full perfection by the
indwelling presence and work of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (ch. i. 6).
Let us therefore take heart of grace as we contemplate this prayer and the
other prayers of the Apostle. We must not be depressed, or disheartened,
or discouraged, as we ponder the marvellous details and contemplate the
stupendous heights of the Christian life as depicted by St. Paul's
wonderful spiritual insight. On the contrary, we must remind ourselves
that he would not have prayed these prayers unless he had been certain
that God would answer them, and they will assuredly be answered as we set
ourselves resolutely, humbly, lovingly, trustfully to fulfil the required
conditions, "through Jesus Christ our Lord."
APPENDIX.
Considerations of space have prevented the inclusion of all the Prayers of
St. Paul, but for the treatment of the prayer in Rom. XV. 13 reference may
perhaps be permitted to the author's _Royal and Loyal_ (ch. v.) and to his
Devotional Commentary on _Romans_ (vol. iii. p. 103 ff.). And a fuller
treatment of 2 Thess. iii. 16 is given in his _The Power of Peace_.
For the thorough exegetical foundation of the passages included in these
prayers of the Apostle special attention should of course be given to the
various modern standard Commentaries. The following have proved of
particular value in the preparation of these pages. On Thessalonians:
Milligan, Frame, Eadie, and Ellicott. On Romans: Sanday and Headlam,
Godet, and the Notes by Lightfoot. On Ephesians: Armitage Robinson,
Westcott, and Eadie. On Philippians: Lightfoot and Ellicott. On
Colossians: Lightfoot and Ellicott. Preachers will find it nothing short
of an education in Greek to ponder the passages under the guidance of
these master-minds. The first step in all true expository preaching is the
consideration of the words and phrases in order to elicit their full
exegetical value. Following this, and based upon it, will come the
spiritual teaching and personal application, and for this purpose the
following books will be found of great value. On Thessalonians: Denney in
the _Expositor's Bible_. On Romans: Bishop Moule in the same series. On
Ephesians: G. G. Findlay in the _Expositor's Bible_, with R. W. Dale's
well-known Lectures. On Philippians: Rainy in the _Expositor's Bible_, and
Jowett's _The High Calling_. On Colossians: Maclaren's peerless treatment
in the _Expositor's Bible_, with Bishop Moule's _Colossian Studies_, and a
useful American work, _Oneness with Christ_, by Bishop Nicholson. The
subject of this book is definitely treated in _The Prayers of St. Paul_,
by W. B. Pope, D.D.; _The Pattern Prayer Book_, by E. W. Moore; _Preces
Paulinæ_, a valuable old book by an anonymous author, which is now only
obtainable second-hand.
On the general subject of Prayer, which will naturally be given attention
in the expository preaching and teaching on this special topic of St.
Paul's petitions, the following among other books may perhaps be
mentioned: _Waiting on God_, by Andrew Murray; _The Hidden Life of
Prayer_, by D. M. M'Intyre; _Prayer_, by M'Conkey; _Praying in the Holy
Ghost_, by G. H. C. Macgregor; _Quiet Talks on Prayer_, by S. D. Gordon;
and _Prayer: Its Nature and Scope_, by H. C. Trumbull.
INDEX
_A._ SCRIPTURE PASSAGES
PAGE
Gen. xviii. 19 103
Deut. iv. 20 102
Isa. xi. 3 133
" xliii. 21 102
Ps. xxxii. 8 6
" xxxvii. 23 6, 103
" lvii. 7 11
" cviii. 1 11
" cxii. 7 11
" cxlix. 4 103
Matt. v. 8 131
" v. 16 136
Luke xviii. 11-13 113
John iii. 3 131
" xiii. 34 8
" xiv. 15 129
" xvii. 3 66
" xvii. 19 19
" xxi. 16 129
Acts vii. 2 94
" vii. 60 113
" ix. 40 113
" xi. 23 59
" xx. 36 113
Rom. i. 4 104
" i. 16 104
" iii. 23 95
" v. 1 22
" v. 2 95
" vi. 4 94
" vii. 22 117
" xv. 7 95
1 Cor. i. 18 104
" ii. 8 94
" v. 20 103
" vi. 11 35
2 Cor. iii. 17, 18 117
" iv. 16 117
Eph. i. 1-14 92, 96
" i. 15-19 91
" iii. 14 94
" iii. 14-19 111
" iv. 1 64
" iv. 3 82
" vi. 12 76
" vi. 22 81
Phil. i. 9-11 127
" i. 27 64
" iii. 10 66
" iv. 7-9 22
" iv. 14-18 128
Col. i. 3-6 58
" i. 9-12 57
" i. 15 87
" i. 18-20 87
" i. 20 22
" i. 27 87
" ii. 1, 2 75
" ii. 3 87
" iv. 12 76
1 Thess. i. 5 85
" ii. 2 35
" ii. 12 31, 64
" iii. 9 35
" iii. 11-13 3
" iv. 7 31
" v. 23, 24 17, 31
2 Thess. i. 10 103
" i. 11, 12 29
" ii. 14 31
" ii. 17 81
" iii. 16 41
1 Tim. vi. 12 76
2 Tim. iv. 7 76
Heb. vi. 11 58
" x. 22 85
" xiii. 9 11
1 Pet. i. 22 129
" iii. 7 77
2 Pet. i. 7 8
1 John ii. 12-14 60, 98
" ii. 20 99
" v. 20 99
_B._ TOPICS
Advent, Second, 24, 30, 136.
Aspiration, 33.
Assurance, 84 f., 137.
Brotherly love, 8, 51, 83, 120, 128.
Called of God, 31, 100.
Character, 133.
Christ, Deity of, 5, 87.
Conscience, peace of, 50.
Devotion, need of, 70.
Endurance, 46, 66.
Faithfulness, Divine, 25.
Family life, 114.
Glory of God, 94.
Grace, 35 f.
Heart, in Scripture, 42, 81, 99, 117.
Holiness, 10, 18.
Joy, Christian, 67.
Knowledge, spiritual, 60 f., 84, 86, 97 f., 121, 131.
Leading, Divine, 6, 48.
Love, God's, to us, 43, 119.
Love, our, to Him, 44, 129.
Ministry, the Apostolic, 112.
Others, concern for, 58.
Patience of Christ, 45.
Peace, 22 f., 52 f.
_Peculium_, God's, 102.
Persecution, 30.
Power, Divine, 104.
Prayer, practical value of, 17, 57, 75.
Prayer, a thing of labour, 76.
" for others, 79, 127 f.
" sympathetic, 80.
Preservation, Divine, 19 f., 50.
Reverence, 113.
Sincerity, 134.
Spirit, the Divine, 49, 96, 116.
Trinity, the, 92.
Unity, spiritual, 82.
Walk, the Christian, 64.
Weathercock, Spurgeon's, 44.
Word, importance of the, 49.
Worthy, counted, 32.
Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these
letters have been replaced with transliterations.
Printer's inconsistencies in hyphenation usage have been retained.
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