Ephesians 6:18–24 · WEB Classic
18 with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints. 19 Pray for me, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. 21 But that you also may know my affairs, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make known to you all things.
22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know our state and that he may comfort your hearts. 23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Amen.
Paul has described the armor God supplies, but the equipped believer does not become a person who no longer needs to ask for help. Prayer runs through the struggle. He calls for prayer at all times in the Spirit, with perseverance and requests for all the saints. The person standing beside us needs strength too, and Paul includes himself among those who need the church to pray.
Praying in the Spirit is prayer shaped and enabled by the Spirit, consistent with the Lord whose word he gives. Through Christ believers have access to the Father in one Spirit (2:18). That access is the setting of their requests. They come as members of God’s household, relying upon the help of the Spirit who indwells them rather than upon an ability to produce the right religious impression.
Romans 8:26–27 describes the Spirit helping believers in weakness and interceding according to God’s will. We may lack the wisdom to know what to ask, yet our inadequacy does not place us beyond his help. Prayer in the Spirit expresses that dependence and a willingness to have our requests governed by God’s purposes. Ephesians gives concrete subjects: perseverance for the saints and faithful proclamation for the apostle.
Those requests are intelligible needs belonging to God’s purpose for his people. Nothing in the instruction makes an unintelligible language the necessary means of asking. The believer who has run out of impressive words has not run out of access to the Father. He can ask for help in weakness, relying upon the Spirit who knows the will of God more fully than he does.
“All the saints” keeps prayer from shrinking to the immediate concerns of our own circle. The one body includes people whose names we know and people we may never meet. Their suffering, faithfulness, and need for strength belong within our concern. A church learning to pray beyond itself is acting upon the unity Paul has explained.
Perseverance matters because another person’s need can continue long after it stops feeling new to us. A sick church member may still be awake in pain after everyone else has returned to the ordinary concerns of the week. A difficult family situation may still require patience months after the first request for prayer. Watchfulness means remembering that the person continues to live with what we have ceased to think about. Asking how he is doing can give our prayers both accuracy and renewed attention.
An ambassador wearing a chain
Paul asks them to pray for him so that words may be given when he opens his mouth, enabling him boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. His apostolic commission does not make him reluctant to request the prayers of ordinary believers. The people he teaches can serve him through their intercession.
His request concerns clarity and courage in proclamation. The gospel has content that must be communicated, and the messenger may face circumstances that make speaking costly. Boldness is the willingness to speak faithfully under that pressure. It does not require a rude manner or an appetite for arguments.
Acts 4 gives us an earlier example of the same prayer. Peter and John have been threatened and commanded not to teach in Jesus’ name. When they return to the believers, the church brings the threats before God. They remember Psalm 2’s picture of rulers gathering against the Lord and his anointed and recognize that opposition in the events surrounding Jesus (Acts 4:23–28).
Their request is then for boldness to speak God’s word. The danger has not become imaginary, and they do not pretend that threatening rulers are pleasant companions. They ask for strength to continue the work the threats are intended to silence. Paul makes that same kind of request from his imprisonment. Courage belongs within prayer because a messenger can know the truth and still need help opening his mouth when speaking will cost him something.
He calls himself an ambassador in chains. An ambassador represents a sovereign, yet this ambassador is restrained. Paul’s circumstances do not remove his commission. He belongs to the reigning Christ even while experiencing the vulnerability of a prisoner.
The request is striking because he asks to speak as he ought rather than treating his hardship as the end of his responsibility. It would be easy to conclude that someone else should now do all the speaking. Paul still wants to fulfill the assignment before him. Dependence upon God and a request for help accompany that resolve.
News and encouragement
Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make Paul’s circumstances known and encourage their hearts. The letter’s large claims about the church reach ordinary communication between people who care about one another. They need truthful news, and Paul sends a trusted person to provide it.
Colossians 4:7–9 gives Tychicus a closely related responsibility. Paul describes him as a beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow servant in the Lord, sent with news and encouragement. Onesimus accompanies him, and they are to make the circumstances known. These closing names belong to the life of a ministry sustained through people who can be trusted with another person’s need for truthful information.
We can easily pass over that work because it does not look like the act of writing Ephesians. Yet a worried congregation needs to know what is happening to Paul, and Paul needs someone who will communicate faithfully. Tychicus is not sent to replace an uncertain report with a more exciting rumor. He can encourage their hearts because he is trustworthy. Sometimes the service someone needs is a person who will arrive, tell the truth, and remain attentive long enough to answer the questions.
Paul wishes the brothers peace and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. These gifts belong within the relationships he has addressed throughout the letter. Peace with God shapes peace among his people. Love acts upon their shared belonging, and faith continues trusting the Lord who has brought them near.
The final blessing extends grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Their devotion is directed toward the same Lord, and the grace is shared without an ethnic boundary or a superior class of believers. The prisoner sends his blessing to people he cannot presently stand beside. Distance and chains cannot prevent him from caring for those who belong to Christ.