The Prayers of St. Paul

by W. H. Griffith Thomas

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).