19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
In verses 19 and 20 Paul asked his readers to pray for him personally. Paul was someone who believed in the effectiveness of prayer. He was confident that if Christians prayed for him he would have liberty to preach the gospel.
and for [on my behalf] me,
The “me” here is Paul. “For” means that Paul wanted the Ephesians to pray on his behalf or intercede for him.
that utterance may be given to me,
The topic of Paul’s request for prayer was that he might have the right words to proclaim the gospel. He did not primarily ask that God would deliver him from his imprisonment. That was incidental to his primary concern.
that I may open my mouth boldly
Paul asked for prayer that he would be bold to make known the mystery of the gospel. He was tempted to be mousy with the gospel. He need fearlessness to aggressively share the gospel.
to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Paul was currently sitting in jail waiting for his trial before the Roman government. He wanted to make clear what the gospel was before those at his trial.
The “mystery” was the special revelation of the church in the New Testament economy. The idea of the church was a new entity at the time of Paul where both Jew and Gentile existed together as one church. This was not known in the Old Testament. It is the gospel that made this possible.
PRINCIPLE:
We need others to intercede for us in spiritual warfare.
APPLICATION:
We need to ask others to pray for us as we present the gospel (Php 1:12-14). We need boldness to advance the gospel. We depend on others to pray for us about this as well as ourselves. Christians cannot depend on their own resources when it comes to prayer. Intercessory prayer is necessary for making known the gospel.
