01.F 01. A Study In Words
A STUDY IN WORDS
We want in these closing pages to consider in a few lines what might well be made a volume in itself. There is a wealth of meaning hidden away in the various words which the Bible uses when speaking of prayer and in various other words used in connection with prayer; and there is much about prayer that can be learned better if not only by a study of these words. To those of us who believe that God Himself had a care even in the wording of the thoughts He inspired, this study will be doubly significant.
We shall do nothing more than present the matter in briefest outline.
I. There is, first, the words which are themselves used to designate prayer.
There are seven Greek words in the New Testament variously translated “to pray,” “to beseech,” “to supplicate,” “to ask,” “to intercede,” “to entreat,” “to call upon,” each of which might without violence to the term be translated by our English “pray.” We are now, of course, referring to prayer in its broader meaning as an approach unto God. In the Old
Testament there are twelve Hebrew words similarly translated. Some of the terms are to a degree synonymous, words of the New Testament finding their equivalents in the Old Testament. For the spirit and temper in which we ought to pray no better guide can be found than these words themselves.
* The suggestion for the study in this Chapter comes to the writer from Macgregor’s “Praying in the Holy Ghost,” a most helpful and inspiring little volume. Of course, in setting forth the primary significance of these words it is not meant that they are used in Scripture only with this particular shade of meaning. It would be quite impossible to go through Scripture and establish any such distinction which would hold true in each particular use of the word in question, but the lesson to be learned in this study is that each word carries its own particular truth and when taken together they enrich the meaning of prayer as nothing else can do.
Now, if prayer is to secure the thing for which it goes to God, certain things must be true of God and certain other things must be true of man. There must be on God’s part, first the power and then the willingness to give. True prayer implies a recognition of these two things.
1. It implies a recognition of divine sovereignty. God’s willingness to give would boot us nothing if the power were not His to do it. It is a rich word which teaches us this, and the one most frequently used in the Old Testament. It is palal, and with its noun, tephillah, is used 147 times. It appeals to the sovereign majesty of God as one whose prerogative it is to decide the merits of the case and who has the power to put His will concerning the matter into swift execution. It rests its case with Him in entire self-surrender, confident that the Judge of all the earth will do right. It is used in petitions of various sorts, but especially in prayers of intercession. It is the word used by Samuel in 1 Samuel 12:23, where he said, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.”
2. It implies a recognition of divine grace. Power to give and willingness to give are often at farthest extremes. But it is true not only that “Power belongeth unto God,” but that “The Lord is plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Him” (Psalms 86:5). How could one pray without believing this to be true? This lesson is taught especially in the Old Testament word chanan. The verb primarily means “to be inclined towards,” then “to be gracious,” and then it comes to mean in one of its tenses, “to entreat for mercy.” It is usually translated “supplication.” It is the word Solomon uses so often in the dedicatory prayer of the temple. (1 Kings 8:33; 1 Kings 8:47; 1 Kings 8:59.) There must be also certain dispositions on the part of man who is to approach God in prayer, and these all are implied in true prayer.
1. True prayer implies a recognition of one’s own need. He will never pray successfully without this. This is brought out by the Greek word deomai, translated by “pray” in Matthew 9:6, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,” etc, and by “beseech” in Luke 9:38, “Master, I beseech thee look upon my son.” Prayer without the sense of need is purposeless and therefore powerless. Quite similar to this is the Hebrew word lachash, in Isaiah 26:16, “Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.” It is the prayer of dire extremity.
2. True prayer implies the most ardent desire. It is “they who hunger and thirst” whose souls are filled and satisfied. To fail here is to fail utterly. This message is brought to us in the Hebrew word beah. It is a rare word, is translated “pray” in Daniel 6:11, and literally means “to boil,” as boiling water. From this is derived metaphorically the idea of the fervent, ardent longing of the soul.
3. True prayer implies a recognition of one’s own helplessness. The midnight petitioner said, “I have nothing to set before my unexpected guest.” It was a situation of utter impotence. Perhaps the word more suggestive of this than any other is the New Testament word parakaleo. The preposition para means “along side of,” while the verb kaleo means “to call.” From this comes the word Paraclete, John’s designation of the Holy Spirit, the Divine Helper and Sustainer. Parakaleo is usually translated “beseech.” It is the word used by Jairus when “he besought Jesus greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death” (Mark 5:23). “Thrice,” said Paul, “for this thing I besought the Lord” (2 Corinthians 12:8). Self-sufficiency never finds its way to the feet of God.
4. True prayer implies a becoming sense of reverence and awe. It recognizes the divine splendor and magnificence and the true supplicant will feel something of what Isaiah experienced when he saw the Lord “sitting upon a throne high and lifted up” and heard the seraphims crying one to another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” The word most expressive of this is the Hebrew athar. It carries with it the idea of worship. In fact, its first meaning is “to burn incense,” and the noun is used in Zephaniah 3:10, to designate a worshiper of God. Every prayer, to be genuine, must first be an incense. The one who prays will remember that he is entering the holiest of holies and that God, the infinitely Holy One, is there.
5. True prayer implies a recognition of one’s own unworthiness. This truth seems to lie especially in the Old Testament word chalah, which is used so frequently when God’s wrath is deprecated and when one in penitence seeks to appease His anger. It means literally “to stroke,” “to smooth,” and then “to conciliate by caress,” to stroke one’s face and smooth its stern furrows. This is the word Moses used when praying for idolatrous Israel (Exodus 32:11). See also 1 Kings 13:6; 2 Kings 13:41; Daniel 9:13, and 1 Samuel 13:12. It is the “God be merciful to me a sinner” of the publican. It is the “contrite heart” such as David presented in his Psalm of confession, which the Lord will not despise (Psalms 51:1-19).
6. True prayer implies a proper reflection. It is studied and deliberate, and not hurried. Remember in whose presence thou art, and “Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God.” The soul must be calm and meditative. The word teaching us this is the Hebrew word siach. It is the word used of Isaac when he went out into the field to meditate, and is so translated in Genesis 24:63.
It is the word used when the Psalmist says, *’My meditation of Him shall be sweet” (Psalms 103:3-4). It is translated “prayer” in Psalms 55:17, and literally means “to muse,” “to ponder over.” In the Greek translation of the Old Testament this last reference is rendered “narrate fully,” that is, going over it all carefully beforehand. There is one other word containing somewhat the same idea, though hardly so expressive. It is haga, and is used quite as frequently as the other. (See Psalms 63:6.)
7. True prayer implies frank, open simplicity and directness. It is our privilege to “come boldly,” without fear, but that so far as the Father’s heart is concerned, the very thing we want is the very thing He would delight to give. Our requests will then be direct and definite. This seems to me the meaning brought out especially by the New Testament words aiteo and erotao and their Old Testament equivalent shaal. The exact distinction between aiteo and erotao has been much disputed. Some would have us think aiteo gives prominence to the superiority of the person addressed, while erotao implies a certain equality and familiarity between the two; but New Testament usage does not bear this out. That probably is the true distinction (if there is any) which makes aiteo (which seems to be a little less intense than the other) lay emphasis more especially on the thing to be given, and erotao on the person who is to do something for you. The words mean simply *’to make request.” Such frankness and simplicity in prayer is possible only with a conscience void of offence. When clean hands are lifted up, God’s greatest delight is to fill them.
8. True prayer implies the childlike spirit and a confiding approach unto God. This is brought to us in the Greek word entunchano. It is the word that gives prominence to childlike confidence, and represents prayer as the heart’s converse with God. It is the word used in intercession, as when a child goes to its father in behalf of another. We are children in Christ, and nothing pleases the Father more than the utter absence of all misgiving and affectation in the appeal of his own child to His heart. It is used in 1 Timothy 2:1, “that..; intercessions be made for all men,” and is the word that represents the pleadings of Christ in our behalf (Hebrews 7:25).
9. True prayer implies an expectant attitude of the soul. An expectancy that gladdens the heart in anticipation of the coming blessing and is an utter stranger to surprise when the thing desired comes to pass. This is really the faith that believes we “have received” (Mark 11:24, R. v.). It is a confidence born of the Spirit and, if so, it can never be betrayed. Its ground is the intimacy of the soul with Jesus. This lesson is the one more especially peculiar to the Aramaic word tsala. The word is used but twice; once in Daniel 6:10, and once in Ezra 6:10. It means “to bend,” and in its root significance, as may be seen by tracing it in the Arabic, has reference to the bending in the back of a mare before foaling, accompanied as it always is by the strengthening of the tissues in anticipation of the strain about to come upon them. It is this root to which Daniel and Ezra have gone to select for us a word which means *’to pray.” They would not have us tarry before God in idle utterance and call it prayer.
10. True prayer implies earnestness and intensity. The word which carries this meaning with it more especially than any other is a New Testament one. It is the word ektenos, as used in Acts 12:5, where it is most unhappily translated in the Authorized Version by “without ceasing,” but in the Revised Version it is made to read “earnestly.” It literally means “stretched-out-ed-ly.” “Intensely” would be a good translation. It is a word representing the soul under the sway of an intense passion; stretched out, with its every energy strained in the exercise to which it is devoted. It is the prayer that forgets all things else in the intensity of its desire and its determined hold upon God. There is no wandering of thought here. All there is of a man goes into a prayer like that. It is this word which is used of Jesus in Gethsemane, where it is said, “being in an agony he prayed more earnestly.”
There is an Old Testament word corresponding somewhat to this word ehtenos. It is paga. In its first sense it means *’to strike upon, or against.” Among its several derived meanings are, (1) to rush upon any one with hostile violence (1 Samuel 22:17; 1 Samuel 22:18, and Judges 8:21); (2) in a good sense, “to assail any one with petitions,” to earnestly urge upon him your request.
True prayer is an intense work both of the mind and of the heart. We pray only as we “stir ourselves to take hold on God.”
Augustine speaks of one who prayed as if he would expire, “expirare orando” — expire while praying; breathe out his very life, as some one has said, in the exercise. This is not the same as Importunity, although it is a part of it. Importunity means not only to pray thus earnestly, but above all to be persistent in it, but how naturally it associated itself with such prayer; for one who prays with such intensity is not likely to falter or be discouraged if the first effort does not bring the desired response. How naturally, then, it follows that,
11. True prayer implies a persevering faith. A faith that will not falter at delay. It believes and keeps on believing. This is the other element of importunity {anaideia, literally “shamelessness”) in the parable of the ungenerous neighbor (Luke 11:5-8), and of the unjust judge who was worn out {hupopiadzine, literally “to beat the face black and blue”) by the continual coming of the widow. The same Hebrew word as just noted, carries this idea along with it. We need that sanctified energy of will that persists in its suit till God clearly bids it cease. God has His postponements as well as His appointments.
12. True prayer implies humility and the submissive spirit — a will resigned to God. We may not always know God’s will, but we do know always that, “All things work together for good to them that love God; to them who are the called according to His purpose,” and can therefore well afford to say, “Thy will, O God, be done.”
If this lesson is taught in one word more than in another it is in the Greek word hiketaria. It is used only once in all the New Testament (Hebrews 5:7), and then concerning the One who in Gethsemane prayed and said, “Not my will but thine, O God, be done.” It really means a humble, prostrate entreaty against impending evil. The word has a history worth finding out, and the study of it is fascinating.
If we own ourselves the Lord’s, the surrender must be complete and the will cannot be kept back. Gethsemane’s “nevertheless” may mean thorns instead of roses for a while, but God’s best is always at the end of the way.
13. True prayer implies loyalty and devotion to God. So far are His interests above our own that if the “cup cannot pass away” we will drink it even though it lead us to Calvary. This seems to be the lesson taught us by that sacred word proseuchomai, used 120 times in the New Testament. It is used only of prayer to God. It is always translated by the word “pray” and is used of Jesus when He prayed in Gethsemane. “He kneeled down and prayed” (Luke 22:44). This is something more than resignation; something more than submission. It is saying, “Thy will, O God, be done”; but it is more. It is the devotement of self to God in seeing that His will is done.
II. But rich as are these lessons which come from a study of the words which themselves mean prayer, none the less so are those we learn from the words used in connection with prayer.
1. From 1 Thessalonians 5:17, comes the lesson that WE ARE TO PRAY UNCEASINGLY The word is adialeipos. It means simply “without leaving off.” It is used only in three other places.[1] It is quite like in meaning to the word diapantos (used of Cornelius in Acts 10:2), and to the quite frequent and more common word pantote, used eleven times in connection with prayer. [2] “Men ought always to pray.” Frugality here is dangerous economy. Not always on one’s knees, but always living and moving in the atmosphere of prayer. This is that “closer walk with God.” Something is wrong where the life languishes. Health of soul demands “the unbroken connection.”
[1] Romans 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:13.
[2] Romans 1:9; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Ephesians 5:20; Php 1:4; Colossians 1:3; Colossians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Thessalonians 1:11; Php 4:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
2. Not very unlike this is the lesson that WE ARE TO PRAY UNDER EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE The expression which seems to me to more especially convey this truth is the one found in Luke 21:36, “Watch ye therefore and pray in every season,” and also in Ephesians 6:18, “ praying in every season.*’ The expression is en panti kairo, and is used only the twice. We are wrestling against powers (Ephesians 6:1-24) that lie in wait for us. They will take us unawares if they can. If we forget God when the sun shines and are grieved at Him when the clouds come, we shall find our feet slipping from beneath us and the Evil One will have gotten the victory in a struggle for which there would have been no occasion had we remembered and practiced what our Lord did say, that, in every season, under every circumstance, we need to pray.
3. Another message comes to us out of 1 Corinthians 7:5, where we learn that WE ARE TO TAKE TIME FOR PRAYER The word is scholazo. It is used only here in the New Testament with reference to persons. It is used twice elsewhere (Matthew 12:44 and Luke 11:25) with reference to things. In the latter sense it means “empty,” and is applied both times to a house left unoccupied. When used with reference to persons, the word means unoccupied in the sense of being at leisure, having nothing to do and at liberty to devote one’s time and self to a thing.
We are not to be hurried in our devotions. Who was it that said, “Could ye not watch with me one hour?”’ As if that were a little while to devote to a thing like that! But many of us would doubtless be embarrassed by arithmetical calculations just at this point. If prayer is important we ought to have time for it. If it were a pleasure we would have time for it, and if we could really say of Him, “Whom having not seen we love,” what a pleasure it would be! When the white handkerchief lay just before Gordon’s tent door, the weightiest matters of his queen’s kingdom must wait, for Gordon was communing with God. “Give yourselves unto prayer.” Put other business aside. Let the mind and the soul be at leisure for this one thing. This is the message of the verse.
4. And now, from another word, comes the command that sounds somewhat strange. It tells us that WE ARE TO BE SOBER WHEN WE PRAY In 1 Peter 4:7 the revised reading is, “Be ye therefore of sound mind and be sober unto prayer.” The word is nepho, and its primary meaning is a physical one, namely, “to abstain from wine,” and so passes spiritually into the general sense of calm, temperate, collected in spirit, self-controlled. It is used five times elsewhere,[1] but only this once in connection with prayer.
[1] 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:8. 2 Timothy 4:5. 1 Peter 1:13. 1 Peter 5:8.
Another has suggested that “many things intoxicate which are not wine,” and that one can be drunk with worldly gaiety and worldly business, with pride, or envy or anger. How could one pray in such a condition! We must bring with us when we pray a mind that is steady and composed; if we do not have it we must seek it in quietness before God. Many of our best lessons are missed for the lack of it. That we have been permitted to pray at all is the marvel, and when we do pray the very best of intellect and heart is the very least we should expect to devote to this high and mighty privilege.
5. We find next, in Colossians 4:2, another word which tells us that WE ARE TO BE VIGILANT WHEN WE PRAY The passage reads, “Continue steadfastly in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgriving;.” The word is gregoreo, and is the same word used by the Master in Matthew 26:41 and Mark 14:38, when He said to His three disciples, “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation,” and the same word He uses just before in telling them to tarry in the distance and watch while He prayed. The word is quite general, and while the Colossian passage calls chiefly for a spiritual emphasis, the Gospel passages show that the physical reference is not to be entirely ignored. The prayer life, to be successful, calls for the most rigid mental attentiveness. There is sometimes so much self-indulgence and mental lassitude in our attempts at prayer that the good which might be ours is lost entirely. The soul must be on its guard. If the Evil One can change the hour that ought to bring us strength from above into a season of distracted mind-wandering, how surely will he do it. One always prays best when the mind is clear, keen and alert. Only so can the senses be exercised to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). The use of this word gregoreo gives no sanction to any but an active, energetic prayer. As a figure of this spiritual circumspection, it will be interesting to note the use of the same word in a physical sense in the following passages: 1 Peter 5:8; Matthew 24:43; Mark 13:34; Acts 20:31.
6. From this same passage, Colossians 4:2, comes a second lesson from which we learn that WE ARE TO MAKE PRAYER THE CHIEF BUSINESS OF OUR LIFE
Besides urging us to watchfulness in prayer, the passage says, “Continue steadfastly in prayer.” The same message is found in Acts 1:14; Acts 2:42; Acts 6:4, and also in Romans 12:12, while the same expression is also found in five other passages without reference to prayer. The two words, “continue steadfastly,” are one in Greek. It is proskartereo, and the underlying thought of the word is that of “giving exclusive attention to a thing.” In Acts 6:4 the Apostles told the other disciples to select seven of their number who might look after the daily ministrations of food, since they themselves must be relieved of this business, that they might give themselves (continue steadfastly) to prayer and the ministry of the Word of God. The Apostles were to “give constant attention” to this latter even as the other disciples were to the former. It was to be their business, just as serving tables was called the business of the others.
When, in Mark 3:9, Jesus gave a command “that a small ship should wait on Him,” He used this word, and when, in Acts 10:7, we are told that certain soldiers “waited continually” on Cornelius, it is this word proskartereo that is used to express such service. It was their business, their one chief duty, to attend this Roman Centurian. Think of a merchant prince pleading the pressure of other duties as an excuse for neglecting his business! Prayer, God would have us know, is our business.
How neglect it, therefore, and hope to succeed in our religious life! When we “enter the closet” we are told to “shut the door.” We are supposed to be there for a purpose; important matters are on hand. Successful business demands vigorous thought, but our indolent minds sometimes so affect our bodies that we go to sleep on our knees. Successful business averts bankruptcy only by enthusiasm, and thousands of Christians are in spiritual disaster to-day because they have been heedless of the spirit of business in their devotions.
7. There is yet another word and one other lesson in advance of any yet learned.
It is the lesson which comes from the word Paul used when he told the Christians at Rome to “labor fervently” (strive. Revised Version) with him in their prayers for his sake (Romans 15:30). It is the word he used when he said of Epaphras, in Colossians 4:2, that he “always labored fervently for them in his prayer.” From this word comes the message that WE ARE TO MAKE PRAYER A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH The word is agonizo, and is the word from which we derive the English “agonize.” Translated by the Authorized Version into “laboring fervently,” it was made to read in the Revised Version “striving,” but the English reader will hardly grasp the fullness of its import until he sees it written “agonize.” It is really a tragic word and one we would hardly expect to see used in this connection. Do we not find ourselves thinking that if this is what it means to pray, how little praying, at least such praying, have we really ever done? To pray after this fashion means the absolutely unreserved devotement of every power of one’s soul and mind and body to the doing of it. The word as used in describing other effort will help us a good deal in our study of its use here.
{a) In 1 Corinthians 9:25, Paul says, “Everyone that striveth (agonizomenos) for the mastery is temperate in all things.” We are to agonize in prayer as does an athlete in the arena for the prize he so much covets. The very last measure of such a man’s strength goes into the contest. In Hebrews 12:1 the “race” is called an “agony” (agonia).
(b) In 1 Timothy 6:12 the young soldier for Christ is told to “fight the good fight of faith,” the same thing which Paul said of himself that he had done (2 Timothy 4:7). It literally reads “agonize the good agony of faith.” We are to agonize in prayer as does a faithful soldier on the field of battle. Is there any service so desperately earnest as his? and it is unselfish and persistent as well. If we prayed as he fights we would often turn into victory what otherwise would be humiliating and disappointing defeat.
(c) In John 18:36 Jesus says, “If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight (agonizonto) that I should not be delivered to the Jews.” Our striving in prayer is to be like the agony of a friend fighting to save another’s life.
If it be like this all the finer qualities of our nature will go into it. It will be unselfish and heroic. It will be resolute and determined, and neither delay nor anything else will discourage us, and nothing but the clearly revealed will of God will cause us to loosen our hold upon Him for the thing we have asked.
(d) In Hebrews 12:4 the writer says, “Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving (agonizomenoi) against sin.” He has been talking about martyrdom. Sympathy with Christ means suffering with Christ. “To you it is given not only to believe on His name, but also to suffer for His sake.” If we bring this spirit into our prayers we will join hands with God to bring about the answer. True prayer is costly! It means labor, sacrifice and, if need be, martyrdom.
(e) In Luke 13:24 are found the Master’s words urging us to eternal life. He says, “strive (agonizesthe) to enter in at the straight gate.” We are to agonize in prayer as a truly awakened sinner agonizes to save his soul. It is a matter of mighty concern to him when once the true condition of his soul flashes upon him. Fancy yourself back at that place with a knowledge of eternal matters such as you now have! With what intensity of desire, with what earnestness of soul, would you endeavor to lay hold upon eternal life, that you might not perish. Something like that, with the same consuming desire and the same intense application to the matter at hand, must we pray if our prayers are to accomplish the will of God in our lives.
(f) There is, however, one example from which we feel we can learn more about this kind of prayer than any study of words could ever bring us. It is the Gethsemane agony of our Lord. With uncovered head let us stand within the shadows and reverently behold. **Being in an agony {agonia)” says the evangelist (Luke 22:44) “He prayed more earnestly” (ektenesteron, comparative degree of the word ektenos, page 268, meaning ’’intense,” “stretched out.” See also Hebrews 5:7, “With strong crying and tears” His soul being sorrowful unto death) “until His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).
Here we see what agonizing in prayer really is. Here is prayer at its best, even though the cup did not pass from Him.
It needs a mighty concern to pray like that. A concern that comes only from realizing something of what Jesus realized in those agonizing moments. We need first the Gethsemane vision; the hideousness of sin, the horror of its consequences, and then something of the mind of Christ that will keep us from turning back and bring us into fellowship with His sufferings for the deliverance of this world from the just judgment of God for its sin. Then we shall know what really we have never known before — ^what it means to pray.
Oh, Thou Man of Sorrows, we wonder how little the disciples really knew when they said, “Lord, teach us to pray,” how great would be the lesson they would have to learn if the full answer to that petition came. But we have seen it now, seen it in word, in precept and in Thy own most holy example, and coming fresh from this study, we see now how little we can pray without Thy Spirit to inspire and to help, and humbly confessing before God our own past poverty in prayer, we voice with deep desire the petition, “Lord Jesus, teach us to pray.”