Romans 12.12c-Paul Commands Romans To Continue To Persist With Respect To Prayer
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday November 8, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:12c-Paul Commands Romans To Continue To Be Persistent With Respect To Prayer
Lesson # 419
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:9.
Last week we began a study Romans 12:12, which contains three commands.
In the first, Paul commands the Roman believers to rejoice with respect to their confident expectation of blessing.
In the second, he commands his readers to persevere with respect to adversity.
This morning we will complete our study of the verse by noting the third command in which the apostle commands them to continue to make it their habit to be persistent with respect to prayer.
Romans 12:9-12, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor. Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer.”
“Devoted to prayer” is composed of the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun proseuche (proseuxhv) (pro-yoo-khay), “to prayer” and the nominative masculine second person plural present active participle form of the verb proskartereo (proskarterevw) (pros-kar-ter-eh-o), “devoted.’
The noun proseuche refers to prayer in a general sense without reference to the content of the prayer and denotes speaking face to face or in the presence of the Father to offer up petitions, intercessory prayers, thanksgiving and to worship Him.
The basic meaning of the word views the prayer of the believer from the standpoint of speaking face to face with the Father in worship and dependence, thus acknowledging Him as all-sufficient in Himself and the believer as insufficient in himself.
Prayer is the means by which the believer can approach the Father face-to-face in dependence of His sufficiency and submitting to His will.
Therefore, the noun proseuche denotes entering into the presence of the Father in order to worship and adore Him for who and what He is and what He has provided through His Son Jesus Christ.
When the believer offers up praise, thanksgiving, petitions, and intercessions to the Father he is demonstrating his total and absolute dependence upon Him to meet his every need, whether spiritual or temporal, thus he is worshipping Him.
Proseuche emphasizes the worshipful attitude of the believer who depends upon God to meet his needs through prayer.
All prayer must be addressed to God the Father (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 2:18; 3:14; 5:20; Col. 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 1:6).
It must be offered in the name or Person of or through intermediate agency of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14; 16:23-24; Eph. 5:20; Col. 3:17).
Prayer must be offered up to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by means of the power of the Spirit (Eph. 2:18; 6:18; Jude 20).
The Christian is taught to pray for the deliverance from his or her enemies (Ps. 54:1-3; 55:1-3; 88:1-3; 102:1-2; 109:1-5; Acts 12:5; Philippians 1:19).
This particular objective entails that God protect us from our enemies, but also that we pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44-45; Luke 6:28).
The Christian is taught to pray for the spiritual and temporal needs of members of the royal family of God (Ephesians 6:18; Col 1:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; James 5:16; 3 John 2; 2 Co 13:9; Romans 15:30-31).
They are to pray for the spiritual growth of members of the body of Christ (Colossians 4:12; Ephesians 1:15-19; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10; Philippians 1:9; Colossians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 13:9).
The Christian is encouraged to particularly pray for the sick in the royal family of God (Jam 5:14-15a).
They are taught to pray for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
The Christian is taught to pray for the proliferation of the Word of God in one’s community, country, and world (2 Thessalonians 3:1).
We should habitually pray that the Word of God increase and spread throughout the world.
For unbelievers, may the Gospel reach their ears, and for believers, may an accurate teaching of God’s Word encompass their lives.
Another objective is praying that God protect us and other believers from getting involved in evil.
Also, we should pray that believers apply the Word of God, so that God may be glorified and divine-good may increase (2 Corinthians 13:7).
The Christian is taught to pray for the sanctification of physical food (1 Timothy 4:4-5); hence, we say grace.
A productive prayer life is based upon praying according to the will of the Father.
Prayer is asking for what the Father wants and not what we want.
1 John 5:14-15, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know without a doubt that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know without a doubt that we have the requests, which we have asked from Him.”
If the will of God for our lives is to become like Christ, and it is, then our prayers should be directed toward this specific objective as well.
There are seven essential elements that should be included in every prayer offered to God: (1) confession (1 John 1:9), (2) Filling of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), (3) faith (Matthew 21:22; James 1:5-7), (4) worship (Luke 11:1-2; Philippians 4:6), (5) thanksgiving (1 Thessalonians 5:18; Colossians 4:2), (6) intercession (Luke 23:34; Ephesians 1:16-23; 3:14-19; 6:18; 1 Timothy 2:1-4), and (7) petition (Rom. 1:10; 2 Cor. 12:8; 1 Thess. 3:10; Heb. 4:16).
Romans 12:12, “Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer.”
In Romans 12:12, the verb proskartereo means “to persist” and is used with the noun proseuche, “concerning prayer,” which functions as a dative of reference indicating, Paul is commanding the Romans to persist with respect to prayer.
The second person plural form of the verb proskartereo refers to all of Paul’s Christian readers in Rome without exception.
The verb functions as an imperatival participle, which indicates that Paul is commanding his readers that they must continue to persist with respect to their prayer lives.
This is a “customary present imperative,” which denotes that the Roman believers must continue to persist with respect to their prayer lives.
Paul’s statement in Romans 15:14-15 implies that they were.
Romans 15:14-15, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God.”
Furthermore, Paul wrote in Romans 1:8 that he gave thanks to the Father for them because their faith was being proclaimed everywhere throughout the Roman Empire.
Romans 1:8, “First and foremost indeed, I make it a habit to give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ concerning all of you because your faith is at the present time being proclaimed everywhere throughout the entire world.”
Therefore, in Romans 12:12, the present imperatival participle form of the verb proskartereo indicates that Paul is commanding the Roman believers to be persistent with respect to prayer.
Corrected translation of Romans 12:12: “Concerning your confident expectation, all of you continue to make it your habit to rejoice. Concerning adversity, all of you continue to make it your habit to persevere. Concerning prayer, all of you continue to make it your habit to be persistent.”