Colossians 4:2 - Meaning and Application

If you connect this with the verse before it, then it also points to the duty masters owe their servants. They should pray with them daily, and keep on praying. They must do what is fair and kind, but they must also act in a Christian way and care about their servants’ souls as well as their bodies. As those under their care and influence, they should seek God’s blessing on them, just as they seek success in their work.

This is also a duty for every believer: continue in prayer. Keep your regular times of prayer, and do not let other work push them aside. Keep your heart close to the task, without wandering or growing dull, and stay alert until the prayer is finished. Christians should make use of every chance to pray, choose times least likely to be interrupted, and keep their minds awake and ready for the work.

They should pray with thanksgiving, meaning a humble and thankful recognition of mercies already received. Thanksgiving should have a place in every prayer. They should also pray for us, Colossians 4:3. The people of God should pray especially for their ministers and hold them up before God at all times. It is as if Paul were saying, “Do not forget us when you pray for yourselves” (Ephesians 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; Hebrews 13:18).

Paul asks that God would open to him a door for the word. This may mean giving him a chance to preach the gospel, as when he says, “A great and effective door has opened for me” (1 Corinthians 16:9). It may also mean giving him courage, freedom, and strength to speak faithfully. In Ephesians 6:19, he asks that he might be given words to open his mouth boldly and speak the mystery of Christ, for which he was also in chains. That mystery may mean the deepest truths of the gospel, with Christ as its main subject, or it may mean the message of the gospel for the Gentiles, which had been hidden for ages (Colossians 1:26; Ephesians 3:4).

Paul was in prison at Rome because of the strong opposition of hostile Jews. He wanted the Colossians to pray that he would not grow discouraged in his work or be driven away from it by suffering. He also wanted them to pray that he might make the gospel clear, as he should. That is, he wanted to make this mystery known to those who had never heard it, and to explain it plainly in the way God wanted.

Paul had already told them in chapter 1 what he prayed for on their behalf. Here he tells them plainly what he wanted them to pray for on his behalf. Paul knew how to speak as well as anyone, and yet he asked their prayers that he might be taught how to speak. The best and most respected Christians still need the prayers of humbler believers, and they should not be too proud to ask for them. Those who preach need prayer, that God would open a door for the word and help them speak as they ought.