On Prayer (Col. 4:12)

I woke up this morning quite excited to get to my Greek class.  The reason was because I knew that today we would be going over a portion of scripture that included Colossians 4:12, one of my favorite verses in all the New Testament.  I left class somewhat disheartened and "shot down" so to speak.  When we came to this verse, I shared my thoughts and feelings on the use of a particular Greek word and the implications of its use.  My professor softly rebuked me for my thoughts and instructed me, "I wouldn't read into it too much.  It's a simple use of the verb.  In all the other instances in the New Testament I can think of, it's used just to convey simple work."  He then moved on to the next verse and left me somewhat embarrassed and ashamed.  But my curiosity drove me to do some research (instead of studying for my exam I have in a couple hours), and what I found encouraged and uplifted me.  Respectfully, I must disagree with my prof. and I'll tell you why!

Verse 12 of chapter 4 says in the NIV, "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends his greetings.  He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."  The word that I want to focus on is this word "wrestling."  The Greek word here is agonizomai.  It's where we get our word "agonize" or "agony."  Translation options, as given in the BDAG, are "to engage in a contest, to fight, to struggle, to strive."  The noun from which it comes, agonos/agone, can be translated as "a contest, a struggle against opposition, a fight."

In class, I vocalized my fascination at the word Paul chooses.  I explained how I love this picture of Epaphras agonizing and wrestling in prayer against some force.  No one fights or struggles and comes out of it without having lost something.  We fight and struggle and come out exhausted.  It is taxing and laborious.  And I said that I want to come to a point in my prayer life where I can, out of love for others, labor and agonize in prayer on another's behalf.  This is where my professor cut me off and told me not to read into it and that in his encounters in the NT with this word, it simply means "work" or "labor."  Out of curiosity, I looked up every other instance in the New Testament where the word is used, and I have to say I can't find a single use where it is a mundane word about working.  It is always used in a very intensive way about a real struggle or battle.  I'll share my findings and let you decide for yourselves.  There is a word in the Greek for common work, and it's not agonizomai.

The first time this word is used in the New Testament is in Luke 13:24.  Jesus is talking about the difficulty of entering the kingdom of God.  He says, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to."  I doubt Christ would be referencing simple labor or work while explaining the difficulty of entering the kingdom.  The parable is centered around the concept of the "narrow door."  He's telling us to fight, to struggle, to get through the narrow door and enter into the kingdom.  

The second use of the word is in John 18:36.  Jesus is standing before Pilate, and he says, "My kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders.  But now my kingdom is from another place."  Jesus isn't saying that his servants and angels would petition to Pilate and ask that they set him free.  He's saying that they would do battle against opposition on his behalf.  They would draw their swords and rush into possible death to defend and deliver him.  

The third use of this word is in 1 Corinthians 9:25.  Paul loves to use analogies and metaphors of athletic competitions in his letters.  Here he writes, "Everyone who competes in the games goes through strict training.  They do it to get a crown... we do it to get a crown that will last forever."  Paul, again, is emphasizing how we have to go through rigorous training and strive in competition against opposition in order to get the crown.  

Next, the word is used in Colossians 1:29.  Paul writes, "To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me."  This verse speaks for itself in defense of my position.  "... with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me."  This whole verse repeats intense words.  

Lastly, there are two verses in Paul's letter to Timothy in which he uses this word.  The one I want to highlight is 1 Timothy 6:12.  This is also one of my favorite verses.  "Fight the good fight of faith... I charge you to keep this command without spot of blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ..."  The word for "good" used here is the word in the Greek for goodness that is associated with beauty.  There is agathos, which is used in sentences like, "Cafeteria food can be good sometimes."  But Paul uses kalos, which can even be translated as "beautiful."  So we could translate this phrase as, "Struggle the beautiful struggle of faith."  We are told to agonize against all opposition to carry out our faith without spot or blame.  We will fall, we will lose our energy, we will sweat and toil and be bruised.  But we will press on renewed by the power of the Lord our God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to endure until the end when Jesus Christ comes again.  This is the climax of the letter.  This is intense.  This is NOT mundane work or labor.

So I return to my initial conclusion.  We ought to toil and labor and agonize and wrestle through prayer on behalf of those we truly love.  And we ought to do so "in order that [they] might stand in completion fully assured in all the will of God."  This verse implies that we can actually, through prayer, have a positive effect on the spiritual status of those we love.  But it is not easy.  But "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."