might make known. The very interplay of thought and balance of words impress us with

the teaching that if there be a speaker, there must be hearers; if some are to get to know,

someone must make known, the manifestation of the mystery necessitating both the

speaker and the hearers before its message can become effective.

Let us hear what the Apostle requested for himself: "Praying . . . . . for all saints; and

for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make

known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I

may speak boldly, as I ought to speak" (Eph. 6: 18-20). The humility revealed in the

words "and for me" is refreshing. The evident fact that the Apostle knew what it was to

be conscious of fear; to realize the price he must pay for speaking on such a theme,

should encourage us. He confesses to some such consciousness of weakness when he

asks for prayer that he may "open his mouth boldly" and "that he may speak boldly". It

is good to realize that Paul himself was indeed "an earthen vessel" that the glory of his

consistent witness might be the Lord's. The first thing for which he asked that prayer

should be made was "utterance", the word so translated being logos. In I Cor. 1: 5 the

same word is used in referring to a supernatural gift; "ye are enriched in Him, in all

utterance" (logos). We can hardly believe that the Apostle needed the prayers of the

Lord's people that he might receive a supernatural gift. During the period when tongues

were enjoyed by the church, the Apostle declared that he spoke with tongues more than

they all, and, even then, he could add: "Yet in the church I had rather speak five words

with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand

words in an unknown tongue" (I Cor. 14: 19). While these miraculous gifts ceased after

the setting aside of Israel at Acts 28:, we have at least one instance where a gift

received before the dispensation changed was not withdrawn. We refer to the exhortation

given to Timothy "to stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my

(Paul's) hands" (II Tim. 1: 6).

The usage of logos in the prison epistles, however, lends no support to the idea that by

"utterance" the Apostle meant anything supernatural. We find logos in Ephesians as

The distribution of the words comes to our help here, and helps us to see that each

time logos is used in its ordinary meaning.

If we turn to the parallel passages in Col. 4: we shall find this usage of the word