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"I am always thankful to God when I mention you in prayer, because I hear of your
love and faith towards the Lord Jesus and the saints, in the exercising of which you have
in view the goal of fellowship--to make every good thing in us effective for Christ Jesus
by acknowledgment, for I have great joy . . . . ."
The alternative view, followed by many commentators and suggested by a number of
translations (e.g. R.S.V., Moffatt, Weymouth, N.E.B., etc.), requires the supplying of the
ellipsis "praying" at the beginning of verse 6, making the following words the subject of
Paul's prayer, thus:
"I thank my God, making mention of thee in my prayers . . . . . praying that the
communication of thy faith may become effectual . . . . ."
The latter disposition appears the most natural and is supported by the weight of
opinion; it is however possible to admit either view.
Thanksgiving and prayers are characteristic of the opening sections of Paul's epistles
and Philemon is no exception:
"I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers" (4).
Paul was a great man of prayer and his prayer-list, involving as it did "the care of all
the churches" (II Cor. 11: 28), would probably have put most believers to shame. But
then the apostle had a confidence that prayer changes things, as he later expressed in the
same letter:
"I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you" (22).
Prayer does not simply change things in the mind of the supplicator, it can affect
outward circumstances, it can move mountains (Matt. 17: 20). "Right division" is of
course as necessary with respect to prayer as with any other subject of Scripture, but the
power of prayer remains unchanged, as is evident from Paul's continuing confidence in
its practice. (See Rom. 15: 30; II Cor. 1: 11; Phil. 1: 19 and note the efforts of
Epaphras in Col. 4: 12.). Those who `strove' or `laboured fervently' in prayers
evidently expected mighty things to be wrought, and it would appear that they were not
disappointed. Here is a lesson worthy of the attention of all believers of all ages.