2 Corinthians 1:11 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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2 Corinthians 1:11

Comments

We move into a rather precious section which at first sight you may think is of entirely local interest. The apostle seems to be speaking about local matters in the latter part of this first chapter. He begins by thanking them for prayer for him, and then he seems to at first sight somewhat elaborately explain why he has not visited them in order to refute the suggestion which has been made by people hostile to him that he was unreliable in things that he undertook to do, but there is much more to this half chapter than that. There is a theme of spiritual participation that runs through the passage. The first matter to consider is the sharing of intercession, of prayer. This is one of many passages in which the apostle appeals for prayer for himself and his fellow labourers. He appeals in terms which are always the same, suggesting that without their prayer there can be no blessing. Obviously God does not need prayer. He can bless without it. But it is not a matter of what God can do; it is a matter of what God has ordained and what he has commanded. It is, if you like, a law of God that he will not use his people, or grant instrumentality to them, or save souls through their witness, without prayer.

Application

It is the will of God that we should pray for everything because it provides the perspective for everything. Our weakness is established, our need of his blessing and his great power, and intercession for others nurtures within us concern for them and love for them. Through prayer gratitude is nurtured. We pray for something and we pray again, and then God moves and God grants, and we are grateful to him. We would not be anything like as grateful had we never been obliged to plead. If we were not praying to God for the blessing and it came anyway, we may very well give the praise and the credit to the messenger, but because we are praying to God we are in no doubt in our innermost selves that the blessing is from him.

What about the church prayer meeting. The tendency nowadays is to merge prayer meeting and Bible study. The old tradition is to have separate prayer meeting and Bible study. The prayer meeting is so important and so precious. You read the book of Acts, and in the early chapters of Acts you have meetings especially for prayer, aside from worship meetings and proclamational meetings, meetings for prayer. What is a prayer meeting? It is an asking meeting for great and glorious and important things. We do not just amble around. We have an agenda. The agenda is not exclusive. We can go outside the agenda in contributing in prayer, of course. But nevertheless there is an agenda to help. Spurgeon used to call the prayer meeting an asking meeting, and it sets the right perspective. Even better it was even called a pleading meeting. That is the spirit of asking.

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2 Corinthians 1:11 Commentary and Bible Study