"I bow my knees......" Eph 3:14
One of the main ways to discover a Christian's deepest concerns is to evesdrop when they are praying; because if you can overhear a Christian at prayer, you know their deep concerns. And that is certainly true of this prayer of the Apostle Paul.
In chapter 2 he has expounded what God has done in Christ, how He has ended the terrible alienation, and is creating this new society, this redeemed and reconciled community. Now he follows his exposition with a prayer that this wonderful plan of God will be completely fulfilled in their experience.
Glance first at the introduction to the prayer. "I bow my knees...."
The normal posture for prayer among the Jews was standing. In Christ's parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, both men stood to pray.......So kneeling was unusual. It indicated an unusual degree of ernestness, as when Jesus knelt in the garden of Gethsemane, and fell on His face to the ground, prostrating Himself before His Father.
Thats what Paul was doing now. He bowed his knees, he prostrated himself before God, so intense was his longings about what he was going to pray for.
Scripture lays down no rule about the posture we should adopt in prayer. It is possible to pray kneeling, or standing, or sitting, or walking, or lying. But I would draw the line with Hendriksen that 'the slouching position of the body while one is supposed to be praying is an abomination to the Lord'
Paul goes on to say "I bow my knees ...to the Father" He has been talking about the family, the one family of brothers and sisters. Now he bows his knees to the Father, of whose family, Jews and Gentiles are equal members. Amen!
It is natural that he should do this. It is to the Father that he prays....to whom he bows the knee
One of the main ways to discover a Christian's deepest concerns is to evesdrop when they are praying; because if you can overhear a Christian at prayer, you know their deep concerns. And that is certainly true of this prayer of the Apostle Paul.
In chapter 2 he has expounded what God has done in Christ, how He has ended the terrible alienation, and is creating this new society, this redeemed and reconciled community. Now he follows his exposition with a prayer that this wonderful plan of God will be completely fulfilled in their experience.
Glance first at the introduction to the prayer. "I bow my knees...."
The normal posture for prayer among the Jews was standing. In Christ's parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, both men stood to pray.......So kneeling was unusual. It indicated an unusual degree of ernestness, as when Jesus knelt in the garden of Gethsemane, and fell on His face to the ground, prostrating Himself before His Father.
Thats what Paul was doing now. He bowed his knees, he prostrated himself before God, so intense was his longings about what he was going to pray for.
Scripture lays down no rule about the posture we should adopt in prayer. It is possible to pray kneeling, or standing, or sitting, or walking, or lying. But I would draw the line with Hendriksen that 'the slouching position of the body while one is supposed to be praying is an abomination to the Lord'
Paul goes on to say "I bow my knees ...to the Father" He has been talking about the family, the one family of brothers and sisters. Now he bows his knees to the Father, of whose family, Jews and Gentiles are equal members. Amen!
It is natural that he should do this. It is to the Father that he prays....to whom he bows the knee
