Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Colossians 4:2-6 English Standard Version1
Having covered things on his mind, Paul begins to close the letter. Before sharing final greetings, Paul offers a few thoughts on how the believers in Colossae can focus on the work of the gospel. He encourages them to pray, indicates how they can pray, and encourages them to be good stewards of their time and their speech.
It has been suggested that you can tell much about a person or a congregation by how they pray. It is not a matter of whether or not prayers contain impressive words. Rather, it is a question of where the prayers are focused. Fancy words do not make a healthy prayer, nor does duration or volume. The first thing Paul mentions is the need to be diligent in prayer. In his mind, prayer needs to be something we approach more than casually. Prayer should be something that pervades the life of the believer. Prayer is something that keeps our hearts pointed toward Christ, and by extension it keeps our minds drawn toward Kingdom purposes. Paul invites his fellow Christians to pray for him and his fellow missionaries. We notice in verse 3 that Paul is imprisoned at the time of composing this letter. Even so, Paul sees his mission continuing. He may not be moving about from place to place, but his calling to share the message of Jesus hasn’t changed. The prayer petitions for Paul could have been for his well-being, for him to be encouraged, for him to be released from prison, and so on. Paul surely would not have opposed an opening of the prison door, but his prayer request is for an “open door” to share the message.
Paul’s instruction in verse 5 reminds us of scriptures like Psalm 90:12, where the writer prayerfully asks for help in “numbering our days” in order to have a wise heart, or Ephesians 5:16 where we are advised to “make the most of our time” because the days are evil. What does it mean to “walk in wisdom” toward people? It would start with an awareness that every day is an opportunity to exercise influence upon others. Paul in particular is thinking of the influence of believers upon nonbelievers. To walk in wisdom is to be mindful of what others see in us. As the saying goes, “you may be the only Bible some people ever read.” Hopefully that is not true, but it is a reminder that the way we live is itself a testimony. In observing the life of a Christ-follower, people should see the values of God pervading all our words, our interactions, and our pursuits. Wise living means heightened awareness of our life’s witness, making certain that the “Bible” others are reading in us proclaims a clear message of God’s love and redemption. It also means looking for the “open doors” God may provide to declare that message in words.
Regarding our words, Paul finishes this brief section with an encouragement to always speak in a gracious manner. Being “seasoned with salt” probably relates to the preserving qualities of salt, following the teaching of Jesus himself, who told his followers that they are the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). There is a similar thought pattern here to the topic of prayer. As we observed above, it is not only important that we pray, it is also important how we pray. It is the same with our verbal witness. Not only is it important that we speak of the gospel, it is also important how we speak of the gospel. In reading the Gospels, it is hard to imagine Jesus always interacting with people in harsh, prophetic tones. There certainly were times when he took that approach, but there were other times (many it would seem) when his words were much more tender. Knowing “how we ought to answer each person” (v. 6) is a gift of the Holy Spirit, a wisdom imparted so that we may speak in ways that advance the Kingdom.
- Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ↩︎
The Winding Path 