Language Studies

Greek Thoughts

PROSEUCHOMAI* - Part 2 - εχηγεομαι (Strong's #1834)
To pray

Please note that all Biblical quotes, in this and all other lessons posted to Greek Thoughts, are from The Literal English Translation of the Bible produced by BTE Ministries - The Bible Translation and Exegesis Institute of America.

This week we continue our study of the word προσεὺχομαι (Strong's #4336, pronounced proseuchomai), which means, "to pray." It is a word compounded from the preposition πρὸς (Strong's #4314, pronounced pros) meaning "to" or "toward," and the word εὔχομαι (Strong's #2172, pronounced euchomai) meaning "to wish, to desire."

Last week we studied how εὔχομαι is used in the New Testament to express a wish, which is its basic, root meaning. The following expressions of the Apostles are given as examples of this:

Paul

Romans 9:3: Paul said, concerning his fellow Israelites, "I myself was wishing (εὔχομαι) to be cursed from Christ on behalf of my brothers, my fellow countrymen according to flesh."

2 Corinthians 13:7: To the brotherhood in Corinth, he said, "But I wish (εὔχομαι) to God that you would do^F1 not any evil. Not in order that we might appear approved, but in order that you might do the good, and we might be as reprobates."

2 Corinthians 13:9: Paul goes on to say, "For we rejoice whenever we might be weak and you might be powerful. But we wish (εὔχομαι) for this also, your mending" (vs. 9).

John

3 John 1:2: John expresses his desire that Gaius might prosper in all that he does: "Beloved, concerning all things I wish (εὔχομαι) that you would prosper^F2 and would be in health^F3 according as your soul is prospering."

This week, we begin an exploration of the biblically correct wish or desire (εὔχομαι) that should be present in Christian prayer; because this element is what guarantees God's answer. First understand that when the preposition πρὸς, "to" or "toward" is placed in front of εὔχομαι, "to wish, to desire," the compound word's meaning becomes "to pray." Therefore, the fundamental meaning of prayer is that a believer is expressing a wish or desire to God. While praying to God does not cause confusion and misunderstanding, praying according to one's own wish or desire does. Our text for this week is 1 John 5:14-15.

1 John 5:14-15

14)

And this is the confidence which we have toward Him, that if we should ask anything according to His will, He is hearing us.

In this verse, John states that God is hearing our prayers, thereby giving a factual guarantee and basis for confidence toward the Lord; but this guarantee is predicated upon the stated condition: "…if we should ask anything according to His will." This phrase is expressed in the Greek text as a conditional clause meaning "if our wish and desire is to ask anything to be done according to His will." Therefore, this text means that God will always answer a prayer expressed from a wish or desire for the Lord's will to be done. And, according to the present active indicative form of ἀκοὺω (Strong's #191, pronounced akouo) meaning "to hear," this promise is not for the future, as in He will hear us, but is for the present; because that part of the verse is literally rendered "He is hearing us." Therefore, if we ask for the Lord's will to be done in any circumstance or situation, we can have confidence that He is presently hearing us.

15)

And if we know that He is hearing us, whatever we should ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

John goes on to say that if we have confidence He is hearing us (repeating the factual, present, on-going activity of God), then we know we have the requests we have asked from Him. The term "we have," from the Greek word ἔχω (Strong's #2192, pronounced echo), is also in the present active indicative form, which expresses present fact. Therefore, this fact, that we presently have our requests answered, is based upon the condition that we know the Lord is presently hearing us.

John presents that there are two phases to the prayer that is guaranteed an answer from God. First, he says that believers can have confidence that God is hearing our prayers, if the condition of asking according to His will is met; so the question becomes, "How can we know what the will of the Lord is, so that we can pray accordingly?" The point of the text is that we often don't know what His will is, so the condition given does not refer to our knowledge of His will, but to our wish/desire to have prayers answered according to the His design and plan, rather than according to our own design or plan.

The second phase of prayer is based upon the first— desiring that He answers our requests according to His will. When that first phase of prayer is correct, we know that we, in the present, have His answer to the requests we have made. This is usually where problems begin for believers. While it is always easy to accept an improvement in a situation after having prayed for the Lord's will to be done, it can be difficult to accept that our prayers have been answered when our present situations continue or even get worse, difficult to accept that what is happening in the present is the Lord's will and answer to our requests. Too often we assume that our prayers will be answered according to our own expectations and this biblically incorrect assumption can set us up for deception.

Unfortunately, the misconceptions or unwillingness of many believers to accept the Lord's will allows false teaching on prayer to infiltrate the Body of Christ—heretical doctrine that teaches believers how to "be in control of their circumstances" so that things will turn out the way they want them to. Obviously, the wish and desire of such prayer is not that the Lord's will be done, but that the will of the person praying be done.

It takes faith to express a wish or desire that the Lord's will be done, but every aspect of the Christian life is about faith: It takes faith to trust the Lord for who He is; It takes faith to believe that He is active, present and in charge; It takes faith to believe that He alone knows what is best for each and every one of us. "But without (separate from) faith it is impossible to please God, for it is necessary that the one approaching God should believe that He is (exists), and that He becomes a rewarder to the ones seeking Him out" (Hebrews 11:6).

Next week we will continue to explore, from James 4:1-4, how answered prayer is guaranteed, depending upon what a person's underlying wish or desire is.

*PROSEUCHOMAI is the English font spelling of the Greek word προσεὺχομαι.

F1: The infinitive of result ποιῆσαι, "to do," is translated νὰ͂ποιῆτε, "that you should do."

F2: The infinitive of result εὐοδοῦσθαι, "to prosper," is translated νὰ͂εὐοδοῦσθαι, "that you should prosper."

F3: The infinitive of result ὑγιαὶνειν, "to be in health," is translated νὰ͂ὑγιαὶνης, "that you should be in health."

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