to prayer postures, we might suppose that in the days of the apostles, the usual practice was to stand for public prayer, and to kneel in private devo tions. The hypocrites loved to ‘stand’ and pray in public (Matt. 6:5; see also Mark 11:25): Of Peter we read that in the'home of Dorcas he ‘kneeled down’ (Acts 9:40); when Paul was taking leave of the Ephesian elders, ‘he kneeled down, and prayed with them all’ (Acts 20:36); and at Tyre, as he parted from his friends, they ‘kneeled down on the beach’ (Acts 21:5).” “I bow my knees.” Wright, “I am thinking of the picture by Hofmann of Christ in Gethsemane. The form is in the kneeling posture; the arms rest upon a boulder; the hands are clasped the one over the other; the face is averted. No one asks what that repre sentation is intended to suggest. The attitude defines the act. If we would stimulate the devotional spirit it is well to cultivate devotional postures. But if the devotional spirit is sufficient ly intense, it will initiate its own pos tures. The apostle did not bow his knees as a religious exercise; he pros trated himself because he was filled with a passion of desire. His body was under the sway of his spirit.” Unto the Father of bur Lord Jesus Christ. The words “of our Lord Jesus Christ” are believed by some not to have been in the original letter. Some ancient manuscripts omit them. Of whom the whole family in heav en and earth is named (v. 15). The words “the whole family” should perhaps be rendered “every fa therhood.” The rendering at least sug gests a thought. Every conception and expression of fatherhood has radiated from God. Strauss, “The idea of a di vine fatherhood did not originate in the human heart; it was a disclosure— we may feel sure of that. In other words, man has not thought back from his own relationship and expressed God to himself as best he could in those terms; but the relationship is a minia ture of the Fatherhood of God; and the divine Fatherhood is the archetype of (continued on next page)
Ephesians 3:14 (From Tuesday-Thursday Studies)
by Dr. Lloyd T. Anderson Pastor, Bethany Baptist, West Covina A fter the parenthesis in 3:1-13, we come at last to the prayer. “For this cause” (v. 14). That takes us back to verse 1. The mind of the writer has been so full of the revelation which has been entrusted to him concerning the Church,- that he has been diverted from his prayer. “I bow my knees.” Vine, “Postures do not make prayers, but they stimu late the devotional spirit. From the ref erence in the New Testament scriptures
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