"...and about me, in order that word should be given to me in opening of my mouth, in boldness to make known the mystery of the Good News..."
-For his part, Paul is asking people - his fellow soldiers - to pray for him, to be constantly remembering him to the Lord, for two reasons. First, he is an ambassador of the Good News. And second, he is in chains and facing fierce opposition for trying to be a good ambassador.
-As an ambassador, his job (and ours as well - 2Corinthians 5.20) is to be relating to spiritual foreigners on behalf of that country which sent him - the Republic of Heaven, the land of the Good News - and promoting its interests. Thus he needs words, he is looking for the right words to be given to him in order to clearly communicate this Good News to those to whom he has been sent. And he also is asking for boldness. Boldness is for speaking. It means to speak beside or next to. Confident, courageous, willing to take risks. To be sure, communicating the Good News by its very nature is frought with risk. Even though it IS good news - it often is not received as such by a world populated by so many spiritual rebels.
-And for Paul, all the moreso, since his bold speaking of the Good News to this point had actually landed him in prison. Those who heard what he said so objected to his message that they locked him up, and in fact were looking to kill him because of it. And this is the nature of the beast. Jesus Himself said it - you will be hated by all because of My Name (Matthew 10.22, 24.9). If and when you identify yourself with Jesus, the Despised and Rejected of men, if you try to tell others about Him, about the Good News, in spite of the fact that it is really good news, people will resist the message and they will resist you. Not all, but some. They will turn away from you - some of them. Determine you a fool, or a freak. Despise and reject you. Just like they did Jesus. And so the temptation for those who would follow Christ is to back down and shrink away from boldly declaring the truth of the Good News, that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. We want to be liked, right? We all want to be accepted and not rejected. Boldness is willing to take that risk, to not give in to the fear of rejection, and to speak and share the Good Message about Jesus with someone else.
-This is precisely what Paul (and the other apostles) did consistently throughout the book of Acts (Acts 4.31, 9.27-28, 13.46, 14.3, 18.26, 19.8, 26.26, 28.31; cf 1Thessalonians 2.2). Indeed, boldness is for speaking (Act 4.13, 2Corinthianss 3.12), which is what must happen since the Good News by its very nature is just that, it is news, it is a message. Paul is asking his follow soldiers to ask God to give him free and fearless confidence to speak the truth, esp in the face of opposition, real or potential. Is this not what all of God’s people need, every day? If we are indeed called to fish for men as followers of Jesus, do we not all need a similar courage, a willingness to take a risk, to risk it all for Christ? He gave it all for us, how can we not do the same for Him. Surely Christ’s love should grip His people with the willingness and readiness to not shrink back in the least, but rather to live for Him and to make Him famous to our neighbors and our city and to the ends of the earth...
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