Is Prayer a Work? The Truth About Romans 10:9 and Colossians 4:12
This is meant for debunking the heresy that Colossians 4:12 “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” means Romans 10:9 is not vocal due to prayer being a "work." (It is so not.)
The verse in question states: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Now, we can figure out that Colossians 4:12 does not mean prayer isn't a work in two ways:
A. Logic. Asking to receive a gift isn’t a work.
B. Going through the King James Bible and seeing every instance of heart + work. If the heart works, that means either universalism is biblical or Romans 10:9 is to be read using the PLAIN TEXT of the King James Bible.
Verses, whether related or not, will be shown to abstain from all appearance of evil
(looking as if I were cherry-picking, which I am not).
There is two categories in this Bible study.
Category A. The heart making someone work.
Category B. The heart directly working.
Why does Category A exist?
I predict that after this video will come out, the argument will then be “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” And the assenters will say the mouth is connected to works.
Exodus 35:21: “And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.”
Not related.
Exodus 35:29: “The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.”
Their heart made them work. Category A.
Exodus 35:35: “Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.”
Wait, his heart is filled to work? Work?
Category A.
Exodus 36:1: “Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.”
Category A.
Exodus 36:8: “And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them.”
Category A.
Deuteronomy 15:10: “Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.”
Not related.
2 Chronicles 29:34: “But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.”
Not related.
2 Chronicles 31:21: “And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.”
Not related.
Ezra 6:22: “And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”
Wait, God turned the heart of the King of Assyria to make them (his chosen people) work? That is category A.
Psalms 9:1: “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.”
Not related.
Psalms 14:1: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”
Not related.
Psalms 15:2: “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.”
Not related.
Psalms 28:3: “Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.”
Not related.
Psalms 33:15: “He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.”
Not related.
Psalms 58:2: “Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.”
Look, the heart works! I suppose no one can believe and we ought to support universalism (sarcastic).
Psalms 141:4: “Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.”
Not related, EXCEPT this shows that the heart physically manifests outwards.
Proverbs 24:12: “If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?”
Not related.
Ecclesiastes 3:11: “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.”
Not related.
Ecclesiastes 3:17: “I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
Not related.
Ecclesiastes 8:9: “All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.”
Not related.
Ecclesiastes 8:11: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
| Not related.
Ecclesiastes 9:1: “For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.”
Not related.
Ecclesiastes 9:7: “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.”
Not related.
Isaiah 10:12: “Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.”
Not related.
Isaiah 32:6: “For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.”
Wait, wait. "His heart will work iniquity."
You can't even get into semantics about this. The heart is working in this verse. If Colossians proves prayer is a “work”, then this verse proves universalism. I am betting that Romans 10 is a literal, mandatory vocalization.
Ezekiel 16:30: “How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;”
Not related.
So, let's recap.
The heart can work. A prayer can labour. Romans 10:9 includes a heart and a prayer: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Is the heart not able to be used because it works? Is a prayer not able to be used because it can be a labour? Do you take God at his word, or do you look to crafty verses that "prove" what you say? If you do the latter, stop your hypocrisy and become a universalist.
2 Corinthians 13:1 “This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
Psalm 58:2, Isaiah 32:6
