4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.



Ver. 4. To prayer, and to the ministry] Between these two they divided their time. An argument of their integrity in the ministry. If we were to preach only, saith the apostle, we could then wait upon tables; but the one half of our time is to be taken up in prayer, the other in preaching. So the priests of old: "They shall teach Jacob thy judgments," saith Moses, "they shall also put incense before thee," Deu_33:10. So Paul begins, continues, and endeth his epistles with prayer. So Luther professeth that he profited more in the knowledge of the Scriptures by prayer in a short space, than by study in a longer; as John by weeping got the sealed book opened.