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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 14:38 - 14:38
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38. προσεύχεσθε ἵνα μή. Change from sing. to plur. Pres. imperat. of continuous prayer, and ἵνα μή is that … not (R.V.) rather than “lest” (A.V.). Here all three agree, and the words which follow again recall the Lord’s Prayer. But no Gospel, either here or elsewhere, states that Christ charged the disciples to pray for Him. They are to pray for themselves in their πειρασμοί, as He prays for Himself in His. But He prays for them also and for others (Joh 17:8; Joh 17:15; Joh 17:20). The contrast between Christ’s praying in His temptation and the disciples’ prayerless self-confidence (Mar 14:31), and subsequent slumber, is great.
πειρασμόν. The word occurs nowhere else in Mk, and nowhere at all in Jn. It is perhaps true that in N.T. πειρασμοί generally means trials sent by God rather than temptations sent by the evil one, but here the latter sense prevails. See Hort on 1Pe 1:6.
τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον. This is quoted in the Ep. of Polycarp 7 as a Saying of Christ; see on Mar 9:35. Owing to Christ’s training of the disciples, their spiritual nature was ready to respond to Divine calls, but the weakness which is inherent in man’s lower nature still sometimes prevented the responsiveness from taking effect. Quantum de ardore mentis confidimus, tantum de carnis fragilitate timeamus (Bede). Human action requires the co-operation of spirit and flesh, and the flesh is often a clog to good action, or even an opponent to it (1Pe 2:11; cf. Rom 6:19; Rom 8:3; Rom 8:9). When the flesh is regarded as a successful opponent of the spirit, it may be said to be strong rather than weak. All depends upon the point of view.