1 Timothy 2:1

I exhort therefore, that first of all,.... The two principal parts of public worship, being the ministry of the word and prayer; and the apostle having insisted on the former, in the preceding

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; Therefore - resuming the general subject (2 Timothy 2:1).

1 TIMOTHY CHAPTER 2 Paul exhorteth to pray and give thanks for all men, for kings and magistrates especially. God willeth the savation of all men. Paul’ s commission to teach the Gentiles. He directeth how women should be attired, permiteth them not to teach, promiseth that they shall be saved by child-bearing on certain conditions. Timothy (as was said before) was left at Ephesus to manage the affairs of the church there in the absence of Paul, who in this Epistle directs him as to this management. First he exhorts him to see that prayers should be made for all men. Supplications, dehseiv, for supply of wants. Prayers, proseucav, signifieth much the same; some will have it to signify petitions for the conservation or increase of what good things we have. Intercessions, enteuzeiv, prayers for others, whether for the averting of evils from them, or the collation of good things upon them. And giving of thanks; and blessings of God for good things bestowed upon ourselves or others. These Paul wills should be made uper pantwn, which may be of all men, or for all men, but the next verse plainly shows that it is here rightly rendered for all men, for there were at this time no kings in the church. Paul here establisheth prayers as a piece of the public ministry in the church of God, and a primary piece; therefore he saith, he exhorts that first of all; not in respect of time so much, as, principally, intimating it a great piece of the public ministry, which he would by no means have neglected. And he would have these prayers put up for all orders and sorts of men, such only excepted of whom St. John speaks, , who had sinned that sin, for which he would not say Christians should pray.

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; Ver. 1. Supplications] Or, deprecations indited by that Spirit of supplication, or of deprecation, as some render it, Zechariah 11:10. Prayers] Strictly taken for petitions or requests of good at God’ s hands, which go commonly accompanied with vows of better obedience, as Genesis 28:21-22 Psalms 51:14. Hence they have their name, προσευχαι. Intercessions] Interparlings with God, either for ourselves (while we stand upon interrogatories with him, 1 Peter 3:21, as Paul doth, Romans 8:33-35, and expostulate as David often, but especially when Satan, sin, and conscience accuse us), or for others, while we complain to God against such as wrong them, and withal set ourselves seriously to implore his aid for their relief and rescue, εντευξεις, επερωτημα. For all men] i.e. For all sorts of men, as the word "all" is used Luke 11:42.

II. (1) I exhort therefore.—Now Timothy was to begin to carry out his master St. Paul’s great charge—the charge which bade him teach all men to put their entire, their perfect, trust in the Saviour of sinners—by instructing the Church of Ephesus, in the first place, to pray constantly for all sorts and conditions of men. The detailed injunctions how the charge was to be carried out are introduced by the Greek particle oun, translated in our version by “therefore;” it may be paraphrased thus: “In pursuance of my great charge, I proceed by special details; in the first place, let prayers for all be offered by the congregation.” Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks.—Many attempts, some of them not very happy ones, have been made by grammarians and commentators to distinguish between these terms, each of which denotes prayer. On the whole, it may be assumed that the Greek word translated “supplications” signifies a request for particular benefits, and is a special form of the more general word rendered “prayers.” The third expression in the English version translated “intercessions” suggests a closer and more intimate communion with God on the part of the one praying. It speaks of drawing near God, of entering into free, familiar speech with Him. The Greek word suggests prayer in its most individual, urgent form. The fourth term, “giving of thanks,” expresses that which ought never to be absent from any of our devotions, gratitude for past mercies. Archbishop Trench remarks how this peculiar form of prayer will subsist in heaven when, in the very nature of things, all other forms of prayer will have ceased in the entire fruition of the things prayed for, for then only will the redeemed know how much they owe to their Lord. The word eucharist is derived from the Greek word used in this place—eucharistia—for in the Holy Communion the Church embodies its highest act of thanksgiving for the highest benefits received. For all men.—Professor Reynolds well comments on the hardness of the task set us here—“It is difficult for us always to love all men, to think of all men as equally dear to God, or to regard all men as equally capable of being blessed. Timothy, after reading this letter, probably walked along the marble colonnade of the great temple of Artemis, or heard the hum of some twenty thousand Asiatic Greeks crowded in the vast theatre to witness the gladiatorial fight, or encountered a procession of Bacchantes, or turned into the synagogue on the side of the Coresias and saw the averted looks, and felt the bitter hatred of some old friends. We, with some knowledge of the modern world, have to look into the ‘hells’ upon earth; to survey the gold-fields and battle-fields; the African slave-hunts; the throngs and saloons of Pekin, Calcutta, and Paris; the monasteries of Tibet; and make prayers, petitions, intercessions, and thanksgivings, too, on behalf of all men. In the beginning of the Gospel, Timothy received this quiet injunction from the Apostle Paul.

CHAPTER II. Prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving, must be made for all men; because God wills that all should be saved, 1-4. There is but one God and one Mediator, 5-7. How men should pray, 8. How women should adorn themselves, 9, 10. They are not suffered to teach, nor to nor to usurp authority over men, 11-14. How they may expect to be saved in child-bearing, 15. NOTES ON CHAP. II. Verse 1. I exhort - that, first of all] Prayer for the pardon of sin, and for obtaining necessary supplies of grace, and continual protection from God, with gratitude and thanksgiving for mercies already received, are duties which our sinful and dependent state renders absolutely necessary; and which should be chief in our view, and first of all performed. It is difficult to know the precise difference between the four words used here by the apostle. They are sometimes distinguished thus: - Supplications] δεησεις. Prayers for averting evils of every kind. Prayers] προσευχας. Prayers for obtaining the good things, spiritual and temporal, which ourselves need. Intercessions] εντευξεις. Prayers in behalf of others. Giving of thanks] ευχαριστιας. Praises to God, as the parent of all good, for all the blessings which we and others have received. It is probable that the apostle gives directions here for public worship; and that the words may be thus paraphrased: "Now, I exhort first of all that, in the public assemblies, deprecations of evils, and supplications for such good things as are necessary, and intercessions for their conversion, and thanksgiving for mercies, be offered in behalf of all men - for heathens as well as for Christians, and for enemies as well as for friends." See Macknight.

1–7. Directions for Common Prayer and Intercession for all, since the Gospel is for all1. I exhort therefore that, first of all] Rather, I exhort therefore first of all; as my first special injunction after my general charge and commission, ch. 1 1 Timothy 1:3–5, 18, 19; the verb itself partly suggests the taking up of the subject in new form.that … supplications … be made] The position of the Greek verb suggests its being middle voice rather than passive. So R.V. margin and Alford following Chrysostom: ‘I exhort to make supplications.’ The present tense implies the habitual making; and the absence of a subject leaves it unemphatic. In a modern rendering it might run exactly “I recommend therefore first of all the practice of common supplication and prayer, of common intercession and thanksgiving, in behalf of all men.” The middle is found in 17 places at least in N. T., in two of these governing the same word ‘supplications,’ Luke 5:33; Philippians 1:4. So Chrysostom in his comment here uses as the natural phrase ‘for all the world … we make our supplication.’ The only place where the passive occurs is in the perfect participle, Hebrews 12:27, ‘as of things that have been made.’supplications, prayers, intercessions] In the first word there is, from its derivation, the idea of a felt ‘want’ and petition for its supply; cf. esp. Philippians 1:4; Luke 1:13; 2 Timothy 1:3. Notice how in English, in the prayer of St Chrysostom, ‘our common supplications’ is explained by “requests” and by “desires and petitions.”In the second, the idea of vow and ‘worship towards’ God, cf. Matthew 21:13, ‘my house shall be called the house of prayer,’ Acts 2:42, ‘they continued stedfastly … in the breaking of bread and the prayers.’In the third, the idea of a personal interview and solicitation, such as Abraham’s for Sodom: either (1) against, or (2) for some one: for (1) cf. Acts 25:24, ‘made suit to me, crying that he ought not to live,’ Romans 11:2, ‘he pleadeth with God against Israel’: for (2) Romans 8:26, ‘The Spirit (and Romans 8:34 Christ Jesus) maketh intercession for us,’ Hebrews 7:25 ‘He ever liveth to make intercession for us.’ See note also on chap. 1 Timothy 4:5.The plural of each as being a collection of concrete examples is the earlier way of representing the abstract noun; and it also helps to give the force, implied by the whole context, of common, public, prayer. Augustine says that the four words refer to the liturgical form of administration of Holy Communion: we may certainly say the converse that our ‘Divine Liturgy’ is modelled on this authorised rule, taking e.g.

I exhort, therefore - Margin, “desire.” The word exhort, however, better expresses the sense of the original.

PART SECOND.CHURCH ORDER , 1 Timothy 2:1 to 1 Timothy 4:16.1. In worship, 1 Timothy 2:1-15.a. Public prayer universally to be offered by men, 1 Timothy 2:1-8.1. Therefore—As an outflow from the general charge of 1 Timothy 1:18.