1 Timothy Chapter 2 Series

I Timothy Chapter 2

I Tim 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; (King James Version)

I Tim 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

2:1 First of all, then, I urge that petitions (specific requests), prayers, intercessions (prayers for others) and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all people, (Amplified Version)

2:2 for kings and all who are in [positions of] high authority, so that we may live a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

A. FOUR different words for prayer are grouped together. It is true that they are not to be sharply distinguished; nevertheless, each has something to tell us about the way of prayer. (W. B.)

a. The first is deesis, which we have translated as request {supplication}. It is not exclusively a religious word; it can be used of a request made either to another person or to God. But its fundamental idea is a sense of need. No one will make a request unless a sense of need has already wakened a desire. Prayer begins with a sense of need. It begins with the conviction that we cannot deal with life ourselves.

b. The second is proseuche, which we have translated as prayer. The basic difference between deesis and proseuche is that deesis may be addressed either to others or to God, but proseuche is never used of anything else but approach to God. There are certain needs which only God can satisfy. There is a strength which he alone can give; a forgiveness which he alone can grant; a certainty which he alone can bestow. It may well

be that our weakness remains with us because we so often take our needs to the wrong place.

c. The third is enteuxis, which we have translated as petition. Of the three words, this is the most interesting. It is the noun from the verb entugchanein. This originally meant simply to meet or to fall in with a person; it went on to mean to hold intimate conversation with a person; *then it acquired a special meaning and meant to enter into a king's presence and to submit a petition to him. That tells us a great deal about prayer. It tells us that the way to God stands open and that we have the right to bring our

petitions to one who is a king.

d. The fourth is eucharistia, which we have translated as thanksgiving. Prayer does not mean only asking God for things; it also means thanking God for things. For too many of us, prayer is an exercise in complaint when it should be an exercise in thanksgiving.

B. "The end and intent of the Scripture is to declare that God is benevolent and friendly-minded

to mankind; and that he hath declared that kindness in and through Jesus Christ, his only Son; the which kindness is received by faith.” That is why prayer must be made for all, God wants all men and women, and so, therefore, must his Church. (William Barclay)

a. The gospel includes high and low. Both the emperor in his power and slaves in their helplessness were included in the sweep of the gospel. Both the philosophers in their wisdom and ordinary men and women in their ignorance need the grace and truth that the gospel can bring. Within the gospel, there are no class distinctions. Monarch and commoner, rich and poor, employer and employee are all included in its limitless embrace. (Godless Emperor Nero was on the throne at that time, and yet the believers were supposed to pray for him. W. W.)

b. The gospel includes good and bad. A strange malady has sometimes afflicted the Church in modern times, causing it to insist that people must be respectable before they are allowed in, and to look askance at sinners who seek entry to its doors. But the New Testament is clear that the Church exists not only to improve and instruct the good but also to welcome and save the sinner.

c. The gospel embraces Christian and non-Christian. Prayer is to be made for all men and women. The emperors and rulers for whom this letter bids us pray were not Christians; they were in fact hostile to the Church, and yet they were to be carried to the throne of grace by the prayers of the Church. For true Christians, there is no such thing as an enemy in all this world. No one is outside our prayers, for no one is outside the love of Christ, and no one is outside the purpose of God, who wants all to be saved.