1 Timothy 2:1-15
Notes
Transcript
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1-7 8-15
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After Paul giving Timothy his charge and reminding him of his purpose in chapter 1 Paul urges prayer for all peoples. First supplications, requests for salvation for the unbelievers, the lost. We should not just pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ but for all unbelievers as well, pray for their salvation. The root of the Greek word used means to lack, to be deprived or to be without. We need to pray for those who lack the comfort and peace of salvation in Christ. Intercessions, to fall in with someone, to draw near so one can speak intimately with, the verb form of the Greek word is used when describing Christ’s and the Holy Spirit’s intercession for believers. We also need to be praying for closeness between us and other fellow believers as well as our personal closeness with Jesus. Also we need to be giving thanksgivings for all that we have, all that God has done for us, first and foremost for the free gift of salvation. Our prayers should also be for all people, not just the people we know but for all the lost, and all our enemies and not just our friends and families. At the time Paul is writing to Timothy, some in the church in Ephesus were of the opinion that they should not have anything to do with strangers and it was enough for to only pray for their brethren.
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And not only for all people, Paul specifically singles out kings and all who are in high positions, rulers, judges, politicians. We in modern day may read this and have a difficult time praying for our rulers but in the first century these would have been the very rulers who were persecuting the church of Christ. All rulers are put in place at the will of God for his purpose. We should pray for them all, Jeremiah told Israel in Jeremiah 29:7 “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Pray for the peace of Babylon, for in their peace you shall have peace.
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Praying for all people, including the lost, our enemies, and our rulers is pleasing to God.
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God does not take delight in punishment but desires all people to be saved through Christ. This is not however saying that all people will be saved though. We need to know that there is a distinction between the desire of God and God’s will or his eternal purpose. God does not want or desire anyone to sin but we do and there are consequences, the wages of sin is death. I think another picture of this is when Jesus, God in the flesh, was praying in the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:39 “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”” His prayer was for the cup that he was to drink, the wrath of God, to pass from him, to not be poured out on him, but also let the eternal will and purpose of God be done.
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The true knowledge is that there is one God in three distinct persons, and that there is one mediator between God and man, and that is Christ Jesus who was crucified and died but was raised and will never die again and is now seated at the right hand of God interceding for all that have been given to him by the Father.
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And the ones that were given to him are the ones whom he gave himself for, whom he paid the price of salvation, the punishment that was due to us, that cup of wrath from God that He willingly took so that we can be saved and called sons and daughters by God. This salvation is accomplished for us by God and on God’s time table, at the proper time, and not when we decide that we want to be saved. If we do have the desire to come to Christ it is because God has sent the Holy Spirit to us to change our hearts and minds away from this world and Satan and towards Christ.
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There was apparently some Jewish persons in Ephesus that believed in Jew’s only in Christianity so Paul makes a point to emphasize that he was appointed as an apostle and preacher of the Gospels to the Gentiles by Christ. This Jewish exclusivity that was keeping the Ephesians from praying for salvation for all, including the Gentiles would have been a reason for Paul emphasizing prayer for salvation of all persons in the beginning of chapter 2.
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Remember that this is the living word of God, Paul wrote this letter to Timothy to instruct and address issues that were occuring at the church in Ephesus, issues of false teachers and men and women in the church living impure and self-centered lives. But also this is God breathed scripture that has meaning and and instructs us today. As is the way God ordered his creation from the beginning in Genesis men are the leaders of their homes and the leaders in the church.
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