1 Timothy 2:6

Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, who was leading the church at Ephesus, probably between A.D. 62 and 64, after his release from his first imprisonment in Rome and likely from Macedonia. Ephesus was a great city of Asia Minor under Rome, full of competing religions and famous for the worship of Artemis. False teachers in the church were spreading myths and a severe self-denial (1 Timothy 1:3–7), and outside it Christians lived under authorities who often regarded them with suspicion.

The word “therefore” (oun) ties this chapter to the first one. Paul has dealt with false teaching (1 Timothy 1), and now he turns to the life of the church gathered for worship, where prayer comes first. What he says here lays the ground for the instructions on worship later in this chapter and for the qualifications of overseers and deacons in 1 Timothy 3. The whole letter is about conduct in God’s household, “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).

“I exhort” translates parakaléō, to call someone near, whether to invite, to plead or to comfort. It is an earnest appeal, carrying both Paul’s authority as a pastor and his care for the church. “First of all” (prōton) can mean first in time, place, order or importance. Here it sets prayer at the head of the church’s work, and it may also mean that prayer came first in the order of public worship.

Paul names prayer in four ways: “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks.” The words overlap, and together they cover the whole of our speaking to God.

• Supplications (déēsis) are particular requests that grow out of a sense of need, a humble and earnest plea.
• Prayers (proseuchḗ) is the widest word, for worshipful address to God of every kind, whether praise, confession or request.
• Intercessions (énteuxis) are bold, personal appeals to God on behalf of someone else.
• Giving of thanks (eucharistía) is gratitude for God’s goodness, his provision and his answers, so that prayer is worship as well as asking.

These are to “be made” (poiéō), offered actively and deliberately, in private and when the church meets. Paul puts the same things together in other letters: “in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6), and “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).

The prayer is “for all men.” The word pâs (all, every, the whole) comes twice in the verse, in “first of all” and in “for all men”, and ánthrōpos is the ordinary word for a human being. So the church prays beyond its own members, for people of every faith and standing, whatever their relationship to the church. The reason comes in verse 4: God will have all men to be saved.

Then Paul names one group within all men: “kings, and... all that are in authority.” Kings (basileús) are supreme rulers, the emperor himself in Timothy’s day, and “authority” (hyperochḗ, prominence or superiority) reaches every level of government, provincial governors and local magistrates as well. Rome gave the empire a measure of stability, but it was often indifferent, suspicious or hostile toward the church, so this prayer went against the grain of the age. Paul teaches the same thing in Romans 13:1–7, where he writes that “there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1), and the same call to honour rulers comes in Titus 3:1–2 and 1 Peter 2:13–17.

The prayer has a stated purpose, introduced by hína, “in order that”: “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.” “Lead” (diágō) means to pass through or carry on, the way a person spends his life from day to day. “Quiet” (ḗremos) is stillness, a life undisturbed by commotion, civil strife or persecution. “Peaceable” (hēsýchios) is a settled inclination toward peace, inward as well as outward. Together the two words describe one whole condition, calm around us and calm within.

Such a life serves the gospel as well as the believer. Peace in society leaves the church free to worship, to live openly by its faith and to spread the good news. When the world around is in turmoil, believers can still have the inward peace Christ gives, “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), and can work for peace and order where they live. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27), and Isaiah calls him “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). He is the true King, by whom were all things created, “whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers” (Colossians 1:16).

The quiet life is to be lived “in all godliness and honesty.” Godliness (eusébeia) comes from a root meaning to revere well. It is devotion to God, both the inward attitude of worship and the outward life of obedience that goes with it, and it is a favourite word of the pastoral letters. “Honesty” (semnótēs) is closer to our “dignity” or “gravity”: a serious, upright and honourable way of life that earns respect from believers and unbelievers alike. The two belong together as devotion toward God and integrity before people, and Christ lived both perfectly. A church that lives this way gives its neighbours a credible witness and shows that believers are good citizens.

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” The “For” (gar) gives the reason for praying this way. “Good” (kalós) is what is beautiful, honourable and morally excellent, good in its very nature. “Acceptable” (apódektos, from apodéchomai, to receive gladly) means welcome, received with favour. Together they say that God approves this prayer and is glad to receive it. “In the sight of” (enṓpion) means before his face, in his very presence.

The title “God our Saviour” opens the verse up. A saviour (sōtḗr) is a deliverer, and God is the one who rescues, preserves and saves, who has acted to deliver his people. Prayer for all men pleases him because it agrees with his own saving purpose, which the next verse states. Paul gives God the same title in Titus 2:10 and Titus 3:4. In a world where many gods and rulers claimed to offer salvation, it quietly declared that saving power belongs to the one true God.

When we pray this way we share in work that Christ himself does, for “he ever liveth to make intercession” for his people (Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:34). Prayer for all people also goes hand in hand with his command, “go ye therefore, and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

Verse 4 says what kind of Saviour God is: he “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” “Will have” (thélō) is a word of desire and intention, God’s sincere wish and longing that people be saved. “Saved” (sṓzō), from the word for safe, means to deliver, preserve and make whole: to rescue from the guilt, power and eternal consequences of sin, and to bring into a right relationship with God and eternal life through Christ.

Other Scriptures show the same heart. The Lord says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). Peter writes that the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9), and “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Because God wants all to be saved, the church’s mission reaches every creature, as the Great Commission sends it (Matthew 28:19–20), and we offer God’s love to everyone we meet, whatever their background.

Verse 5 gives the ground for all of this: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” “God” (theós), with the article, is the supreme God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. The confession that God is one comes from the Old Testament and runs through the New. In Ephesus, with Artemis, the mystery cults and their many spiritual go-betweens, it was a bold and exclusive claim. And since there is one God over all men, all men are his concern, which is why we pray for them all.

A mediator (mesítēs) is a go-between who stands between two parties to bring them together and settle what divides them, a reconciler. Jesus is the one mediator, the only one who bridges the distance between a holy God and sinful people. Peter preached, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), and Hebrews calls Christ “the mediator of the new testament” (Hebrews 9:15). Our access to the Father is a gift secured by his once-for-all sacrifice, so we come to God in prayer through him, and with confidence.

The Old Testament prepared for him. After the golden calf, Moses said, “I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin” (Exodus 32:30–32), and the Levitical priests offered sacrifices for the people, above all on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). Those were temporary and imperfect, and they pointed ahead to the perfect and eternal mediator. Now, risen and ascended, Christ intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand (Romans 8:34).

“Who gave himself a ransom for all.” “Gave” (dídōmi) is a deliberate, willing act of giving, and “himself” (heautoû) shows what was given. Christ gave freely, out of love for us and obedience to the Father, and what he offered was his own life, his whole person.

“Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle.” Paul was appointed for this very testimony. “Ordained” (títhēmi) means placed or appointed, and it was God who appointed him. A preacher (kēryx) is a herald, an official messenger who announces a message publicly and with authority, like a town crier. An apostle (apóstolos) is a delegate or ambassador, one sent by Christ with his authority to represent him. Paul opens Romans the same way, “called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1).

He adds a solemn aside: “I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not.” Some questioned Paul’s apostleship because he was outside the original twelve, or because they looked to the Jerusalem apostles and the Jewish law, and others accused him of deceit or self-interest. So he calls Christ to witness, as he does elsewhere: “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not” (Romans 9:1), and “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... knoweth that I lie not” (2 Corinthians 11:31). His truthfulness is bound up with his life in Christ, who is himself the truth (John 14:6).

Paul puts prayer first, and these verses give it a wide reach. We can bring our own needs, worship God, plead for others and thank him, all in the same prayer. We can pray beyond our own circle, for our neighbours, our nation, people unlike us and even our enemies, and for our leaders whatever our politics, asking God to give them wisdom and justice and to keep our nations stable so that the gospel can go out. And we can aim to live quietly, with reverence toward God and honesty before others.

We pray with confidence, because we come to God through the one mediator, the man Christ Jesus. And every person we pray for is someone for whom Christ gave himself a ransom, in the time God appointed to make it known. Prayer of this kind is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.