F
I R S T T I M O T H Y
CHAP. II.
In
this chapter Paul treats, I. Of prayer, with many reasons for it, ver. 1-8.
II. Of women's apparel, ver. 9, 10. III. Of their subjection, with the reasons
of it, ver. 11-14. IV. A promise given for their encouragement in
child-bearing, ver. 15.
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Universal
Prayer Recommended.
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A. D. 64.
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1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all,
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made
for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in
authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God,
and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who
gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 7
Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in
Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and
verity. 8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up
holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Here is, I. A charge given to Christians to pray for all men in general, and
particularly for all in authority. Timothy must take care that this be done.
Paul does not send him any prescribed form of prayer, as we have reason to
think he would if he had intended that ministers should be tied to that way of
praying; but, in general, that they should make supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks: supplications for the averting of
evil, prayers for the obtaining of good, intercessions for others, and
thanksgivings for mercies already received. Paul thought it enough to give
them general heads; they, having the scripture to direct them in prayer and
the Spirit of prayer poured out upon them, needed not any further directions.
Observe, The design of the Christian religion is to promote prayer; and the
disciples of Christ must be praying people. Pray always with all prayer,
Eph. vi. 18. There must be prayers for ourselves in the first place; this is
implied here. We must also pray for all men, for the world of mankind
in general, for particular persons who need or desire our prayers. See how far
the Christian religion was from being a sect, when it taught men this
diffusive charity, to pray, not only for those of their own way, but for all
men. Pray for kings (v. 2); though the kings at this time were
heathens, enemies to Christianity, and persecutors of Christians, yet they
must pray for them, because it is for the public good that there should be
civil government, and proper persons entrusted with the administration of it,
for whom therefore we ought to pray, yea, though we ourselves suffer under
them. For kings, and all that are in authority, that is, inferior
magistrates: we must pray for them, and we must give thanks for them, pray for
their welfare and for the welfare of their kingdoms, and therefore must not
plot against them, that in the peace thereof we may have peace, and give
thanks for them and for the benefit we have under their government, that we
may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Here see
what we must desire for kings, that God will so turn their hearts, and direct
them and make use of them, that we under them may lead a quiet and peaceable
life. He does not say, "that we may get preferments under them, grow
rich, and be in honour and power under them;" no, the summit of the
ambition of a good Christian is to lead a quiet and peaceable life, to get
through the world unmolested in a low private station. We should desire that
we and others may lead a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty,
implying that we cannot expect to be kept quiet and peaceable unless we keep
in all godliness and honesty. Let us mind our duty, and then we may expect to
be taken under the protection both of God and the government. In all
godliness and honesty. Here we have our duty as Christians summed up in
two words: godliness, that is, the right worshipping of God; and honesty, that
is, a good conduct towards all men. These two must go together; we are not
truly honest if we are not godly, and do not render to God his due; and we are
not truly godly if we are not honest, for God hates robbery for
burnt-offering. Here we may observe, 1. Christians are to be men much given to
prayer: they ought to abound herein, and should use themselves to prayers,
supplications, &c. 2. In our prayers we are to have a generous concern for
others as well as for ourselves; we are to pray for all men, and to give
thanks for all men; and must not confine our prayers nor thanksgiving to our
own persons or families. 3. Prayer consists of various parts, of
supplications, intercessions, and thanksgivings; for we must pray for the
mercies we want, as well as be thankful for mercies already received; and we
are to deprecate the judgments which our own sins or the sins of others have
deserved. 4. All men, yea, kings themselves, and those who are in authority,
are to be prayed for. They want our prayers, for they have many difficulties
to encounter, many snares to which their exalted stations expose them. 5. In
praying for our governors, we take the most likely course to lead a peaceable
and quiet life. The Jews at Babylon were commanded to seek the peace of the
city whither the Lord had caused them to be carried captives, and to pray to
the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof they should have peace, Jer. xxix.
7. 6. If we would lead a peaceable and quiet life, we must live in all
godliness and honesty; we must do our duty to God and man. He that will
love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his
lips that they speak no guile; let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek
peace, and pursue it, 1 Pet. iii. 10, 11. Now the reason he gives for this
is because this is good in the sight of God our Saviour; that is, the
gospel of Christ requires this. That which is acceptable in the sight of God
our Saviour we should do, and should abound in.
II. As a reason why we should in our prayers concern ourselves for all men, he
shows God's love to mankind in general, v. 4.
1. One reason why all men are to be prayed for is because there is one God,
and that God bears a good will to all mankind. There is one God (v. 5),
and one only, there is no other, there can be no other, for there can be but
one infinite. This one God will have all men to be saved; he desires
not the death and destruction of any (Ezek. xxxiii. 11), but the welfare and
salvation of all. Not that he has decreed the salvation of all, for then all
men would be saved; but he has a good will to the salvation of all, and none
perish but by their own fault, Matt. xxiii. 37. He will have all to be saved, and
to come to the knowledge of the truth, to be saved in the way that he has
appointed and not otherwise. It concerns us to get the knowledge of the truth,
because that is the way to be saved; Christ is the way and the truth, and
so he is the life.
2. There is one Mediator, and that mediator gave himself a ransom for all. As
the mercy of God extends itself to all his works, so the mediation of Christ
extends itself thus far to all the children of men that he paid a price
sufficient for the salvation of all mankind; he brought mankind to stand upon
new terms with God, so that they are not now under the law as a covenant of
works, but as a rule of life. They are under grace; not under the covenant of
innocence, but under a new covenant: He gave himself a ransom. Observe,
The death of Christ was a ransom, a counter-price. We deserved to have died.
Christ died for us, to save us from death and hell; he gave himself a ransom
voluntarily, a ransom for all; so that all mankind are put in a better
condition than that of devils. He died to work out a common salvation: in
order hereunto, he put himself into the office of Mediator between God and
man. A mediator supposes a controversy. Sin had made a quarrel between us and
God; Jesus Christ is a Mediator who undertakes to make peace, to bring God and
man together, in the nature of an umpire or arbitrator, a days-man who lays
his hand upon u both, Job ix. 33. He is a ransom that was to be testified
in due time; that is, in the Old-Testament times, his sufferings and the
glory that should follow were spoken of as things to be revealed in the last
times, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. And they are accordingly revealed, Paul himself
having been ordained a preacher and an apostle, to publish to the Gentiles the
glad tidings of redemption and salvation by Jesus Christ. This doctrine of
Christ's mediation Paul was entrusted to preach to every creature, Mark xvi.
15. He was appointed to be a teacher of the Gentiles; besides his general call
to the apostleship, he was commissioned particularly to preach to the
Gentiles, in faith and truth, or faithfully and truly. Note, (1.) It is
good and acceptable in the sight of God and our Saviour that we pray for kings
and for all men, and also that we lead a peaceable and quiet life; and this is
a very good reason why we should do the one as well as the other. (2.) God has
a good will to the salvation of all; so that it is not so much the want of a
will in God to save them as it is a want of will in themselves to be saved in
God's way. Here our blessed Lord charges the fault: You will not come unto
me that you may have life, John v. 40. I would have gathered you, and
you would not. (3.) Those who are saved must come to the knowledge of the
truth, for this is God's appointed way to save sinners. Without knowledge the
heart cannot be good; if we do not know the truth, we cannot be ruled by it.
(4.) It is observable that the unity of God is asserted, and joined with the
unity of the Mediator; and the church of Rome might as well maintain a
plurality of gods as a plurality of mediators. (5.) He that is a Mediator in
the New-Testament sense, gave himself a ransom. Vain then is the pretence of
the Romanists that there is but one Mediator of satisfaction, but many of
intercession; for, according to Paul, Christ's giving himself a ransom was a
necessary part of the Mediator's office; and indeed this lays the foundation
for his intercession. (6.) Paul was ordained a minister, to declare this to
the Gentiles, that Christ is the one Mediator between God and men, who gave
himself a ransom for all. This is the substance of which all ministers are to
preach, to the end of the world; and Paul magnified his office, as he was the
apostle of the Gentiles, Rom. xi. 13. (7.) Ministers must preach the truth,
what they apprehend to be so, and they must believe it themselves; they are,
like our apostle, to preach in faith and verity, and they must also be
faithful and trusty.
III. A direction how to pray, v. 8. 1. Now, under the gospel, prayer is
not to be confined to any one particular house of prayer, but men must pray
every where: no place is amiss for prayer, no place more acceptable to God
than another, John iv. 21. Pray every where. We must pray in our
closets, pray in our families, pray at our meals, pray when we are on
journeys, and pray in the solemn assemblies, whether more public or private.
2. It is the will of God that in prayer we should lift up holy hands: Lifting
up holy hands, or pure hands, pure from the pollution of sin, washed in
the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. I will wash my hands,
&c., Ps. xxvi. 6. 3. We must pray in charity: Without wrath, or
malice, or anger at any person. 4. We must pray in faith without doubting
(Jam. i. 6), or, as some read it, without disputing, and then it falls
under the head of charity.
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Paul's
Charge to Females.
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A. D. 64.
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9 In like manner also, that women adorn
themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with
broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 10 But (which
becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 11 Let the
woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a
woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in
silence. 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression. 15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in
childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with
sobriety.
I. Here is a charge, that women who profess the Christian religion should be
modest, sober, silent, and submissive, as becomes their place. 1. They must be
very modest in their apparel, not affecting gaudiness, gaiety, or costliness
(you may read the vanity of a person's mind in the gaiety and gaudiness of his
habit), because they have better ornaments with which they should adorn
themselves, with good works. Note, Good works are the best ornament; these
are, in the sight of God, of great price. Those that profess godliness should,
in their dress, as well as other things, act as becomes their profession;
instead of laying out their money on fine clothes, they must lay it out in
works of piety and charity, which are properly called good works. 2. Women
must learn the principles of their religion, learn Christ, learn the
scriptures; they must not think that their sex excuses them from that learning
which is necessary to salvation. 3. They must be silent, submissive, and
subject, and not usurp authority. The reason given is because Adam was
first formed, then Eve out of him, to denote her subordination to him and
dependence upon him; and that she was made for him, to be a help-meet for him.
And as she was last in the creation, which is one reason for her subjection,
so she was first in the transgression, and that is another reason. Adam was
not deceived, that is, not first; the serpent did not immediately set upon
him, but the woman was first in the transgression (2 Cor. xi. 3), and it was
part of the sentence, Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule
over thee, Gen. iii. 16. But it is a word of comfort (v. 15) that
those who continue in sobriety shall be saved in child-bearing, or with
child-bearing--the Messiah, who was born of a woman, should break the
serpent's head (Gen. iii. 15); or the sentence which they are under for sin
shall be no bar to their acceptance with Christ, if they continue in faith,
and charity, and holiness, with sobriety.
II. Here observe, 1. The extensiveness of the rules of Christianity; they
reach not only to men, but to women, not only to their persons, but also to
their dress, which must be modest, like their sex; and to their outward
deportment and behaviour, it must be in silence, with all subjection. 2. Women
are to profess godliness as well as men; for they are baptized, and thereby
stand engaged to exercise themselves to godliness; and, to their honour be it
spoken, many of them were eminent professors of Christianity in the days of
the apostles, as the book of Acts will inform us. 3. Women being more in
danger of exceeding in their apparel, it was more necessary to caution them in
this respect. 4. The best ornaments for professors of godliness are good
works. 5. According to Paul, women must be learners, and are not allowed to be
public teachers in the church; for teaching is an office of authority, and the
woman must not usurp authority over the man, but is to be in silence. But,
notwithstanding this prohibition, good women may and ought to teach their
children at home the principles of religion. Timothy from a child had known
the holy scriptures; and who should teach him but his mother and grandmother?
2 Tim. iii. 15. Aquila and his wife Priscilla expounded unto Apollos the way
of God more perfectly; but then they did it privately, for they took him
unto them, Acts xviii. 26. 6. Here are two very good reasons given for the
man's authority over the woman, and her subjection to the man, v. 13,
14. Adam was first formed, then Eve; she was created for the man, and not the
man for the woman (1 Cor. xi. 9); then she was deceived, and brought the man
into the transgression. 7. Though the difficulties and dangers of childbearing
are many and great, as they are part of the punishment inflicted on the sex
for Eve's transgression, yet here is much for her support and encouragement: Notwithstanding
she shall be saved, &c. Though in sorrow, yet she shall bring forth,
and be a living mother of living children; with this proviso, that they
continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety: and women, under
the circumstance of child-bearing should by faith lay hold of this promise for
their support in the needful time.
Contents
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