Bible Commentaries
1 Timothy 2

Verses 1-7

V
Exhortation to supplication for all men, especially for those in authority

1 Timothy 2:1-7

1I exhort1 therefore, that, first of all,2 supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks [thanksgiving], be made for all men; 2For kings, and for all that are in authority; [,] that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all 3godliness and honesty.3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge 5of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; [,] 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified4 in 7due time. [,] Whereunto [In respect of which] I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle (I speak the truth in Christ,5 and lie not) [I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not]; a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1 Timothy 2:1. I exhort therefore, that, first of all. There is not a marked connection between this and the former chapter, but the Apostle passes simply from the general command (1 Timothy 1:18) to the special, and states at once what in his view is especially important. The whole of the second chapter contains precepts concerning the Christian Church. 1 Timothy 2:1-7 declares for whom and on what ground public prayer ought to be made; 1 Timothy 2:8-15 how men and women should conduct themselves in this respect; and, indeed, the last portion is not without some more precise suggestions as to the calling of women in general.—I exhort therefore, παρακαλῶ. The Apostle now personally counsels Timothy what he must do to fight a good fight in his pastoral office, and what should be his first task in his relation to the church. Πρῶτον must not be joined with ποιεῖσθαι (Luther), but with παρακαλῶ; οὖν is here a connective, which joins the exhortation to 1 Timothy 1:18-19, and was necessary on account of the digression in 1 Timothy 1:20. [The English Version reads: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all.” This reading is sustained by many expositors, as Luther, Calvin, Bengel, and later, among the English, Conybeare. But Alford adopts the same reading as is here given: “I exhort first of all;” so also Heydenreich, Matthies, Wiesinger, De Wette, Huther, Ellicott.—W.] The ground on which the Apostle chiefly urges these intercessions can be only probably determined. Perhaps, in time of persecution, they had been some. what neglected, or were less earnestly conducted by the believers at Ephesus, after they had left their first love (Revelation 2:4); perhaps some persons had been excluded by party spirit, or by the want of unity. Whatever the reason, the Apostle exhorts that intercessions be made for all men—for mankind in its wholeness.—Supplications, prayers, intercessions, the giving of thanks; four words which mark the earnestness and comprehensiveness of all Christian petitions. In respect to the first three, the words of Calvin are of value: “Neque tamen super vαcanea est verborum congeries, sed mihi videtur Paulus consulto tres voces in eundem finem simul conjungere, ut precandi studium et assiduitatem magis commendet et vehementius urgeat.” As to the meaning of the εὐχαριστία, the Apostle elsewhere teaches that Christian devotion, as is implied in its nature, must at all times be accompanied with thanksgiving (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18; Colossians 4:2). The view that the Apostle in each of these words would designate a special kind of prayer, is as arbitrary as the opinion that this is a mere empty tautology. But since one and the same subject is here denoted by different words, we may at least attempt to reach a more exact definition. That arbitrary exegesis into which many earlier and later commentators have fallen, will be entirely avoided if we study the grammatical force of the language. Δέησις, from δέομαι, egeo, signifies generally a prayer which springs from the feeling of want; προσευχή, a petition, not without regard to whom it is offered, like the preceding word, but distinctly addressed to God; comp. Philippians 4:6; ἔντευξις (from ἐντυγχάνω = adeo aliquem) means not intercession in and for itself (comp. 1 Timothy 4:5), but here, where ὑπὲρ πάντ. ἀνθρ. follows, it signifies prayer offered not so much for our own needs, as on behalf of others; εὐχαριστία, finally, is thanksgiving joined with all before, both for preservation from evil, and for the good in which men rejoice. Those for whom all such prayers are made are not only Christians, but Jews and heathen likewise; and the whole exhortation, therefore, is opposed to an unchristian exclusiveness.

1 Timothy 2:2. For kings, and for all that are in authority. After this general injunction, some are named who need a special place in public prayers. There is no designation of Antonine and his associate rulers (Baur)—which, certainly, would be internal evidence of the spuriousness of the Epistle—but a general designation of the class, including the Roman emperor then or afterward living, and all under him invested with high office (comp. Romans 13:1).—That we may; not a statement of the character of the prayer, but of its purpose; and this, too, not in the subjective, but objective view. The Apostle does not mean that the church should be influenced, through such petitions, to lead a quiet and peaceable life under authority; but he supposes that God, who guides the hearts of kings as the water-brooks (Proverbs 21:1), will, in answer to the prayer of the church, move the hearts of kings, and of all in authority, to leave Christians at rest.—A quiet and peaceable life. No immoderate striving after the crown of martyrdom, but a quiet life to the glory of God, is the highest ideal. According to Olshausen, ἤρεμος denotes an inward, ἡσύχιος an outward rest; but others differ. It is most desirable that Christians should thus pass (διάγειν) their lives in all godliness and honesty. [The word rendered honesty should be gravity, according to Alford, Conybeare, and others. It should be remembered, however, that honesty, at the time of our English Version, came nearer than now to the idea of honorable or respectable, which lies at the root of σεμνότης.—W.] These last two words mark the sphere of the Christian life. Εὐσέβειᾳ, a word which, with Paul, occurs only in the Pastoral Epistles, and denotes our disposition toward God; σεμνότης, an expression also peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles, refers to the outward relation of the Christian toward his fellow-men. Wiesinger justly remarks, from a manuscript note of Olshausen, that a strong light is thrown on this whole exhortation, when we recal the conduct of the Jews shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem. It had been already enjoined in the Old Testament that the Jews should pray for their Gentile rulers (comp. Jeremiah 29:7; Ezra 6:10). The custom remained among them. Augustus ordered that a lamb should be offered for him daily in the temple; and, until the destruction of Jerusalem, this usage lasted; but the Zealots regarded it as a Divine worship, and demanded that the offering should cease. Joseph., De Bello Jud.ii. 17. [This injunction of St. Paul became the rule of the early church; and it is interesting to trace it in the prayers for kings found in almost all the primitive liturgies. Liturgia Basilii, Goar, Rit. Græc., pp. 171, 178; Liturgia Marci, Renaudot, Lit. Orient., tom. 1, p. 133; Miss. Sarisb. Missa pro Rege, Lit. Gallic., Mabillon, p. 246. Chrysostom informs us that it was the custom, in his day, to offer daily prayers for kings and all in authority. Hom. 6 in 1 Tim. The prayers for the royal family, in the English Version, although they do not appear to have been translated from any very ancient offices, are yet, in substance and expression, conformed to the primitive. See Palmer, Orig. Liturg. We have here the true reverence of law which Christianity teaches. But we are never to confound this, or like maxims—e.g., Romans 13:1—with any theory of the divine right of kings, or with “passive obedience” to any tyranny, as has been done by some divines. The political duty of men in a Christian state cannot be the same with that of the primitive church under a Nero.—W.]

1 Timothy 2:3. For this is good and acceptable;τοῦτοsc.παιεῖσθαι ἐντεύξ. The Apostle now adds various motives (1 Timothy 2:3-7) toward obeying the exhortation given in 1 Timothy 2:1-2. The first is, that every such prayer is good in and for itself, καλόν; it shows the true Christian spirit which marks the professor of the gospel; it yields us the enjoyment of that privilege named in 1 Timothy 2:2. It is again, as a second motive, ἀπόδεκτον ἐνώπιον τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Θεοῦ. This is God’s will; it befits His desire and purpose; it is already expressed in the name σωτήρ, and this appears clearly from the following (1 Timothy 2:4-5). Our Saviour wills that all should be saved; and thus we pray for all, as the objects of His gracious will.

1 Timothy 2:4. Who will have all men to be saved. Paul teaches not only here, but in other places (comp. Romans 8:32; Romans 11:32; Titus 2:11), that the desire of God to bless all sinners is unlimited, yet it can be only in the ordained way of faith. And here, perhaps, he affirms it, in order to maintain this doctrine plainly against every Gnostic limitation of salvation, as well as to give a fit motive for prayer. For, had God willed the contrary of what is here revealed, it would be foolish and fruitless to pray for the welfare of others, when perhaps his or that person might be shut out from the plan of salvation. Yet more, the Apostle speaks here of the θέλειν of God in general, not of the βούλημα, which regards believers (Ephesians 1:11). It is therefore entirely needless, by any exegetical gloss, to limit the expression, all men, or to understand πάντας�. in the sense of all classes of men (which would make 1 Timothy 2:1 an absurdity).—Unto the knowledge of the truth; properly, not all truth, not even all religious truth in general, but Christian truth. This added clause explains through what means the σωθῆναι of all men must be wrought.

1 Timothy 2:5. For there is one God the man Christ Jesus. The ground of the general redemptive plan of God is here so shown (γάρ) as to give a third motive in justification of Christian intercessions; the unity of person whence the plan of universal salvation has gone forth, and through whom it is completed. The unity of God, which the Apostle clearly declares in other places (Romans 3:29-30; 1 Corinthians 8:4; Ephesians 4:6), is here placed distinctly in the foreground, to show how arbitrary is any limit of Christian intercession; the unity of the Mediator, to prove that the Jew has not the least advantage over the heathen, since both must be saved in one and the same way. Μεσίτης, He who stands between God and man, in order to effect a new union (comp. Galatians 3:20): “inter Deum atque homines medius constitutus;” Tertullianus. When Paul calls Him, finally, with special emphasis, the man Christ Jesus, it is not absolutely necessary to infer that he was opposing the heresy of Docetism (Huther), although such a purpose is quite possible and probable, when we think how early the real manhood of the Lord was doubted (1 John 4:3), and what high dignity the first Gnostics ascribed to Æons and to angels. The thought, too, is genuinely Pauline (see Romans 5:15; 1 Corinthians 15:31; Philippians 2:7-8; Hebrews 2:16-17), and it is most fitting in this place, since the Lord, had He not been real man, could not have been also μεσίτης; while, again, the ἀνθρώπων just before called out almost involuntarily this emphatic ἄνθρωπος.

1 Timothy 2:6. Who gave himself. This expresses the mode in which the Mediator has fulfilled His office, and the universality of the redemptive plan. Has given, δούς, comp. Galatians 1:4; Titus 2:14. The voluntary character of the offering of the Lord is here, as often before, set forth by the Apostle; and although he does not speak in express words of this sacrifice in his death, yet it follows from the very purpose of the Mediator to give a ransom for all; since the price of redemption could be nothing less than Himself, His blood, and life. Ἀντίλυτρον, somewhat stronger yet than the usual λύτρον (Matthew 20:28), since the idea of an exchange, which lies in the substantive itself, gains special force from the preposition (Matthies). In connection with ἀντίλυτρον, ὑπέρ is not, in this place at least, simply to be understood in commodum (Huther), but here the idea of substitution must be firmly held. This one ransom weighs more than all the souls in whose place it is reckoned; and here, too, these souls are spoken of as πάντες. See further under Doctrinal and Ethical thoughts. [It appears by no means just, either on exegetical or doctrinal grounds, to draw the idea of substitution from this passage. The phrase ἀντίλυτρον simply includes the meaning of satisfaction, freedom purchased by a sufficient ransom. Undoubtedly the truth of a vicarious sacrifice in its living sense, Christ in us and we in Him, is the blessed truth of the word of God. But it has been the vice of theology always to lower this holy mystery of a Divine love and sacrifice to a commercial contract. The cur Deus homo of Anselm cannot explain that mystery so truly to the Christian reason or heart, as the few words of St. John the Divine: “God is love. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” And it may be well for any who read this image of St. Paul, to weigh the following profound sentence of Coleridge. “Forgiveness of sin, the abolition of guilt, through the redemptive power of Christ’s love, and of His perfect obedience, is expressed, on account of the resemblance of the consequence in both cases, by the payment of a debt for another, which debt the payer had not himself incurred. Now the impropriation of this metaphor (i. e., the taking it literally), by transferring the sameness from the consequents to the antecedents, or inferring the identity of the causes from a resemblance in the effects, this view or scheme of redemption, grounded on this confession, I believe to be altogether unscriptural;” “Aids to Reflection, Aphor. 19, on Spirit. Relig.”—W.]—To be testified in due time;τὸ μαρτύριον καιροῖς ἰδίοις. Luther: “That it should be preached in his own time;” Vulgata: “cujus testimonium temporibus suis confirmatum est.” Chrysostom, and other Church fathers, incorrectly understand the suffering and death of the Lord as itself the μαρτύριον. But the idea (Huther) that the reference is to the preaching of the gospel, which has now been sent at a fitting time, seems alike arbitrary, since in this case the beginning of 1 Timothy 2:7 sinks almost to fiat tautology. We think, rather, that μαρτύριον should here be held in apposition to ἀντίλυτρον; to wit, that the Apostle calls this sacrifice of the Lord in death for our ransom the great μαρτύριον; the witness of the truth stated in 1 Timothy 2:4, which is raised above all doubt through this blessed revelation of grace. Since this offering is made, there cannot be any further question whether God wills the salvation of all. The Apostle does not speak of a testimony which he is the first to affirm, but one to which God has given witness already in His Son; and in 1 Timothy 2:7 he first alludes to his own personal connection with it. “Innuitur testimonium redemtionis universalis;” Bengel.—In due time, καιροῖς ἰδίοις; that is, in the time foreordained by God, and for this reason most fitting; in other words, in the πλήρωμα τ. καιροῦ (Galatians 4:4); comp. 1 Timothy 6:15; Acts 17:26; Titus 1:2.

1 Timothy 2:7. Whereunto I am ordained.Εἴς ὁ, ad quod (testimonium, sc. annunciandum); another remembrance of his apostolic calling and dignity, as 1 Timothy 1:12. Paul points to the universal character of his calling, as proof of the universality of Divine grace; and this again as the great motive to pray for all.—A preacher; this general design of his calling is denoted by a name suited to all messengers of the gospel, and precedes the specific official title, ἀπόστολος.—I speak the truth, &c. (comp. Romans 9:1). A solemn adjuration, which, in view of so weighty a matter, and the many personal misjudgments concerning Paul, is quite appropriate here, and may well awaken confidence, not distrust. Although this digression has no logical force, it agrees well with a friendly, confiding letter like this, where his heart speaks in the most artless manner.—A teacher of the Gentiles. A more exact statement of the special sphere in which he is called to the work of his apostolic office. This mention of his peculiar gift lends new force to his exhortation to pray for all men.—In faith and in verity. Not only in true faith (Heydenreich, Mack, De Wette), but both conceptions are to be closely distinguished. Faith (a noteworthy variation, ἐν πνεύματι), means faith in Christ, which is the great personal motive in the life of the Apostle; truth, that objective Christian truth itself, which is known and received by faith. The preposition ἐν seems, as often, to denote the means whereby the Apostle sought to reach the appointed end. That the words are to be taken as a formal assertion, like ἀλήθ. λέγω (1 Timothy 2:6), is not probable.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The doctrine of Christian intercession, which the Apostle teaches with such heartfelt power, breathes the whole spirit of Christianity. The Lord Himself commended it, even for our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Thus, too, James, who was so fully quickened by the spirit of his glorified Master (James 5:16); and it is evident how strongly, and how often, Paul enjoins the intercession of the brethren. That the early Christians likewise earnestly kept this apostolic precept, and, even amidst the worst persecutions, did not cease to pray for kings and for those in authority, is clear from the early liturgies, as well as the testimony of apologists and church fathers. Thus, e.g., Tertullian, Apol., cap. 1Tim 30: “Manibus expansis oramus pro omnibus imperatoribus vitam illis prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum, et quæcumque hominis et Cæsaris vota sunt.” And Polycarp, ad Philipp., cap. 12, says: “Pro omnibus sanctis orate. Orate etiam pro regilus, et potestatibus et principibus, atque pro persequentibus et odientibus vos, et pro inimicis crucis, ut fructus vester manifestus sit in omnibus, ut sitis in illo perfecti.” With this practice of Christian prayer, the Apostle exhorts believers to lead a quiet and holy life; and in this he shows his confidence, that such prayer for the community will obtain a blessing from God;—an unreasonable hope, if he speaks only of an influence on our own minds, not a supernatural power in prayer. This injunction is thus an indirect proof that there is not only a subjective, but also an objective connection, granted and assured of God, between prayer and its effects.

2. According to the express teaching of the Apostle, Christianity is the great instrument of salvation for all men. If the word ἐκκλησία is rightly understood, the saying, extra ecclesiam nulla salus, has a sound sense. The right of Christian missionary work is grounded in this faith. The universality of God’s plan of redemption is the mightiest spur of that Christian humanity which embraces all men. It is impossible, therefore, to be truly human, if one is not truly Christian; and it is alike contradictory to profess ourselves truly Christian, without being human.

3. “God wills that all men should be saved.” It is a sorry dogmatism which would weaken the proof given in this passage for the universality of the plan of redemption, by exegetical arts; e.g., when any seek to explain will in the absurd sense of desire; or all men in the sense of all classes—as Calvin and others have here done. Exegetical honesty forbids us to find in this place less than what is said, in other words, in 1 Timothy 4:10 and 2 Peter 3:9. The inevitable necessity of an ἀποκατάστασις πάντων, from the fact that at some time, sooner or later, what God wills must be fulfilled, does not follow, however, from this position. The will of God here spoken of is not absolute, but conditional; i. e., God wills that all men be saved by means of faith; but as faith, on the one side, is a gift of grace, so, on the other, it is a duty, whose neglect deserves punishment, and unbelief is a guilt that must have its reckoning. Against such views of Universalism we urge also, in their full force, the many positive expressions which set forth the eternal blessedness of believers, as grounded in the free decisions of God, and His grace in Christ. True wisdom lies not in sacrificing one series of these conceptions to the other, but in holding both with equal strength, since the unity of the seeming contradictions must be always a problem for Christian philosophy. These apostolic expressions, finally, give the fullest right to the freest, most unlimited, and powerful announcement of the gospel, while it must be left to God to show us the perfection of His purposes, and to justify them before our eyes. [It is the error of every theological system like that here alluded to, that it does not take its starting point from the moral facts of the Christian consciousness, but from the abstract idea of the Divine will. The iron chain of its logic must therefore end in a fatalism, which excludes all moral conditions based on the free choice of man. Such a premise may end in the dogma of absolute decrees and limited atonement; or it may equally lead to Universalism. If the will of God be irrespective of human action, there can be no limit to His grace. Or, again, if it be a logic within the circle of purely speculative ideas, it will end in the Pantheism of Spinoza; in an impersonal substance, of which all human actions are only phenomena, without any moral quality of good or evil. All these are forms of the same ground error. A Christian theology begins with the facts of our personal being, of sin and responsibility, and thence reasons to the character of God. The sentence of Hooker, B. 1, c. 2, is profound: “They err, who think that of the will of God to do this or that, there is no reason besides His will.” And this of Cudworth, Serm. I., breathes the heart of the gospel: “It is the sweetest flower in all the garland of His attributes, that He is mighty to save; and this is far more magnificent for Him than to be styled mighty to destroy. For that, except it be in a way of justice, speaks no power at all, but mere impotency; for the root of all power is goodness.”—W.]

4. If the death of the Saviour is revealed as a ransom for all, it is most important to distinguish between the power of His death, which is great enough to effect the redemption of all, and the fruit of His death, which is shared only by the believing and regenerate. As to the first point, the words of Augustin are weighty; Sermo 114, de tempore: “Unâ morte universum mundum, sicut omnium conditor, ita omnium reparator, absolvit: indubitanter enim credimus, quod totum mundum redemit, qui plus dedit, quam totus mundus valeret.” The other point is met by the words of the Saviour: “The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep;” and again: “I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me;” John 10:17.

5. According to the express doctrine of our Apostle, the mediatorial office of the man Christ Jesus is not only the cardinal truth of Christianity, but the conditio sine quâ non of the eternal salvation of man. The existence of the only God would be, indeed, no glad message for fallen man, did he not hear also of a Mediator between God and man. In contrast to this soteriological doctrine of the Apostle, the boldness of many at this day is strange indeed, who assert that they need no Mediator, but that man can go directly to the Father without the Son. Such men lack above all the living knowledge of the desert of sin, and the holiness of God. The God whom they approach is not the God revealed in the Scriptures, but rather the idol of their own darkened understanding.

[We may fitly append here a passage from Archbishop Trench’s “Sermons,” which sets forth the living view of the mediatorial sacrifice, as it is distinguished alike from any forensic theory of imputation, and any denial of it on moral grounds. “Could God be well-pleased with the sufferings of the innocent and holy? What satisfaction could He find in these? Assuredly not: but be could have pleasure—nay, according to the moral necessities of His own being, he must have the highest joy, satisfaction, and delight—in the love, the patience, the obedience, which those sufferings gave Him the opportunity of displaying. Nor was it, as some among the schoolmen taught, that God arbitrarily ascribed and imputed to Christ’s obedience unto death a value which made it equal to the needs and sins of the whole world. We affirm rather with the deeper theologians of those and all times, who crave to deal with realities, not ascriptions and imputations, that His offering had in itself this intrinsic value. Christ satisfied herein, not the Divine anger, but the Divine craving after a perfect holiness, righteousness, and obedience in man.”—W.]

6. Against all Docetist tendencies which now and then appear in the church, the Apostle’s assertion of the real manhood of Christ has always the deepest significance. There is among the strong defenders of the divinity of the Son far more Crypto-Docetism, far more fear of allowing the full and undiminished truth of Christ’s humanity, than they themselves know. On the other side, it is much to be wished that all who rightly hold the ἄνθρωπος Ἰ. Χρ., could as readily accept what the Apostle further says in the Pastoral Epistles, in respect to the divinity of the Lord; see 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:13. The very Docetism so early visible in the apostolic age, is an indirect proof of the superhuman character of the Saviour. His appearance was so wonderful, that men could not at first believe Him to be real man.

7. “Christianity knits the ties by which natural religion binds men to one God still more closely, through the one only Mediator; for He points to the one centre of all. Christ is the bond of the God-head and manhood;” Heubner.
8. The apostolic command to pray for all men has been often interpreted as allowing prayers for the dead. The words of Luther are noteworthy on this subject, Kirchenpostille, Dom. I., Post Trin.: “We have no command from God to pray for the dead, therefore no one can sin who does not pray for them. For, in what God has neither commanded nor forbidden, no man can sin. Yet, because God has not granted us to know the state of the soul, and we must be uncertain whether it has not met already its final doom, and therefore cannot tell if the soul be condemned, it is no sin that thou prayest for the dead; but in such wise, that thou leave it in doubt, and say thus: ‘Dear God, if this soul be in that state that Thou yet mayest help it, I pray Thee to Le gracious unto it.’ For God has promised to hear us in what we ask. Therefore, if thou hast prayed once, or thrice, thou shouldest believe that thou art heard, and pray no more, lest thou tempt God.”

9. If we have, according to the doctrine of the Apostle, only one Mediator between God and man, then the invocation of saints, and Mariolatry especially, as practiced in the Roman Church in recent times, is already condemned in its very principle.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Public prayer no secondary thing, but the chief element in the assembly of believers.—The duty of special intercession: (1) Its extent (1 Timothy 2:1-2); (2) its ground (1 Timothy 2:3-7).—To pray for others: (1) Its intrinsic worth; (2) how seldom and poorly performed.—The relation of Christian subjects toward their rulers.—The influence of religious life and prayer on the welfare of the Church.—God wills that all men be saved: (1) No mere show or pretence of will, but a right earnest will; (2) no inactive will, but mighty, and working for the good of all; (3) no absolute and despotic will, but a conditioned and holy will, against which the stiff-necked enmity of unbelief can hold out to its own eternal shame.—The knowledge of the truth, the Divine means for the eternal redemption of the sinner.—One Mediator for all: (1) What a privilege to know Him! (2) what a curse to reject Him! (3) what a duty, after man has found Him, to make Him known to others also!—The high significance of the true manhood of the Lord. Without it, (1) There is no perfect revelation of God in Christ; (2) there is no true reconciliation of the Divine and the human, in and through Christ.—Christ the ransom for all: (1) From what; (2) for what; (3) to what the Christian is thus redeemed.—The manifestation of Christ the pivot of the world’s history.—God’s time is always the best.—As Paul, so every minister of the Gospel must be assured of his Divine calling.—Faith and truth the great means to bring others to a knowledge of the gospel.—Missions to the heathen a continuation of the work of Paul.

Starke: Osiander: Christians ought not only to pray for those who, like them, profess some sort of religion, but for all men, that God will guide their hearts to the gospel of Christ.—Lange’s Opp.: There is in intercession for others the purest exercise of love for others.—One of the best and most valuable kinds of tax which we owe and may pay to our rulers, is to pray for them, and to thank God heartily for the good we receive through them.—Anton: Prayer is a real Noah’s ark, in which we may shut ourselves amidst threatening floods.—We cannot else pass through the tossing world (Luke) Luke 18:7-8).—Bibl. Würt.: If God is minded to bring all men to the knowledge of the truth, who do not wilfully shut their eyes to it; if Christ has given Himself in death for all, that they may be kept from eternal ruin, we ought also, as holy children, to follow this example of God and Christ, gladly encourage all to seek their eternal health and salvation, and omit nothing which may aid toward it (Romans 10:1).—Lange’s Opp.: How can the Christian religion be other than true, since it leads to the knowledge of saving truths, while all other truths are only phantoms?—If it be the earnest will of God to save all men, none can excuse himself who remains godless and unbelieving.—Since the satisfaction of Christ is the masterwork and centre of the gospel, it must be chiefly urged by all teachers, and most fully embraced and believingly applied by all hearers (1 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 2:20).—Osiander: The gospel of Christ belongs to the Gentiles also (Isaiah 49:6).—Heubner: Common prayer is a means of uniting hearts, a true bond of the Church.—Where the best Christians are, there are the best citizens.—Polytheism severs nations; Christianity binds all in one.—An angel could not be the Reconciler of the world.—All perfect virtue is self-sacrifice, a denial of my personal self, just as every ungodly life is egoism.—Christian integrity speaks truth.—Lisco: The duty of common prayer.—Intercession a work of love.—The greatest thought, the noblest deed, and the holiest decision.

1 Timothy 2:1-6. Epistle for Rogation day, in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and elsewhere.—Beck: Intercession, the consecration of a life of prayer.—Intercession the crown of prayer.—Knippenberg: On the right spirit of Christian intercession.—Dräseke: Christian intercession considered, (1) In its nature; (2) in its dignity; (3) in its effects.—Dietzsch: The wish of a Christian people for the welfare of its rulers.—W. Hofacker: Of the right priestly spirit, as the need of our time.

Footnotes:

1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Timothy 2:1.—[παρακαλῶ; παρακάλει, G.—evidently, as Huther says, a conjecture for the sake of giving to the Apostle’s address to Timothy the form of a command.—E. H.]

1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Timothy 2:1.—[πρῶτον πάντ.; not, at the beginning or opening of public service (C. and H. after Chrysostom), but “before all things”—as the author, who follows Huther, observes, the words are to be connected with παρακαλῶ.—E. H.]

1 Timothy 2:2; 1 Timothy 2:2.—[σεμνότητι. If the English word respectability had not lost its meaning, it would perhaps be the proper word to express the sense of the Apostle here. Dignity is too stately. Vulgate: “castitate.” Calvin: “honestate.” C. and H.: “gravity.” German Version: “Ehrbarkeit.” The word means on estate or condition of honor, &c., founded upon the possession of the corresponding moral quality, honesty.—E. H.]

1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Timothy 2:6.—[τὸ μαρτύριον; omitted by A., and rejected by Lachmann. It stands in the Sinaiticus without the article. In some MSS. οὗ was written before τὸ μαρ. The omission from A. is certainly singular. The sense is much better with than without the words. Tischendorf retains them. Huther says that Lachmann did; but this is a mistake—at least, they are not in the large edition of 1850.—E. H.]

1 Timothy 2:7; 1 Timothy 2:7.—The words of the Recepta, ἐν Χριστῷ, are wanting in A. D.1 F. G., and others, and for this reason have been left out by Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and others. Perhaps they were introduced from Romans 9:1. The Sinaiticus has retained them. [They are not in Murdock’s Syriac Translation.—E. H.]

Verses 8-15

VI
By whom and how Prayer is to be made, and how especially women should conduct themselves in that respect

1 Timothy 2:8-15

8I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.6 9In like manner also, that women7 adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness [shamefastness] and sobriety; [,] not with braided [plaited] hair, or [and?] gold,8 or pearls, or costly array; [,] 10But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works [by means of 11their good works]. Let the women learn in silence [tranquilly] with [in] all subjection. 12But I suffer not a woman to teach,9 nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived10 was in the 15transgression. Notwithstanding [But] she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1 Timothy 2:8. I will therefore, &c. Βούλομαι οὖν. Βόυλεσθαι is stronger than θέλειν; it is to ordain, by the power of his apostolic authority; οὖν connects the following exhortation with 1 Timothy 2:1-3, and is needed on account of the brief digression in 1 Timothy 2:4-7. As the Apostle thus reverts to the public prayers just commended, he now states more exactly when, how, and through whom these should be conducted; and with this he adds his special counsel to the women as well as the men. The latter, in express distinction from the women, are alone to direct public prayers. It thus appears that, in the assembly of believers, this duty was not given exclusively to the presiding officer, but was performed without limitation by the members of the church. The Apostle does not object to this, but only orders that the women shall abstain entirely from it, which, perhaps, in more recent times, they had not always done.—Everywhere. Not only to be joined with προσεύχεσθαι, but with the whole proposition; in which it is further taught both that men ought, and how they ought to pray everywhere. The somewhat singular phrase, ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, is surely not a designed contrast to the Jewish localism, which held the temple or the synagogue almost exclusively as the fit place for prayer, but is probably explained by the fact that the Ephesian church, like many others, consisted of different ἐκκλησίαι κατ’ ὀ͂ικον, and thus had several places of meeting. Perhaps, also, in these different circles, the same customs were not in use; or some held one place holier than others. In view of this, the Apostle gives a precept which is to be remembered by all ubi cumque sint.—Lifting up holy hands; a Jewish custom, not only in taking an oath, or in benediction, but especially in prayer (see Psalms 28:2; Psalms 63:5); and, as appears from this passage, a usage of the Christian church; comp. Clem. Rom. ad Corinth, cap.29.—Holy hands; such as are not stained with wilful sin, in contrast with the unclean hands of an evil-doer (Psalms 24:4; Psalms 26:6; comp. James 4:8). In regard to the form, ὁσίους χεῖρ. (instead of ὁσίας, as some Codd. really have it), comp. Winer, Gramm., 6th ed., p. 64.—Without wrath, &c. Without wrath and contention. Luther less accurately says, ohne Zorn und Zweifel. The latter, contention, is the outward expression of the former. The Apostle refers directly to the wrath and contention of believers among themselves—it may be in questions of religious dispute, or other outbreaks in daily life. It is most probable that such disturbances had happened at their meetings in Ephesus, or, in the judgment of the Apostle, were to be feared. [The English Version and that of Luther are the same. Alford renders “without wrath and disputation;” that is, in tranquillity and mutual peace. Wordsworth renders, “without doubting or disputing.” But see Ellicott.—W.]

1 Timothy 2:9. In like manner also, that women. At the opening of this verse, Βούλομαι must be anew supplied from the preceding; in the remainder, however, the construction is difficult and involved. It seems best, after γυναῖκας, to supply, not προσεύχεσθαι, but προσευχομένας, since the ὡσαύτως forbids the supposition that the Apostle has now closed the subject of public prayer in order to give a general rule as to the dress and attire of the women. It is more likely that Paul now passes on to the conduct of the women in the church, since they are not included in the preceding exhortation, having no right of speech in public prayers. They must appear in modest attire; καταστολή = ἔνδυμα; περιβολή = σχῆμα σώματος. Κόσμιος = πρέπουσα γυναιξὶν ἐπαγγελλομέναις τῆν θεοσέβειαν (1 Timothy 2:10). The object of the Apostle is not to enjoin a general rule of life for Christian women, but specially for their demeanor at the place of prayer. He does not forbid all ornament, but only the excess which is a mark of frivolity and love of display, and awakens impure passions. They should adorn themselves, but with bashfulness and modesty (Luther: “with shame and modesty”). Both expressions refer not alone to the outward garment, but more to the inward spirit befitting the modest dress. Αἰδώς expresses the inward aversion from everything unseemly; σωφροσύνη, the control of the passions (Huther). This is the only ornament allowed to Christian women at public prayer. [Shamefastness; not, as in modern reprints of the English Version, shamefacedness; see Trench, N. T. Synonymes. This is an early Saxon form, which has unhappily become obsolete in this case. Wordsworth, however, is surely wrong when he calls it a word akin to steadfastness. It is to be found in the original edition of the Version of 1611.—W.]—Not with braided hair, Πλέγμα, insinuati multiplices in orbe crines; but the general sense of a head-dress, or dress of the hair, should not be lost (comp. 1 Peter 3:5; Isaiah 3:24). These braidings of the hair are put first, but the following substantives denote the dress—ornaments of gold, whether bracelets, rings, or chains, pearls, or costly clothing, πολυτελής, nearly the same as in Matthew 11:8, μαλακα ἱμάτια, and in Luke 7:25, ἱματισμὸς ἔνδοξος. Compare with this whole precept the Divine denunciation of female luxury (Isaiah 3:0), and like passages in the Church fathers; e.g., Tertullian, De Fæmineo Cultu. “Vestite vos serico probitatis, bysso sanctitatis, purpura pudicitiæ.” Augustin, Epit. 1Tim 73: “Verus ornatus, maxime Christianorum et Christianarum, non tantum nullus mendax fucus, verum ne auri quidem vestisque pompa, sed mores boni sunt.” Compare the remarkable “Eulogy of Seneca,” ad Helv. cap. 6.

1 Timothy 2:10. But what becometh. The main clause must here be distinguished from the subordinate clauses. The chief proposition is that in which the Apostle states what is the true ornament of a devout woman. I will, he says, that they adorn themselves with good works. Good works, on the occasion of their public worship, can scarcely be any other than offerings of love for the poor, as Heydenreich has remarked; which, however, Huther without reason calls wholly arbitrary. Why should not this be styled the true ornament of a Christian woman, that, like Dorcas, she is full of good works and alms deeds? “Si operibus testanda est pietas, in vestitu etiam casto apparere hæc professio debet;” Calvin. The words, which becometh, &c., we regard not as a parænetic clause, which would offer great difficulty, but as defining the reason of Paul’s praise of such an ornament, ὅ = καθ’ ὅ = ὣσ πρὲπει. This dress, from his point of view, is the only becoming one.—Professing godliness, ἐπαγγελλ. θεοσ.; an expression peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles. Luther: die Gottseligkeit beweisen; French: qui font profession de pieté; Dutch: die godvruchtigheid belijden. Ἐπαγγελλ., who glory in something, or lay claim to something, or will pass for something, or who employ themselves in something. Compare the Horatian “quæ medicorum sint, profiteri.” In this meaning of the verb, in this place, it is so much the less advisable to connect it with the following words, δι’ ἔργων�.

1 Timothy 2:11. Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. Although the following counsels of the Apostle may readily be referred to the general relations of the sexes, still the connection requires us to regard them as here aimed at public teaching by women. Not the docere, but the discere; not prominence in outward rank, but the ὑποταγή in the place of prayer, is their proper calling. It appears that the Christian women at Ephesus were inclined to put themselves forward more than became them. The Apostle therefore enjoins silence upon them; and in the Jewish synagogues likewise, whose order was followed by the Christian assemblies, it was the rule that women should hear, but not speak (comp. 1 Corinthians 14:34, and Constel. App. iii. cap. 6). Thus Tertullian wrote, De Virg. Vel., cap. 1Tim 9: “Non permittitur mulieri in ecclesia loqui, nec docere, nec tinguere, nec ullius virilis muneris, nedum sacerdotalis officii sortem, sibi vindicare.”—Ἐν ἠσυχία; the women, without uttering a word, are humbly and believingly to hear the instruction, which is given solely by men, in the holy place.

1 Timothy 2:12. But I suffer not a woman, &c. The parallel is so complete between 1 Timothy 2:11-12, that we can refer this verse to nothing save public instruction. Not any general authority of the wife over her husband is here forbidden—although the Apostle without doubt opposes this—but especially the assuming such superiority in the church. Even to ask concerning what she does not understand, is not allowed to a woman in public (1 Corinthians 14:35), but only in her own house. Αὐθεντεῖν, in the earlier Greek, is equivalent to ἀυτοχείριζειν; in the later, to ἐξουσίαζειν. Ἀνδρός; the remark of Bengel is excellent: “Id non tantum maritum notat, sed totum genus virorum.”—To be in silence. Εἶναι ἐν ἧσυχίᾳ; not only tacere, but still more, in silentio versari; so that silence is almost the distinct sphere assigned to woman in such circumstances. We have an instance, however, of διδάσκειν on the part of a woman in Acts 18:26, which the Apostle certainly would not have forbidden. Finally, the Apostle supports this rule of silence on two grounds, which are both taken from the book of Genesis.

1 Timothy 2:13. For Adam then Eve (comp. Genesis 2:7; Genesis 2:18-23). Just as, in 1 Corinthians 11:8, the Apostle refers to the priority of Adam’s creation, and thence infers the dependence of Eve in birth and condition; and, in her, of all women. Not always, indeed, yet here the priority warrants the superiority. “The Old Testament narration, as the Scriptures in general, is held by the Apostle as a holy, spiritual utterance of Divine truth; Adam and Eve are prototypes for all humanity of the manly and womanly nature; and in the creation of the primeval pair is the real ground of the law, that the woman must not teach, and, yet more, not be desirous to rule;” Matthies.

1 Timothy 2:14. And Adam was not, &c. (comp. Genesis 3:1). A second ground, directly connected with the preceding. In 1 Timothy 2:13 it was stated why no authority was given to woman over man; in 1 Timothy 2:14, why she is justly forbidden to teach. “Deceptio indicat minus robur in intellectu, atque hic nervus est, cur mulieri non liceat docere;” Bengel. It is true that Adam also was misled, yet by means of the woman; but she was deceived in the strongest sense of the word, and she alone. She allowed herself to be enticed by the treacherous speech of the serpent, while Adam simply accepted the fruit from her hand. This passage does not conflict with Romans 5:12, since Adam is there named as the head of sinful humanity, without reference to Eve; while here St. Paul regards the origin of sin as given in the Jewish narrative, which, in 2 Corinthians 2:3, also is ascribed to Eve. With Adam, then, was a simple παράβασις; with Eve, ἀπάτη and παράβασις together. Adam was therefore in the transgression, in the state of disobedience to the positive command of God. The reading ἐξαπατηθεῖσα, defended by Lachmann and Tischendorf, strengthens yet more the sense and force of the antithesis. “In this matter the Apostle’s view is confirmed by the character of the female sex, and the experience of all times, which proves how susceptible woman is to such guile and persuasion; and his reasoning needs therefore no defence, but its truth is clear in the very nature of the subject;” Mack. [It should be remarked here, that this narrative of the fall has been held by many sound expositors as a moral truth of primitive history, not to be understood in its literal sense, but portrayed in a symbolic form. The note of Coleridge, although somewhat too much in the vein of Origen, may well be added: “We have the assurance of Bishop Horseley, that the Church of England does not demand the literal understanding of the document contained in the second (from 1 Timothy 2:8) and third chapters of Genesis as a point of faith; divines of the most unimpeachable orthodoxy, and the most averse to allegorizing of Scripture history in general, having from the earliest ages adopted or permitted it in this instance. Nor, if we suppose any man conversant with Oriental works of anything like the same antiquity, could it surprise him to find events of true history in connection with the parable. In the temple language of Egypt, the serpent was the symbol of the understanding. Without or in contravention to the reason, the spiritual mind of St. Paul, the understanding (φρόνημα σαρκὸς, or carnal mind) becomes the sophistic principle, the wily tempter to evil by counterfeit good; ever in league with and always first applying to the desire as the inferior nature, the woman in our humanity; and through the desire prevailing on the will (the manhood, virtus). The Mosaic narrative, thus interpreted, gives a just and faithful exposition of the birth and parentage of sin, as it reveals itself in time;” “Aids to Reflection,” p. 241, ed. 1840. Read also, for a like interpretation, Henry More, “Defence of the Moral Cabbala,” c. 3.—W.]

1 Timothy 2:15. She shall be saved in child-bearing, &c. The Apostle seems to fear lest he may have disheartened the women, and he now adds an encouraging word. Probably it was written in the recollection of the sentence which is coupled in Genesis 3:0. with the story of the fall. God had changed the curse into a blessing for her as well as for Adam, and made the penalty of sin a means of grace. She shall be saved, σωθήσεται. A share in the salvation of Christ is not withheld from her, although she has no part in public teaching. Yet she can only gain the personal enjoyment of this grace when she remains in her allotted calling. Through child-bearing, διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας, proceeds the Apostle; and this expression has often been a stumbling-block. “Do you think it was Paul’s opinion, at the time he wrote 1 Corinthians 7:0., that the salvation of the female sex depends on child-bearing?” asks Schleiermacher, when he opposes the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles. The reply must be undoubtedly in the negative; but it should be added, that no reasonable man, apostle or not apostle, would take this proposition unconditionally; since, in that case, the greatest number of children would best entitle the mother to salvation. We are simply to suppose that the Apostle has in view Christian women only, for whom the question is, how they, who already believe in Christ, should personally gain the salvation they seek. It is, then, quite unnecessary to interpret the διά as meaning the outward mode of the σωθήσεται; still less to give it the sense of “notwithstanding” (Flatt); it denotes simply a condition in which the woman becomes partaker of such blessing. On this use of the preposition, see Winer, p. 339, who gives various examples. The Apostle would say: Far be the thought that the true fulfilment of the duties of a mother, as each might perhaps fear, can hinder the salvation of woman; on the contrary, she will then obtain it, when she remains in her allotted sphere of home (comp. 1 Timothy 5:14). Τεκνογονία does not mean merely the munus puerperæ in the strict sense of the word, but includes the Christian nurture and training of children. The notion that γυνή refers to Eve alone, or to Mary, the mother of the Lord, needs no serious refutation. The Apostle speaks of the Christian wife in general, and therefore can directly use the plural for the singular, when he adds, ἐὰν μείνωσιν. That this last clause does not refer to both men and women (Heydenreich), nor to the children (Chrysostom, Schleiermacher, Leo, Mack), is quite obvious. The last would, on account of the preceding τεκνογονία, be grammatically possible; but it is not probable, since the salvation of the woman would then be made dependent on the continuance of her children in fellowship with Christ. Calvin justly denied this view, when he wrote: “Atqui unica vox est apud Paulum τεκνογονία. Proinde ad mulieres referri, necessarium est ἐὰν μείνωσιν, κ.τ.λ. Quod autem plurale verbum est, nomen vero singulars, nihil habet incommodi. Si quidem nomen indefinitum, ubi scilicet de omnibus communis est sermo, vim collectivi habet, ideoque mutationem numeri facile patitur. Porro ne totammulierum virtutem in conjugalibus officiis includeret, continuo post etiam majores adjicit virtutes, quibus pias mulieres excellere convenit, ut a profanis differant. Imo tunc demum generatio gratum est Deo obsequium, quum ex fide et caritate procedit.” This last must especially be held in view. The slightest trace of singularity vanishes, when we see what the Apostle requires of women in their Christian life. They must endure even to the end, if they will be saved (Matthew 24:13). Πίστις, ἀγάπη, ἁγιασμός, are for them the chief aim, as well as for every man. By the connection of these words with σωφροσύνη, modestia, the exhortation again returns to its starting point, the subordinate rank of woman.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. It belongs to that universal character of Christianity which Paul has unfolded so strongly in 1 Timothy 2:4-7, that the worship of God must be confined to special times and places (comp. John 4:21-24). When the Apostle assigns to the male members of the whole church the duties of preaching and instruction, he condemns, on one side, the clerical exclusiveness which allows the laity in no way to preach the word in the church, and, on the other side, the Quakerism which permits men and women, without restraint, to come forward when moved by the Spirit.

2. It shows the deep spiritual insight of the Apostle, when he urges the removal of all wrath and strife, as irreconcilable with common prayer. A similar suggestion is found in 1 Peter 3:7. Compare the beautiful essay of A. Vinet, entitled, La colére et la priere, in his Études Evangel., p. 436; and most specially see the precept in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:23-25).

3. How incalculable is the debt which women owe to Christianity! how holy is the calling allotted to the believing woman by the gospel! (comp. La Femme, deux discours, par Ad. Monod, Paris, 1855.) While woman before was a slave, the property of the man, the mere victim of his sensual lusts, she is now joint-heir of eternal life (1 Peter 3:7). Although, however, the gospel sanctifies the community and the family, it does not reverse the natural order of things, but requires each to remain in the position God has given to each. This whole passage (1 Timothy 2:8-15) is a continuous practical exposition of the great principle which Paul has affirmed in 1 Corinthians 7:24.

4. The high worth which the Apostle here gives to the duties of the wife and mother, shows likewise with what restrictions we must receive his partial praise of celibacy (1 Corinthians 7:0), and is a sound corrective of all false asceticism.

5. Christian morality must be shown in our attire; and it is never to be forgotten, that the first garments after the fall were sewed by the hand of shame. Still, it would be absurd and petty to push the outward letter of this apostolic precept, as is too often done, although this rule of St. Paul has by no means only a local or temporary meaning. Comp. De Wette, Lehrbuch der christlichen Sittenl., p. 73. The question raised by the precept in 1 Timothy 2:9 (comp. 1 Corinthians 11:14), whether men should wear long hair, provoked in the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, in the seventeenth century, a long and hot dispute. See, for a full account, the learned work of Dr. G. D. J. Schotel, Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis der kerkelijke en wereldlijke kleeding; Haag, 1856.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The public prayer of the church.—The holy disposition needed for holy action.—No really devout prayer without mutual love and peace.—Humility the best dress for woman: (1) The best home dress; (2) the best travelling dress; (3) the best mourning dress; (4) the best grave-dress.—The special position which Christianity has assigned to woman: (1) What Christ is for women; (2) What women must be for Christ.—The eloquence of a Christian silence.—Ministering love, true greatness in the kingdom of God.—The subordination of woman to man grounded not in man’s arbitrary will, but in the order of God at creation. Woman should not forget that sin has come into the world, not first through man, but through her.—The last created was the first deceived.—The Xanthippe character not only unchristian, but unnatural.—The curse of sin on the woman changed, through the grace of God, into a blessing.—The nobleness and blessedness of the calling of a mother.—We may be lost even in the bearing of children, if we remain not in faith and holiness, as well as chastity.—The saving power of the gospel in our home life.—Christianity promotes reformation, not revolution.—“Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40).

Starke: Hedinger: Prayer without glow, without an enkindled spirit, is not good.—Unbelief destroys the best.—Lange’s Op. Bibl.: Although prayer specially concerns the heart, yet the right direction of the heart will lead to the fit manner of prayer.—Spener: The Apostle specially wishes that, in the public worship of God, our thoughts should be more on the inward than the outward.—Women, when they pray or attend Divine service, must not think that they are to prepare for it by splendid dress, gold, pearls, outward ornament, or that such array will please God.—Hedinger: Lavish ornament is the fruit of pride.—Both errors are to be shunned: pomp, and slavish copying of every empty fashion, as well as neglect, uncleanliness, and disorder in dress; for neither becomes a Christian.—Lange’s Op.: In dress we must be guided partly by necessity, partly by comfort, partly, too, by the custom of the country; and thus we must reject all servility and all vain show (1 John 2:15-16).—If woman should learn, then man should allow her the opportunity, to be a good teacher at home, not only in words, but in deeds also (1 Corinthians 14:35).—Much of the discord among married persons usually springs from the fact that the wife will not be subordinate, or the husband does not know how to rule with intelligence and love, and thus misuses his rule (1 Peter 3:7).—Osiander: Since woman is given to man as a help-meet, not a ruler, the right of authority and precedence belongs to man.—Even before the fall, Eve was weaker than Adam; so that Satan turned not to Adam, but to Eve, and led her first astray from God (1 Peter 3:7).—The Apostle does not deny salvation to childless women, but only teaches what is the appointed calling of women, in which holy mothers, by the grace of the Mediator Christ, through faith, attain eternal life.—Lange’s Op.: As faith is not without love, so faith and love are not without salvation.—Hedinger: Believing women who have children have this comfort, that their hardest pain, and even the loss of life, is only a trial sent from the heavenly Father, never a hindrance to salvation (Romans 8:35).

Von Gerlach: It follows from the right spirit of prayer, that our works should be in harmony with our words, and especially in public devotion.—Man, at creation, was complete; but the woman had given her, in her origin, the lot of dependence.—Many who have children are lost; many who are childless are saved.

Heubner: The prayerful Christian consecrates every place as a temple.—The holiest places cannot help him who prays with an unholy spirit.—Dress, the most foolish of vanities.—The Christian woman even in dress shows herself Christian.—True order in the Christian Church edifies the whole.—The woman is blessed as a mother, when she cares for the good Christian nurture of her children.—The specific duties of man and woman.—Lisco: Husband and wife in prayer before God.—The right place of women in the sanctuary.—The true ornament of the Christian in worship.

Footnotes:

1 Timothy 2:8; 1 Timothy 2:8.—[διαλογισμοῦ. Sinaiticus, διαλογισμοῦ. Griesbach, μοῦ, in text; μῶν, in margin. Tischendorf, διαλογισμῶν. The singular form, being the more unusual, is probably the true reading.—E. H.]

1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:9.—[ὡσαύτως κ. τὰς γυν. Lachmann, ὡσαύτως γυναὶκας; so also the Sinaiticus. Tischendorf, ὡσαύτ. κ. γυναῖκας.—E. H.]

1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:9.—[ἢ χρυσῷ; Tischendorf, καὶ χρυσῷ. Sinaiticus the same. Lachmann, A. G., καὶ χρυσιῷ.—E. H.]

1 Timothy 2:12; 1 Timothy 2:12.—[γυναικὶ δὲ διδάσκειν. Lachmann (A. D. G.) has διδάσκειν δὲ γυναικὶ; so also the Sinaiticus. Tischendorf has retained the order of the words in the Recepta.—E. H.]

1 Timothy 2:14; 1 Timothy 2:14.—[ἀπατηθεῖσα. Lachmann, Tischendorf, Sinaiticus, ἐξαπατηθεῖσα. The authorities are consentient here.—E. H.]