1 Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;… The apostle gives Timothy a series of injunctions respecting the assemblies for public worship, which sprang naturally out of the solemn charge he had given him in the previous chapter. I. THE PARAMOUNT DUTY OF PUBLIC PRAYER. "I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, supplications, thanksgivings, be made for all men." 1. The leading place given to prayer in this series of instructions respecting the administration of the Church, proves its pre-eminent importance. It is the breath of vital godliness. (1) God promises to hear public prayer (2 Chronicles 7:14-16); (2) Christ sanctifies it by his presence (Matthew 18:20); (3) the saints delight in it (Psalm 42:4); (4) they are to be exhorted to the exercise of it (Hebrews 10:25); (5) it is not to be conducted in an unknown tongue (1 Corinthians 14:14-16). 2. The variety of terms in which it is here described implies the diversity of circumstances in which God's people are placed. (1) "Petitions." This term expresses the sense of insufficiency and need, and may be a special form of a particular prayer. (2) "Prayers." This is prayer in general, as representing the spirit of devotion. (3) "Supplications." This signifies a closer dealing with God, a more childlike confidence in prayer. (4) "Thanksgivings." This suggests that element which ought never to be absent from our supplications - gratitude for past mercies. II. FOR WHOM ARE WE TO PRAY? "For all men." 1. It would not be acceptable prayer if we were to pray only for ourselves. It is not Christ-like to look down with a sense of superiority upon the mass of men as sunk in perdition. 2. We are bound to love all men, and therefore to pray for their welfare. Much of our happiness depends upon our identifying ourselves lovingly with others. III. PRAYERS ARE SPECIALLY TO BE MADE FOR KINGS AND ALL IN HIGH PLACE. "For kings and for all in high place." 1. Such persons pre-eminently need our prayers. (1) They wield great power for good or evil; (2) they are exposed to many dangers; (3) they are liable to greater temptations than other men. 2. God has power to influence their public action. (1) The hearts of kings are in his hands; (2) he sets them up and he removes them (Daniel 2:21); (3) he can establish their throne in righteousness and justice (Proverbs 16:12). 3. Kings can do much to promote the well-being of the Church of God. "That we may pass a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity." We should pray for kings, because they can promote our outward peace and our inward tranquility, by restraining the bad and encouraging the good. Kings can thus protect us in the exercise of our religion and in the practice of godliness. Wicked kings can expose the godly to cruel risks, and expose their gravity to unseemly perils. 4. The duty of praying for kings is not affected by the consideration that they are pagans, or oppressors, or persecutors. (1) Christians will pray the more earnestly for them that God will change their hearts. All the kings were pagans in the days of the apostle, and many of them persecutors. (2) It was specially necessary to enjoin prayer for kings upon Christian communities, consisting largely of Jews who had an intense longing to throw off the Roman yoke. It is a curious fact that it was the cessation of prayer by the Jews on behalf of the Roman emperor that led to the final war four years after this injunction was given by the apostle. It may have been owing to his injunction that the Christians were not involved in the disasters of that fatal rebellion. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; |
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