The apostle's first positive instruction to Timothy regarding his leadership of the Ephesian church was that believers should offer prayer for all people. He gave this directive to emphasize its importance, defend its value, and clarify its practice.
"The ministry of prayer is the most important service that the Church of Christ can engage in.
"It [prayer] is the most dynamic work which God has entrusted to His saints, but it is also the most neglected ministry open to the believer."58
"The most essential part of public worship is prayer."59
Every aspect of this prayer touches the church's evangelistic mission.
"The one clear concern that runs through the whole paragraph has to do with the gospel as for everyone (all people,' vv. 1, 4-6, and 7). . . . The best explanation for this emphasis lies with the false teachers, who either through the esoteric, highly speculative nature of their teaching (1:4-6) or through its Jewishness' (1:7) or ascetic character (4:3) are promoting an elitist or exclusivist mentality among their followers. The whole paragraph attacks that narrowness."60
2:1-2 "In saying first of all' Paul underlined the importance of this Godward aspect of the ministry of the church. Paul did not mean that such praying must be the first thing Christians do whenever they assemble, as the word order in the King James Version might imply, but rather that it is an activity he regarded as of primary importance in the total ministry of the church. His use of the present tense throughout these verses indicates that he was setting before them what he hoped would be the practice of those to whom he directed his prayer-exhortation. It is the essential and primary phase of their varied ministries."61
". . . providing a peaceful and orderly society was the state's domain, so prayer for it was calculated to ensure that the best possible conditions for spreading the gospel were obtained."62
"Hence the church's prayers for the world and recognition of the authority of the state are fundamental to the church's evangelistic mission."63
Though Paul used several synonyms for prayer in urging its practice, the words he chose are not significantly different. "Entreaties"(Gr. deeseis) emphasizes the earnestness with which we should make requests because we feel a need for what we ask (cf. Luke 18:1-8). "Prayer"(proseuchas) is a general word covering all types of prayer communication with God. The emphasis is on a spirit of reverence toward God (cf. Matt. 6:9-10). "Petitions"(enteuxeis) are confident requests for others and self (cf. Luke 11:5-13). "Thanksgivings"(eucharistias) is the most different word and served as a reminder that we should express gratitude as well as need in public praying. By using these synonyms Paul was evidently emphasizing the importance of praying all kinds of prayers for all people more than distinguishing its varieties.64
Prayer is so important because it invites God into the situation we pray about and it secures His working on behalf of those in need. Paul did not deal with the reason God has incorporated prayer into His sovereign control of the universe here. He assumed his readers understood this since God has revealed this elsewhere in Scripture. His point here was that Christians must not fail to take advantage of this supernatural resource at their disposal by neglecting prayer.
"The failure of the church to pray in accordance with this exhortation is one of its great sins today."65
In response to the requests of His people God will do things that He will not do if they do not ask (James 4:2).
"If such praying were useless, the apostle would not write what he does write."66
This verse (v. 1) should answer the question of whether we should pray for the unsaved. "All men"certainly includes them. Paul undoubtedly meant all kinds of people rather than every single individual. The king at the time Paul wrote this epistle was Nero, an unbeliever for whom Paul specifically told his readers to pray. Furthermore the focus of their request was to be not only their own tranquillity but the king's salvation (v. 4).
Primarily we should pray for governmental leaders and those in positions of lesser authority under them so that we may lead tranquil (Gr. eremos, outwardly peaceful) and quiet (hesychios, inwardly peaceful) lives. We should not do so primarily for our personal ease and enjoyment but so we can carry out our purpose in the world as Christians (cf. 6:1). Our purpose is to bring the message of reconciliation to all people and to glorify God in all our relationships. Obviously the type of government under which people live influences their lives and affects their spiritual welfare.
"Godliness"(Gr. eusebeia, v. 2) refers to an attitude of reverence for God based on knowledge of Him. Paul used this word 10 times in the Pastorals, and this is its first occurrence. "Dignity"(semnoteti) refers to the outward manifestation of that attitude in righteous behavior.
2:3-4 Prayers of this type please God because God is essentially the Savior, the One who delights to rescue sinners from the wages of their sin. There is nothing in this text or in any other that would limit the truly universal interpretation of "all men."God wants everyone to experience eternal salvation. The fact that He allows people to perish seems to contradict this, but it does not. The solution to this apparent contradiction, I believe, lies in recognizing that God's ultimate priority is not the salvation of all people but His own glory. Somehow it will glorify God more for some to perish than it would for all to be saved. Even though this plan will result in the greater glory of God it causes God considerable pain. This is clear in the many references in Scripture to God sorrowing over the fate of those believers and unbelievers who choose to spurn Him.67
"It's often said that the purpose of prayer is not to get man's will done in heaven, but to get God's will done on earth."68
"Even those who will not allow you to speak to them about God, cannot prevent you speaking to God about them. What mighty conquests have been won this way--Hudson, a young schoolboy, reading tracts in his father's study one Sunday afternoon while his parents were away for the week-end; his mother constrained, where she was, to pray specially for her boy, who was called that very afternoon, miles away, to the Savior, and to become the great Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission. Reuben, a dissolute young man who has left home, has one night got out of bed to commit suicide; his mother, miles away, has that very hour been constrained also to get out of bed, and to pray specially for her erring son, who, instead of suicide, was saved, subsequently to become the famous American evangelist, Dr. R. A. Torrey."69
2:5-6 Many commentators believed Paul was citing another common creedal statement in these verses. Another possibility is that God inspired him to form this statement himself as he wrote this epistle. In either case we have here a succinct affirmation of the person and work of Christ. The whole statement supports what Paul just said in verses 3 and 4.
The God-man is the only mediator of the New Covenant between God and man, providing salvation manward and facilitating prayer Godward. This is something that people have found hard to accept throughout history. In Paul's day the Jews looked to Moses (Gal. 3:19) or angels (Heb. 2:6) as mediators, and the Gnostics looked to intermediary deities (aeons). In our own day Roman Catholics and others look to dead "saints"for mediatorial benefits, and Buddhists look to their ancestors. Nevertheless the teaching of verse 5 is clear: the only mediator between God and people is Jesus Christ.
"This is one of the most significant verses of the NT."70
In the "fullness of time"Jesus was born and died giving His life as payment to free the human race ("all") from slavery to sin. Jesus' death made all people savable.71Limited redemptionists interpret "all men"to be all the elect. Universalists interpret "all men"to be every human individual. Other passages of Scripture that speak of Christ's death as providing a basis for the salvation of everyone contradict the limited redemptionists (e.g., John 3:16, 1 John 2:2; et al.). Passages that indicate not everyone will be saved refute the universalists (e.g., Matt 25:46; Rev. 20:15; et al.).
A "ransom"(Gr. antilutron, used only here in the New Testament) is a ransom price. This word and this verse clearly set forth the idea that Jesus Christ died as the substitute for all people. Some benefits of Christ's death do not belong to the elect exclusively. He paid the debt "for all."
2:7 Paul's final support of his command to pray for all people was this. God had commissioned him to herald the gospel to the Gentile world, not the Jews who were God's favored people in times past. Paul proclaimed the faith truthfully, in contrast to the false teachers. His affirmation of truthfulness further emphasized his point.
The churches of North America generally neglect this exhortation to pray. Most churches spend relatively little time at it and consequently reveal an attitude toward it that is quite different from Paul's. I believe we have an unrealistic view of life. The world system promotes the idea that we do not need God, and we have accepted this heresy. In contrast Paul and all of Scripture teach that we are absolutely dependent on God (cf. John 15:5). The degree to which we believe that will be the degree to which we pray.
"The practice of prayer cannot be forced by an outward command but must be prompted by an inner conviction of its importance and need."72
