1 Timothy 2

—the man Christ Jesus.] Not a mere man: for if He be only a man, He is at the same infinite distance from God as other men are: how then can He mediate with God? And if He be only man, He is one of those who stand in need to be mediated for Himself; how then can He mediate for men? And besides, how can He be a mediator, who is infinitely below one of the parties, and not at all above the other? How can such an one ever bring them together? But the Apostle doth not say, that He is only a man; He only saith, He is “the man Christ Jesus.” having in many other places declared in the name of God, that this Christ Jesus is the Son of God, of the same form and substance with the Father, and so truly God Himself. See Rom. ix. 5; Phil. ii. 5, 6: also John x. 30. There are many such expressions all over the Bible, which clearly and undeniably demonstrate, that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, and subsisting in the Divine nature; so that He Himself also is very God, the same in all His essential properties or perfections with the Father: and therefore when He is here called “the man Christ Jesus,” it cannot be so understood as if He were not God; for that would be a plain contradiction to the rest of the Scriptures, and to this very place too, where He is said to be the “Mediator between God and men,” which none can be unless he be God Himself. Bp. Beveridge.

—for all,] These verses contain several convincing arguments, that God wills the salvation of all men in particular, and that Christ thus died for all. For, 1st, the Apostle here enjoins us to pray for all men, because “God will have all men to be saved.” Now it is unquestionably the Christian’s duty, and was the constant practice of the church, to pray for all men in particular; and therefore the reason here assigned for this duty must reach to all men in particular. 2dly, The Apostle reasons thus: “God will have all men to be saved,” because He is the God of all, the common Father, Creator, Governour, and Preserver of all men. Now thus He is the God of all men in particular; and so this argument must shew, He would have all men in particular to be saved. 3dly, “He would have all men to be saved,” saith the Apostle, “for there is one Mediator,—the man Jesus Christ,” &c. Now if the argument from one God was, as we have proved, designed to shew that He was the God of all men in particular; the argument from this one Mediator must also prove Christ the Mediator of all men in particular. Dr. Whitby.

— without wrath and doubting.] “Without doubting;” that is, so as not to doubt of the promises of God. Schleumer. The general meaning of the precept is, Let their prayers be holy, accompanied with faith and charity. To pray with doubting, is opposed to faith; to pray in wrath, is opposed to charity. Burkitt.

Ver. 1. — If a man desire the office of a bishop.] That the words “bishop” and “presbyter” are sometimes in the New Testament used promiscuously to denote the same church officer, is evident from Titus i. 5, compared with ver. 7. Soon after the times of the writing of the New Testament, the use of the two words began to be distinguished by the church, and the name of bishops to be appropriated to the highest order of the clergy, distinguished hitherto by the name of Apostles; and the name of presbyters to be appropriated to the clergy of the second rank or order; as is evident from the writings of those who lived in the second century. Whether St. Paul intended here to describe the qualifications of a minister of the highest or of the second rank, seems to be a matter, concerning which there is no occasion for much dispute. For the two superior offices of the clergy are the same in many respects: and consequently the qualifications requisite for each must be much the same. Dr. Wells.

— a good work.] An honourable office. Pyle.

1 Timothy 2:2

2. For kings, and for all that are in authority.] Because, as temporal governours and magistrates, whether they be of the true religion or not, they are still the ministers of God for the good of the communities they govern. Pyle.

So the Jews prayed and offered sacrifices for the Persian kings, and the welfare of their government, Ezra vi. 10. Thus Jeremiah directed them to do in their captivity, i.e. xxix. 7: and the Jews in Babylon sent to those in Judea to pray for the life of the king of Babylon, Bar. i. 11. They acted in the same manner under the kings of Egypt and Syria; and lastly, when they came under the Roman government, this was their constant practice, till they commenced that rebellion, under which their city, country, religion, and nation were destroyed. And that the Christians, following their example, thus prayed continually for their kings, we learn from the earliest Christian writers, and from all the ancient liturgies. Dr. Whitby.

The princes, of whom the Apostle speaks, were infidels; and such they were, by the permission of God, to continue for three hundred years after the coming of our Saviour. The kings of the earth were not during this period to promote the belief of the Gospel any otherwise than by opposing it. When the rest of the world had come in, and owned our Saviour, then, and not till then, were the rulers of it to submit their sceptres to the sceptre of Christ. If then the tribute of “supplications and thanksgivings” were due in behalf of those heathen princes, is it not much more due in behalf of those who are Christians; who are ingrafted, as principal members, into that mystical body, of which Christ Jesus is the head; who, under Him, are the chief governours of His church here below, and guardians of all her sacred rights and privileges? They beseech and they praise God together with us in the same common assemblies; and we are therefore doubly obliged to beseech and to praise God for them. Bp. Atterbury.

1 Timothy 2:3

3. For this is good and acceptable &c.] The argument of the Apostle is, that God under the Gospel approves of our praying for all men, and requires it at our hands, in proportion to the example which He hath given us in Himself, who earnestly desires the good of all mankind, and useth powerful means to bring them to reform their former wicked courses, and now to entertain the Gospel. Dr. Hammond.

1 Timothy 2:4

4. Who will have all men to be saved, &c.] As appears by His publishing to all mankind, all nations and languages, the means of salvation; and by commanding His stewards and ministers to endeavour the conversion of all, and to pray for them amongst themselves. Bp. Fell.

1 Timothy 2:5

5. For there is one God.] Who is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews, Rom. iii. 29, 30; the Creator, Eph. iii. 9; the Father, Matt. vi. 9; the Lord, Acts xvii. 24; the Saviour of all men, chap. iv. 10. Dr. Whitby. The Apostle’s argument runs thus, We ought to pray for all, because there is one God who is good to all; and one Mediator between God and mankind, who took upon Him the common nature of all men, and gave Himself a satisfactory and sufficient ransom for all, which was in due time testified and borne witness to by us His Apostles. We may learn hence, that the only way of friendly intercourse between God and man, is through a Mediator: that there is no other mediator but Jesus Christ, who is called “the man,” not to exclude His Divine nature, but to declare emphatically that nature, in which He gave Himself a ransom for us; and that, since this one Mediator gave Himself a ransom for all, whosoever perishes under the Gospel, perishes, not because no ransom was paid for him, but because he rejects and refuses the offer of salvation. Burkitt.

—one mediator between God and men.] Among the various species of idolatry one is, when God is worshipped in a way which He hath forbidden, and through false mediators. God commanded the Jews, not only to worship Him alone, but to pay Him publick worship after a certain prescribed manner, and in certain times and places: and they, who neglected and violated these rites and ceremonies, were looked upon as departers from God, and ranked along with idolaters. God also appointed a sort of mediator between Himself and the people. Moses performed this office, and then Aaron, and the high priests in succession. The people were not permitted to burn incense, to offer sacrifices, to bless the congregation, or to invade any part of the priesthood: and faults of this kind were severely and sometimes miraculously punished. These were types and figures and forerunners of that one great High Priest and Mediator, who was to be revealed; “who, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,” where “He ever liveth to make intercession for us.” There is to us Christians, “one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Hence it follows, that the worship, which so many Christians pay to angels, to saints, to images, to bones and relics, and to the blessed Virgin, whom they style our Lady, and the Mother of God, and the Queen of heaven, is really a false worship hardly distinguishable from idolatry. When it is said by way of excuse, that they worship

Paul’s commission to the Gentiles. Anno DOMINI 65. mony.

1 Timothy 2:6

6. Who gave himself a ransom for all,] Compare Matt. xx. 28. That is, He gave His life instead of ours, to expiate and atone for those lives, which we by sin had forfeited. Dr. Whitby. That there was a price paid for our redemption, the Scriptures are clear. “Ye are bought with a price,” saith St. Paul, 1 Cor. vi.; and he saith it over again in the 7th chapter. He that paid it calleth it “a ransom,” Matt. xx. 28; that is as much as to say, a price of redemption; and His Apostle somewhat more in this passage, using a term which signifieth a just and satisfactory price, full as much as the thing can be worth. Yet this was not paid to Satan, in whose possession we were; for he was but an usurper, and his title naught. But it was paid to Almighty God, our Redeemer’s Father, and our Lord; under whose heavy curse we lay, and whose just vengeance would not be appeased towards us for our grievous presumption, without a condign satisfaction. To Him there was a price paid by our Redeemer, the greatest that was ever paid for any purchase since the world began: even Himself, in whom are amassed and hidden all the treasures of the wisdom of God, and even the whole riches of His grace; treasures enough teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

1 Timothy 2:7

7.—(I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;)] This oath or vehement affirmation was necessary, not on Timothy’s account, but probably on account of the Jews at Ephesus or elsewhere, who asserted that the Gospel was not to be preached to the Gentiles, or only on the terms of their being circumcised, which the Apostle resolutely opposed. Dr. Whitby. —in faith and verity.] Administering the Gospel faithfully and truly, without concealing or adding any thing. Dr. Hammond.

1 Timothy 2:8

8.—that men pray every where,] That is, in every place appointed for publick worship. As the Apostle is speaking of publick prayer, his meaning appears to be, that the men, and not the women, were to lead the devotion of the assembly; especially as in ver. 12. he expressly forbids women to speak in the church. Dr. Macknight. —lifting up holy hands,] The ceremony of washing was among the Jews constantly used before prayers. This significant rite the Apostle here applies to the

1 Timothy 2:9

9. — that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, &c.] It seems impossible to fix a certain rule for the attire of women of all states and conditions, at all times, and in all places. Different apparel is necessary to distinguish between the different qualities and ranks of persons. But from what St. Paul says here, and from what St. Peter says, 1 Pet. iii. 3, it seems evident, that all attire is forbidden which betrays immodesty, or raises a suspicion prejudicial to the character of the wearer: or which discovers pride or vanity of spirit, and is therefore not consistent with sobriety, much less with the profession of true godliness: or which, by the attention paid to the external adorning of the body, occasions neglect of the adorning of the mind. Such a precept as this ought not to be slighted, since it is so carefully inculcated by the two chief Apostles of the Jews and Gentiles, St. Peter and St. Paul; and the contrary is represented as a practice opposite to godliness. The precept is applicable at all times, but has especial regard to seasons of publick worship. Dr. Whitby, Burkitt.

1 Timothy 2:12

12. But I suffer not a woman to teach.] That is, publicly. See 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35; and the note there. They may privately instruct, as Priscilla did Apollos, Acts xviii. 26; and as a believing wife may instruct her unbelieving husband, when he requires a reason of her faith; but then she must not challenge any authority to do this, this being to usurp an authority not due to her. Dr. Whitby.

1 Timothy 2:13

13. — then Eve.] Out of him, to denote her subordination to, and dependence upon him. Dr. Hammond.

1 Timothy 2:14

14. And Adam was not deceived.] That is, first and immediately deceived; “but the woman being deceived, was” first “in the transgression.” She was therefore guilty of her own and her husband’s transgression; and accordingly, not only by the law of her creation, but as a punishment for her transgression, God has placed her in a state of subjection, and given authority over her to the man. Burkitt.

1 Timothy 2:15

15. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, &c.] Commentators are much divided about the meaning of this passage: the following paraphrase of Bp. Hall appears to give a good and consistent sense.

but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.