CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1 Timothy 2:4. Who will have all men to be saved.—The emphatic word here is “all men.” The good purpose of God is as universal as it is good. It is not the will of the Father that any should perish; and if some will be punished with eternal destruction, they reach a doom that was never meant to be theirs. To come to the knowledge.—As we have seen elsewhere, it is the full or complete knowledge of which St. Paul thinks.
1 Timothy 2:5. For there is one God.—In his wide travels the apostle had met the beliefs in “gods many and lords many.” In contrast to these, of whatever name, he opposes the one God. And one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.—R.V. “Between God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus.” “The human nature of Christ is specially mentioned as being the state in which His mediatorial office was visibly performed” (Ellicott).
1 Timothy 2:6. Who gave Himself a ransom for all.—There is no possibility of evading the vicariousness of the work of Christ as here stated. As the idea of Christ’s substitution comes out in the compound word for “ransom,’ so the benefit accruing therefrom is clear in “for all.” To be testified in due time.—R.V. “the testimony to be borne in its own times.” “The import of the testimony to be set forth in its proper seasons” (Ellicott).
1 Timothy 2:8. I will therefore.—R.V. “I desire therefore.” An active wish is implied. That men pray.—R.V. the men in contrast to women to whom St. Paul gives all honour in that which is purely womanly. Lifting up holy hands.—Compare Psalms 134:2 (R.V. margin), “Lift up your hands in holiness”; and Isaiah 1:15, “When ye spread forth your hands.” The folding of the hands in prayer may be illustrated from the monuments, where captives approach the conqueror, or vassals draw near with tribute.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Timothy 2:4-8
The Universality of Redemption—
I. Is in harmony with the Divine will.—“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). The provisions for the salvation of the race are the outcome of the Divine will; but while He wills the salvation of all, He also wills that that salvation should be obtained by coming to the knowledge of the truth. Hence our prayers for others, in order to their salvation, should be that their eyes may be opened to see the truth, and that they may be induced to embrace it. Because God wills salvation we should pray for it: had He willed the contrary, prayer for salvation would be useless. Our prayers should include all, as God’s grace includes all. Men cannot be forced into the truth; but they may be prayed into it. When Augustine was on the eve of his departure for Rome, where she knew he would have to encounter so many temptations, his mother Monica prayed for the prevention of his going. But he went, and was there converted.
1. The unity of God implies the comprehension of all His human offspring in the provision of redemption. “For there is one God” (1 Timothy 2:5).
2. Redemption was effected by the one Mediator who represented in His humanity the whole human race. “And one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). The word “for” links the unity of God and Christ with the universality of the redemption of the race: prayer should therefore be offered to the one God on behalf of all men. The unity of God 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. God’s unity in essence and purpose is a proof of His comprehending all His human children, created in His image, in His offer of grace. All mankind constitute, as it were, one man before God. They who have not this one God by one Mediator have no mediator at all. Christ’s mediation affects the whole race, since there is but the one Mediator, designed as the representative Man for all men alike. His being man was necessary to His being a mediator, sympathising with us through experimental knowledge of our nature. Even in nature almost all blessings are conveyed to us from God, not immediately, but through the mediation of various agents. The effectual intercession of Moses for Israel (Numbers 14; Deuteronomy 9), of Abraham for Abimelech (Genesis 20:7), of Job for his friends (Job 42:10)—the mediation being prescribed by God whilst declaring His purpose of forgiveness—all prefigure the grand mediation for all by the one Mediator. Man was the captive of sin. He was unable to ransom himself, because absolute obedience is due to God, and therefore no act of ours can satisfy for the least offence. The Son of God therefore became man in order that, being made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, as our elder brother He should redeem us by offering Himself as a ransom, a substituted or equivalent ransom. The oneness of the Mediator, involving the universality of redemption, which faith alone appropriates, was therefore the great subject of Christian testimony (1 Corinthians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:10) (Fausset, Bengel, Alford).
II. Is authoritatively declared by a specially commissioned messenger.—“Whereof I am ordained a preacher and an apostle … a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity” (1 Timothy 2:7). None of the apostles obtained so clear an insight into the wide, far-reaching sweep of the doctrine of redemption as Paul, and no one has argued its universal application more ably than he. The breadth of the gospel as it expanded before his studious gaze effectually cured him of his Jewish prejudices and narrowness, and fitted him as the fearless champion of Gentile rights and privileges. The mixed and restricted gospel of the Judaisers was shrivelled up before the fire of his intensified zeal and the irresistible power of his logic. He refers to the universality of his calling as an evidence of the universality of Divine grace, and as a motive to pray for all men. The solemn protestation, “I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not,” indicates the importance he attached to his mission as a teacher of the Gentiles, notwithstanding the misrepresentations of others.
III. Is a reason for prayer everywhere.—
1. Prayer should be reverential. “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands” (1 Timothy 2:8). The early Christians turned up their palms towards heaven as those craving help do. “Holy hands” are hands which have committed no impiety and observed every sacred duty. This, or at least the contrite desire to be so, is a needful qualification for effectual prayer. It is a feeling which nature has implanted within us, when we ask God, to look upwards. Even idolaters retain the custom of lifting up their hands to heaven. The attitude is in accordance with true godliness, provided it be attended by the corresponding truth represented by it (Fausset, Calvin).
2. Prayer should be offered in a suitable spirit. “Without wrath and doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8). In peace and trust—putting away the spirit of anger and disputing, which is unfriendly to and destructive of the true spirit of prayer. Prayer does not consist in gifted expressions and volubility of speech, but in brokenness of heart. A hard heart cannot pray: a broken heart is made up of prayers. Prayer does not consist in elegance of phrase, but in the strength of the affection. Pray that you may pray.
Lessons.—
1. Redemption is provided for all.
2. It is a great honour to proclaim a gospel of universal blessing.
3. Prayer would be suppressed if all might not be saved.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Timothy 2:4. Salvation for All.
I. God shows His desire for the salvation of men in providence.
II. In conscience.
III. By the Holy Spirit.
IV. In the gift of Christ.—Preacher’s Magazine.
God would have All Men to be saved.
I. The appellation given to the gospel—“the truth.”
II. The knowledge of this truth is connected with salvation, as a means to an end, by no less an authority than the will of God.
III. The connection of the Divine will with the salvation of men.—
1. The object of this will is the salvation of man.
2. In the same sense God willeth all men to be saved.
3. He wills to save men according to the nature He has given them.—R. Watson.
1 Timothy 2:5. The Man Christ Jesus.
I. He is the true man—really and thoroughly man—the common man.
II. He is very man—simply man—as to His human nature and experience neither more nor less nor other than man.
III. He is the one man—the only man in whom the manhood is unbroken and entire—the man unfallen, and therefore unfragmentary.
IV. He is the man to mediate between God and man.
V. He is the man to give Himself a ransom for all.
VI. He is the man to be testified in due time.—R. S. Candlish.
1 Timothy 2:8. Conditions of Success in Prayer.
I. A holy life.—“Lifting up holy hands.”
II. A charitable, forgiving spirit.—“Without wrath.”
III. Faith.—Without “doubting.”—Olin.