Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

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60 FiKST Timothy II. 2.
only to inculcate prayer in its every form, in all the relations implied
in it ; they are to ash, as the expression of need with reference to
God ; they are to pray, and then, by way of climax they are to come
near to God asking. As examples of such an accumulation, the following
passages have already been adduced by others, Gal. v. 19-21
2 Cor. vi. 4, seq., etc. Similarly Huther, who observes that the first
term expresses the idea of one's own insufficieacy, the second that
of devotion, and the third that of childlike confidence. For all
men, as Tit. iii. 1-3. This admonition to pray for all men, has
doubtless the same reference here as there ; it is designed for such
as pretended, on the ground of their superiority as Christians, to have
the right of looking down on all who were not such, as a mass of
perdition. The virep is to be connected with all the afore-mentioned
species of prayer,
Ver. 2. For kings, etc. On the reason of this injunction so oft
repeated in the apostolical epistles, comp. on Tit. iii. 1. It is plain
from ver. 3, seq., that here also the injunction is occasioned by a
false view of the relation in which the Christian stands to the magistracy,
as heathen, and therefore hostile. For kings—the expression
is quite general, without any definite reference to the then
Koman emperor. They are to pray for kings, it is all one who they
are. It is a permanent ordinance. Baur finds in the plural a reference
to the emperor and his associates in the government, as this
relation was common in the time of Antonine. The writer would
thus have forgotten his part. But not only for kings is prayer to be
made, it is to be made for all who are h vnepoxfi, i. e., who have any
share in magisterial authority (comp. Rom. xiii. 1). The word
v-nepoxq, in its general signification, is used by the apostle only again
at 1 Cor. ii. 1. The object or end of the prayer for magistrates, not
its import, is then given in the words which follow : That we may
live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and decency. The
Lva cannot denote the contents of the prayer, for that which one
supplicates for the magistracy cannot be, that the suppliant himself
may have a quiet life ; it is evident also from the sentence introduced
by lva, that the import of the prayer cannot have been the
conversion of the magistrates. It is the blessing which the suppliants
are to expect in answer to their prayers, that is here stated
by the apostle. The blessing which the magistracy obtains from
their prayers will for them bear the fruit of a quiet, peaceable life.
This follows from the design of all government, Rom. xiii. 3, seq. ;
if it is blessed in the fulfilment of this end, namely, the restraining
of the bad and the advancement of the good, then does the subject
necessarily enjoy the blessing of a quiet and peaceable life. The
interpretation, "' that there may be no insurrection amongst us," is
unsuitable, and the other, " that the magistrates, convinced of our