Bible Commentaries

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

Ver. 1. Supplications] Or, deprecations indited by that Spirit of supplication, or of deprecation, as some render it, Zechariah 11:10.

Prayers] Strictly taken for petitions or requests of good at God’s hands, which go commonly accompanied with vows of better obedience, as Genesis 28:21-22, Psalms 51:14. Hence they have their name, προσευχαι.

Intercessions] Interparlings with God, either for ourselves (while we stand upon interrogatories with him, 1 Peter 3:21, as Paul doth, Romans 8:33-35, and expostulate as David often, but especially when Satan, sin, and conscience accuse us), or for others, while we complain to God against such as wrong them, and withal set ourselves seriously to implore his aid for their relief and rescue, εντευξεις, επερωτημα.

For all men] i.e. For all sorts of men, as the word "all" is used Luke 11:42.

2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Ver. 2. For kings, &c.] Though persecutors, if they have not yet sinned against the Holy Ghost, as Julian had. Voluit scilicet Christus etiam aliquando Reginam in caelum vehere, saith Luther of Elizabeth, Queen of Denmark, who lived and died in the truth of the gospel. God hath his, even among great ones too.

A quiet and peaceable life] Quiet, from inbred tumults and commotions; and peaceable, from foreign invasions and incursions of the enemy. See Jeremiah 29:7.

In all godliness and honesty] And not come to eat the bread of our souls with the peril of our lives, as they do in various places of this land at this day. Det meliora Deus. He will do it.

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

Ver. 3. For this is good, &c.] viz. This praying for all men. And should we not frame to that which God accepts without questioning or quarrelling? Let us not dispute, but despatch our Master’s will.

4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Ver. 4. Who will have all men, &c.] God willeth, to wit, with a will whereby he inviteth, and putteth no bar; not with a will whereby he effecteth it, taking away all impediments.

That all men] Not distributively taken, but collectively, as thrice in one verse, Colossians 1:28.

Should be saved] viz. If they do what he commandeth: God doth not tie himself to cause them to do what he commandeth, that they may be saved.

And to come to the knowledge] The only way to salvation. Pray therefore that their eyes may be opened, Acts 26:18.

5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Ver. 5. For there is one God] sc. Both of kings and subjects, both of heathens and Christians. Go boldly to him therefore, for yourselves and others. "Have we not all one Father?" Malachi 2:10; "Art not thou our Father?" Isaiah 63:16; "O Lord" (saith the Church in Habakkuk), "art not thou from everlasting my God, mine Holy One?" It was a bold question, but God approves it, and assents to it in a gracious answer ere they went further: "We shall not die," say they abruptly; by a cast of God’s countenance they could tell so much. So true is that of Jamblichus a heathen (but herein he speaks more like a Christian), Supplicatio familiares et Deorum domesticos facit eos, qui ea utuntur. Prayer gives a humble boldness and a holy familiarity with God unto those that use it; and again, prayer, saith he, is like a key whereby we may open God’s treasury, and take out of it plentiful mercy for ourselves and others.

Between God and men] Gr. of God and men; he is God for the business with God; and man, for the business with man.

One Mediator] Not of redemption only (as the Papists grant), but of intercession too. We need no other master of requests in heaven, but the man Christ Jesus, who being so near us in the matter of his incarnation, will never be strange to us in the business of intercession. But what horrible blasphemy is that of the Papists, who in their devotions say thus, By the blood of Thomas Becket, which he did spend, make us, Christ, to climb where Thomas did ascend! (Acts and Mon.)

6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Ver. 6. A ransom] Gr. αντιλυτρον, a counterprice; such as we could never have paid, but must have remained, and even rotted in prison, but for our all-sufficient surety and Saviour.

7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

Ver. 7. A teacher of the Gentiles] His Epistles therefore should be highly prized by us Gentiles, and diligently studied. St Peter admires them, 2 Peter 3:15, and commends them to the Church’s reading. And because there are some things in them hard to be understood, and easy to be wrested from their right meaning, 2 Peter 3:16, it was therefore grave advice that one gives young Christians, that they should begin at the latter end of St Paul’s Epistles, which treateth of points of practice. Since a corrupt life can never have a sound judgment.

8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

Ver. 8. Pray everywhere] Any place now (be it but a chimney) may make a goodly oratory, John 4:21.

Lifting up holy hands] Better washed than Pilate’s were, rinsed in that blessed fountain of Christ’s blood, Zechariah 13:1. Else, God utterly abhors them, Isaiah 1:15-16. The priests had their laver to wash in, before they sacrificed. The Turks at this day before prayer wash both face and hands, sometimes their head, and other parts of the body. But what saith St James, James 4:8, and the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 4:14? The fountain of goodness will not be laden at with foul hearts and hands.

Without wrath] Or, rancour, Matthew 5:24. God will not be served till men be reconciled. When Abraham and Lot were agreed, then God appeared.

Or doubting] Hebrews 11:6; James 1:6; without disceptation or reasoning with carnal reason.

9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

Ver. 9. In like manner also] Men have had their lessons. Now for women they are taught modesty in their attire (such as may neither argue wantonness nor wastefulness), silence in the Church, subjection in the family.

Or costly array] Which yet great ones may wear; but they may not buy it with extortion, and line it with pride; since clothes are the ensigns of our shame, our fineness is our filthiness, and our neatness our nastiness. See Isaiah 3:12-26, where the prophet inveighs, as if he had viewed the ladies’ wardrobes in Jerusalem.

10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

Ver. 10. But which becometh] Our common conversation should be as becometh the gospel of Christ, πολιτευεσθε, Philippians 1:27. And it is a sure sign of a base mind, to think that one can make himself great with anything that is less than himself; or that he can win more credit by his garments than by his graces. The worst apparel, saith one, is nature’s garment; the best, but folly’s garnish.

11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.

Ver. 11. Let the woman learn] Not to teach, to wit, in the public assemblies, be she never so learned or godly. {See Trapp on "Romans 16:1"}

12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

Ver. 12. Nor to usurp authority] As they will easily do if suffered to preach, αυθεντειν, to have what she will. Preachers are rulers, guides, captains, Hebrews 13:7; Hebrews 13:17. If the hen be suffered to crow once, &c. A prudent wife commands her husband by obeying him, as Sarah, Livia.

But to be in silence] Video, taceo, I see and say nothing, was Queen Elizabeth’s motto. Where should the tongue be but in the head?

13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

Ver. 13. For Adam was first formed] επλασθη. As the vessel is formed by the potter out of the clay. See Genesis 2:7. The common opinion is, that the very same day επλασθη και εξηλασθη, he was formed and driven out; that he lodged not one night in Paradise; so sudden was the serpent’s seducing, his wife’s consenting, his yielding, God’s execution.

Then Eve] For Adam’s use and help, therefore she must not take upon her. Howbeit the Jews are out, that hold women to be of a lower creation, made only for the propagation and pleasure of man; also that they have not so divine a soul as men, and therefore they suffer them not to enter into the synagogue, but appoint them a gallery without. Their Rabbis (who have as many foolish dreams about the Old Testament as the Friars have about the New) conceive both Adam and Eve to be created without the use of reason; and that the tree of knowledge was to accelerate it. Socinians also say (but falsely) that they were as simple and weak as little children; otherwise they would not have so sinned. Cuius contrarium verum est.

14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Ver. 14. And Adam was not deceived] i.e. He was not deceived so much by his judgment (though also by that too) as by his affection to his wife, which at length blinded his judgment. Look we well to our affections; for by these maids Satan still wooeth the mistress.

Being deceived, was in the transgression] Uxor mea tota in fermento est, said he in Plautus. {See Trapp on "Genesis 3:6"} Yet Adam sinned more than Eve, because he had more wisdom and strength. He could set his affections as the artificer doth his clock, to make it strike when and what he will.

15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Ver. 15. Saved in childbearing] δια for εν, ut Romans 11:28. Not by it, as by a cause; but notwithstanding the cross laid upon all childbearing women, Genesis 3:16, they shall have free entrance into heaven, if they continue in faith and charity, &c.