1 Timothy 2King James Version
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men. There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Paul instructs the church on prayer, calling for intercessions on behalf of all people including kings and those in authority. He grounds this in the universality of God's desire to save. He then turns to conduct in worship: men should pray without anger or dispute, women should dress modestly and learn in quietness. The chapter ends with debated instructions about women teaching and a reference to Eve's deception.
Worship is ordered by theology, not preference. Praying for all people flows from the conviction that God wants all people saved through the one mediator, Christ Jesus.
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (2:5) This single sentence cuts against every competing religious claim in Ephesus and remains the doctrinal axis around which the entire letter turns.
Ephesus housed the famous temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, surrounded by a city dense with religious commerce, idol-making, and cultic worship. The early church met in homes, navigating questions about how their gatherings should look and sound amid a culture where public religion was theatrical and status-driven. Paul's call to modesty in dress and manner addresses an environment where appearance signaled social rank.
Paul speaks as the appointed teacher of the Gentiles, a role he defends with force. The chapter addresses men and women in the congregation without naming individuals, though the specific instructions about women suggest real and pressing situations in Ephesus rather than abstract principle-setting.
The command to pray for kings would have been heard against the backdrop of Roman imperial power, asking a minority religious community to intercede for the very system that could persecute them. Paul's theological rationale is striking: God wills all men to be saved, so pray accordingly. The verses on women in worship have generated substantial debate across church history, with scholars divided on whether they reflect universal practice or local correction.
There is a steadiness in this chapter that steadies the reader. The reminder that there is one God and one way to him, in a city full of competing deities and shrines, is not triumphalist. It is clarifying. It narrows the field to something a person can actually stand on.
1I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
7Whereunto 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.
8I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
9In 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;
10But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
11Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
13For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
15Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.