Calvin / McGrath 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus

1. Auflage 1998
ISBN: 978-1-4335-5408-7
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 17, 208 Seiten

Reihe: Crossway Classic Commentaries

Original works by godly writers, tailored for the understanding of today's reader For hundreds of years Christendom has been blessed with Bible commentaries written by great men of God who were highly respected for their godly walk and their insight into spiritual truth. The Crossway Classic Commentary Series, carefully adapted for maximum understanding and usefulness, presents the very best work on individual Bible books for today's believers. Timothy and Titus were two of Paul's faithful associates. When problems arose in a church, Paul knew he could depend on either one of them to handle the situation. In these three epistles Paul encourages his younger colleagues in their roles as pastors. He advises them on worship, leadership, integrity issues, and generation gaps. With confidence the aging apostle passes the torch of faith and exhorts them to be Christ's representatives on earth. John Calvin's exploration of the key passages of these three pastoral epistles not only provides historical insight into the early church, but also guidance and encouragement for pastors and lay leaders today.

John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the most influential theologians of the Reformation. Known best for his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he also wrote landmark expositions on most of the books in the Bible.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Calvin, John

McGrath, Alister

Leseproben

1 Timothy Chapter 2

In this second chapter Paul directs that prayers should be offered in public for everyone, especially for “kings and all those in authority.” This leads him into a digression about the benefits of civil government. Paul says that prayers should be offered for everyone, because God, in offering the Gospel, and Christ, as Mediator for everyone, demonstrates that he wants everyone to be saved. Paul supports this by pointing out that his own apostleship was particularly directed toward the Gentiles. So Paul invites all people, from every country and of every race, to pray to God. He take the opportunity to say that women should behave in a modest and subservient way when the church fellowship comes together.

Verses 1-4

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1. I urge, then. The religious exercises Paul urges here keep and strengthen us in our sincere worship and fear of God and encourage the good conscience he has already spoken about. Then is used appropriately here, since his instructions follow on from what he has just told Timothy.

First, Paul mentions public prayer. He says prayers should be offered not just for believers, but for everyone. Some might respond to this and say, “Why do we need to worry about unbelievers, as they have nothing to do with us? Is it not enough for us to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters and to commend the whole church to God?” Paul opposes such a perverse idea and encourages the Ephesians to include everyone in their prayers and not to restrict them just to the body of the church.

Requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving. I admit that I do not fully understand the difference between three of the four different kinds of prayer mentioned here by Paul. Augustine’s way of making them fit into the ceremonial services of his own day is silly. The more straightforward way of viewing them is better. Requests are prayers made to deliver us from evil. Prayers are prayers asking something that benefits us. Intercessions are our laments before God about something that has hurt us. But for myself, I do not go in for such subtle distinctions. Rather, I draw a different kind of distinction. Prayers is the general Greek word for every kind of prayer, and requests means those kinds of prayer where specific things are asked for. So these words are linked as genus and species. Intercession is the word Paul usually uses for our prayers for each other, which in Latin is the word from which we derive intercession. However, Plato, in the second Alcibiades dialogue, uses the word in a different way to mean a specific prayer made by the person for himself. In that book there are many examples showing that prayer is a general term.

I do not want to spend a disproportionate time on this matter of little importance. I think that Paul is simply saying that whenever public prayers are offered, requests and intercession should be made for everyone, even for those who are not linked to us. It is not a waste of time to use various words. It seems to me that Paul deliberately uses three words to mean the same thing in order to underline that prayers should be prayed with fervor and constancy. We know how easy it is to be lazy in this religious duty, so it is hardly surprising that the Holy Spirit, through Paul’s words, should use different ways to stir us up.

Thanksgiving. There is nothing difficult about the meaning of the word thanksgiving. Paul says that we should both pray for the salvation of unbelievers and also give thanks for their general welfare. The wonderful way in which God shows us his goodness every day should make us praise him. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). Our love for our neighbor should go beyond those who deserve this.

2. For kings and all those in authority. Paul mentions these because Christians may have had good reason to hate them above everyone else. All the magistrates of those days were implacably opposed to Christ. The Christians may have thought that they should not pray for people who used all their energies and money to oppose Christ’s kingdom. For Christians, the one thing that mattered was that Christ’s kingdom should be extended. Human depravity is not sufficient ground for not supporting something that God ordained. God appointed princes and magistrates to preserve mankind. No matter how much they fail to do this, we must not stop supporting what God willed. We must positively want it to be preserved. So believers must, in whatever country they live, obey the laws and wishes of magistrates. They should also commend their welfare to God in their prayers. To the Israelites, Jeremiah said, “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:7). Scripture teaches this everywhere. We should want the peaceful continuation of the governments of this world, which have been appointed by God.

That we may lead peaceful and quiet lives. Paul gives another reason for praying for kings and magistrates. He says this is to our advantage and that many benefits can be derived from a well-ordered government. One benefit is quiet lives. Magistrates have the power of the sword to keep the peace. Thieves and murderers would overrun the world if such evil people were not curbed. The right way to keep peace is for everyone to have what is their own and for violent people to be restrained.

In all godliness and holiness. Another advantage is that godliness is promoted. This happens when magistrates support religion, the worship of God, and make sure sacred things are given due reverence. The third advantage is looking after public (literally) “gravity,” or holiness. [The RSV translates it as “respectful in every way.”—Ed. note] Magistrates help stop people from handing themselves over to a life of impurity, and help to promote decency. If these three things were taken away, can you imagine how our society would disintegrate? If we have any concern for public peace or godliness or decency, it is our duty to support those who carry out this important work.

We conclude that fanatics who want to abolish magistrates are devoid of all humanity and only want to create violent chaos. What a world of difference there is between Paul, who for the sake of preserving justice and decency, and for promoting religion, says that we should pray for kings, and those people who say that all rulers and governments oppose religion. The Holy Spirit is the author of what Paul says. So we must think of these fanatics as coming from the devil.

Should we pray for the kings from whom we derive no benefit? Yes, we should pray that, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they may start to give the blessings that they have so far failed to provide. So, as well as praying for good kings we should ask God to make evil rulers good. We must keep in mind the principle that God appointed magistrates for the protection of religion and for upholding public peace and decency, just as the earth was ordained to produce food. In the same way as when we pray for our daily bread we ask God to bless the land and make it fertile, so we should regard magistrates as the normal means through which God bestows his blessings. I must add to this, that it is our own fault if we are deprived of those blessings the magistrates should provide. God’s wrath makes the magistrates useless to us, just as the earth is made infertile as a result of God’s wrath. So we should pray to be delivered from being punished from the results of our own sins.

On the other hand, magistrates are reminded here about their own duty. It is not enough that they just restrain injustice by making sure each person has what belongs to him, and just to keep the peace; they must be keen to promote religion and enforce good morality through positive discipline. David’s exhortation that they should “kiss the Son” (Psalm 2:12) is very relevant: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.” Isaiah’s words that they should be like foster fathers to the church are also relevant here. “Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet” (Isaiah 49:23). So magistrates have no reason to be self-congratulatory if they do not help to maintain the worship of God.

3. This is good, and pleases God our Savior. Paul has shown how expedient his argument is. He now uses a stronger basis for his argument, that it pleases God. If we know that something is God’s will, that is the best reason we can have for doing it. Good means right and lawful. God’s will is the overall yardstick for everything we do; so Paul demonstrates that this is right because it pleases God.

This is a passage worthy of special note. It gives us the general principle that the only proper rule for right actions is if it meets with God’s approval. We should only do these kinds of things. It is the same with godly prayer. If we have God as our...