1 Timothy 2:8

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) I will therefore.—The Apostle here again turns to the subject of “public prayer,” now giving directions respecting the persons who should offer their prayers, and also telling them how these public requests to God should be made. “I will therefore” expresses on St. Paul’s part no mere wish or desire, but it is the expression of his solemn apostolical authority. It might be rendered, I desire therefore.

That men pray every where . . .—Better rendered, in every place. The greater liberty which women, under the teaching of Christ, had enjoyed; the new position they occupied in the Christian commonwealth; the distinguished services many of them had been permitted to accomplish in the Master’s service—in such instances as the Marys, Dorcas, Priscilla, Lydia, and others—had no doubt contributed to a certain self-assertion on the part of female converts in the Ephesian congregations, which threatened grave disorders in the conduct of divine worship. St. Paul, in his directions respecting divine service in the Christian assemblies, follows the custom here of the Jewish synagogue, where women were forbidden to speak. Men, said St. Paul, in every place where a congregation in the name of Christ was gathered together, were to be the offerers of prayer. The word “everywhere” seems a memory of the Lord’s words to the woman of Samaria, “Believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.”

Lifting up holy hands.—It was the Jewish practice, not only in taking a solemn oath—or in blessing—but also in prayer, to lift up the hands—Compare Psalm 28:2; Psalm 63:4. This seems to have been generally adopted by the early Christians as the attitude in prayer. See Clem. Rom., To the Corinthians, chap. 29 “Holy hands;” see Psalm 24:4; Psalm 26:6; “holy”—that is, unstained with wanton sins.

Without wrath and doubting.—Here allusion is doubtless made to religious disputes and contentions among the believers themselves—“doubting” is better translated by disputing. These angry feelings can have no place in the heart of one who really prays, whether in public or in private.

MacLaren's Expositions

1 Timothy

WHERE AND HOW TO PRAY

1 Timothy 2:8.

The context shows that this is part of the Apostle’s directory for public worship, and that, therefore, the terms of the first clause are to be taken somewhat restrictedly. They teach the duty of the male members of the Church to take public, audible part in its worship.

Everywhere, therefore, must here properly be taken in the restricted signification of ‘every place of Christian assembly.’ And from the whole passage there comes a picture of what sort of thing a meeting of the primitive Church for worship was, very different from anything that we see nowadays. ‘Every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath an exhortation.’ I fancy that some of the eminently respectable and utterly dead congregations which call themselves Christian Churches would be very much astonished if they could see what used to be the manner of Christian worship nineteen hundred years ago, and would get a new notion of what was meant by ‘decently, and in order.’

But we may fairly, I suppose, if once we confess that this is so, widen somewhat the scope of these words, and take them rather as expressive of the Apostle’s desire and injunction, for the word that he used here, ‘I will,’ is a very strong one, to all Christian people, be they men or women, that they pray ‘everywhere,’ in the widest sense of that expression, ‘lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting.’

I do not attempt anything more than just to go, step by step, through the Apostle’s words and gather up the duties which each enjoins.

‘I will that men pray everywhere.’ That is the same in spirit as the Apostle’s other command: ‘Pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.’ A very high ideal, but a very reasonable one, for unless we can find some place where God is not, and where the telegraph between heaven and earth is beyond our reach, there is no place where we should not pray. And unless we can find a place where we do not want God, nor need Him, there is no place where we should not pray. Because, then, ‘everywhere’ is equally near Him, and the straight road to His throne is of the same length from every hole and corner of the world; therefore, wherever men are, they ought to be clinging to His skirts, and reaching out their open hands for His benefits; and because, wherever a man is, there he utterly depends upon God, and needs the actual intervention of His love, and the energising of His power for everything, even for his physical life, so that he cannot wink his eyelashes without God’s help, therefore, ‘In every place I will that men pray.’

And how is that to be done? First of all, by keeping out of all places where it is impossible that we should pray; for although He is everywhere, and we want Him everywhere, there are places--and some of us know the roads to them but too well, and are but too often in them--where prayer would be a strange incongruity. A man will not pray over the counter of a public-house. A man will not pray over a sharp bargain. A man will not pray that God may bless his outbursts of anger, or sensuality and the like. A man will not pray when he feels that he is deep down in some pit of self-caused alienation from God. The possibility of praying in given circumstances is a sharp test, although a very rough and ready one, whether we ought to be in these circumstances or not. Do not let us go where we cannot take God with us; and if we feel that it would be something like blasphemy to call to Him from such a place, do not let us trust ourselves there. Jonah could pray out of the belly of the fish, and there was no incongruity in that; but many a professing Christian man gets swallowed up by monsters of the deep, and durst not for very shame send up a prayer to God. Get out of all such false positions.

But if the Apostle wills ‘that men pray alway,’ it must be possible while going about business, study, daily work, work at home amongst the children, work in the factory amongst spindles, work in the counting-house amongst ledgers, work in the study amongst lexicons, not only to pray whilst we are working, but to make work prayer, which is even better. The old saying that is often quoted with admiration, ‘work is worship,’ is only half true. There is a great deal of work that is anything but worship. But it is true that if, in all that I do, I try to realise my dependence on God for power; to look to Him for direction, and to trust to Him for issue, then, whether I eat, or drink, or pray, or study, or buy and sell, or marry or am given in marriage, all will be worship of God. ‘I will that men pray everywhere.’ What a noble ideal, and not an impossible or absurd one! This was not the false ideal of a man that had withdrawn himself from duty in order to cultivate his own soul, but the true ideal of one of the hardest workers that ever lived. Paul could say ‘I am pressed above measure, insomuch that I despair of life, and that which cometh upon me daily is the care of all the churches,’ and yet driven, harassed beyond his strength with business and cares as he was, he did himself what he bids us do. His life was prayer, therefore his life was Christ, therefore he was equal to all demands. None of us are as hard-worked, as heavily pressed, as much hunted by imperative and baying dogs of duties as Paul was. It is possible for us to obey this commandment and to pray everywhere. A servant girl down on her knees doing the doorsteps may do that task from such a motive, and with such accompaniments, as she dips her cloth into the hot-water bucket, as to make even it prayer to God. We each can lift all the littlenesses of our lives into a lofty region, if only we will link them on to the throne of God by prayer.

There is another way by which this ideal can be attained, and that is to cultivate the habit, which I think many Christian people do not cultivate, of little short swallow-flights of prayer in the midst of our daily work. ‘They cried unto God in the battle, and He was entreated of them.’ If a Philistine sword was hanging over the man’s head, do you think he would have much time to drop down upon his knees, to make a petition, divided into all the parts which divines tell us go to make up the complete idea of prayer? I should think not; but he could say, ‘Save me, O Lord!’ ‘They cried to God in the battle--little, sharp, short shrieks of prayer--and He was entreated of them.’ If you would cast swift electric flashes of that kind more frequently up to heaven, you would bring down the blessings that very often do not come after the most elaborate and proper and formal petitions. ‘Lord, save or I perish!’ It did not take long to say that, but it made the difference between drowning and deliverance.

Still further, notice the conditions of true prayer that are here required. I will that men pray everywhere ‘lifting up holy hands.’ That is a piece of symbolism, of course. Apparently the Jewish attitude of prayer was unlike ours. They seem to have stood during devotion and to have elevated their hands with open, empty, upturned palms to heaven. We clasp ours in entreaty, or fold them as a symbol of resignation and submission. They lifted them, with the double idea, I suppose, of offering themselves to God thereby, and of asking Him to put something into the empty hand, just as a beggar says nothing, but holds out a battered hat, in order to get a copper from a passer-by. The psalmist desired that the lifting up of his hands might be as the ‘evening sacrifice.’

If a man stands with his open, empty palm held up to God, it is as much as to say ‘I need, I desire, I expect.’ And these elements are what we must have in our prayers; the sense of want, the longing for supply, the anticipation of an answer. What do you hold out your hand for? Because you expect me to drop something into it, because you want to get something. How do you hold out your hand? Empty. And if I am clasping my five fingers round some earthly good it is of no use to hold up that hand to God. Nothing will come into it. How can it? He must first take the imitation diamonds out of it or we must turn it round and shake them out before He can fill it with real jewels. As for him who continues to clutch worldly goods, ‘let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.’ Empty the palm before you lift it.

Still further, says Paul, ‘lifting up holy hands.’ That, of course, needs no explanation. One of the psalms, you may remember, says ‘I will wash mine hands in innocency, so will I compass Thine altar.’ The psalmist felt that unless there was a previous lustration and cleansing, it was vain for him to go round the altar. And you may remember how sternly and eloquently the prophet Isaiah rebukes the hypocritical worshippers in Jerusalem when he says to them, ‘Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings,’ and then come and pray. A foul hand gets nothing from God. How can it? God’s best gift is of such a sort as cannot be laid upon a dirty palm. A little sin dams back the whole of God’s grace, and there are too many men that pray, pray, pray, and never get any of the things that we pray for, because there is something stopping the pipe, and they do not know what it is, and perhaps would be very sorry to clear it out if they did. But all the same, the channel of communication is blocked and stopped, and it is impossible that any blessing should come. Geographers tell us that a microscopic vegetable grows rapidly in one of the upper affluents of the Nile, and makes a great dam across the river which keeps back the water, and so makes one of the lakes which have recently been explored; and then, when the dam breaks, the rising of the Nile fertilises Egypt. Some of us have growing, unchecked, and unnoticed, in the innermost channels of our hearts, little sins that mat themselves together and keep increasing until the grace of God is utterly kept from permeating the parched recesses of our spirits. ‘I will that men pray, lifting up holy hands,’ and unless we do, alas! for us.

If these are the requirements, you will say, ‘How can I pray at all?’ Well, do you remember what the Psalmist says? ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,’ but then he goes on, ‘Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer nor His mercy from me.’ It is always true that if we regard iniquity in our hearts, if in our inmost nature we love the sin, that stops the prayer from being answered. But, blessed be God, it is not true that our having done the sin prevents our petitions being granted. For the sin that is not regarded in the heart, but is turned away from with loathing hath no intercepting power. So, though the uplifted hands art stained, He will cleanse them if, as we lift them to Him, we say, ‘Lord, they are foul, if thou wilt Thou canst make them clean.’

But the final requirement is: ‘Without wrath or doubting.’ I do not think that Christian people generally recognise with sufficient clearness the close and inseparable connection which subsists between their right feelings towards their fellow-men and the acceptance of their prayers with God. It is very instructive that here, alongside of requirements which apply to our relations to God, the Apostle should put so emphatically and plainly one which refers to our relations to our fellows. An angry man is a very unfit man to pray, and a man who cherishes in his heart any feelings of that nature towards anybody may be quite sure that he is thereby shutting himself out from blessings which otherwise might be his. We do not sufficiently realise, or act on the importance, in regard to our relations with God, of our living in charity with all men. ‘First, go and be reconciled to thy brother,’ is as needful to-day as when the word was spoken.

‘Without . . . doubting.’ Have I the right to be perfectly sure that my prayer will be answered? Yes and no. If my prayer is, as all true prayer ought to be, the submission of my will to God’s and not the forcing of my will upon God, then I have the right to be perfectly sure. But if I am only asking in self-will, for things that my own heart craves, that is not prayer; that is dictation. That is sending instructions to heaven; that is telling God what He ought to do. That is not the kind of prayer that may be offered ‘without doubting.’ It might, indeed, be offered, if offered at all, with the certainty that it will not be answered. For this is the assurance on which we are to rest--and some of us may think it is a very poor one--’we know that, if we ask anything according to His will , He heareth us.’ To get what we want would often be our ruin. God loves His children a great deal too well to give them serpents when they ask for them, thinking they are fish, or to give them stones when they beseech Him for them, believing them to be bread. He will never hand you a scorpion when you ask Him to give it you, because, with its legs and its sting tucked under its body, it is like an egg.

We make mistakes in our naming of things and in our desires after things, and it is only when we have learned to say ‘Not my will but Thine be done,’ that we have the right to pray, ‘without doubting.’ If we do so pray, certainly we receive. But a tremulous faith brings little blessing, and small answer. An unsteady hand cannot hold the cup still for Him to pour in the wine of His grace, but as the hand shakes, the cup moves, and the precious gift is spilled. The still, submissive soul will be filled, and the answer to its prayer will be, ‘Whatsoever things ye desire believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’

Benson Commentary

1 Timothy 2:8. I will — A word strongly expressing his apostolical authority; therefore — This particle connects the 8th and the 1st verse; that men pray everywhere — Εν παντιτοπω, in every place. Wherever men are, there prayer should be used; and if their hearts be right with God they will use it. By this precept the apostle condemned the superstitious notion of both the Jews and Gentiles, who fancied that prayers offered in temples were more acceptable to God than those offered anywhere else. This worshipping of God in all places was foretold as the peculiar glory of the gospel dispensation, Malachi 1:11. Lifting up holy hands — Pure from all known sin, and in particular from injustice and oppression; without wrath — In any kind, against any creature. And observe, reader, every temper of the soul which is not according to love is wrath; and doubting — Which is contrary to faith. Unholy actions, or wrath, or want of faith in him we call upon, are the three grand hinderances of God’s hearing our petitions. Christianity consists of faith and love, embracing truth and grace. Therefore the sum of our wishes should be to pray, and live, and die, shunning every known sin, and guarding against wrath and doubting.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:8-15 Under the gospel, prayer is not to be confined to any one particular house of prayer, but men must pray every where. We must pray in our closets, pray in our families, pray at our meals, pray when we are on journeys, and pray in the solemn assemblies, whether more public or private. We must pray in charity; without wrath, or malice, or anger at any person. We must pray in faith, without doubting, and without disputing. Women who profess the Christian religion, must be modest in apparel, not affecting gaudiness, gaiety, or costliness. Good works are the best ornament; these are, in the sight of God, of great price. Modesty and neatness are more to be consulted in garments than elegance and fashion. And it would be well if the professors of serious godliness were wholly free from vanity in dress. They should spend more time and money in relieving the sick and distressed, than in decorating themselves and their children. To do this in a manner unsuitable to their rank in life, and their profession of godliness, is sinful. These are not trifles, but Divine commands. The best ornaments for professors of godliness, are good works. According to St. Paul, women are not allowed to be public teachers in the church; for teaching is an office of authority. But good women may and ought to teach their children at home the principles of true religion. Also, women must not think themselves excused from learning what is necessary to salvation, though they must not usurp authority. As woman was last in the creation, which is one reason for her subjection, so she was first in the transgression. But there is a word of comfort; that those who continue in sobriety, shall be saved in child-bearing, or with child-bearing, by the Messiah, who was born of a woman. And the especial sorrow to which the female sex is subject, should cause men to exercise their authority with much gentleness, tenderness, and affection.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will therefore - The Greek word here (βοὺλομαι boulomai) is different from the word rendered "will" - θέλω thelō - in 1 Timothy 2:4. The distinction is, that the word there used - θέλω thelō - denotes an active volition or purpose; the word here used - βοὺλομαι boulomai - a mere passive desire, propensity, willingness. Robinson's Lexicon The meaning here is, "it is my will" - expressing his wish in the case, or giving direction - though using a milder word than that which is commonly employed to denote an act of will.

That men pray everywhere - Not merely in the temple, or in other sacred places, but in all places. The Jews supposed that there was special efficacy in prayers offered at the temple in Jerusalem; the pagan also had the same view in regard to their temples - for both seemed to suppose that they came nearer to God by approaching his sacred abode. Christianity teaches that God may be worshipped in any place, and that we are at all times equally near him; see the John 4:20-24 notes; Acts 17:25 note. The direction here given that men should pray, in contradistinction from the duties of women, specified in the next verse, may be intended to imply that men should conduct the exercises of public worship. The duties of women pertain to a different sphere; compare 1 Timothy 2:11-12.

Lifting up holy hands - To lift up the hands denotes supplication, as it was a common attitude of prayer to spread abroad the hands toward heaven; compare Psalm 68:31; Exodus 9:29, Exodus 9:33; 1 Kings 8:22; 2 Chronicles 6:12-13; Isaiah 1:15; see also Horace Odes, iii. 23. 1; Ovid, M. 9:701; Livy, v. 21; Seneca, Ephesians 21. "Holy hands" here, mean hands that are not defiled by sin, and that have not been employed for any purpose of iniquity. The idea is, that when men approach God they should do it in a pure and holy manner.

Without wrath - That is, without the intermingling of any evil passion; with a calm, peaceful, benevolent mind. There should be nothing of the spirit of contention; there should be no anger toward others; the suppliant should be at peace with all people. It is impossible for a man to pray with comfort, or to suppose that his prayers will be heard, if he cherishes anger. The following exquisite and oft-quoted passage from Jeremy Taylor, is a more beautiful and striking illustration of the effect of anger in causing our prayers to return unanswered than was probably ever penned by anyone else. Nothing could be more true, beautiful, and graphic. "Anger sets the house on fire, and all the spirits are busy upon trouble, and intend propulsion, defense, displeasure, or revenge. It is a short madness, and an eternal enemy to discourse and a fair conversation; it intends its own object with all the earnestness of perception or activity of design, and a quicker motion of a too warm and distempered blood; it is a fever in the heart, and a calenture in the head, and a fire in the face, and a sword in the band, and a fury all over; and therefore can never suffer a man to be in a disposition to pray. For prayer is the peace of our spirit, the stillness of our thoughts, the evenness of recollection, the seat of meditation, the rest of our cares, and the calm of our tempest; prayer is the issue of a quiet mind, of untroubled thoughts; it is the daughter of charity and the sister of meekness; and he that prays to God with an angry, that is, with a troubled and discomposed spirit, is like him that retires into a battle to meditate, and sets up his closet in the out-quarters of an army, and chooses a frontier garrison to be wise in.

Anger is a perfect alienation of the mind from prayer, and therefore is contrary to that attention which presents our prayers in a right line to God. For so have I seen a lark rising from his bed of grass, and soaring upward, and singing as he rises, and hopes to get to heaven, and rise above the clouds; but the poor bird was beaten back with the loud sighings of an eastern wind, and his motion made irregular and inconsistent, descending more at every breath of the tempest than it could recover by the libration and frequent weighing of his wings, until the little creature was forced to sit down and pant, and stay till the storm was over; and then it made a prosperous flight, and did rise and sing, as if it had learned music and motion from an angel." "The Return of Prayers," Works, vol. i. 638. Ed. Lond. 1835.

And doubting - This word, as used here, does not mean, as our translation would seem to imply, that we are to come before God without any doubts of our own piety, or in the exercise of perfect faith. The word used (διαλογισμός dialogismos) means, properly, computation, adjustment of accounts; then reflection, thought; then reasoning, opinion; then debate, contention, strife; Luke 9:46; Mark 9:33-34; Philippians 2:14. This is the sense evidently in this place. They were not to approach God in prayer in the midst of clamorous disputings and angry contentions. They were not to come when the mind was heated with debate, and irritated by strife for victory. Prayer was to be offered in a calm, serious, sober state of mind, and they who engaged in polemical strife, or in warm contention of any kind, are little fitted to unite in the solemn act of addressing God. How often are theologians, when assembled together, so heated by debate, and so anxious for party victory, that they are in no suitable state of mind to pray! How often do even good people, holding different views on the disputed points of religious doctrine, suffer their minds to become so excited, and their temper so ruffled, that they are conscious they are in an unfit state of mind to approach the throne of grace together! That theological debate has gone too far; that strife for victory has become too warm, when the disputants are in such a state of mind that they cannot unite in prayer; when they could not cease their contentions, and with a calm and proper spirit, bow together before the throne of grace.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. I will—The active wish, or desire, is meant.

that men—rather as Greek, "that the men," as distinguished from "the women," to whom he has something different to say from what he said to the men (1Ti 2:9-12; 1Co 11:14, 15; 14:34, 35). The emphasis, however, is not on this, but on the precept of praying, resumed from 1Ti 2:1.

everywhere—Greek, "in every place," namely, of public prayer. Fulfilling Mal 1:11, "In every place … from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same … incense shall be offered unto My name"; and Jesus' words, Mt 18:20; Joh 4:21, 23.

lifting up holy hands—The early Christians turned up their palms towards heaven, as those craving help do. So also Solomon (1Ki 8:22; Ps 141:2). The Jews washed their hands before prayer (Ps 26:6). Paul figuratively (compare Job 17:9; Jas 4:8) uses language alluding to this custom here: so Isa 1:15, 16. The Greek for "holy" means 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 (Ps 24:3, 4).

without wrath—putting it away (Mt 5:23, 24; 6:15).

doubting—rather, "disputing," as the Greek is translated in Php 2:14. Such things hinder prayer (Lu 9:46; Ro 14:1; 1Pe 3:7). Bengel supports English Version (compare an instance, 2Ki 7:2; Mt 14:31; Mr 11:22-24; Jas 1:6).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will therefore that men pray every where; this is one precept that I give thee in charge as to the management of the affairs of the church, that wherever men meet together to worship God, whether in houses built for that purpose, or in more common houses, or any other place, (for the time is now come when there is no special command for one place more than another, no special promise made to men’s prayers in one place more than another, as there was to and concerning the temple of old, John 4:21), they should pray, either ministering to others in the duty of prayer, or joining with him who doth so minister.

Lifting up holy hands; but let them take heed how they pray, for God heareth not sinners, John 9:31; let them therefore lift up holy hands, not regarding iniquity in their hearts.

Without wrath; and let them take heed of carrying malice, or inveterate anger, in their hearts when they go to God in prayer, for they must pray, Father: forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and, Matthew 6:15: If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses. And doubting; and let them also take heed of doubting in prayer of the goodness, truth, or power of God to fulfil his wishes; but, Jam 1:6,7, let them ask in faith, nothing wavering. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I will therefore that men pray everywhere,.... In this declaration of the apostle's will concerning prayer, he only takes notice of "men"; not but that it is both the duty and privilege of women, as well as men, to pray in their houses and closets; but because he is speaking of public prayer in the church, which only belongs to men, he speaks only of them; and his will is, that prayer should be performed by them everywhere, or in any place, in any part of the world where they lived. Now was the prophecy in Malachi 1:11 fulfilled, and now was the time come our Lord refers to, John 4:21. This seems to be said in opposition to a Jewish notion, that the temple at Jerusalem was the only place for prayer, and that prayer made elsewhere ought to be directed towards that. The Jews say (b), that

"there is no way for the prayer of the nations of the world to ascend, seeing the gates of heaven are only opened in the land of Israel.--And again, that the prayers without the land have no way to go up before the Lord, but the Israelites send them without the land opposite Jerusalem; and when they come to Jerusalem, from thence they remove and ascend above.--No prayer ascends above from that place in which it is made, till it come to the land of Israel, and from thence to Jerusalem, and from thence to the sanctuary, and then it ascends above.''

They have also many rules concerning places of private prayer, as that care should be taken that it be not in a place where there is any filth; or any bad scent (c).

Lifting up holy hands; lifting up of hands was a prayer gesture among the Heathens (d), and so it was among the Jews (e). R. Simeon lift up his hands in prayer to the blessed God, and prayed his prayer. Yea, they (f) say,

"it is forbidden a man to lift up his hands above, except in prayer, and in blessings to his Lord, and supplications, as it is said, Genesis 14:22 which is interpreted of lifting up of hands in prayer.''

And this was an emblem of the elevation of the heart in prayer to God, without which the former would be of little avail. It is an observation of the Jews (g), we have found prayer without lifting up of hands, but we never found lifting up of hands without prayer. And these hands must be holy and pure; there must be purity of heart, and cleanness of hands, or a freedom from any governing sin, which renders prayer unacceptable unto God; see Isaiah 1:15. The apostle alludes to a custom of the Jews, who always used to wash their hands before prayer;

"Then Holofernes commanded his guard that they should not stay her: thus she abode in the camp three days, and went out in the night into the valley of Bethulia, and washed herself in a fountain of water by the camp. And when she came out, she besought the Lord God of Israel to direct her way to the raising up of the children of her people.'' (Judith 12:7,8)

So it is said (h) of the Septuagint interpreters, that after the Jewish manner they washed their hands and prayed. The account Maimonides gives (i), is this:

"cleanness of hands, how is it done? a man must wash his hands up to the elbow, and after that pray; if a man is on a journey, and the time of prayer is come, and he has no water, if there is between him and water four miles, which are eight thousand cubits, he may go to the place of water, and wash, and after that pray. If there is between him more than that, he may rub his hands, and pray. But if the place of water is behind him, he is not obliged to go back but a mile; but if he has passed from the water more than that, he is not obliged to return, but he rubs his hands and prays; they do not make clean for prayer but the hands only, in the rest of prayers, except the morning prayer; but before the morning prayer a man washes his face, his hands and feet, and after that prays.''

But, alas! what does all this washing signify? Unless, as Philo the Jew (k), expresses it, a man lifts up pure, and, as one may say, virgin hands, to heaven, and so prays.

Without wrath and doubting; or reasoning, or disputation in a contentious way: the former of these, some think, has reference to "murmuring", as the Ethiopic version renders it, impatience and complaint against God in prayer, and the other to doubt and diffidence about being heard, and having the petitions answered; for prayer ought to be with praise to God, and faith in him: or rather "wrath" may intend an angry and unforgiving temper towards men, with whom prayer is made, which is very unbecoming; see Matthew 5:23 and both that and doubting, or disputation, may have regard to those heats and contentions that were between the Jews and Gentiles, which the apostle would have laid aside, and they join together in prayer, and in other parts of public worship, in love and peace. Maimonides (l) says,

"men may not stand praying, either with laughter, or with levity, nor with confabulation, "nor with contention, nor with anger", but with the words of the law.''

And it is a saving of R. Chanina,

"in a day of "wrath", a man may not pray (m).''

continued...

Geneva Study Bible

{6} I will therefore that men pray every where, {d} lifting up holy hands, without {e} wrath and {f} doubting.

(6) He has spoken of the persons for whom we must pray: and now he teaches that the difference of places is taken away: for in times past, only one nation, and in one certain place, came together to public service. But now churches or congregations are gathered together everywhere, (orderly and decently), and men come together to serve God publicly with common prayer. Neither must we strive for the nation, or for the purification of the body, or for the place, but for the mind, to have it clear from all offence, and full of sure trust and confidence.

(d) He talks of the sign for the thing itself, the lifting up of hands for the calling upon God.

(e) Without the griefs and offences of the mind, which hinder us from calling upon God with a good conscience.

(f) Doubting, which is against faith; Jas 1:6.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Timothy 2:8. After giving, in the digression of 1 Timothy 2:3-7, the grounds of his exhortation to prayer for all, Paul returns to the exhortation itself in such a way as to define it more precisely in regard to those who are to offer the prayer.

βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ] “Hoc verbo (βούλομαι) exprimitur auctoritas apostolica,” Bengel; comp. 1 Timothy 5:14; Titus 3:15 : “I ordain.”

οὖν] Bengel’s explanation: “particula ergo reassumit versum 1,” is not quite accurate; the particle connects with 1 Timothy 2:1 in order to carry on the thought there expressed.

προσεύχεσθαι] Bengel: “sermo de precibus publicis, ubi sermonem orantis subsequitur multitudinis cor.” Matthies wrongly disputes the opinion that προσεύχεσθαι here is used of “prayer in the congregations.” The whole context shows beyond doubt that the apostle is here speaking of congregations.

τοὺς ἄνδρας] opposed to τὰς γυναῖκας, 1 Timothy 2:9. Paul assigns to each part its proper share in the assemblies for worship; “he has something different to say to the men and to the women” (Wiesinger).

ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ] does not stand here in opposition to the Jewish limitation to the temple (Chrysostom and others): “not once found” (de Wette), nor to the synagogue (Wolf), nor in reference to the various places of Christian worship in Ephesus (van Oosterzee), nor to the neighbouring congregations belonging to Timothy’s diocese (Heydenreich); it is to be taken generally, not in the sense of every place, “where the religious mood, custom, or duty cherishes it” (Matthies), but to all places where Christian congregations assemble (Wiesinger).

As to the construction, ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ does not belong to προσεύχεσθαι alone, but “to the whole clause” (Wiesinger, Matthies, van Oosterzee, Hofmann). The apostle means to lay stress not on this, that men are to pray, but on how they are to pray; the chief emphasis, therefore, rests on ἐπαίροντας κ.τ.λ.

ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας] The Jews lifted up their hands not only in swearing an oath, Genesis 14:22 (Revelation 10:5), and in blessing, Leviticus 9:22 (Luke 24:50), but also in prayer, Psalm 28:2; Psalm 44:21; Psalm 63:5, etc. This passage is a proof that the same custom was observed in the Christian church. It is true that in the N. T. it is nowhere else mentioned, but in Clement’s First Epistle to the Corinthians we have at chap. xxix. an evident allusion to this passage: προσέλθωμεν αὐτῷ ἐν ὁσιότητι ψυχῆς, ἁγνὰς καὶ ἀμιάντους χεῖρας αἴροντες πρὸς αὐτόν.

Regarding the form ὁσίους for ὁσίας, see Winer, p. 67 [E. T. p. 81].[97]

The hands are holy which have not been given over to the deeds of wicked lust; the opposite is given by ΜΙΑΡΑΊ, ΒΈΒΗΛΟΙ ΧΕῖΡΕς, 2Ma 5:16; comp. on the expression, Job 17:9, Psalm 24:4, and in the N. T. Jam 4:8 especially: ΚΑΘΑΡΊΣΑΤΕ ΧΕῖΡΑς ΚΑῚ ἉΓΝΊΣΑΤΕ ΚΑΡΔΊΑς. Hofmann is ingenious in defining ὉΣΊΟΥς ΧΕῖΡΕς more precisely by what follows: “The hands of the one praying are ὍΣΙΟΙ only when he is inwardly saturated with the consecration without which his praying does not deserve the name of prayer.”

ΧΩΡῚς ὈΡΓῆς ΚΑῚ ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΟῦ] Bengel is more pregnant than exact when he says: “ira, quae contraria amori et mater dubitationis; dubitatio, quae adversatur fidei. Fide et amore constat christianismus, gratiam et veritatem amplectens. Gratia fidem alit; veritas amorem Ephesians 4:5;” for ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΌς is not to be rendered by “doubt” (so Bengel, with Chrysostom, Theophylact, Theodoret, Luther, and many others), which never is its signification. The rendering “contention” is also inaccurate; ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΌς is equivalent to consideration, deliberation, cogitatio. In the N. T. the singular occurs only here and in Luke 9:46-47; it is usually in the plural. The word is in itself a vox media, but it is mostly used where evil or perverted thoughts are spoken of; comp. Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21; Luke 5:22; Luke 6:8; Luke 24:38. That it is to be taken here malo sensu, is shown by the close connection with ὀργή, which indicates that it is applied to deliberation towards one’s neighbour; comp. Meyer on Php 2:14, and especially Reiche, Comment. Crit. in N. T., on this passage. In the Pastoral Epistles, special stress is laid on peaceableness as a Christian virtue, 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2; 2 Timothy 2:24.

[97] It would be very forced to connect ὁσίους with ἐπαίροντας as a masculine, which Winer considers at least possible.

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Timothy 2:8. βούλομαι οὖν: οὖν is resumptive of the general topic of public worship from which the writer has digressed in 1 Timothy 2:3-7. βούλομαι οὖν is found again in 1 Timothy 5:14. In both places, βούλομαι has the force of a practical direction issued after deliberation. See also reff. On the contrary, θέλω δέ is used only in reference to abstract subjects. See Romans 16:19, 1 Corinthians 7:7; 1 Corinthians 7:32; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Corinthians 14:5. προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας: that the men should conduct public worship. Perhaps Bengel is right in understanding 1 Peter 3:7 in the same sense. See reff. for προσεύχεσθαι in this special signification. τοὺς ἄνδρας: the men of the community as opposed to the women, 1 Timothy 2:9 (R.V.). There is no specific restriction of the conduct of worship to a clergy.

ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ: to be connected with what precedes: the directions are to apply to every Church without exception; no allowance is to be made for conditions peculiar to any locality; as it is expressed in 1 Corinthians 14:33-34, ὡς ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῶν ἁγίων, αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις σιγάτωσαν. The words do not mean in any place, as though fixed places for worship were a matter of indifference; neither is there any allusion, as Chrys. explain it, to the abolition by Christ of the restriction of worship to one place, Jerusalem, as in John 4:21. ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας: This is not directly intended to enjoin a particular gesture appropriate to prayer, but merely avoids the repetition of προσεύχεσθαι. To uplift the hands in prayer was customary: 1 Kings 8:22, Psalm 28:2 etc., Isaiah 1:15, Clem. Rom. ad Cor. i. 29. The men that are to have the conduct of the public worship of the Church must be upright men who have clean hands, hands that are holy (Job 17:9; Job 23 (24):4; Jam 4:8). For ὅσιος as an adj. of two terminations, compare Luke 2:13, Revelation 4:3. See Winer-Moulton, Grammar, p. 80.

χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ: This indicates the two conditions necessary to effectual prayer: freedom from irritation towards our fellow-men (Matthew 6:14-15, Mark 11:25), and confidence towards God (Jam 1:6; Luke 12:29). διαλογισμός has the sense of doubt in Romans 14:1. This sense (A.V. doubting) is that given to the term here by Chrysostom (ἀμφιβολία) and Theodoret (πιστεύων ὅτι λήψῃ). The rendering disputing (R.V.) disceptatio (Vulg.) merely enlarges the notion conveyed in ὀργή. The reff. to ὀργή are places where it is spoken of as a human affection.

1 Timothy 2:8 to 1 Timothy 3:1 a. The ministers of public prayer must be the men of the congregation, not the women. A woman’s positive duty is to make herself conspicuous by good works, not by personal display. Her place in relation to man is one of subordination. This is one of the lessons of the inspired narratives of the Creation and of the Fall. Nevertheless this does not affect her eternal position. Salvation is the goal alike of man and woman. They both attain supreme blessedness in the working out of the primal penalty imposed on Adam and Eve.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8–15. Common Prayer. The part to be taken in Public Worship by men and by women

8. I will therefore that men pray every where] (1) the position of ‘pray’ shews the resumption of this subject as the main thought of the sentence, (2) the word used for ‘men’ and the article prefixed shew the contrast to women in 1 Timothy 2:9, (3) we have boulomai not thelô: we may render therefore more accurately I desire then that prayer be made by the men in every place; ‘in every place’ where public prayer is made; for the limitation of ‘every’ by the surrounding circumstances of the passage, cf. Php 3:8.

lifting up holy hands] For the exact force of ‘holy’ cf. note on ‘unholy,’ 1 Timothy 1:9. With outstretched arms and uplifted palms was the Oriental and Roman attitude; cf. ‘duplices tendens ad sidera palmas,’ Virg. Aen. 1. 93. ‘The folding together of the hands in prayer has been shewn to be of Indo-Germanic origin.’ Ellicott.

without wrath and doubting] It is a very even question of authority whether we should read the singular or plural, ‘doubting’ or ‘doubtings.’

It is also a very even question of usage whether we understand ‘inward disputings,’ that is, ‘doubtings’ or ‘outward disputations’; the former is the commoner meaning in N.T., cf. Luke 24:38 : but the latter is clearly found, Php 2:14, and the verb, Mark 8:16, &c. Perhaps, as a preparation for prayer, to have faith, as well as charity, enjoined, gives the greater point: compare the preparation required for our Chief Act of Prayer ‘To examine themselves, whether they … have a lively faith in God’s mercy … and be in charity with all men.’ Prayer-Book Catechism, s. fin.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Timothy 2:8. Βούλομαι οὖν, I will therefore) The apostolic authority is represented in this expression; ch. 1 Timothy 5:14 : comp. presently 1 Timothy 2:12, I suffer not. The particle therefore takes up again, 1 Timothy 2:1.—προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας, that men pray) So also in 1 Peter 3:7, prayers are assigned to men, in a certain particular point of view. He is speaking here of public prayers, in which the heart of the people follows close after the language of him who prays: comp. the next verse concerning women.—ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, in every place) construed with ἄνδρας, men. Paul also appeals elsewhere on this subject to a similar practice in all the churches. Wherever men are, there are those by whom and for whom prayers are to be made.—ἐπαίροντας, lifting up) They turned up the palms of their hands to heaven, as those asking for help are wont to do.—ὁσίους χεῖρας, holy hands) Wrath and doubting are in the soul: but the hands also ought to be holy. The contrary is found at Isaiah 1:15, at the end. The word ὁσίους is especially used in the propriety of the Greek idiom for freedom from all violence.—ὀργῆς, wrath) which [molesting men especially.—V. g.] is the reverse of love (comp. 1 Peter 3:7, at the end), and the mother of doubting.—διαλογισμοῦ, doubting) which is opposed to faith. Christianity consists of faith and love, and comprises grace and truth: it therefore ought to form the principal object of our desires, that we may both pray, and live and die, without doubting and wrath. The exercise of prayer, and of the whole of Christianity, is at once either true or vain.[15] Grace cherishes faith; truth, love, Ephesians 4:15.

[15] That is, Prayer and the whole sum of Christianity stand or fall together. If one is true, both are true; if one is false, both are false.—ED.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Desire for will, A.V.; the men for men, A.V.; in every place for everywhere, A.V.; disputing for doubting, A.V. I desire, etc. He takes up the subject again which he had opened in ver. 1, but had somewhat digressed from in vers. 4-7, and gives further directions as to the persons who are to make the prayers spoken of in ver. 1, viz. men (τοὺς ἄνδρας), not women, as it follows more at large in vers. 9-15. The stress is clearly upon "men" (or, "the men" - it makes no difference); and there is no force in Alford's remark that in that case it would have been τοὺς ἄνδρας προσεύχεσθαι. The prayers had been already ordered in ver. 1; the additional detail, that they were to be offered by men, is now added. In every place; not, as Chrysostom thinks, in contrast to the Jewish worship, which was confined to the temple at Jerusalem, but merely meaning wherever a Christian congregation is assembled. Lifting up holy hands. Alford quotes Clem. Ram. 'To the Corinthians,' Ep. 1. 1 Timothy 29: Προσέλθωμεν... ἐν ὁσιότητι ψυχῆς ἁγνὰς καὶ ἀμιάντους χεῖρας αἴρουντες πρὸς αὐτόν (camp. Psalm 26:6; Psalm 28:2; 43:20; 63:4; 2 Chronicles 6:12, 13). Without wrath. It appears from several passages in Chrysostom that the habit of praying angry prayers was not unknown in his day. "Do you pray against your brother? But your prayer is not against him, but against yourself. You provoke God by uttering those impious words, 'Show him the same;' 'So do to him;' 'Smite him;' 'Recompense him;' and much more to the same effect" ('Hom.' 6.). In 'Hom.' 8. his comment on this passage is: "Without bearing malice.... Let no one approach each God in enmity, or in an unsalable temper." And disputing (διαλογισμοῦ). The exact meaning of διαλογισμός is perhaps best seen in Luke 5:21, 22, where both the verb and the substantive are used. The διαλογισμοὶ are carillings, questionings proceeding from a captious, unbelieving spirit. They are διαλογισμοὶ πονηροὶ (Matthew 15:19). The word is always used in a bad sense in the New Testament. Forms of prayer were not yet established in the Church, but these cautious show the need of them. 1 Timothy 2:8

Vincent's Word Studies

I will (βούλομαι)

Better, I desire. See on Matthew 1:19, and comp. Philippians 1:12. Paul's word is θέλω I will. See Romans 16:19; 1 Corinthians 7:32; 1 Corinthians 10:20; 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:19, etc.

Everywhere (ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ)

Lit. in every place. Wherever Christian congregations assemble. Not every place indiscriminately.

Lifting up holy hands (ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας)

The phrase is unique in N.T. olxx. Among Orientals the lifting up of the hands accompanied taking an oath, blessing, and prayer. The custom passed over into the primitive church, as may be seen from the mural paintings in the catacombs. See Clement, Ad 1 Corinthians 29, which may possibly be a reminiscence of this passage. The verb ἐπαίρειν to raise, twice in Paul, 2 Corinthians 10:5; 2 Corinthians 11:20; but often in Luke. Ὁσίους holy, oP. See on Luke 1:75.

Without wrath and doubting (χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμῶν)

The combination only here. Ὁργὴ is used by Paul mostly of the righteous anger and the accompanying judgment of God against sin. As here, only in Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8. Διαλογισμός in N.T. habitually in the plural, as here. The only exception is Luke 9:46, Luke 9:47. By Paul usually in the sense of disputatious reasoning. It may also mean sceptical questionings or criticisms as Philippians 2:14. So probably here. Prayer, according to our writer, is to be without the element of sceptical criticism, whether of God's character and dealings, or of the character and behavior of those for whom prayer is offered.