- 1 Timothy 2:1-5
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- 1 Tim 2:1 (KJB)
- I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
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- Exhort - Call for or encourage
- Supplications - Petitions or requests
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- In the first eight verse of this chapter, Paul gives instruction
concerning prayer, whether it is public prayer as done in the church or
private prayer in our homes. Paul states that since we have access to the
throne of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are allowed to pray
our convictions for all people. The word “men” in this verse is the generic
term in the Greek for all people which would include women as well. Paul
always encourages a healthy prayer life because he knows that it can yield a
strong Christian life. Paul would know this first hand because of all the
trials and tribulations he went through in his walk. He gives a basic pattern
of prayer for the church to follow. He encourages them to make supplications
or requests on behalf of anyone who may have needs. He then encourages them
to offer prayers on behalf of people, for salvation, for spiritual growth,
or for any spiritual need. Now the supplications may also be requests made
to another person on behalf of another person but prayers are always
directed to God. Then Paul encourages that intercessions be made on behalf
of people. We intercede for people who need salvation or for those who may
have needs to be fulfilled. We would intercede on their behalf but only
praying according to the will of God. Then Paul encourages the giving of
thanks to God for what He has done in the lives of so many people. These
prayers may be made on behalf of the unsaved as well as the saved because we
pray for those who are not saved that perhaps God will grant them salvation.
(2 Tim 2:25 KJV) In meekness instructing
those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth;
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- 1 Tim 2:2 (KJB)
- For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
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- Then Paul continues on in his instruction on prayer. We not only pray
for friends and family but here Paul now includes those who are in
authority. He mentions Kings but that may also include Prime Ministers,
Presidents, Queens or the head of any country. He then states that we are to
pray for all who are in authority which would include Governors, Mayors,
local authorities and also for those who are in charge of the places that we
work. We pray that God would guide all these leaders so that our short
existence on this earth would be lived in peace and that the leaders would
conduct themselves honestly because once sin enters the picture on any
level, troubles always trickle down to the population or the employees of
the company. Remember Enron? (Prov 21:1
KJV) The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the
rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
We continue to pray according to God’s will for those
leaders we pray for and God will direct them according to His plan and
purpose.
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- 1 Tim 2:3 (KJB)
- For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Saviour;
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- Acceptable - Pleasing or agreeable
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- When we have a steady prayer life and incorporate the things which Paul
has listed, then this is good and acceptable in the sight of God. When we
pray prayers which are centered on us and the things we want, this would not
be pleasing to the Lord and these types of petitions would hit the roof and
bounce back. We must always pray according to the will of God, even if we
are not sure how to pray for a certain matter.
(Rom 8:26 KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but
the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered. Since we are indwelled by the Holy
Spirit, He will take our deepest desires and interpret them and bring them
before the throne of God. We never have to worry about not knowing what to
say because the Holy Spirit helps us in our prayer lives as well as every
other facet of the Christian life.
(James 4:15 KJV) For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall
live, and do this, or that. Our prayers and
Christian walk must always be in harmony with the will of God. With the term
used in this verse “God our Savior,” Paul now turns to the subject of
salvation.
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- 1 Tim 2:4 (KJB)
- Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth.
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- Men - Generic term in Greek for both men and women
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- Those who believe in free will would look at this verse and claim that
God wants everybody in the world to be saved. They claim that God did
everything He could to secure the salvation of everyone in the world and all
one has to do is accept it. However, there is nothing written in Scripture
showing a person accepting the Lord. This is because the entire human race
became spiritually dead after the sin of Adam.
(Eph 2:5 KJV) Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
It is the Lord who gives salvation to those He has named
before the foundation of the world. A person just cannot determine that they
want to be saved as an act of their will because the Scriptures do not
support that. (John 1:12-13 KJV) But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name: {13} Which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
How many of us heard verse 12 quoted but not verse 13?
That is because verse 13 rejects any possibility of a person becoming saved
by their own will. Notice that it says that salvation does not come by the
will of the flesh or the will of man but of God. Free will advocates steer
clear of verse 13 because their system of beliefs cannot explain it nor
could they get passed it, so they just ignore it. In 1 Timothy 2:4, we see
what is in view and that is God is willing that all the elect become saved.
(2 Pet 3:9 KJV) The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to
us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 speaks about God not
willing that any should perish and once again the Elect of God are in view.
(John 6:39 KJV) And this is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Jesus states in John 6:39 that all that the Father gives
Him, which are the elect named before the foundation of the world, He will
lose none which means they are as safe in His hands as they are in the
Father’s hands.
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- 1 Tim 2:5 (KJB)
- For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus;
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- Paul specifically states that there is one God and one mediator. At
Ephesus, Diana was looked on as a goddess but Paul is stating that only one
God exists. Every other supposed god was just a figment of a person’s
imagination and an invention by Satan to keep the unsaved masses in
darkness.
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- (Psa 135:15-18 KJV) The idols of the
heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. {16}
They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
{17} They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any
breath in their mouths. {18} They that make them are like unto them:
so is every one that trusteth in them.
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- When Jesus went to the cross, He became the mediator of the new
covenant. (Heb 9:15 KJV) And for this
cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for
the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first
testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance. We read that He was the mediator of
the new covenant for all the Elect. This means there is no other mediator.
Roman Catholicism likes to make Mary a co-redeemer but she did not die on
the cross nor is she deity, and it is idolatry to give her this title when
she does not deserve it. The fact is that Roman Catholicism operates under
the same umbrella as the cult of Diana. The cult of Mary is just a
continuation of the cult of Diana. Throughout history, heathen cultures have
always been fascinated with the idea of a goddess. Let me list a few:
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- 1. Isis - Egypt
- 2. Shing Moo - China
- 3. Parameta - Hindu (many others also)
- 4. Ishtar - Babylon
- 5. Diana - Ephesians
- 6. Mary - Roman Catholicism
- 7.Hestia - Greece
- 8. Vesta - Rome
- 9. The Celestial Virgin - Blavatsky - New Age
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- Christ became the mediator for the new covenant or testament, dying for
the Elect of God who were named before the foundation of the world. There is
no other and no religion or any other central figure who can be the
mediator, it is only the Lord Jesus Christ.
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