1 Timothy 2:1

οὖν. As in 2 Timothy 2:1, so here, οὖν marks the transition from the general charge to the particular injunctions.

πρῶτον πάντων. The expression does not occur again in N.T.; it does not merely denote the order of time, but the order of dignity. The directions which follow relate to public prayer and the conduct of public devotions; and of these the most important is that which emphasises the Catholic nature of Christian worship. The opening sentence of the Prayer for the Church Militant is taken from this verse, viz., “Almighty and everliving God, who by Thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make prayers, and supplications, and to give thanks, for all men,” and such intercessions for those in authority in Church and State are found in the primitive liturgy in the Apostolic Constitutions. In these latest Epistles of St Paul we seem to have a more developed form of common worship than is found in earlier letters.

ποιεῖσθαι is middle voice, as the order of words shews, not passive: ‘I exhort (you) to make &c.’ Cp. Luke 5:33, οἱ μαθηταὶ Ἰωάνου … δεήσεις ποιοῦνται, and Philippians 1:4, μετὰ χαρᾶς τὴν δέησιν ποιούμενος. ποιεῖσθαι is often used with a noun to express by way of periphrasis what would be more simply stated by a verb, e.g. Luke 13:22, πορείαν ποιούμενος.

δεήσεις, προσευχάς, ἐντεύξεις, εὐχαριστίας. The four words are not to be too sharply distinguished, inasmuch as they point to different moods of the suppliant rather than to the different forms into which public prayer may be cast, δέησις expresses the sense of need (what we require, δεῖ), and is a less comprehensive term than προσευχή; the former being equivalent to ‘supplication’ (imploratio), and the latter to ‘prayer’ in general (oratio). προσευχή is always used in a religious sense of prayers addressed to God, and in this differs from the other three terms, which are all used of human intercourse as well. ἔντευξις is the regular word for a ‘petition’ to a superior, e.g. to the emperor, as in Just. Apol. i. 1, in the Petrie Papyri passim, and in inscriptions. In 2Ma 4:8, the only place where it occurs in the Greek Bible outside the Pastorals, it has a reference to a conference between Jason and Antiochus. It is used of a petition to God here and in ch. 1 Timothy 4:5; and also in Philo (Quod det. pot. § 25, ἐντεύξεις καὶ ἐκβοήσεις), and in Hermas (Mand. x. 3). Probably the leading idea in the word is that of boldness of access, of confidence. Though the substantive is not employed elsewhere by St Paul, ἐντυγχάνειν, ‘to entreat,’ is Pauline; see e.g. Romans 8:27. The translation ‘intercessions’ in A.V. and R.V. is misleading, as it suggests a limitation of the meaning to petition for others, which is not involved. (‘Intercession,’ however, in the English of the A.V. had a wider sense, as may be seen from Jeremiah 27:18; Jeremiah 36:25.) εὐχαριστία is not yet confined to the special ecclesiastical significance which it was soon to have; in this context it is simply that ‘thanksgiving’ which is the complement of all true prayer (cp. Philippians 4:6, ἐν παντὶ τῇ προσευχῇ καὶ τῇ δεήσει μετʼ εὐχαριστίας). Augustine, who interprets it here of the Eucharist, understands by the three preceding terms the liturgical prayers before the consecration, at the consecration, and at the blessing of the congregation, respectively (Ep. cxlix. (lix.) 16). This is an anachronism. To sum up, then, we may (1) with Origen, regard the four words as arranged in an ascending scale: the needy suppliant (δέησις) as he goes on is led to ask for larger blessings (προσευχή), and then becoming bold he presents his ἔντευξις, which being granted, his devotion issues in thanksgiving. Or (2) we may more simply take the words in two contrasted pairs, δέησις being related to προσευχή as the particular to the general (see Ephesians 6:18), and ἔντευξις to εὐχαριστία as petition to thanksgiving.

ὑπὲρ πάντων�. This is the key-note of Catholic worship, perhaps emphasised here in reference to the growing exclusiveness of the heretical sects. But it is an element of worship which always needs emphasis in times of stress and difficulty, as it is then very often neglected. Cp. Ephesians 6:18.