1 Timothy 2:3

Rec. text with אcD2GKLP, and all (except the Egyptian) versions add γὰρ after τοῦτο. It is omitted by א*A and was apparently introduced solely to emphasise the connexion between 1 Timothy 2:2 and 1 Timothy 2:3.

3. τοῦτο καλὸν καἱ κ.τ.λ. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour. The γάρ of the received text is unnecessary and is insufficiently supported (see crit. note): τοῦτο refers back to 1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Timothy 2:2 being of the nature of a parenthesis. It is a question whether both καλόν and ἀπόδεκτον, or only the latter word, are to be taken with ἐνώπιον τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεοῦ. The passage usually cited as in point is 2 Corinthians 8:21 : προνοοῦμεν γἀρ καλἀ οὐ μόνον ἐνώπιον Κυρίου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνώπιον�. And there is no doubt that καλόν in the present passage might in like manner be taken with the following ἐνώπιον. But it seems simpler to take καλόν by itself, as marking the intrinsic excellence of such prayers as those in question, the Apostle going on to add that they are specially acceptable in the sight of God, the Universal Saviour.

ἀπόδεκτος is found in the Greek Bible only here and in 1 Timothy 5:4; cp. εὐπρόσδεκτος of Romans 15:16. See note on ἀποδοχή (1 Timothy 1:15).

For the phrase God our Saviour, see the note on 1 Timothy 1:1; here the expression has peculiar point and force, and is farther defined by the words which follow.