Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Timothy 2:8

διαλογισμοῦ. So א*AD2KLP d f m and the received text; the plural διαλογισμῶν (used everywhere else in N.T. except Luke 9:46-47) is supported by אcGg and the Syriac versions, and is preferred by Westcott and Hort, who put διαλογισμοῦ in their margin.

8. (a) THE DUTY OF MEN

8. βούλομαι οὖν. βούλομαι is more specific than θέλω, and conveys here the idea of an authoritative desire; cp. 1 Timothy 5:14; οὖν resumes the general subject, after the quasi-digression of 1 Timothy 2:3-7.

τοὐς ἄνδρας. the men, in antithesis to the women, for whom separate instructions follow in 1 Timothy 2:9. The men are to lead the worship of the faithful; the women are to be silent.

ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ. This makes the directions general, in every region, i.e. where the Gospel is known; cp. 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Thessalonians 1:8. St Paul is only speaking of public prayers, not of private devotion; but he lays down as his first rule that men shall lead the worship of the congregation wherever Christians are assembled. Observe the connexion is προσεύχεσθαι ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, not ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἐπαίροντας κ.τ.λ. The thought that prayer may be offered in any and every place, as at every time (1 Thessalonians 5:17), is not relevant to the context here.

ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας. To pray with uplifted and outspread hands was the Jewish habit. See Psalms 141:2; Psalms 143:6; Lamentations 3:41; 1 Kings 8:22; 2Ma 14:34, and (an interesting parallel) Philo, de Hum. 2, τὰς καθαρὰς … χεῖρας εἰς οὐρανὸν�; cp. de vita Cont. §§ 8, 11. It was also the posture adopted in blessing (Leviticus 9:22; Luke 24:50). The practice seems to have been followed in the early Christian Church. Cp. Clem. Rom. 29, προσέλθωμεν αὐτῷ ἐν ὁσιότητι ψυχῆς, ἁγνὰς καὶ�. See also Clem. Alex. Strom. VII. 7, and Tert. Apol. 30; de Orat. 11. The posture of the orantes depicted in the Catacombs is one of standing with uplifted and outstretched arms.

As the attitude of body is described, so is the state of mind. The hands must be holy, i.e. the life must be without reproach; compare for this phrase Psalms 23:4 and James 4:8. Observe that we have ὀσίους χεῖρας, not ὁσίας, as we should naturally expect. But adjectives in -ιος are not infrequently used as if they were of two terminations only; cp. Luke 2:13.

χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ, without wrath and disputation. Either would mar the charity which prays for all men. “Anger,” says Jeremy Taylor, “is a perfect alienation of the mind from prayer.” χωρὶς ὀργῆς is the reflexion of that clause in the Lord’s Prayer “as we forgive them that trespass against us”; to be able to recite it with sincerity is to have advanced far indeed in the Christian life. And again, χωρὶς διαλογισμοῦ, without disputation; in our prayers we leave our differences behind us, and in the awe of the Divine presence we realise in some measure how poor a thing is theological controversy.

διαλογισμοῦ (see critical note) is probably the true reading. διαλογισμός might mean ‘doubting’ (see Luke 24:38), but this would seem foreign to the context here; the general N.T. sense (see e.g. Romans 14:1; Philippians 2:14) is ‘disputation.’

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Timothy 2:8

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