Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

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; 1Co 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; Psalms 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; James 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 (James 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.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Timothy 2:8

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