Paul’s explanation of God’s desire for all men to be saved is directly tied to his call to prayer. And he will finish that thought in this week’s passage. But first, Paul seems to go into a bit of an explanation concerning his own calling. You can see it in 1 Timothy 2:7-8:

There seem to be two separate thoughts going on in these two verses. The NIV and other translations separate these two into different paragraphs. However, I think verse eight wraps up Paul’s thoughts on prayer quite nicely, before he moves on to other aspects of public worship in the following verses.

But before he finishes off that thought, he refers to his own calling as an emphasis of God’s desire for all to be saved. He uses three terms to describe himself.

• A herald: This is one who publicly proclaims a message.
• An apostle: One sent on a mission. In fact, he received this mission directly from Christ himself in Acts 9:1-19.
• A teacher: This term seems to emphasize instruction and exhortation, in contrast to the first term, referring more to evangelism.

As a result of these indicators of his authority, Paul declares his desire is similar to that of God’s; he wants us to pray for the salvation of all men. Verse eight concludes his thoughts here on prayer, though the next section is linked to public worship as well.

Since the next paragraphs deal with the role of women in worship, Paul’s use of the word “men” here cannot be ignored. The term here is one that specifically describes the male gender, not mankind in general. That suggests that Paul expects prayers in the public assembly of the church to be led by men. However, Paul is not saying that only men should pray. We are all called to prayer, especially for those who are not saved.

The final phrase of this passage takes us right back to the reason for Paul’s address to Timothy in the first place: false teachers. Paul is calling Timothy, his followers, and us to pray, but the key word here is the word “holy”. We must watch our lives, making sure that we do not end up living lives like the false teachers, but lives of holiness and prayer.

This wraps up Paul’s instructions on prayer, at least for the time being. Prayer is a common thread through much of Paul’s writings, and is foundational to our faith as well.

How are you doing in your prayer life? What do you do to help yourself grow in this area? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.