05 How to Replace Political Anger With Godly Prayer

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. What do you do with the rage you feel toward the politician, the bureaucrat, or the boss who just made your life harder? Well, Paul gave Timothy a surprising answer. Pray for their salvation instead of praying for their downfall. It's a passage about kings and rulers, but it's really about whether you're quietly trusting God or quietly seething, and you can't hide which one it is. This is the fifth talk in our series on the book of 1 Timothy, and we will be studying 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 through 8. I'm glad to have you along. We are starting a new section of the letter today. The way I outline the book, chapter 1 concludes the first charge, which is holding fast to the truth and avoiding false doctrine. He summarizes that charge in 118 through 20 as fight the good fight. In the first charge, Paul urged Timothy to silence the false teachers and get the church back on track with sound teaching that produces love from an internal transformation of the heart, or what he calls godliness. With chapter 2, he begins his second charge, which runs through the end of chapter 3. He'll summarize that one at the end of the chapter. And this is about how believers are to conduct themselves as the household of God. And he starts with authorities. How do we respond to the authority figures in our lives? Chapter 2 contains one of the most controversial passages in the New Testament. More has been written about the end of this chapter in recent years than probably the rest of the New Testament combined. And we are going to get into that debate. But I warn you right now, I won't solve it for you. I will try to fairly present the various arguments and I'll tell you which one persuades me, but you'll need to make up your own mind. We'll get into the really controversial passage next week. Today we're going to look at the first eight verses, and generally speaking, there's more agreement on what these mean than the second half of the chapter, but I think these are very important to the debate because they set the context, and we need to properly understand them to understand the context of the more controversial parts. So the first thing I want you to notice is how Paul ends this chapter. He ends in 2.15, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with a self-control. Now that ought to sound familiar. This is the theme Paul has been talking about since chapter 1. We saw it in chapter 1, verse 5. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. And then we saw it again in 118. The charge I entrust you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may fight the good fight, holding faith and a good conscience. Then we get chapter two, and he concludes if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. And that is the same kind of thing he's been talking about. So in chapter one, Paul argued that sound teaching should produce more than knowledge and correct doctrine. It should produce what he calls godliness, a life increasingly shaped by a proper understanding of God. That begins with what Paul has called a good conscience. Having a good conscience is having not only the right knowledge, but the right knowledge plus understanding it and choosing, committing yourself to live by it. So a good conscience is an accurate understanding of the gospel that we then use to guide our judgments and our choices. We might think of it as a wise conscience or a wise and accurate worldview. We are evaluating our lives and our choices through an accurate understanding of the gospel, so we are making wise choices and are on the right path. And Paul has charged Timothy to hold on to a sincere faith, a sincere belief in the gospel, and this good conscience. Those who reject the truth or refuse to live by it drift away. They drift away from the gospel, and as Paul says, they eventually shipwreck their faith. But as we hold firmly to the truth, the Spirit uses it to produce godliness, this growing devotion to God that reshapes our character, our choices, our relationship, and produces this good conscience or worldview. Since Paul refers to this idea at the end of chapter two, as we walk through chapter two, we would expect Paul to be teaching something related to that same idea. What does godliness look like and how are we to live it out? And I think that's exactly what he's doing. As I understand it, chapter two is not a random list of subjects like prayer, politics, clothing teaching, and the role of women. It has one underlying theme. Paul wants Timothy and the believers he's overseeing to manifest this good conscience and lead godly lives. Now in 218, Paul is going to bring another word into this theme. It's the word translated self-control. It means right-mindedness or soundness of mind or sober-minded. People with soundness of mind understand that God is their creator and they are his creatures. They understand that God has the right to define right and wrong, good and evil, and they seek to live within the boundaries God has set. Then this right-mindedness or this sober-mindedness produces what he calls quiet. And we're gonna, that's another word related to this theme. We're going to see that word quiet does not really mean silence so much, but quietness or calmness of spirit. It's the opposite of inward rage, resentment, discontent, or revolt. It's the opposite of a restless refusal to accept the limits God has placed on your existence. And my understanding is that Paul applies this first to men in relation to the authority figures in their lives, kings and rulers, and then to women in relation to the authority figures in their lives. And then in chapter three, he flips the coin and looks at the leaders who have authority. So he looks first at the people who are under authority in chapter two, then he looks to the people who have authority, but he's applying the same theme of how do you live a godly life, whether you're the one with authority or the one without it. And I think that theme of godliness as it relates to authority is the thread that ties chapters two and three together. So I see these three words, good conscience, quiet, and self-control, as working together to continue filling out this picture that Paul has been painting. They aren't quite synonyms of each other, but they are related to this theme of a godly, quiet life that Paul has been developing since chapter one. Now I bring all that up because this is one of the factors that is going to guide my understanding of the controversial verses at the end of the chapter. When we get to an interpretive choice between idea one and idea two, one of the factors that's going to push me a certain direction is this conviction that the theme of godliness runs throughout this chapter and indeed this book. If I'm wrong about that, then I've probably chosen the wrong interpretive option. But we're going to talk more about that as we go through the chapter. Let's read the first eight verses. First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am telling the truth, I am not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling. Okay, so you read through those eight verses and it seems fairly straightforward. Paul is urging them to pray for all people, including kings and the people with positions of power and authority, and he tells us why, that they may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. That much seems pretty clear. This is this theme of godliness we've been talking about. Part of godliness is praying for the salvation of others, especially those in authority over you. Now we're going to talk more about that in a minute. Paul uses four different terms here to describe their prayers. He says petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving. And I think he's just covering all the bases. They're to use every dimension of prayer to pray for those in authority over them. So by petitions and prayers, I think he simply means those general requests. And in this case, he's talking about a request for the salvation of others. An intercession is a prayer that you make on behalf of someone else. The prayer is not a request for yourself, you're interceding for someone on their behalf, asking for something for them. And then expressions of thanksgiving adds this dimension that you are grateful for the mercy God has shown you and thank him for extending that mercy to others as well. And taken together, it's this idea of completeness. It's like saying, pray night and day to represent all the time, or the heavens and the earth to represent all creation. We see this same kind of expression in verse 4. Let me read that again. This is three and four. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That's not two separate things, that is one thing. That is one idea expressed two ways. And this is what we call a hindiadus. It's a grammatical term that means one through two, two things combined to express one idea, and the one idea is being saved by coming to a knowledge of the truth. So in a hindiadist, two words are joined by and and they express one combined idea. Often one of the two nouns functions like an adjective modifying the other. For example, sound and fury could mean furious sound. Or an everyday example might be she spoke with warmth and kindness. Warmth and kindness functions as one idea. She spoke in a warm, kindly fashion. And we see this in scripture a lot: grace and truth, power and glory, fear and trembling, trial and suffering. This idea where you take two nouns and you string them together to be one idea. I'm harping on that because that grammatical concept is one of the big debates later in the chapter. So I just want to introduce it here so you're familiar with it. This use in 2.4 is not controversial. God desires all people to be saved. How are they saved? They come to a knowledge of the truth. To be saved is to come to a knowledge of the truth. So they function as one idea. The idea is that saving faith has content. There are specific ideas, specific truths and concepts that you must embrace to have saving faith. You can't just believe anything and everything. You have to recognize the truth that you're a sinner, the truth that you can't save yourself by yourself, the truth that God is not required to save you, and the truth that God offers you mercy through the cross of Jesus Christ. Saving faith is not merely learning information. It is coming to know and embrace the truth in a way that changes your life, changes your values, and changes the choices you make, such that it results in godliness. Now there's no magic in our prayers. Paul does not believe that God needs our prayers to save anyone. It's not true that God will not act if we don't pray. That's a lot of negatives. What I'm saying is God's hands are not tied by our lack of prayer. Paul would never argue that. It's not like he's sitting in heaven going, you know, I could really do some good down there if only they'd pray, but I just can't do anything till they pray. That's not how it works. Instead, I think Paul is urging them to pray for salvation of all people because he wants their desires to line up with God's desires. God desires all people to be saved. And as we grow like him, as we grow in faith and godliness and maturity, we too begin to want the salvation of all people, even the kings and the powerful bureaucrats that we hate. If we pray for all men, we are expressing our desire that all people be saved, and that can show one area where our desires align with God's. Now, what's he getting at here? What is this emphasis on all people? One option is that he has Jews and Gentiles in mind. In other letters, we see Paul arguing that Jews and Gentile believers are one community in Christ. He argues that Gentiles are welcome in the church and they should not be treated as second-class citizens. The inclusion of the Gentiles is a big theme in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Timothy is in Ephesus, so that could be the issue he's addressing, and some people have argued for that. While that's a possible interpretation, I don't think it's the best option. Nowhere else in this letter do we see any hint that Paul is concerned with the inclusion of the Gentiles. Instead, we have other clues as to what's on his mind, like this theme of godliness, because look at what he says in 2.2, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life godly and dignified in every way. So our first clue is he includes kings and people in high positions. Our second clue is to what's on his mind is this phrase that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. He doesn't mention Jews and Gentiles. He talks about kings and people with authority. Now, some have suggested that Paul is talking about seeking political and societal calm so that we can live in a peaceful and prosperous society. So pray that your leaders would come to faith so that they would lead you well and you can live a life of relative peace and prosperity. Again, that is a possible interpretation, but I don't think it fits best with what he goes on to say on this theme of godliness we've been talking about. Let's bring in our third clue. He concludes this paragraph in 2.8. I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling. That anger and quarreling in 2-8, I think, are the opposite of the peaceful and quiet life in 2-2. I think those bookins tell us what he's concerned about. Paul has been talking about this idea of having a good conscience. Again, a good conscience is an accurate understanding of the truth of the gospel that guides our judgments and choices. Now he's talking about leading a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified, without anger and quarreling. And I think all those ideas are related. I think Paul is talking about being content with whatever boundaries and circumstances God has given you. The quiet he's talking about is the inner attitude of contentment before God. People who have authority over us can dramatically impact our lives. Kings and bureaucrats can make our lives miserable. Their decisions, their rules, their regulations limit our choices, they restrict our freedom, they can waste our time with paperwork and compliance, they can tax away our money, they can make us fight in wars, they have armies that enforce their rules and regulations, and if we rebel and break the rules, they can throw us in jail and ruin our lives. And we have a choice when we're faced with people who have authority over us and can ruin our lives. We can trust that ultimately God is in control, or we can get angry and vengeful and wrathful. Suppose you open your mail and your property taxes just doubled, was pushed through by a city council member that you didn't vote for and you don't trust, and now your taxes have just doubled. And what's your first reaction? Well, if you're honest, it's probably not let me pray for that person's salvation. It's probably closer to, I hope they get voted out of office, or worse. When we run into those boundaries and limitations, it's easy to become angry about them. It's quite easy to see the kings, the politicians, and the bureaucrats as the enemy. These are the people who are ruining our lives. That's our natural response. And our first reaction is to get angry and complain, to be full of wrath and dissension, and to wish that God would just throw the book at these tyrants and get rid of them. Or we could pray that God would save them. And Paul is saying, instruct your community, teach your community in such a way that they learn to desire what God desires, and they desire what God desires so closely that they would want God to save everyone, even those powerful, annoying people who are oppressing them. So when you're confronted with people who have power over you, who can make your life miserable, you want to be in a place where you trust God enough that you don't respond with wrath and dissension or anger and rebellion. Instead, you trust so much that God is in control that you pray for their salvation. You take that attitude of quiet contentment that God is in control and he has not forgotten you, you have been saved by his grace, and your life is in his hands. Even in those frustrating times when a king or a bureaucrat makes your life miserable, you can respond out of a calm and quiet spirit because you know who is really in control. And one piece of evidence of that calm and quiet spirit is that you can pray for their salvation. Now we could ask what's the cause and effect? Do we pray so that we can have a peaceful and quiet life, or do we pray because we are the kind of people who peacefully and quietly trust God? Grammar is not going to settle the issue for us. At least I don't think so. I've heard people argue from the grammar for both sides. Both sides say the grammar requires the cause and effect that they think is true. All I can say is Greek prepositions are slippery little creatures, and they can mean just about anything. And I would be very hesitant to take a controversial stand based on a Greek preposition alone. Now, theologically, I would argue from other passages that trusting God leads to a contented life, and that leads to the ability to pray, even for those who hate you. But I can't tell you that the grammar proves me right. That is just my understanding from years of study. Plus, I think in this context, Paul is much more concerned with our attitudes toward authority figures and our trust toward God than he is about how smooth our earthly life is, especially as we're going to see his argument develop. Now, look at how Paul argues for the point. Paul has just said that God desires all men to be saved by coming to a knowledge of the truth. He now identifies the truth we must know and embrace to be saved. Look at five through seven. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am telling the truth, I am not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. So, what do they need to know to be saved? They need to know this, and he summarizes the gospel. God is one. There is one mediator between God and men, and that is Jesus. He is the Messiah who gave himself as a ransom for all. That's the saving knowledge we need to embrace. The gospel ultimately is not a message of self-fulfillment, nor is it a message of personal enlightenment about becoming one with the universe. The gospel is the truth about God, about judgment, about Jesus the mediator, and our rescue from that judgment. I think he adds verse seven about how he's not lying to again assert his authority as an apostle. I suspect, but I can't prove that his authority has been challenged by some in Ephesus, and he's countering their claims. But I don't have any real evidence for that. It's just my suspicion. But Paul's role matters because he's not merely giving us his private opinion. He's an apostle. He's a teacher of the Gentiles. Paul's I speak truth, I do not speak falsehood emphasizes this is the true message about the Messiah. I am one of those authorized people who can speak for Jesus and tell you what he said, and I'm telling you, this is what he says. Now I think the connection to the prayer command is direct. When it comes right down to it, all of us human beings are in the same boat. That other person may have governmental power and authority in this life, but we're all going to face the same God and the same mediator on judgment day. The position of power that person holds now means nothing when it comes to salvation. He is not going to receive harsher treatment because he was an oppressor in this life. Likewise, being oppressed means nothing when it comes to salvation. I'm not going to get a pass on Judgment Day because someone oppressed me. Picture a final exam where the CEO and the janitor sit down and take the exact same test. There's no curve for rank. There's no extra credit for the corner office. Everybody's paper gets graded by the same standard. Well that's judgment day. The king and the peasant, the oppressor and the oppressed, they walk into the same room and they face the same judge. Nobody gets to bring their earthly title in with them. We all stand equal before God, equally sinful, equally guilty, and in need of the same rescue by the same Savior. Any standard by which I condemn that king or politician also condemns me. Saving faith requires us to see that we are all sinners before a holy God. And that brings us to verse eight. I desire that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling. Now verse eight begins with the word therefore, which for some unknown reason the translators of the ESV omitted, but it should say, Therefore I desire that in every place the men should pray. The therefore connects this verse to the preceding argument. Because God desires all men to be rescued, and because the truth that rescues us is the gospel, Paul wants men everywhere to pray for all people, including those who oppress them. They are to lift holy hands. Now that phrase lifting holy hands invokes the Old Testament requirement that those who approach the living God must do so with clean hands and a pure heart. This is Psalm 24, three to four, which asks the question directly, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart. The hands raised in prayer must be holy, precisely because they represent the moral state of the one who prays. Anger, quarreling, wrath, dissension, those things would defile your hands. The opposite would be praying with a good conscience and sincere faith, a theme we've been talking about. So I don't think Paul is really concerned with our posture, whether we stand or whether we kneel or whether we sit or whether we raise our hands or fold them as on our lap. He's not really concerned with the posture we take when we pray, so much as he's concerned with the state of our heart before God. I think he's applying the same theme we've been talking about since chapter one. Sound doctrine should produce a good conscience. A man whose conscience is simmering with ongoing resentment toward rulers or other believers cannot pray with metaphorical holy hands. The quiet and peaceful life Paul desires begins in the heart of the one who prays, not in the external circumstances of the empire. He can pray with holy hands because he has that quiet, calm intertrust and commitment toward God and knows that God is in control no matter how chaotic his life is. Now, because this will become important in the next section, let me just point out that in 2.8, the term for men is andros, which is not the generic term for mankind, which is anthropos. This is the more specific term for male in contrast to female. The word either means men or husbands, depending on the context. It's the same word used in both cases, and context tells you which is which. In this case, Paul is writing to men, and the particular authority figures that trouble men are those that govern them. Kings and bureaucrats and politicians have the ability to frustrate, restrict their movements, and oppress them, and the natural response is rage and resistance. And Paul doesn't want anger toward those rulers to dominate their life. He wants instead contentment toward God to dominate their life. He wants them to be so trusting in the gospel and so confident that God is in control that they would desire the salvation of the very people who make their lives impossible. So I don't think this passage is really about political theory or how we should live under an unjust government. I don't think Paul is concerned with questions about political obedience, revolution, or resistance. He's concerned with that inward attitude of the heart. He's concerned with godliness and having a good conscience. So the question he is not answering is what political action should a Christian take? The question he is tackling is what spirit should mark a believer, especially a believer in difficult circumstances. If I'm right, that means Paul is not primarily concerned with prayer or how to pray. He's not primarily concerned with how much to pray or how often to pray or whether they have a prayer discipline. He's not concerned with whether they raise their hands or not. He is primarily concerned with the attitude behind prayer. He's talking about having this kind of inner calm, contentment, and quiet because we have a deep understanding of the gospel and a deep trust in God. We should be so convinced of the truth of the gospel that we would recognize our own sin. We recognize everyone else is in the same boat, and therefore we pray for their salvation rather than quarreling with them. We are willing to extend that same grace and mercy that we receive to others rather than fight and quarrel with them because we understand our own sin and how valuable the gift of grace and mercy is. Another issue I want to talk about is by this language about God desires all men to be saved. I don't think Paul is implying universal salvation here. Paul is not saying that God will save absolutely every human being who ever lived, regardless. We know that's not true from other scriptures. In Ezekiel, God tells us he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Every wicked person has a chance to repent, and if they repent, they will find mercy. God is not out to get them or to crush them. If they repent, they will be saved. Now there's a difference between what God wills and what God desires. God can desire something he does not will, just like you and I can. I may desire to eat all the chocolates in the box, but I will myself not to do it because I know that wouldn't be good for me. I may desire that my children have a smooth, easy, pain-free life, but I let them make mistakes and experience the consequences because in the long run I know that's the best thing for them. In the same way, God can desire all of humanity to be saved, but he can choose not to save everybody because he has some greater good or greater purpose that our small human minds can't even begin to understand. God has many desires and he rightly prioritizes those desires, just like we prioritize our desires when trying to decide if we should eat the entire box of chocolates. When two desires conflict, God chooses what is best and right and just. But that doesn't mean he's always happy about it. As Ezekiel tells us, it grieves him. Even though we deserve condemnation, God finds no pleasure in it, and I think that speaks volume about his character. I think this language about there's one God and one mediator is meant to reinforce the idea that there is only one way to salvation. There's not one method for the kings and a different one for the peasants. God made the same offer of salvation to everyone. It's not my place to decide that the people who make my life miserable are not worthy to receive salvation. I am to treat my neighbor as I would want to be treated. I'm not to limit my love to only my friends and family and the people who like me. I am to treat everyone well, even those powerful people oppressing me. And to do that, I have to trust God and the gospel. I have to be willing to lay aside wrath and dissension, to let go of my anger and pride, and to seek the good of the person who's oppressing me or the one who disagrees with me. And I can only do that if the Spirit of God has been at work in my life. We lead quiet, peaceful lives when we are content with God and trust Him. Trust leads to the contentment, which leads to the prayer. Praying for the salvation of your enemies reveals your inward state of your heart. If we're filled with rage and anger, then we won't be able to pray for our enemies. So I don't think Paul's point here is that if believers pray for kings, then kings will necessarily create a calm and ordered society. Rather, when believers can pray for the salvation of the rulers who make their lives miserable, that shows that those believers have this calm, quiet, godly attitude before God. The calm is not first a political result, it is the state of the person trusting God. The opposite state would be wrath, dissention, rage, and revolt against the circumstances God has placed in your life. I think this is a lesson modern America desperately needs to learn. We are so into this oppressor, oppressed mindset that we have learned to hate anyone and everyone who disagrees with us and offends us. And I pray that we would return to this deep trust in God, being able to see those on the other side of the aisle or the other political spectrum, or just those who disagree with us as just fellow sinners in need of the grace of God. And we would pray for their salvation instead of violence. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. The blog version of this podcast is on wednesdayintheword.com slash 1Timothy4. You can hear all the episodes in this series on my website and find many other episodes as well. That is at wednesdayintheword.com. There is no charge, no spam, and no ads. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please subscribe and like it wherever you listen. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Heartfusic is graciously provided by Reggie Coast. You can hear more of Reggie's music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.