I exhort therefore, that, first of all,
supplications, prayers, intercession,
and giving of thanks, be made
for all men; for kings, and for all
that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty. For this is good and
acceptable in the sight of God
our Savior who will have all men
to be saved, and to come unto the
knowledge of the truth.
1Timothy 2:1-4
Here is a verse section that we must understand as God inspired men to write, that as the Apostle Paul wrote, prayers are to be made everywhere, for all sorts of persons, heathens and their magistrates, as well as others, since the grace of the gospel makes no difference of ranks or nations. We are to pray for "all' men, and the Greek word: πάντων, a genitive plural, requiring the word "of" and in this case many, means "all", not some, but all as the apostle continues to inform us: it is for all that we pray, we make intercession. Furthermore, the Greek noun following πάντων, is anarthrous, that is it does not have a definite article so it is not some definite person(s) we pray for, but all. We pray that those "others," whoever they are will not be oppressive to Christianity for if this is true then Christians can lead a quiet and tranquil godly life, as in gravity, that is, a serious godly life. This does not mean an apathetic life, no, we are to evangelize the world, and in doing so we pray for all men. Christians, Authentic Christians are being charged to pray for all men, therefore we must be praying for all men, not just for Christians. Part of our prayer, an important part, is to pray that men come to the knowledge of the truth. Is this not the will of God? Yes! (vs.4). So their is no Modalist theology here, to use the word God does not exclude the fact that Jesus is our Savior, here the word God refers to the Godhead. If God, saves, so does Jesus, so does the Holy Spirit, they are separate Persons of the Godhead, but they are one God, all of the same essence so as one does, so does the other, they are not separate from one another at anytime.
The public receives good from our praying for them and for our government to act in civility for they are entrusted to do good in their administration. Christians are not asking for preferment, no, they are not looking for power and honor for themselves, they are looking to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness, to have the right to worship God. To live honestly, godly, and to render to God His due. This is good in the sight of God. Does this mean that we do not participate in government? No! Does this mean we are to vote (as do the Jehovah Witnesses)? No! Our concern is towards God, His justice, and we must do all we can to ensure that His justice is being upheld. If we do so then we are making for good to all people for all will receive God's justice whether they believe upon Him or not. To be involved is part of being an Authentic Christian. We are His ambassadors and as His ambassadors we should then represent the One we ambassador for, and that is God. To do so means to be involved, not to be apathetic and say: "Well, it will all work out in the end." Yes, it will! But that does not relieve us of our responsibility until God works it all out. Authentic Christians don't go marching waving flags, and shouting slogans to get their way for justice. It is not that we cannot have meetings, we can, but we are to live quiet and peaceable lives and by doing so we will heap coals upon the heads of those who oppose us. When Christians have not been, for whatever reason, to be involved as Authentic Christians horrible things have occurred (The Nazi camps where Jews and others were killed and burned just because they were Jews or those that the Nazi government considered as non-people, come to mind), the inquisition by the Roman Catholic Church, even the inquisition by some Protestants, all occurred because they were no be led by the will of God. We see this fact that when religion and politics are married, conjoined, there are horrible things done, as with the Islamic (Muslim) do such things, all under the veil of their religion so that their governing manner will be upheld.
We can speak against this, those people who are attempting to bring evil upon others, we can pray for them as we ought, we can vote, we can even run for office, or help Christians to run for office, we can be involved: or we can just sit back and do little or nothing and then we have no right to complain when our children are not following Jesus Christ, when Jesus Christ is no longer considered to be their mediator for their sins. The future is in our hands. The question for us all is: will we lead quiet lives, peaceable lives, and at the same time uphold the justice of God Who is Just?
When the righteous are in authority,
the people rejoice: but when
the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
Proverbs 29:2
Make time for prayer
Richard L. Crumb
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