hotcoffee
New Member
1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
Nero was a extremely cruel ruler. Yet here, Paul is saying pray for him. The idea is that once they pray for those in authority, then the rulers will become Christians allowing all to live in godliness and holiness. That seems like a tall order.
Paul says that God wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That truth is that Christ Jesus who gave himself for ransom.
One of the commentaries says... "There is one Mediator, and that Mediator gave himself a ransom for all. And this appointment has been made for the benefit of the Jews and the Gentiles of every nation; that all who are willing may come in this way, to the mercy-seat of a pardoning God, to seek reconciliation with him. Sin had made a quarrel between us and God; Jesus Christ is the Mediator who makes peace. He is a ransom that was to be known in due time."
Finally, some of the mean people in Ephesus were saying that Paul was lying to them. Back in Acts 19 we saw that there were some people who didn't believe Paul and his talk of the Kingdom of God.
Acts 19:9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way
They really didn't like the idea that the Gentiles were included.
