1 Timothy 2:2

1 Timothy 2:2. For kings. The word was generic, but it at least included the Roman Emperor, besides those to whom, as e.g. to Agrippa, the kingly title was conceded. Probably in consequence of the counsels thus given, or of the unwritten tradition which it embodied, prayers of the kind spoken of are found (as now in the Prayer of the Church Militant in the English Communion Office) in all ancient liturgies.

All in authority. With, we may believe, a special inward application to such proconsuls as Sergius Paulus and Gallio, such officers as the Asiarchs and town-clerk of Ephesus, the chiliarch Lysias, and the centurion Julius.

A quiet and peaceable life. The words are significant as pointing to the early date of the Epistle. As yet, persecution had been from below, not from above, tumultuous violence rather than a system of legal repression. To pray for the Emperor was the way to quiet and safety. That prayer would have still been a duty, but it would hardly have been thus commended after the persecutions of Nero or Domitian.

Lead. Better ‘pass,' as implying continuance through the whole period.

Godliness and honesty. The LXX. use of the first of these words, εὐσεβείᾳ, shows that it was received as equivalent to ‘the fear of the Lord,' in Proverbs 1:7. ‘Godliness' and ‘piety' are both fair representatives of its meaning, the former being that uniformly adopted by the Authorised Version. ‘Honesty' in the older sense of the word is that which is honourable, becoming, dignified, or grave. The connexion of the two words reminds us of the ‘vir pietate gravis' of Virgil (Æn. i. 151).