For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour,
τουτο γαρ καλον και αποδεκτον ενωπιον του σωτηρος ημων θεου
9 Church Fathers comment on this verse
"For this is good and acceptable before God our Savior," says the Apostle. What does this mean? It means that it is pleasing to God, and He desires that prayers be offered for all, since He wants "all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
To what does the word "this" point? To the fact that one must pray for all, both for unbelievers and for heretics. This is good also by nature, because we are all of one and the same nature, and it is pleasing to God.
The special reason for my explanation was this. After briefly mentioning and indicating the matter, I did not want the following words to be thought negligible: "for all men, for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all piety and love."
Nor should anyone suppose, through the weakness of human understanding, that such prayer need not be made for those from whom the Church suffered persecution. For the members of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 6:15) must be gathered from every kind of people.
Therefore he continues and says: "For this is good and acceptable to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
And lest anyone think that the way of salvation can consist in a virtuous life and worship of the one Almighty God, without communion in the Body of Christ and the Blood of Christ, he says: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5).
Thus his words, "He desires all men to be saved," must be understood as fulfilled only through the mediator. This is not through Him as God, for the Word always was, but through the man Christ Jesus, when "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14).
As the life of the flesh is the soul, so the blessed life of man is God. Concerning this the sacred Scriptures of the Hebrews say: "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord" (Ps 143:15).
Therefore a people alienated from God is wretched. Yet even this people loves a kind of peace, though not an honorable one. It will not possess that peace in the end, because before the end it uses it wrongly.
Yet it is important for our city that, for a time, this people should have peace in this life. While the two cities are mingled with one another, we too make use of the peace of Babylon.
From Babylon the people of God is freed by faith, in such a way that it sojourns there for a time. For this reason the apostle exhorts the Church to pray for kings and rulers, adding: "that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all piety and chastity."
Likewise the prophet Jeremiah, when he foretold the coming captivity of the ancient people of God, commanded them in God's name to go submissively into Babylonia. By this very patience they were to serve their God.
He also urged them to pray for it, saying that in its welfare they too would have peace (Jer 29:7). This peace, of course, is temporal, and is shared by the good and the evil alike.
"For this is good and acceptable before God our Savior, Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." That is, it is pleasing to Him that all should obtain salvation. Then the Apostle confirms what he has said in another way.
That is, to pray for all.
The dogmatic importance of the Apostle's words cited above consists in this: they completely refute the joyless and destructive false teaching of the Reformed, who suppose that the final destiny of men depends unconditionally on the will of God. That is, they hold that some men are saved and others perish solely by the will of God.
Prayer for all men is useful to those who pray, because the peaceful life follows from it. Yet it is especially pleasing to God, who desires that all men should know Him and receive salvation.
"It is pleasing to God, and He wills, that we should pray for all," says St. John Chrysostom. "Imitate God. If He desires all to be saved, desire the same yourself. If you desire this, then pray for it. For it is proper to such people to pray.
"Do you see how the Apostle persuades the soul by every means that it is necessary to pray also for the pagans?"
"The influence of the prayers of the faithful for the salvation of unbelievers has a place at every turning of free will along the path of salvation," says Bishop Theophan. "It reaches from the first heeding of the word of truth to the reception of salvation.
"It influences the first attention to the Gospel, the understanding of what is at stake, the inclination toward it, and the decision to follow it.
"The Apostle says that it is pleasing to God when the faithful pray for the salvation of unbelievers. This is, of course, because such prayer assists their salvation.
"Since this salvation is conditioned by the knowledge of the truth, or the full acceptance of the faith, free will reaches it by passing through several turnings in its movement.
"It is therefore clear that the prayer of the faithful, which assists the salvation of unbelievers, influences the successful completion of all these turnings of the will, and finally the very reception of salvation.
"The Holy Church believes this, expressing her faith through prayer for the catechumens, who are being prepared to receive salvation."
Passing from general instructions in verse 18 to particular ones, the Apostle first draws Timothy's attention to the order that must be observed in the Church assemblies of Christians.
It is very likely that, because of party quarrels, the Christians of the Ephesian Church had ceased to pray for all. Therefore the Apostle first considers it necessary to correct this defect in the Christian life of the faithful.
He asks that prayers be made in the Church for all men, and he lists every kind of prayer. These are: 1. δέησις, prayer in general, uttered by a man conscious of his weakness; 2. προσευχή, a petition directed to God.
There are also: 3. ἔντευξις, prayer for others; and 4. εὐχαριστία, thanksgiving prayer.
It is especially necessary to pray for the king and the authorities, that God may strengthen them against every wicked and hostile attack. In this way Christians may lead a quiet life and not appear as opponents of the existing order.
By offering prayers for the king, who may even be hostile to them, Christians fulfill the will of God, living in piety. They also show themselves blameless before men, in chastity.
The Apostle also indicates the motives that should guide believers in this matter. First, such prayer is in itself something good, καλόν, because it bears witness to the truly Christian disposition of the one praying.
Second, it is pleasing to God. Third, God is one for all men, and the mediator between them and God is likewise one, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for all men and made salvation possible for all.
Therefore, for all men, whoever they may be, one may pray in the hope that this prayer is not contrary to God and will not remain fruitless. Paul himself was appointed herald to proclaim this all-embracing love of God.
"Acceptable" means before God. But how is it "good"? One may understand "good" in the same way, as good before God. Yet in the word "good" one may also see an indication of the inner moral goodness of prayer, as a witness of love for all.
God is our Savior not only because He desires salvation, but because He has arranged the manner of salvation. He saves all who are being saved by this manner, actively helping them to make use of it.
Desiring the salvation of all, God desires that all come to the knowledge of the truth about salvation, namely, that it is only in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an indispensable condition of salvation.
The prayer of the faithful for the salvation of unbelievers is acceptable to God precisely because it assists the fulfillment of this condition. The thought becomes stronger and stronger that, in commanding prayer for all people and for their authorities, the Apostle meant prayer for their salvation.
Only this thought fully corresponds to the present verses. Pray for the salvation of all, because this is acceptable to God, who desires all to be saved.
Even if this thought is not recognized exclusively, it must in every way be recognized as the second and chief thought alongside the first. The Apostle fixes attention on it above all.
Blessed Theodoret writes: "The divine Apostle commands prayers to be made for kings not only for this reason, that we may lead a quiet life, but also so that, having laid aside impiety, they may be trained in piety."
Oecumenius continues: "For to pray for all people, even for Greeks, that is, unbelievers, that they may be converted, is good and acceptable to God."
"What does this mean, that is, good and acceptable?" asks Chrysostom, and he answers: "It means that it is pleasing to God, and He desires that prayers be made for the salvation of all.
For He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Therefore imitate God. If He desires all to be saved, desire the same yourself.
If you desire this, then pray for it, for it belongs to such people to pray. Do you see how the Apostle uses every means to persuade the soul that one must pray also for the pagans?
This, he says, is pleasing to God. Through this we become like Him, because we desire the same thing that He desires."
God the Savior desires all to be saved. Why, then, are not all saved, and why are not all being saved? Because God, who desires all to be saved, does not accomplish their salvation by His almighty power alone.
Rather, having arranged and offered to all the wondrous and only manner of salvation, He wills that all be saved by approaching this manner of salvation freely and using it reasonably.
Therefore, after saying, "God our Savior desires all to be saved," the Apostle added, "and to come to the knowledge of the truth," making the latter the condition of the former.
To come to the knowledge of the truth means to come to the recognition of the truth. "What truth? Namely, faith in Him" (Chrysostom). It is faith that there is no salvation except in the Lord Jesus Christ, as is immediately said (1 Tim 2:5).
The preaching went out into the world. Those who hear give heed, lay up what they have heard in their hearts, understand the truth, reach the decision to follow it, go, and are saved in the manner established by God.
This whole path is the path of free and rational volition, accompanied by grace, which strengthens its movements. Here, on the one hand, is the reason why not all are saved. On the other hand, here is the place for the influence of the faithful's prayer for unbelievers.
Not all are saved because not all heed the word of truth, not all incline toward it, and not all follow it. In a word, not all want it.
"If God desires all to be saved, why does what God wills not happen?" asks Oecumenius, and he answers: "Because they do not want it. For God does nothing here by compulsion."
We read something similar in Ambrosiaster: "If God, who is called almighty, desires all men to be saved, how is His will not fulfilled? God desires all men to be saved, but if they come to Him.
He does not desire this in such a way that even those unwilling are saved. He wills them to be saved if they themselves also will it.
As He deprives no one of salvation by His almighty power, so He saves no one by it against his will. A physician announces to the community that he is ready to heal all, but, of course, only if the sick come to him.
So here also, those who turn to the Physician of souls are saved. Salvation would not be true if it were given against the will. Nor could one rejoice in salvation received by compulsion, if such a thing were possible.
I do not even mention that here the one sick in spirit cannot receive spiritual healing unless he entrusts himself to its action with his whole soul. This is not bodily healing, but spiritual healing.
It brings no benefit either to those who doubt it or to those who do not want it. For faith, which gives salvation, if the soul does not receive it with all desire, not only brings no benefit, but even harms, serving for greater condemnation.
The grace of faith has power to pour saving medicine only into those who surrender themselves to it with their whole soul."
The influence of the faithful's prayer for the salvation of unbelievers has a place at every turn of the movement of free volition along the path of salvation, from first attention to the word of truth to the reception of salvation.
It influences the first attention to the gospel, the understanding of what the matter is, the inclination toward it, and the decision to follow it. How? This cannot be tangibly indicated.
Yet that it exists is suggested by the present passage. God, he says, is pleased when the faithful pray for the salvation of unbelievers, surely because this assists their salvation.
Since this salvation is conditioned by the knowledge of the truth, or the full reception of faith, free volition reaches it only after making several turns in its movement.
It is therefore evident that the faithful's prayer, which assists the salvation of unbelievers, influences the successful completion of all these turns of volition and finally the very reception of salvation.
The Holy Church believes this, expressing her faith by prayer for the catechumens, who are journeying toward the reception of salvation.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 9 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS