Lectionary Year C
September 23, 2001
1 Timothy 2:1-7

Distillation

Step V - Distillation

A. Summary of Salient Features

(JFC) "The theological 'center of gravity' in this text" is the "God our Savior," mentioned at the end of verse 3 and expanded through verse 6a. The adjectival and adverbial phrases reciting this God's characteristics, especially including the "mediator" and his accomplishments, especially the notion of "ransom", are this passage's major concerns, as are the kinds of prayer in the first verse and the all-inclusive list of telling for whom those prayers are to be prayed through verse 2. If we have minor concerns in this passage, they include "the right time" at the end of verse 6, the attempt at declaring a viable reason for the author's appointment as "a herald and an apostle" (verse 7), his specific call to "teach the Gentiles" and his claim to be "telling the truth".

B. Smoother Translation

(JFC) 1 I call (you, pl) first with all boldness to make petition, prayer, intercession, thanksgiving on behalf of all men; 2 on behalf of monarchs, and of all those who are in authority. Thereby, we might live a quiet and tranquil life and it might be in all godliness and dignity; 3 this mode is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all to be rescued and to come to the true knowledge of truth.
5 For there is one divine God,
and also a mediator between God and man
a man who has been anointed, Christ Jesus,
6 who gave himself as a ransom on behalf of all
the testimony/witness of this favorable time of our own.
7 For this I was called to be a herald and an apostle, (Now, NB, I am telling the truth, not a deceptive lie) and a teacher of Gentiles in faith and truth.

C. Hermeneutical Bridge

(JFC) Prayer is prayer. Nevertheless, this lection seems to say that prayer might move pray-ers to desirable ends. In her Prayer and the Common Life, Georgia Harkness discusses the psychological and social aspects of prayer. She calls them "the fruits of prayer". In the Introduction to her classic, she admits, "A new order of peace and justice, abatement of economic and racial tension, the banishment of ignorance, poverty, and disease will not come about solely through prayer. Nevertheless, without the spiritual and moral resources which prayer exists to heighten, the action required for dealing with such issues is likely to go on being as limited and as misdirected by self-interest as we now see it." Furthermore, she writes that prayer brings "peace of mind, . . . and happiness" in that it can alleviate "fear, loneliness and grief". Dr. Harkness also recommends praying for "peace" and claims, "The requirements for peace (are) prayer and works of good will. Of all the many things the world now needs, none is more needed than an upsurge of vital, God-centered, intelligently-grounded prayer." And, to think, those sentiments were written in 1968 and seem, still, strangely pertinent.

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