ACC ~ 1 Timothy 2 v2

PRAYING FOR PEACE. ORIGEN: Then Celsus next exhorts us to help the emperor with all our power, and cooperate with him in all that is right, and fight for him, and be fellow soldiers if he presses for this, and fellow generals with him. We may reply to this that at appropriate times we render to the emperors divine help, if I may so say, by taking up even the whole armor of God.And this we do in obedience to the apostolic utterance which says, “I exhort you, therefore, first to make prayers, supplications, intercessions and thanksgivings for all men, for emperors, and all that are in authority.” Indeed, the more pious a man is, the more effective he is in helping the emperors—more so than the soldiers who go out into the lines and kill all the enemy troops that they can. AGAINST CELSUS 8.73.

PRAYING FOR ENEMIES. TERTULLIAN: If you think that we have no interest in the emperor’s welfare, look into our literature, read the Word of God. We ourselves do not keep it concealed, and in fact it is in some cases by chance handed over to outsiders. Learn from this literature that it has been enjoined upon us, that our charity may more and more abound, to pray to God even for our enemies and to beg for blessings for our persecutors. APOLOGY 31.1-2.

A BULWARK OF SAFETY. CHRYSOSTOM: The soul of some Christians might be slow at hearing this and may resist this exhortation. For at the celebration of the holy mysteries it may be necessary to offer prayers for a heathen king. Paul shows them the advantage of fulfilling this duty at least to reconcile them to the advice, “that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life.” … For God has appointed government for the public good. When therefore they use force for the common good and stand on guard for our security, isn’t it reasonable that we should offer prayers for their safety in wars and dangers? Such prayers are not excessive flattery but agreeable to the rules of justice. HOMILIES ON 1 TIMOTHY 6.

CHRIST THE ONLY MEDIATOR OF THOSE WHO PRAY FOR ALL. AUGUSTINE: My very special reason for saying all this was that after I had briefly defined and interpreted these terms [i.e., the terms of 1 Timothy 2:1], no one should think of overlooking the passage that follows, “for all men, for kings and for all those who are in high station, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all piety and charity,” and that no one should imagine, by a common frailty of the human mind, that these prayers are not also to be made even for those at whose hands the church suffers persecution. For the members of Christ are to be gathered from every class. Hence he continues and says, “for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” And that no one might say there can be a way of salvation without partaking of the body and blood of Christ but simply by living a good manner of life and worshiping one God Almighty, Paul continues: “For there is one God and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” This makes it clear that what he had said above, “He will have all men to be saved,” is to be realized only through a mediator who would not be God, as the Word is always God, but the man Christ Jesus, since “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” LETTERS 149.2.17.

MAKE USE OF THE PEACE OF BABYLON. AUGUSTINE: As the life of the body is the soul, so the “blessed life” of a man is God. As the sacred writings of the Hebrews have it, “Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.” Yet even such a people cherishes a peace of its own which is not to be scorned, although in the end it is not to be had because this peace, before the end, was abused. Meanwhile, it is to our advantage that there be such peace in this life. For, as long as the two cities are mingled together, we can make use of the peace of Babylon. Faith can assure our exodus from Babylon, but our pilgrim status, for the time being, makes us neighbors. All of this was in St. Paul’s mind when he advised the church to pray for this world’s kings and high authorities—in order that “we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all piety and worthy behavior.” Jeremiah, too, predicting the Babylonian captivity to the Old Testament Jews, gave them orders from God to go submissively and to serve their God by such sufferings, and meanwhile to pray for Babylon. “For in the peace thereof,” he said, “shall be your peace”—referring, of course, to the peace of this world, which the good and bad share in common. THE CITY OF GOD 19.26.

1 Tim