Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Timothy 2:1-7, Prayers for kings and all in authority
Paul asks for prayers for everyone, kings and all in authority included, so that believers may live peaceful and quiet lives, because God our Savior wants all to be saved and there is one God and one mediator.
1 Timothy 2:1-7, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul asks that the church pray for everyone, including kings and all who hold power, so that believers can live quiet, peaceful and godly lives. Such prayer pleases God, who wants everyone to be rescued and to know the truth. A single God stands over all, with a single go-between for God and people, Christ Jesus, who gave himself to pay the price for all, and Paul was sent to tell the Gentiles.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/jewish-prayer\/","n":"Prayer in Jesus' day","s":"Set prayers, set hours, standing to pray, God addressed as Father, and prayers for his name and his kingdom. Jesus taught his own disciples a prayer inside that world.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/rome-in-charge\/","n":"Rome in charge","s":"Rome ruled through client princes, local elites and governors. It kept the power to execute, and its soldiers, coins and taxes were everywhere.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/imperial-cult\/","n":"Caesar worshiped as savior and lord","s":"Augustus and the emperors after him were hailed as savior, lord and son of a god, and in the eastern provinces they were worshiped. The titles the Gospels give Jesus were already being used for Caesar.","r":""}
Rome let its peoples keep their gods but expected loyalty shown in worship of Roma and the emperor; because Jews worshiped one God, Rome let them pray and sacrifice for the emperor rather than to him (Keener and his notes; Wright). Josephus reports the Jews telling the governor Petronius, "We offer sacrifices twice every day for Caesar, and for the Roman people". In AD 66 Eleazar, captain of the temple, "persuaded those that officiated in the Divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner", which Josephus calls "the true beginning of our war with the Romans". Wright and Bird and Wright's commentary say the church took this Jewish stance, with Jeremiah 29:7 as its pattern. In Ephesus itself a large stoa was given over to the worship of the Caesars, beside a stoa of Roma (Price and House). Many gods and rulers were called saviors, while Jewish texts kept the title for Israel's God (Keener and his notes on 1:1), and Wright notes it was used of the emperor. Gentiles mostly believed in many mediators of revelation (Keener and his notes); Wright reads one God and one mediator as denying any ruler divine status.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Timothy 1:1, 2:1-4 and 2:5-7
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Timothy 1:1, 2:1-2 and 2:5
- Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 2.10.4 and 2.17.2, trans. William Whiston
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 23, The Pastoral Epistles, The Argument of 1 Timothy, section 3
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, comments on 1 Timothy 1:1-7 and 2:1-7
- J. Randall Price and H. Wayne House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, Ephesians 1:1, The Archaeology of Ephesus
