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1Ti_2:8. After giving, in the digression of 1Ti_2:3-7, the grounds of his exhortation to prayer for all, Paul returns to the exhortation itself in such a way as to define it more precisely in regard to those who are to offer the prayer.
βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ] “Hoc verbo ( βούλομαι ) exprimitur auctoritas apostolica,” Bengel; comp. 1Ti_5:14; Tit_3:15 : “I ordain.”
οὖν ] Bengel’s explanation: “particula ergo reassumit versum 1,” is not quite accurate; the particle connects with 1Ti_2:1 in order to carry on the thought there expressed.
προσεύχεσθαι ] Bengel: “sermo de precibus publicis, ubi sermonem orantis subsequitur multitudinis cor.” Matthies wrongly disputes the opinion that προσεύχεσθαι here is used of “prayer in the congregations.” The whole context shows beyond doubt that the apostle is here speaking of congregations.
τοὺς ἄνδρας ] opposed to τὰς γυναῖκας , 1Ti_2:9. Paul assigns to each part its proper share in the assemblies for worship; “he has something different to say to the men and to the women” (Wiesinger).
ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ] does not stand here in opposition to the Jewish limitation to the temple (Chrysostom and others): “not once found” (de Wette), nor to the synagogue (Wolf), nor in reference to the various places of Christian worship in Ephesus (van Oosterzee), nor to the neighbouring congregations belonging to Timothy’s diocese (Heydenreich); it is to be taken generally, not in the sense of every place, “where the religious mood, custom, or duty cherishes it” (Matthies), but to all places where Christian congregations assemble (Wiesinger).
As to the construction, ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ does not belong to προσεύχεσθαι alone, but “to the whole clause” (Wiesinger, Matthies, van Oosterzee, Hofmann). The apostle means to lay stress not on this, that men are to pray, but on how they are to pray; the chief emphasis, therefore, rests on ἐπαίροντας κ . τ . λ .
ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας ] The Jews lifted up their hands not only in swearing an oath, Gen_14:22 (Rev_10:5), and in blessing, Lev_9:22 (Luk_24:50), but also in prayer, Psa_28:2; Psa_44:21; Psa_63:5, etc. This passage is a proof that the same custom was observed in the Christian church. It is true that in the N. T. it is nowhere else mentioned, but in Clement’s First Epistle to the Corinthians we have at chap. xxix. an evident allusion to this passage: προσέλθωμεν αὐτῷ ἐν ὁσιότητι ψυχῆς , ἁγνὰς καὶ ἀμιάντους χεῖρας αἴροντες πρὸς αὐτόν .
Regarding the form ὁσίους for ὁσίας , see Winer, p. 67 [E. T. p. 81].[97]
The hands are holy which have not been given over to the deeds of wicked lust; the opposite is given by ΜΙΑΡΑΊ , ΒΈΒΗΛΟΙ ΧΕῖΡΕς , 2Ma_5:16; comp. on the expression, Job_17:9, Psa_24:4, and in the N. T. Jam_4:8 especially: ΚΑΘΑΡΊΣΑΤΕ ΧΕῖΡΑς ΚΑῚ ἉΓΝΊΣΑΤΕ ΚΑΡΔΊΑς . Hofmann is ingenious in defining ὉΣΊΟΥς ΧΕῖΡΕς more precisely by what follows: “The hands of the one praying are ὍΣΙΟΙ only when he is inwardly saturated with the consecration without which his praying does not deserve the name of prayer.”
ΧΩΡῚς ὈΡΓῆς ΚΑῚ ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΟῦ ] Bengel is more pregnant than exact when he says: “ira, quae contraria amori et mater dubitationis; dubitatio, quae adversatur fidei. Fide et amore constat christianismus, gratiam et veritatem amplectens. Gratia fidem alit; veritas amorem Eph_4:5;” for ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΌς is not to be rendered by “doubt” (so Bengel, with Chrysostom, Theophylact, Theodoret, Luther, and many others), which never is its signification. The rendering “contention” is also inaccurate; ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΌς is equivalent to consideration, deliberation, cogitatio. In the N. T. the singular occurs only here and in Luk_9:46-47; it is usually in the plural. The word is in itself a vox media, but it is mostly used where evil or perverted thoughts are spoken of; comp. Mat_15:19; Mar_7:21; Luk_5:22; Luk_6:8; Luk_24:38. That it is to be taken here malo sensu, is shown by the close connection with ὀργή , which indicates that it is applied to deliberation towards one’s neighbour; comp. Meyer on Php_2:14, and especially Reiche, Comment. Crit. in N. T., on this passage. In the Pastoral Epistles, special stress is laid on peaceableness as a Christian virtue, 1Ti_3:3; Tit_3:2; 2Ti_2:24.
[97] It would be very forced to connect ὁσίους with ἐπαίροντας as a masculine, which Winer considers at least possible.