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2. ὑπὲρ βασιλἑων, ‘for kings’; not ‘for the kings,’ as Baur interpreted, finding here a reason for placing the Epistle in the time of the Antonines, when two emperors shared the throne. The practice, commendable at all times and not without parallel in Jewish history (see Ezr 6:10 and Josephus, B. J. II. 17. 2), was especially important for Christians to observe in early days, when their attitude to the state religion exposed them to the suspicion of disloyalty, and is frequently insisted on by the early Apologists (e.g. Tert. Apol. 30, 31). Prayers for rulers are a conspicuous feature in the early liturgies. Cp. also Rom 13:1; 1Pe 2:13, and Tit 3:1. Polycarp (§ 12) repeats the injunction, apparently with reference to this passage. It will be remembered that Nero was the reigning emperor when St Paul wrote these words, which adds to the impressiveness of the injunction.
καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐν ὑπεροχῇ ὄντων, all in authority; for the phrase cp. 2Ma 3:11, ἀνδρὸς ἐν ὑπεροχῇ κειμένου, and see 1Pe 2:13. The Latin versions render qui in sublimitate sunt.
ἵνα κ.τ.λ. expresses the leading thought in State prayers. The idea is clearly brought out in our Prayer for the Church Militant: … “our Queen, that under her we may be godly and quietly governed.”
The distinction drawn by commentators between ἤρεμος and ἡσύχιος, that the former refers to freedom from trouble without, and the latter from trouble within, is hardly to be pressed. For the latter word cp. Plato’s ἡσύχιος ὁ σώφρων βίος (Charm. 160 B).
The word εὐσέβεια calls for special notice as being one of a group of words occurring in St Paul’s writings for the first time in the Pastoral Epistles, and there used repeatedly. In these letters εὐσέβεια occurs 11 times, εὐσεβεῖν once, and εὐσεβῶς twice, the only other instances in the N.T. of these terms being 4 in 2 Peter , 2 in Acts; we have also εὐσεβής in Act 10:2; Act 10:7; Act 22:12, and 2Pe 2:9. These words are all found in the LXX., with greater frequency in the later books; and, indeed, are common in Greek literature, both early and late (e.g. in Philo and Josephus). That they were within St Paul’s sphere of knowledge is thus assured; and, as a matter of fact, he has the corresponding forms ἀσέβεια and ἀσεβής in Romans. But why he should not have used them before and yet should use them so often in these latest letters is among the unsolved problems of the phraseology of the Pastorals, although corresponding literary phenomena have been often observed (see Introd. p. xxxviii.). It is worth remarking that this group of words is similarly prominent in Book IV. of the Sibylline Oracles [cir. 80 A.D.), as designating the elect of God. εὐσέβεια is a more general word than θεοσέβεια (see 1Ti 2:10) and is almost equivalent to the Latin pietas, due esteem of superiors, whether human or Divine, while θεοσέβεια is restricted to God as its object. However in the N.T. εὐσέβεια always has reference to God; and in the present passage this is well brought out by the juxtaposition of σεμνότης; σεμνότης manifests itself by our demeanour in human society, εὐσέβεια by the fulfilment of duty to God. In the later days of Athanasius εὐσέβεια had almost come to be equivalent to orthodoxy; and Arius, writing to Eusebius, plays upon this, ending his letter with the words ἀληθῶς εὐσέβιε.
σεμνὀτης is also peculiar to these letters (see 1Ti 3:4 and Tit 2:7); gravity best conveys the meaning, an intense conviction of the seriousness of life, and the difficulty of realising the Christian ideal (see note on Tit 1:7). One of the resolutions set down in Dr Pusey’s penitential rule was “to pray daily for σεμνότης[519]”; and the underlying idea is one that must not be left out of sight. Bishop Butler’s comment on the passage, though he takes no account of the context, is itself a signal example of such σεμνότης: “It is impossible,” he says (Sermons on Public Occasions, v.), “to describe the general end which Providence has appointed us to aim at in our passage through the present world in more expressive words than these very plain ones of the Apostle.… To lead a quiet and peaceful life &c. is the whole that we have any reason to be concerned for. To this the constitution of our nature carries us; and our external condition is adapted to it.”
[519] Liddon’s Life of Pusey, 3. 105.