1 Timothy 2:4 And An Objection Considered
J.P. Holding, in his response to the Calvinist explanation of 1 Timothy 2:4 makes this statement:
The Calvinist attempt to deflate this verse nestles around the hyperbolic implication that to pray for "all men" one must pray for them one at a time. This is a non-objection. In this day and age men belonged to classes or groups by nation or by other criteria; the idea of praying for people one at a time would never have occurred to a collectivist-minded writer. Beyond this do we not even today pray, for example, for every man on a ship in the Navy, as a collective, to be safe in their journey?
I have a few problems.
The Calvinist attempt to deflate this verse nestles around the hyperbolic implication that to pray for "all men" one must pray for them one at a time. This is a non-objection. In this day and age men belonged to classes or groups by nation or by other criteria; the idea of praying for people one at a time would never have occurred to a collectivist-minded writer. Beyond this do we not even today pray, for example, for every man on a ship in the Navy, as a collective, to be safe in their journey?
I have a few problems.
- Holding makes the serious mistake of constraining the writer's conditioned upbringing to restrict his usage of words entirely. It may be true that collectivists don't do that, though who says they can't go against their sensibilities, not to mention with the Holy Spirit inspiring them?
- And we do indeed pray collectively, though in light of 1 Timothy 2:1, ("I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,") do we then give thanks to the likes of Hitler, Satan etc. ?
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 at 2:28 PM.
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