1 Timothy 2:3 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Role in This Section

This verse states that such all-embracing prayer is good and acceptable before God the Savior.

Read It With

1 Timothy 2:1–7

Read 1 Timothy 2:3 with 2:1–7. This verse states that such all-embracing prayer is good and acceptable before God the Savior. The complete unit establishes this movement: The community should pray and give thanks for all people, including rulers, so that life may be peaceful and dignified, because God desires salvation and truth and Christ gave himself as the one human mediator and ransom for all.

Why It Needs Context

Read this line with 1 Timothy 2:1–7. The surrounding verses supply the complete movement summarized here: The community should pray and give thanks for all people, including rulers, so that life may be peaceful and dignified, because God desires salvation and truth and Christ gave himself as the one human mediator and ransom for all.

Read 1 Timothy 2:1–7 together

Why these verses belong together: Prayer for all, rulers, quiet life, God's saving desire, one mediator, ransom, and Gentile mission form one argument.

Verse 1. I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

Verse 2. For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Verse 3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

Verse 4. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Verse 5. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Verse 6. Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Verse 7. Where unto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

Continue in Context

Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.

Read 1 Timothy 2:1–7 — Prayer for All Serves Peace under the One Mediator

Sources used for this context pointer

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: 1 Timothy 2:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

Greek textual evidence

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos

Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010

Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, morphology targets, and base text for original-language discussion.

Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/1Tim.txt, 2:1–7

Open the 1 Timothy Greek text file ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record