---
title: 1 Timothy 2:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-timothy-2-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-timothy-2-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Timothy 2:1
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Timothy 2:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone—

## JW Usage

Watchtower literature accepts Paul's command in 1 Timothy 2:1 to offer "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings concerning all sorts of men" — and Witnesses do pray for the well-being of civic leaders. The verse is not usually paired with 2:2 in the civic-neutrality conversation, because the pairing exposes the gap between praying for civic outcomes and refusing to participate in them.

## Protestant Usage

Keep 2:1 and 2:2 as a single unit. Paul is commanding the Christian congregation to do moral work through intercessory prayer — prayer "for all sorts of men," including kings. If Paul wanted Christians to practise cosmic withdrawal from civic outcomes, he would not have commanded them to pray earnestly *about* those outcomes. The prayers in view are not passive well-wishing; they are serious intercessions aimed at a specific civic end (2:2's "peaceful and quiet life"). Ask the Witness: can a believer sincerely pray for justice at court, a fair trial for a neighbour, or wise law-making, and then refuse to sit on the jury, testify, or vote for the wisest available option? The prayers of 2:1 do not sit comfortably with the civic prohibitions of the neutrality doctrine.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Civic Cost of Cosmic Neutrality](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/cosmic-neutrality-civic-cost.md) — Jesus said 'my kingdom is not of this world' — not 'my followers must abandon the world' (John 18:36) [Practice]