Men Lifting Holy Hands in Prayer

[ktn4eg]

"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting," ---I Timothy 2:8

As far as I can recall, I don't believe I've ever attended a Baptist prayer service where the men lifted up their hands while praying. Most of the time the men have folded their hands together while they were praying.

So then, if men do not lift up their hands while praying, are they then disobeying God's Word?

 

[Alive in Christ]

It happens in my Baptist church. Not routienly, just sometimes. And occasionly in a few others when I was visiting. And its not just men...the women as well.

I raise an arm up every once in a while.

Its not as common as with the charismatic/pentecostal curches, thats for sure..

It certainily is scriptural, though.

 

[exscentric]

Couldn't tell you, I pray with my eyes closed.

Just an observation it is "hands" not "arms."

 

[Greektim]

"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting," ---I Timothy 2:8

As far as I can recall, I don't believe I've ever attended a Baptist prayer service where the men lifted up their hands while praying. Most of the time the men have folded their hands together while they were praying.

So then, if men do not lift up their hands while praying, are they then disobeying God's Word?

I believe this to be idiomatic and has the connotation of purity in life. Lifting clean hands is a way to speak of the heart of the person praying. I would advise checking commentators on this.

 

[Alive in Christ]

Couldn't tell you, I pray with my eyes closed.

Just an observation it is "hands" not "arms."

Ha!

Well, I sure like to see a man raise a hand up while leaving his arm at his side! :laugh:

 

[exscentric]

Ha!

Well, I sure like to see a man raise a hand up while leaving his arm at his side! :laugh:

Easy enough when sitting, seldom stand for prayer.

Another observation or two, is this private or public prayer? Prostrate, kneeling or...?

Think the "holy" might be the key thought.

 

[Havensdad]

Very Biblical. Don't know why more do not do it, other than tradition. It is a result to the over-exuberance of our Pentecostal brothers. Hand raising in many Baptist Churches began to be seen as a "Pentecostal" thing. However it is seen throughout scripture:

Psalm 63:4 ESV

So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

Psalm 141:2 ESV

Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

1 Kings 8:54 ESV

Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven.

Ezra 9:5 ESV
And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God,

Psalm 134:2 ESV

Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!

Lamentations 3:41 ESV

Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:

Nehemiah 8:6 ESV

And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Psalm 28:2 ESV

Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.

1 Timothy 2:8-10 ESV

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

Deuteronomy 32:40 ESV

For I lift up my hand to heaven and swear, As I live forever,

Lamentations 2:19 ESV

“Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.”

1 Kings 8:38 ESV

Whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house,

1 Kings 8:22 ESV

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven,


Hope that helps. I, for one, lift my hands all the time. Not because I feel I have to, just because it comes naturally.

 

[Havensdad]

I believe this to be idiomatic and has the connotation of purity in life. Lifting clean hands is a way to speak of the heart of the person praying. I would advise checking commentators on this.

Yes, but only because the natural position of prayer for the early Christians was palms upraised in supplication (as if they would receive something). "Lifting holy hands" is quite literal here. It is saying that the person praying should be a person set apart by his lifestyle.

 

[freeatlast]

"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting," ---I Timothy 2:8

As far as I can recall, I don't believe I've ever attended a Baptist prayer service where the men lifted up their hands while praying. Most of the time the men have folded their hands together while they were praying.

So then, if men do not lift up their hands while praying, are they then disobeying God's Word?

Where you place the comma makes a difference.
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling

The idea was at that time that to raise the hands with open palms the person is claiming that there is nothing hidden in their life. They are an open book. The command is really not to pray with lifted hands as that does not prove anything or enhance prayer, but when we pray our lives are to be holy and to pray without doubt or wrath which can only come from a person who is living a holy, (sanctified) life.
If we are not living that kind of life raising our hands or falling on our face in the dirt in prayer means they are not holy hands at all because we are not holy. In other words all the games we might play to get God to think we are something we are not is a waste of time. Just live holy lives and pray accordingly whether you raise your hands, kneel, stand, set or fall on your face.

 

[freeatlast]

Yes, but only because the natural position of prayer for the early Christians was palms upraised in supplication (as if they would receive something). "Lifting holy hands" is quite literal here. It is saying that the person praying should be a person set apart by his lifestyle.

:thumbs::thumbs: