CCLXXXII. The connection by which its clauses cohere is explained

But these things are so constituted that the clauses which follow in order display the cause and reason of those which precede. The signs and arguments of this internal connection are both the rational particle γάρ, for, employed once and again¹, and the subject matter itself of the discourse. For Paul begins by commending worship and inculcating its most noble part, which consists in prayers offered to God; and he ordains² that prayers be poured forth earnestly for absolutely all men, and specifically for kings and the others who preside. He then immediately adds the cause of the precept³, and takes it from the twofold fountain of moral goodness and the divine will and heavenly good pleasure. Moreover, Paul demonstrates that it is the will of God that prayer be made for all, partly by the apposition “Savior,” with which he distinguishes God, and partly by the explicit statement concerning him that “he wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”⁴—

—Not content with these things, he immediately discloses the fountain of such a benign and merciful will and teaches that it is situated in this: that one and the same is the Creator and Father of all⁵, and that one and the same Christ is the mediator of all and gave himself as a redemption for all⁶. It is therefore manifest that this is the ἀκολουθίαν, sequence, of the discourse: that the things which follow display the cause and reason of those which precede, but all tend to this, either to declare or to prove that prayer must be made for all⁷. At the beginning Paul declares that prayer must be made for all. Then, to those asking the cause of the precept, he replies: “Because this is good and acceptable before God our Savior.” But to what does the appellation “Savior” pertain, or what is signified by it? This is signified: that “God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” But whence shall we understand that so benevolent a will toward all men inheres in God the Savior? It will be plain to us if we consider in mind that “there is one God, one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a redemption for all.” Therefore, just as there is one God of all and one mediator and redeemer of all, so prayer must be made for all, that all may be saved and obtain the knowledge of the truth. But in the very commentary which we undertake, the individual points will shine forth more splendidly.