Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 1 Tim 2:8-15 (Read verses 13-14 on the site)
When Paul says he want[s] men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer,
he does not mean that only men should pray….
In some churches this verse has been understood that way so that only men are permitted to pray in public or to lead the congregation in prayer. But that is not what the apostle means. He is not saying that only men should pray, but that when men pray in every place they should do so in a twofold way—lifting up holy hands and without anger or quarreling in their hearts. Paul’s concern is not who prays here, but how they pray.
The first instruction is that men should lift up holy hands.
That was the usual posture of prayer, derived largely from the Jewish synagogues, where the Jews prayed while standing with their arms lifted up and led the congregation that way. All Paul is saying is that when men pray that way, there ought to be two things that are characteristic of them.