timothy Summary and Overview

honouring God, a young disciple who was Paul's companion in many of his journeyings. His mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are mentioned as eminent for their piety (2 Tim. 1:5). We know nothing of his father but that he was a Greek (Acts 16:1). He is first brought into notice at the time of Paul's second visit to Lystra (16:2), where he probably resided, and where it seems he was converted during Paul's first visit to that place (1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 3:11). The apostle having formed a high opinion of his "own son in the faith," arranged that he should become his companion (Acts 16:3), and took and circumcised him, so that he might conciliate the Jews. He was designated to the office of an evangelist (1 Tim. 4:14), and went with Paul in his journey through Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia; also to Troas and Philippi and Berea (Acts 17:14). Thence he followed Paul to Athens, and was sent by him with Silas on a mission to Thessalonica (17:15; 1 Thess. 3:2). We next find him at Corinth (1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1) with Paul. He passes now out of sight for a few years, and is again noticed as with the apostle at Ephesus (Acts 19:22), whence he is sent on a mission into Macedonia. He accompanied Paul afterwards into Asia (20:4), where he was with him for some time. When the apostle was a prisoner at Rome, Timothy joined him (Phil. 1:1), where it appears he also suffered imprisonment (Heb. 13:23). During the apostle's second imprisonment he wrote to Timothy, asking him to rejoin him as soon as possible, and to bring with him certain things which he had left at Troas, his cloak and parchments (2 Tim. 4:13). According to tradition, after the apostle's death he settled in Ephesus as his sphere of labour, and there found a martyr's grave.

The disciple thus named was the son of one of those mixed marriages which, though condemned by stricter Jewish opinion were yet not uncommon in the later periods of Jewish history. The father's name is unknown; he was a Greek, i.e. a Gentile, by descent. #Ac 16:1,3| The absence of any personal allusion to the father in the Acts or Epistles suggests the inference that he must have died or disappeared during his son's infancy. The care of the boy thus devolved upon his mother Eunice and her mother Lois. #2Ti 1:5| Under their training his education was emphatically Jewish. "From a child" he learned to "know the Holy Scriptures" daily. The language of the Acts leaves it uncertain whether Lystra or Derbe was the residence of the devout family. The arrival of Paul and Barnabas in Lycaonia, A.D. 44, #Ac 14:6| brought the message of glad tidings to Timothy and his mother, and they received it with "unfeigned faith." #2Ti 1:5| During the interval of seven years between the apostle's first and second journeys the boy grew up to manhood. Those who had the deepest insight into character, and spoke with a prophetic utterance, pointed to him, #1Ti 1:18; 4:14| as others had pointed before to Paul and Barnabas, #Ac 13:2| as specially fit for the missionary work in which the apostle was engaged. Personal feeling led St. Paul to the same conclusion, #Ac 16:3| and he was solemnly set apart to do the work and possibly to bear the title of evangelist. #1Ti 4:14; 2Ti 1:6; 4:5| A great obstacle, however, presented itself. Timothy, though reckoned as one of the seed of Abraham, had been allowed to grow up to the age of manhood without the sign of circumcision. With a special view to the feelings of the Jews making no sacrifice of principle, the apostle, who had refused to permit the circumcision of Titus, "took and circumcised" Timothy. #Ac 16:3| Henceforth Timothy was one of his most constant companions. They and Silvanus, and probably Luke also, journeyed to Philippi, #Ac 16:12| and there the young evangelist was conspicuous at once for his filial devotion and his zeal. #Phm 2:22| His name does not appear in the account of St. Paul's work at Thessalonica, and it is possible that he remained some time at Philippi. He appears, however, at Berea, and remains there when Paul and Silas are obliged to leave, #Ac 17:14| going afterward to join his master at Athens. #1Th 3:2| From Athens he is sent back to Thessalonica, ibid., as having special gifts for comforting and teaching. He returns from Thessalonica, not to Athens, but to Corinth, and his name appears united with St. Paul's in the opening words of both the letters written from that city to the Thessalonians, #1Th 1:1; 2Th 1:1| Of the next five years of his life we have no record. When we next meet with him, it is as being sent on in advance when the apostle was contemplating the long journey which was to include Macedonia, Achaia, Jerusalem and Rome. #Ac 19:22| It is probable that he returned by the same route and met St. Paul according to a previous arrangement, #1Co 16:11| and was thus with him when the Second Epistle was written to the church of Corinth. #2Co 1:1| He returns with the apostle to that city, and joins in messages of greeting to the disciples whom he had known personally at Corinth, and who had since found their way to Rome. #Ro 16:21| He forms one of the company of friends who go with St. Paul to Philippi, and then sail by themselves, waiting for his arrival by a different ship. #Ac 20:3-6| The absence of his name from #Ac 27:1| ... leads to the conclusion that he did not share in the perilous voyage to Italy. He must have joined the apostle, however, apparently soon after his arrival at Rome, and was with him when the Epistles to the Philippians, to the Colossians and to Philemon were written. #Phm 1:1; 2:19; Col 1:1| Phil. ver. 1. All the indications of this period point to incessant missionary activity. From the two Epistles addressed to Timothy we are able to put together a few notices as to his later from #1Ti 1:3| that he and his master after the release of the latter from his imprisonment, A.D. 63, revisited proconsular Asia; that the apostle then continued his Journey to Macedonia, while the disciple remained, half reluctantly, even weeping at the separation, #2Ti 1:4| at Ephesus, to check, if possible, the outgrowth of heresy and licentiousness which had sprung up there. The position in which he found himself might well make him anxious. He used to rule presbyters most of whom were older than himself #1Ti 4:12| Leaders of rival sects were there. The name of his beloved teacher was no longer honored as it had been. We cannot wonder that the apostle, knowing these trials should be full of anxiety and fear for his disciple's steadfastness. In the Second Epistle to him, A.D. 67 or 68, this deep personal feeling utters itself yet more fully. The last recorded words of the apostle express the earnest hope, repented yet more earnestly, that he might see him once again. #2Ti 4:9,21| We may hazard the conjecture that he reached him in time, and that the last hours of the teacher were soothed by the presence of the disciple whom he loved so truly. Some writers have seen in #Heb 13:23| an indication that he even shared St. Paul's imprisonment, and was released from it by the death of Nero. Beyond this all is apocryphal and uncertain. He continued, according to the old traditions, to act as bishop of Ephesus, and died a martyr's death under Domitian or Nerva. A somewhat startling theory as to the intervening period of his life has found favor with some. If he continued, according to the received tradition, to be bishop of Ephesus, then he, and no other, must have been the "angel" of the church of Ephesus to whom the message of #Re 2:1-7| was addressed.

TIM'OTHY (honoring God), an evangelist and pupil of St. Paul. he was a Lycaonian, a native of either Derbe or Lystra. His father was a Greek and a heathen; his mother, Eunice, was a Jewess, and a woman of distinguished piety, as was also his grandmother, Lois, 2 Tim 1:5, and by them he was early educated in the holy scriptures of the O.T. 2 Tim 3:15. Paul found him in one of the cities above named, and, being informed of his good standing among the Christians there, selected him as an assistant in his labors, and, to avoid the cavils of the Jews, performed on him the rite of circumcision. 1 Cor 9:20. He afterward became the companion of Paul, and that he was the object of the extraordinary affection and solicitude of that apostle his letters plainly show. He was left in charge of the church at Ephesus, and that, probably', when he was quite young, thirty-four or thirty-five. 1 Tim 4:12. The post-apostolic tradition makes him bishop of Ephesus. In that case he would be the "angel" of that church addressed in Rev 2:1-7, or his predecessor. Epistles of Paul to. These, with that to Titus, are commonly spoken of as the Pastoral Epistles because they are predominantly given up to directions about church work. The First is supposed to have been written about the year 64, and contains special instructions respecting the qualifications and the duties of sundry ecclesiastical officers and other persons, and the most affectionate and pungent exhortations to faithfulness. The Second Epistle was written a year or two later and while Paul was in constant expectation of martyrdom, 2 Tim 4:6-8, and may be regarded as the dying counsel of the venerable apostolic father to his son in the Lord. It contains a variety of injunctions as to the duties of Christians under trials and temptations, and concludes with expressions of a full and triumphant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in all the glorious promises made to his true followers.

First mentioned (Acts 16:1) as dwelling in Lystra (not Derbe, Acts 20:4; compare 2 Timothy 3:11). His mother was Eunice, a Jewess (2 Timothy 1:5); his father a Greek, i.e. a Gentile; he died probably in Timothy's early years, as he is not mentioned later. Timothy is called "a disciple," so that his conversion must have been before the time of Acts 16:1, through Paul (1 Timothy 1:2, "my own son in the faith") probably at the apostle's former visit to Lystra (Acts 14:6), when also we may conjecture his Scripture-loving mother Eunice and grandmother Lois were converted from Judaism to Christianity (2 Timothy 3:14-15; 2 Timothy 1:5): "faith made its "dwelling" (enookesen; John 14:23) first in Lois and Eunice," then in Timothy also through their influence. The elders ordained in Lystra and Iconium (Acts 14:21-23; Acts 16:2) thenceforth superintended him (1 Timothy 4:14); their good report and that of the brethren, as also his origin, partly Jewish partly Gentile, marked him out as especially suited to assist Paul in missionary work, labouring as the apostle did in each place, firstly among the Jews then among the Gentiles. The joint testimony to his character of the brethren of Lystra and Iconium implies that already he was employed as "messenger of the churches," an office which constituted his subsequent life work (2 Corinthians 8:23). To obviate Jewish prejudices (1 Corinthians 9:20) in regard to one of half Israelite parentage, Paul first circumcised him, "for they knew all that his father was a Greek." This was not inconsistent with the Jerusalem decree which was the Gentiles' charter of liberty in Christ (Acts 15); contrast the case of Titus, a Gentile on both sides, and therefore not circumcised (Galatians 2:3). Timothy accompanied Paul in his Macedonian tour; but he and Silas stayed behind in Berea, when the apostle went forward to Athens. Afterward, he went on to Athens and was immediately sent back (Acts 17:15; 1 Thessalonians 3:1) by Paul to visit the Thessalonian church; he brought his report to Paul at Corinth (1 Thessalonians 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 3:6; Acts 18:1; Acts 18:5). frontTHESSALONIANS, FIRST EPISTLE.) Hence both the epistles to the Thessalonians written at Corinth contain his name with that of Paul in the address. During Paul's long stay at Ephesus Timothy "ministered to him" (Acts 19:22), and was sent before him to Macedonia and to Corinth "to bring the Corinthians into remembrance of the apostle's ways in Christ" (1 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Corinthians 16:10). His name accompanies Paul's in the heading of 2 Corinthians 1:1, showing that he was with the apostle when he wrote it from Macedonia (compare 1 Corinthians 16:11); he was also with Paul the following winter at Corinth, when Paul wrote from thence his epistle to the Romans, and sends greetings with the apostle's to them (1 Corinthians 16:21). On Paul's return to Asia through Macedonia he went forward and waited for the apostle at Troas (Acts 20:3-5). At Rome Timothy was with Paul during his imprisonment, when the apostle wrote his epistles to the Colossians (Colossians 1:1), Philemon (Philemon 1:1), and Philippians (Philemon 1:1). He was imprisoned with Paul (as was Aristarchus: Colossians 4:10) and set free, probably soon after Paul's liberation (Hebrews 13:23). Paul was then still in Italy (Hebrews 13:24) waiting for Timothy to join him so as to start for Jerusalem. They were together at Ephesus, after his departing eastward from Italy (1 Timothy 1:3). Paul left Timothy there to superintend the church temporarily as the apostle's locum tenens or vicar apostolic (1 Timothy 1:3), while he himself went to Macedonia and Philippi, instead of sending Timothy as he had intended (Philemon 2:19; Philemon 2:23-24). The office at Ephesus and Crete (Titus 1:5) became permanent on the removal of the apostles by death; "angel" (Revelation 1:20) was the transition stage between "apostle" and our "bishop." The last notice of Timothy is Paul's request (2 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 4:21) that he should "do his diligence to come before winter" and should "bring the cloak" left with Carpus at Troas, which in the winter Paul would so much need in his dungeon: about A.D. 67 (Alford). Eusebius (Ecclesiastes Hist. iii. 43) makes him first bishop of Ephesus, if so John's residence and death must have been later. Nicephorus (Ecclesiastes Hist. iii. 11) reports that he was clubbed to death at Diana's feast, for having denounced its licentiousness. Possibly (Calmet) Timothy was "the angel of the church at Ephesus" (Revelation 2). The praise and the censure agree with Timothy's character, as it appears in Acts and the epistles. The temptation of such an ardent yet soft temperament would be to "leave his first love." Christ's promise of the tree of life to him that overcometh (Revelation 2:5; Revelation 2:7) accords with 2 Timothy 2:4-6. Paul, influenced by his own inclination (Acts 16:3) and the prophets' intimations respecting him (1 Timothy 1:18; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6; compare Paul's own ease, Acts 13:1), with his own hands, accompanied with the presbytery's laying on of hands, ordained him "evangelist" (2 Timothy 4:5). His self-denying character is shown by his leaving home at once to accompany Paul, and his submitting to circumcision for the gospel's sake; also by his abstemiousness (1 Timothy 5:23) notwithstanding bodily "infirmities," so that Paul had to urge him to "use a little wine for his stomach's sake." Timothy betrayed undue diffidence and want of boldness in his delicate position as a "youth" having to deal with seniors (1 Timothy 4:12), with transgressors (1 Timothy 5:20-21) of whom some were persons to whom he might be tempted to show "partiality." Therefore he needed Paul's monition that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). His timidity is glanced at in Paul's charge to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:10-11), "if I come, see that he may be with you without fear, let no man, despise him." His training under females, his constitutional infirmity, susceptible soft temperament, amativeness, and sensitiveness even to "tears" (2 Timothy 1:4, probably at parting from Paul at Ephesus, where Paul had to "beseech" him to stay: 1 Timothy 1:3), required such charges as "endure hardness (hardship) as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3-18; 2 Timothy 2:22), "flee youthful lusts," (1 Timothy 5:2) "the younger entreat as sisters, with all purity." Paul bears testimony to his disinterested and sympathizing affection for both his spiritual father, the apostle, and those to whom he was sent to minister; with him Christian love was become "natural," not forced, nor "with dissimulation" (Philemon 2:19-23): "I trust to send Timothy shortly ... for I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state, for all seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ's; but ye know the proof of him, that as a son with the father he hath served with me in the gospel." Among his friends who send greetings to him were the Roman noble, Pudens, the British princess Claudia, and the bishop of Rome, Linus. (See PUDENS; CLAUDIA; LINUS.) Timothy "professed a good profession before many witnesses" at his baptism and his ordination, whether generally or as overseer at Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:18; 1 Timothy 4:14; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 1:6). Less probably, Smith's Bible Dictionary states that it was at the time of his Roman imprisonment with Paul, just before Paul's liberation (Hebrews 13:23), on the ground that Timothy's "profession" is put into juxtaposition with Christ Jesus' "good confession before Pilate." But the argument is "fight the good fight of faith." seeing that "thou art called" to it, "and hast professed a good profession" (the same Greek, "confession." (homologia) at thy baptism and ordination; carry out thy profession, as in the sight of Christ who attested the truth at the cost of His life "before or under" (epi) Pilate. Christ's part was with His vicarious sacrifice to attest the good confession, i.e. Christianity; Timothy's to "confess" it and "fight the good fight of faith," and "keep the (gospel) commandment" (John 13:34; 1 Timothy 1:5; Titus 2:12; 2 Peter 2:21; 2 Peter 3:2).