People in Paul's Life
7 - Timothy
We are introduced to Timothy in the first verse of Acts chapter 16. Paul had felt the need to revisit some of the places he and Barnabas had preached at on his first missionary journey. One of the places they visited was Lystra where we read that there was a disciple living there called Timothy.
We read that his mother was Jewish, and a believer, but his father was a Greek and we assume was not a believer. Timothy had been brought up to know the Scriptures by his mother, Eunice and his grandmother, Lois who were faithful in their love for the Lord. We read this in 2 Timothy 1, verse 5. However, the fact that he had been brought up in a Christian environment did not mean that he was automatically a believer himself, although the seed of the Word of God would have been sown in him. Doesn't this show the importance of Christian parents bringing up their children in the knowledge of the Scriptures? This is something that the Bible encourages, because in Proverbs 22, verse 6 we read, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old enough he will not depart from it.” And Paul in 2 Timothy 3:15 writes that the Scriptures “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” I believe that what Timothy had learned in the Scriptures while he was growing up, came back to him when he heard Paul preaching.
Paul had visited Lystra on his first missionary journey; in fact he visited it twice, and it would be during one of these visits that Timothy would have come under the sound of the gospel and been convicted of his need for forgiveness. When writing to Timothy Paul calls him, “my true son in the faith” and “my dear son.” These lead us to assume that Timothy had, at some time, been converted under Paul's ministry.
By the time Paul revisited Lystra Timothy had become an active member of the fellowship there, and he was well thought of by the believers there and in Iconium, so Paul decided to take him along with him and his companions as they continued their mission. Paul could see the potential in this man and also the need for young people to be trained for the Lord’s service. The young people in our churches today need to be encouraged and trained for service within the church. Before Paul and Timothy left Lystra, Paul circumcised Timothy. This wasn’t something he did because it was essential from the point of being a Christian, but Paul felt it would be an advantage when it came to witnessing and preaching to the Jews because of his mixed background. If he hadn’t been the Jews wouldn’t have listened to him.
Another thing we read about Timothy before he set of with Paul was that the elders in the fellowship laid hands on him (1 Timothy 4, verse 14). It was at this time that God made him aware of the gifts he had been given to serve Him with. He was reminded of the need to use these in (2 Timothy 1, verse 6).
Because he was quite young and inexperienced in the Lord’s work, he willingly served in Paul’s shadow. In fact he looked upon Paul as a father figure and role model when serving the Lord in the spread of the gospel.
The first important place they arrived at after leaving Lystra was Philippi. We don’t read of Timothy being involved in the work there, probably because he was new to the work and needed to stay in the background watching, and learning from the experience of Paul and Silas. Presumably, while Paul and Silas were in prison at Philippi, Timothy stayed at the home of Lydia possibly sharing his testimony of how he had come to know the Lord and how he had been guided into accompanying Paul on his mission.
When Paul and Silas left Philippi to go to Thessalonica, we don’t read that Timothy accompanied them, but he does appear to have been with them in Berea because we read in Acts 17:14 that Silas and Timothy remained in Berea in Macedonia when Paul left for Athens, but joined him there some time later. From there he was sent back to Thessalonica to help strengthen and encourage the believers there. By this time Timothy was experienced enough to be trusted by Paul to preach without having someone more experienced with him. You can see how well Paul regards Timothy by what he says in this letter. He calls Timothy his “brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ” (1 Thessalonians 3, verse 2). It appears that Timothy was well used during his time in Thessalonica because before he went, the young church there was going through tribulations, but when he eventually meets up with Paul again he brought him “good news about (their) faith and love.” This encouraged Paul greatly.
Timothy also accompanied Paul on his third missionary journey along with several others who are named in Acts 20 an verse 4. We are not given much detail of his involvement in this mission.
We learn in the letter to the Hebrews that Timothy had spent time in prison, but had been released. We have no other information on this, but it does show that he was prepared to suffer for the sake of Christ like many people are prepared to do today. Despite this, he remained keen to preach the gospel whenever he had the opportunity.
What sort of a man was Timothy? When we read Paul’s letters to him we find out several things about him which might put some church leaders off appointing someone to do such demanding work as he was involved in.
We are led to believe that he was a young man who was also young in the faith when the Lord called him to work with Paul. In 1Timothy 4, verse 12 Paul wrote, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young.” Paul could obviously see the potential in him. Despite his youth, Paul knew that he was mature enough to set a good example for others to follow, because in the same verse he told him to “set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and purity.”
But there were other things that might go against him and hinder his work if they were allowed to. It appears he was naturally quite a shy young man who was possibly not used to speaking in public. Paul speaks about his “spirit of timidity” in 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Whether Timothy had shown signs of being scared of getting involved in public ministry we don’t know, but when a person is asked to stand up and give a word of testimony or preach a sermon for the first time, the first reaction is to think you are not capable or worthy of doing it. Paul is saying that if God is calling you to do something for Him he will give the strength and will to do it. He says, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline.”
Another thing that could have been a hindrance to Timothy’s service for the Lord was his health. In 1 Timothy 5, verse 23 Paul makes reference to his stomach and his frequent illnesses. However, it appears he was able to cope with his problem because we don’t read of it hindering him in his service.
In closing, I want us to look at what Paul says about Timothy to the people of Philippi. He writes of his genuineness and unselfishness in carrying out his duties. He more or less says that even a person’s own son could not serve someone better that he had served the Lord with Paul as his spiritual father. He says in Philippians 2:21,22, “I have no-one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”
Don’t forget, the Lord knows each one of us better than we know ourselves because, as the Psalmist writes in Psalm 9, verse 11, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man” and, as Paul tells us in Acts chapter 15 and verse 8, “He knows the heart.”
And He knows you heart and mine.