And he came to Derbe and Lystra and behold, a certain disciple was there, by name Timotheus, son of a Jewish believing woman, but [the] father a Greek,
Paul comes back to Derbe and Lystra, where an earlier visit had ended in a stoning. There he finds a young disciple with a divided home, and the verse raises two questions: where did this disciple come from, and why does Luke name his parents?
Paul had been stoned in these streets. Commentators point to what he found when he came back.
This chapter opens with Paul back at Derbe and Lystra — back, that is, to the scenes where he had suffered the stoning. In those very places he now finds Timothy, who was to become in his later years such a comfort to him. A happy illustration of how God's government acts in favour of the godly. We tend to think of it only as acting against the ungodly. Out of the place of Paul's sufferings sprang one of his greatest comforts.
Timothy is already a disciple when Paul arrives. That points back to earlier work.
Luke says little about the other results of the apostle's visit to Derbe and Lystra. Our attention centres on a "young disciple" there. So Timothy was not converted at this time. No doubt he was converted during the apostle's earlier visit, for Paul speaks of him as his "true child in the faith". Paul had become his father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
That earlier visit was violent, and the boy may well have watched it happen.
Timothy fully knew what persecutions Paul endured at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. Most of these persecutions happened on Paul's first missionary journey, when Timothy was perhaps only a boy. But he knew all about them, and he may have seen some of them himself. At Lystra the crowd stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. Very probably the boy Timothy stood among the disciples who gathered around him when he rose up and entered the city.
Two generations of faith stood behind Timothy. Commentators tie his mother's faith to the Scriptures he learned as a child.
Paul traces Timothy's faith back only to where the Christian faith began in his family, with his grandmother: "a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice" (2 Timothy 1:5). We learn from this same letter that Timothy had known the Holy Scriptures from childhood — and who can doubt that he learned them through the teaching of these godly women, or at least his mother? The grandmother and the mother had embraced the Christian faith, and so had Timothy. The apostle seems to treat this as proof that "the faith" was all the more real in Timothy's soul. It also laid on him a still more solemn duty of faithfulness to the Lord in this loose and corrupt period of the church. Every reader must conclude that it is a priceless blessing to have godly parents — parents who seek to bring up their children in the nurture and instruction of the Lord.
The other half of the verse carried a stigma. Under the older law, a marriage like this one was a breach of order, and the children of it had no standing.
Confusion had entered into the practical life of the Jews, as it had among Christians. The mother of Timothy was a Jewess, his father a Greek — a thing unlawful among the Jews. His mother was godly, and his grandmother too. Now such a marriage was completely contrary to the custom of the Jews. See Nehemiah 13:23-31; Ezra 9, 10. According to these books the sons and daughters counted as heathen. They had to be rejected and sent away, along with the wife. It was a disorder.
By the law's reckoning, then, Timothy's parentage was a disorder. Luke's first note about him is his mother's faith.
Luke introduces Timothy by what believers around him said of him, not by his gifts.
They must above all look for the evidence that it is God who has called him. This involves the principle mentioned when Timothy first went out with Paul: he "was well spoken of by the brothers" (Acts 16:2). There were those who knew him well.
Paul had just parted from Barnabas.
They did not have to go far before they found a new companion, Timothy of Lystra. He was to fill the gap caused by the disagreement with Barnabas. Paul lost the fellowship of Barnabas as a friend and brother. But in Timothy, his own son in the faith, he found a sympathy and a fellowship that ended only with the apostle's life.
- Ground. The town that stoned Paul is the town where God had Timothy waiting. Suffering ground became seed ground.
- Fruit. Luke calls Timothy a disciple before Paul arrives. The earlier preaching had taken root and lasted.
- Home. A believing mother and grandmother taught him the Scriptures from childhood. Commentators call godly parents a priceless blessing.
- Stigma. By the law's reckoning a Greek father left Timothy outside. The verse still opens his story with his mother's faith.
- Sending. Before Timothy goes out, believers who know him vouch for him. That test still applies to anyone claiming a call from God.
who had a [good] testimony of the brethren in Lystra and Iconium.
Paul returns to Derbe and Lystra and finds a young disciple named Timothy. The only thing Luke records about him here is what other believers said of him — so what qualifies a person for the Lord's service?
Luke gives almost no detail about Timothy's work. Instead he records the verdict of believers in two towns.
Scripture says little about the other results of the apostle's visit to Derbe and Lystra. It concentrates our attention on a "young disciple" there. So he was not converted on this visit, but no doubt during the apostle's earlier one. Paul speaks of him as his "true child in faith." Paul had brought him to new birth in Christ Jesus through the gospel. His circumstances were unusual. He was the son of a believing Jewish woman, Eunice, but his father was Greek. The believers in those parts gave him an exceptionally good testimony.
So Timothy was no new convert. He had believed since Paul's earlier visit, long enough for those living near him to form a settled view.
Lystra was not neutral ground for Paul. It was the town where a crowd had stoned him.
This chapter opens with Paul back at Derbe and Lystra — back, that is, to the scenes where he had suffered the stoning. In those very places he now finds Timothy, who was to become in his later years such a comfort to him. A happy illustration of how God's government acts in favour of the godly. We are apt to think of it only as acting against the ungodly. Out of the place of Paul's sufferings sprang one of his greatest comforts.
Timothy learned the Scriptures from childhood. He had probably also seen for himself what following Paul cost.
His home was in either Derbe or Lystra, probably Lystra. His mother was a believing Jewish woman named Eunice. Genuine faith lived not only in her but first in his grandmother Lois. His father was a Greek, and since he had never been circumcised, he may have been raised as a Greek. Even so, he knew the Holy Scriptures from earliest childhood. The brothers who lived in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him… It was at Lystra that a crowd stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. Very probably the boy Timothy was among the disciples who "stood around him" when he "rose up and entered the city." He must also have known how John Mark had turned back from the very path of service to which he was now called. Yet he did not hesitate to follow Paul, though he must have known it would mean sharing the same kind of persecution. I wonder how many of us would have done the same.
Timothy was shy by nature, and Paul took him anyway.
Timothy was timid by nature (2 Tim. 1:6-8), yet Paul clearly saw him as a dependable worker with a good report from the believers. This always matters if you are concerned about doing the work of the Lord.
A servant answers to the Lord, not to men. Yet the believers who live alongside him still have a part to play.
The servant's viewpoint and the assembly's must stay quite distinct in this matter. The servant is to be God's servant only, and not man's. Even so, the assembly has to judge whether it can share fellowship with him in his work… Above all, they must look for evidence that God has called him. This involves the principle mentioned when Timothy first went out with Paul: he "was well spoken of by the brothers" (Acts 16:2). There were people who knew him well.
The same kind of witness followed Timothy later on.
The presbytery were the company of elders who doubtless knew Timothy, and so testified to it. (Compare Acts 16:2.)
- Home first. Faith in Lois and Eunice, plus the Scriptures from childhood, shaped Timothy before anyone spoke well of him.
- Then witness. He had been a disciple since Paul's earlier visit, and those who lived beside him gave him an exceptionally good testimony.
- Reaching further. The good word reached beyond his own town to Iconium.
- Then the call. Paul took Timothy as a dependable worker with a good report. That still matters for anyone who wants to do the Lord's work.
- Then fellowship. The servant belongs to God, not to men. The believers' part is to recognise God's call and stand with him, as the elders later did for Timothy.