How did Timothy die?

With reference to this persecution, little is known; though that little is undoubtedly interesting. Among the numerous martyrs who suffered were John, the beloved disciple, and Timothy, whom. Paul had written to with such affectionate solicitude. The former is said to have been cast, by the tyrant's command, into a cauldron of boiling oil, but a miracle was wrought in his behalf, and he came out unscathed. Unable to hurt the body, the emperor banished him to Patmos, where he was forced to labour in the mines. Here he wrote the book of the Revelation; and would doubtless have ended his course, but for the unexpected death of the emperor; who was assassinated by the comptroller of his own household on the eighteenth of September, A.D. 96. Being now set at liberty, the apostle returned to Ephesus, where he wrote his gospel history, and the three epistles which bear his name. Love, as ever, seems to have been the ruling motive of his life here; and when he died, at the advanced age of one hundred years, he left as an enduring legacy this simple charge, "Little children, love one another." A simple word, and uttered many years ago, but which of us has learnt it even now?

Timothy stood manfully for the truth in the same city till the year 97, when he was killed by the rabble at an idolatrous festival. The people, armed with sticks, and with masked faces, were on their way to their temples to sacrifice to the gods, when they were met by this servant of the Lord. The love of his heart went out towards them, and, reminded perhaps of the example of the apostle Paul, who had faced the idolaters of Athens in a similar way not many years before, he declared unto them the living and true God. But they set at nought his counsel, and grew angry at his reproof, and falling upon him with their clubs, beat him so mercilessly that he expired in a few days.

Heb. 13:23 tells us of Timothy's imprisonment but also of his liberation. We do not know any other details about it. Apart from this short mention (in Hebrews 13) the two Epistles to Timothy are the last biblical testimony to this faithful servant of Christ and co-worker of the Apostle Paul.

Timothy is the model (antitype) of a devoted and faithful servant of the Lord. Paul was full of praise for this companion and co-worker. In 1 Thess. 3:2 he calls Timothy 'our brother and minister of God and our fellow-labourer in the gospel of Christ'. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians Paul calls him already his beloved son and faithful in the Lord who like himself worked in the work of the Lord (1 Cor. 4:17; 16:10). Paul and Timothy worked together for about fifteen years. The warmest and dearest words Paul finds in Phil. 2:19-23: 'But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, 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. Him therefore I hope to send presently, as soon as I shall see how it will go with me.'

The consideration of such questions as these from a merely intellectual point of view is much to be deplored; so also is the attempt to solve them by any sources of information outside the Word. For apart from the untrustworthy nature of tradition, however ancient, we may be assured that what cannot be proved from the sacred pages themselves is intentionally left dubious by the Holy Ghost, and that we err if we pry into it. The manner of Peter's death (crucifixion) is revealed to us in Scripture. (John 21:18-19.) Complete silence is kept as to that of the disciple whom Jesus loved.

At the same time, with regard to the apostles, we have to bear in mind, that beyond the sacred narrative, there is very little known that can be relied upon. The traditional and the scriptural, the certain and the uncertain, are almost helplessly blended together in the writings of the Fathers. Every distinct ray of historical light we greatly value, but it is only to the scriptures that we can turn with certainty. Still, the few scattered notices which we have there, of some of the apostles, with what may be gathered elsewhere, when brought together may give the reader a view of the person and individuality of the apostle, which he never had before. Others, of note, besides the apostles, will come before us in connection with them, especially with Paul; so that our readers will have, in a convenient form, a brief outline of nearly all the noble preachers, teachers, confessors, and martyrs of the Lord Jesus spoken of in the New Testament.

This young brother was associated with Paul in writing six Epistles; and his name is included in the salutation of a seventh: and we have two letters that were written by the Apostle to him. Paul sent him for special service to Thessalonica, to Corinth, to Philippi. We know he had been in prison for Christ's sake, and had been released. (Heb. 13:23). Paul had a number of companions and helpers, but this young man, weak in body, but strong in spirit, seems to have been the dearest to him, and the most trusted. It is this young man Paul chose to go to the assembly in Philippi, while he himself is unable to be with them. We never read, as far as I know, of any very great gift that Timothy had: though he did unquestionably have special gifts: (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6): but, as another has said, "It is not great talents, nor great scholarship, nor great preachers that God needs, but men and women great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God." O, my beloved young Readers, May you take courage by Timothy to seek to be men and women such as this!

Although Timothy was a most devoted and faithful servant of the Lord, who had known what it was to suffer imprisonment as the Lord's servant (Heb. 13:23), and who had shared much of the privations in labour with Paul, there was evidently the danger of his naturally sensitive temperament shrinking from the hardships belonging to the conflict into which God had called him. Because of this, Paul wrote to him, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God." (2 Tim. 1:8).

The apostle next refers to the release of "our brother Timothy," also a significant word for Hebrew Christians; for Timothy's father was a Gentile, but he himself was circumcised to meet the scruples of Jews in the quarters where he was known. He is their brother, by birth and by grace, and has been released from an imprisonment of which we read nothing elsewhere. It is an interesting allusion to one whose faithfulness, while marked, was coupled with a shrinking which was peculiar to his natural disposition, and which needed the encouragement and exhortation of the apostle. Using the expression in an entirely spiritual way, might we not say that the apostle was writing to those whom he desired to see released from a greater bondage than that of prison? — even from the chains of Judaism, which was now nothing more than a delusion for those who knew the better things which Christ has brought in.

"Now I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation; for it is in but few words that I have written to you. Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he should come soon, I will see you. Salute all your leaders and all the saints. They from Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen."

Tradition, not a safe instructor, has supplied us with interesting accounts of a legendary character, more numerous and truth-like than those related of the distinguished apostles, Peter and Paul.*

The future apostolic labours of Thomas, and the end of his life, are so filled with traditions or legends, that we know nothing certainly. Some say he laboured in India and some in Persia. His martyrdom, it is said, was occasioned by a lance, and is still commemorated by the Latin church on December 21, by the Greek church on October 6, and by the Indians on July 1.