Eunice, Lois, and Timothy

GOLDEN TEXT: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”—Joshua 24:15

OUR Golden Text is a statement made by Joshua in calling upon Israel to serve the true and living God. He presented to them the opportunity of serving other gods if they wished, but asserted that regardless of what the nation decided, his family—“me and my house”—would serve Jehovah. The text was chosen as an example of a family united in its determination to serve the Lord; and to some extent this was true of the family of which Timothy was the son. It does not necessarily follow, however, that all the members of a family are united in their religious beliefs, and one need not be discouraged if his example and teachings have little effect within his own family circle. Of Jesus it is written that his natural brethren did not believe on him.—John 7:5

ACTS 16:1-5—The study two weeks ago closed with Barnabas and Saul laboring together in the ministry, but now they have parted company—Barnabas joining with Mark, and Paul selecting Silas to work with him. After this change of partners, Paul went to Derbe and Lystra, and there found Timotheus, or Timothy. He was the “son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek.”

Timothy was favorably known among the brethren, and Paul, seeing that the young man possessed talents, not the least of which were zeal and earnestness, invited him to join them in the ministry. Developments later indicate that the two became very close friends in the cause of Christ and the Gospel.

Timothy’s father being a Greek, the boy had not been circumcised according to Jewish custom, and because a great deal of their work was to be among Jews, Paul thought it the better part of wisdom that he should be circumcised—not that it was essential as a Christian, but in order that no stumbling block be put in the way of those to whom they were endeavoring to appeal with the message. This was quite in keeping with Paul’s viewpoint on such matters, as, for example, his attitude concerning the eating of meat which had been offered to idols. Paul knew that such meat had not been defiled, but if the eating of it would cause offense on the part of his weaker brethren, he declared that he would eat no meat as long as the world stood.—I Cor. 8:13

It was only a short time before this that the brethren had held a conference at Jerusalem concerning Gentile converts and what regulations of conduct were to be placed upon them. They decided upon a very simple code. They were to abstain from meat offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. These were all things in which the Gentiles of the day participated without compunction of conscience, and if believing Gentiles were to associate themselves with believing Jews, it was necessary in the interests of unity in the church, to change their course of living along these lines.

Fornication was wrong in any event, but the other points seemed wrong to the undeveloped Jewish Christians only because they had not, through faith in Christ, obtained their full liberty in him. Paul felt himself bound by the decision of the conference in Jerusalem; so, as he and Timothy visited the various ecclesias, they laid before them this minimum of essential regulations. As Timothy was now largely under Paul’s tutoring, he doubtless co-operated wholeheartedly in this viewpoint.

II TIMOTHY 1:3-6—Paul’s faithfulness had led to his second imprisonment in Rome, one from which he was not to be released, except through death. In these closing days of his sacrifice he remembered his “son” Timothy, prayed for him daily, and longed to see him. It is in this passage that we learn the names of Timothy’s mother and grandmother—Eunice and Lois. It is here, also, that we learn that both his mother and grandmother were women of unfeigned faith. Little else is known of these two, but we honor them because of their faith, and for the result of their example as seen in the life of Timothy.

While Paul, as an apostle, had to successor—in fact none of the apostles had, for by divine decree there were to be only twelve apostles of the Lamb—he did commission Timothy to take the torch of truth which he had carried so faithfully; and as a minister of the Gospel, Paul considered his beloved “son” as the one who would take his place. So he encouraged him to stir up the gift of God which was in him, a gift which had been bestowed by the laying on of Paul’s hands.

II TIMOTHY 3:14-15—Here are essential instructions to anyone who hopes to be blessed of God in the ministry of his truth. This ministry is conducted in an evil world, a world over which Satan is the prince. Satan uses every possible device of subtlety and deception in order to draw the brethren away from the truth, and thus away from the Lord. Paul knew this, and he knew that Timothy would need to be on the alert lest he be led into error and away from the truth, so he wrote, “Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of.” It is a mistaken notion to suppose that in order to make progress in the truth we must give up the things which we once learned and proved. There is no surer way than this to go into darkness.

QUESTIONS:

Is it an evidence of unfaithfulness on our part if members of our own family do not accept the truth?

Why did Paul have Timothy circumcised, since Christians are not under the Mosaic Law?

Does progress in the truth imply the necessity of giving it to others?

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