Timothy

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.