THE KING'S BUSINESS
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that Timothy was reared in the faith of his Jewish fathers, 2 Tim. 1: 5. No doubt these good women took extra pains beyond the legal commands be– cause of the Greek inftuence on his lfte. They taught him by Holy Scriptures from a babe, 2 Tim. 3: 15. Paul could r emind Timothy of his great privilege in this regard and urge fidelity to such teaching, 2 Tim. 1: 5; 3: 14. Paul was on the constant lookout tor young preachers. He saw the tremen– dous demand for them If Christianity was to grow and extend over the world. Jesus had sorrowed as He saw the har– vest ripe and the laborers so few, Mt. 9:37. Timothy was converted during the ftrst mission and was one of Paul's converts because he called him "my true child in faith," 1. Tim. 1: 2; "my child Timothy," 1:18; "my beloved child," 2 Tim. 1: 2, "my beloved and faithful child in the Lord," 1 Car. 4: 17. He was with Paul for most of his ministry while Mark had varying for· tunes and final success with Barnabas and Peter and again with Paul. Few things in Paul's life gave him more comfort than the finding of Timothy. P11u1 prided himself to a degree on his Insight into Timothy's character at the first. He saw the promise that was in this gifted youth. He reminds Timothy that he "stir up (literally keep ablaze) the gift of God that is in thee through the laying on of my hands," 2 Tim. 1: 6. Alas, how often Is it true that the young minister lets the fire burn low, the fiame of the Lord fresh from the altar. From the ordination service on through the years Paul had Timothy on his heart and tried to steer his course aright. But there was no patronizing of Timothy by Paul. He spoke of hilD to others in the noblest way as, "our brother and God's minister in the Gos· pel of Christ," 1 Thess 3 : 2, " for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do," 1 Car. 16:10; "Timothy our bro·
seems to have been designated for the companionship of Paul by a prophetic utterance in the church at Derbe or Lystra, 1 Tim. 4: 14, just as Barnabas and Saul were set apart in Acts 13:1. For the next fourteen or at the most, eighteen years Timothy comes before us and then vanishes, never to be for– gotten but never to be known and loved for his own sake but because Paul loved him and honored him and because he thus became the faithful and affection– ate helper of the world's greatest man. He is .rendered illustrious by that con– nection. His name Is imperishable be– cause it occurs in the light which falls upon the foundation of the church but that light does not produce a photo– graph and the lineaments which It brings out are not those of a hero or a saint save by implication. What heritage can youth possess more desir– able than early religious training, 2 Tim. 3:15, and a good name, Acts 16: 2; Prov. 20:11. The following selections are made from Dr. A. T. Robertson's book "Types of Preachers in the New Testament." His Greek Father. This Is all that Is told about his COMMENT father, Acts 16: TAKEN FROM 1. H e w a s Dr. A. T. Robertson hardly a prose- lyte, for Timothy had not been circumcised before he be– came a Christian. He may have been one of the devout Greeks like Cornelius who attended the synagogue. His mother was "a Jewess that be– lieved," Acts 16:1, when Paul and Barnabas first came to Lystra. Timothy and she may have been in that circle of disciples who stood round Paul's body in fear that he was dead, Acts 14: 19 f, when the mob had dragged him out of the city and left him. His mother's name was Eunice and his grandmother was Lois, who ·saw to it
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