Timothy was a citizen of the city of Lystra, the city where Paul was dragged outside the gates, pelted with stones, and left for dead. When Paul stood back up and walked back into the city, this must have made a huge impression on the people living there---and perhaps especially on one young man named Timothy. On Paul's second visit to Lystra, Timothy left everything behind to join Paul and his companions on their missionary journeys.
It's believed Timothy was still quite a young man when he accepted Christ under the preaching of Paul, for Paul refers to him as his "son in the faith". Paul took on a fatherly role in Timothy's life, and this is important because Luke's words in the book of Acts indicate that Timothy's own father was not a believer. Luke says that Timothy's "mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek". (Acts 16:1) If Timothy's father had been a convert either to Judaism or Christianity, I think Luke would have said so since he takes care to tell us that Timothy's mother was a woman of faith. So we see that Timothy didn't have a father who could teach him about the Lord and who could set a godly example for him to follow. We will learn that both Timothy's mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois were God-fearing women who taught him from the Scriptures from the time he was a small child, but he was given no spiritual instruction from his father. He needed a godly father figure in his life and Paul filled that role. Paul, who had no biological children, thought of Timothy as his son. Timothy came to faith in Christ under Paul's preaching and in that sense Paul "begat" him into his new life as a Christian.
Timothy traveled with Paul, transcribed some of Paul's letters for him, worked as a messenger for Paul, and---according to early church tradition---became the bishop of the church at Ephesus. Also according to early church tradition, Timothy was stoned to death at Ephesus in about 97 AD for vocally protesting against an idolatrous festival taking place in the city.
It's interesting to note that Timothy may have become a Christian because he witnessed the miraculous survival (or perhaps resurrection) of Paul following what appeared to be his death by stoning at Lystra, and then Timothy himself died nearly fifty years later by being stoned to death at Ephesus. Timothy's Christian life began due to a stoning and his physical life ended due to a stoning. Paul's courage at Lystra, and in every other city where he was met with persecution and prison and eventually a martyr's death, gave Timothy the courage to face his own martyr's death. Paul was a father to him in the faith, and like any good father he set an example for his son to follow.
Paul did a wonderful job in his role of father to Timothy, and we know this because Timothy did a wonderful job in his role of evangelist and church leader. We will only look today at the opening lines of Paul's first letter to Timothy, and in it we see the familial bond these two men shared. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." (1 Timothy 1:1-2)
In calling Timothy his "true son in the faith", Paul is saying, "You couldn't be more of a son to me if you were my biological child. I couldn't love a biological son more than I love you. As my son, I'm making you my heir. I'm going to instruct you and encourage you in the faith so that after I pass on you will be equipped to continue my work in the Lord." Timothy is heir to Paul's ministry. He is the man Paul trusts to take his place. Just as the prophet Elijah threw his mantle onto Elisha (the man who would be his successor as a prophet to Israel) Paul symbolically throws his mantle onto Timothy to be his successor in the Christian church.
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