And he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, there was a certain disciple there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman that believed: but his father was a Gentile.
κατηντησεν δε εις δερβην και λυστραν και ιδου μαθητης τις ην εκει ονοματι τιμοθεος υιος γυναικος τινος ιουδαιας πιστης πατρος δε ελληνος
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Look at Paul’s wisdom. He does not set out for other cities before visiting those that had already received the word. It would not have been wise to walk about in vain. Let us also act in the same way. Let us first instruct those who came earlier, so that they do not become an obstacle to those who follow.
It is remarkable that the Jews so neglected the Law that they gave their daughters in marriage to Greeks and married Greeks themselves.
From the beginning Paul had set this rule for himself: “to preach the Gospel, not where Christ had been named, lest I build on another man’s foundation; but, as it is written, they shall see to whom no news of Him had come, and they who have not heard shall understand.”
This is how he himself expresses it in Rom 15:20 and 2 Cor 10:16. He wished to open for himself the field of labor and the spread of the Gospel, and not to enter another’s field.
Therefore he did not now go, as at the beginning of the first journey, to the island of Cyprus. Instead, through the borders of Syria and Cilicia he came to Pisidia.
There he visited the border cities where he had labored during his first journey.
In the city of Lystra, Acts 16:1, ἐκεῖ, certainly in Lystra, he found a youth named Timothy.
Timothy had received a pious upbringing from his mother Eunice, a devout Hebrew woman, though married to a Gentile. This upbringing did not remain fruitless in him.
During Paul’s first stay in that city, his mother had turned to Christianity. Even the young Timothy became a zealous confessor of the Gospel.
In the churches of Lystra and the neighboring city of Iconium, he was known to all for his zeal in the faith.
In the public assemblies of the believers, there were testimonies of prophets who proclaimed that Timothy had been appointed by God Himself for great works on behalf of the Gospel; 1 Tim 1:18.
It pleased Paul to have with him such a zealous young man. Timothy could help him in the labors of preaching, and under his guidance could himself be formed into a great preacher.
The young man himself was ready, out of love for their common Lord and for Paul himself, to follow him everywhere.
Since Timothy by origin belonged on one side to the Jews and on the other to the Gentiles, he was all the more fit to accompany the apostle among both Gentiles and Jews.
To bring him still closer to the latter, Paul had him circumcised. In this there was no violation of the universally recognized rights of Christians from the Gentiles.
As the son of a Jewish woman, brought up in Judaism, he could be claimed by the Jews more than by the Gentiles.
Passing through Syria and Cilicia, the Apostle Paul reached Derbe and Lystra. In the latter city, he called to his aid a new companion, a certain Timothy. Since Timothy had a Gentile father and had not been circumcised, the Apostle Paul circumcised him. This was to make it possible for him to preach among the Jews, who were numerous in those places. Yet among those who had already believed, Paul did not cease here also to proclaim the decrees of the apostolic council. He called Christians to observe them strictly (verses 1-5).
Accompanied by the good wishes of their brethren, the Apostles left Antioch first for Syria and Cilicia, where they strengthened the Churches.
Then they visited the cities of Derbe and Lystra. In the latter city the Apostle Paul acquired a new fellow worker, the young Timothy, who became the great Apostle's most beloved and devoted disciple.
He was the son of the widow Eunice. As a pious Jewish woman married to a Greek, she gave her son a good upbringing in the fear of God and in respect for elders.
From childhood he studied Holy Scripture. Both by his upbringing and by his character, he was a man capable of every self-sacrifice for the sake of the faith. For this reason he was highly valued by the Apostle.
Despite his youth, he resolved to accompany the Apostle Paul on his great missionary journey. He rendered important services both to the Apostle personally and to the whole Christian Church.
He, Paul with his companion Silas, came to Derbe and Lystra; see the note on Acts 14:6. “There was there” means in Lystra, not in Derbe, as is also indicated by the testimony of the Lystrans concerning Timothy.
“A certain disciple” means a Christian. The mother of this disciple, named Eunice in 2 Tim 1:5, was a believing Jewess, that is, a Christian woman of Jewish origin. His father was a Greek, that is, a Gentile; cf. Acts 11-20.
He was not a Jewish proselyte from among the Gentiles, for this is nowhere evident. Rather, he was precisely a Gentile, who remained a Gentile even after his wife and son had turned to Christ; cf. the end of verse 3.
Thus Timothy came from a mixed marriage between a Jewish woman, who later became a Christian, and a Gentile. Such marriages of Jewish women with Gentiles were then customary among Jews living among Gentiles.
When a wife or husband passed over to Christianity, and the other party was unwilling to follow, such marriages were not dissolved if there was mutual consent; cf. 1 Cor 7:12 and following. Thus Eunice probably continued to live with her husband.
The Apostle Paul made the journey to Derbe and Lystra on foot, wishing to benefit those who saw him along the way. “When they were in haste, they sailed, but now it was not so,” says Saint John Chrysostom.
The benefit of such a journey was undoubtedly great, for the writer of Acts soon notes that the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily, verse 5.
Especially beneficial here, in the city of Lystra, was the meeting with Timothy. He became so well known and later so glorious a fellow laborer of the Apostle Paul.
Paul wrote to him two inspired epistles, in which he indicates the traits and qualities that ought to distinguish a pastor.
Timothy was young, yet from his youth he knew the Holy Scriptures, which made him wise in matters pertaining to salvation; see 2 Tim 3:16.
No less did his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, guide him toward salvation. As Jewish women, they zealously instructed him in holy life. But his father was a Greek, a Gentile.
Although marriages of this sort were then very common, the situation here was not entirely favorable for an outstanding young Christian. Therefore the apostle resolved in his heart to take Timothy with him, confidently hoping that he would also be useful as a preacher.
Yet he did not hasten in this, but gathered from the believers the necessary testimony concerning him.
“We may think,” says D. Glagolev, “that the Apostle Paul found the Church of Derbe in good condition. As a result of his present visit, it was bound to improve still further.
“The coming of the Apostle Paul to Lystra was hardly such a surprise as it was in Derbe. Here there were many disciples whom Paul had gained during his first journey.
“Among them, now surely awaiting his arrival with impatience, was the well-known Timothy. From this time he became the inseparable companion and fellow laborer of the Apostle Paul.
“Paul later said of him that, as a son serves a father, so he served with him in the Gospel”; see Phil 2:20, 22.
More detailed information about Timothy is set forth by D. Glagolev, and also in my preface to the explanation of the Epistles to Timothy.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 23 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS