INTRODUCTION TO PAUL'S LETTERS TO TIMOTHY

Timothy was a trusted younger friend of Paul's. Acts 16:1-3 describes how Paul met him in Lystra and tells us something of his family and his baptism. Both his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, were Jewish Christians (2 Timothy 1:5), and Timothy had been raised in the faith from a young age. Acts 16 also tells us that he was highly regarded in Derbe and Lystra, which speaks well of him. Maybe his family was well-known. Or maybe he had already been active in public life as a Christian.

For whatever reason, Paul invited him to accompany him on his second missionary journey, and Timothy would have had the opportunity to learn from Paul, seeing him in action and walking with him from town to town. Paul always speaks warmly of him. (See, for example, Philippians 2:19-23.)

Paul wrote these letters at the end of his life, probably after the events at the end of Acts. From evidence in Paul's letters and tradition in the early church, there is reason to believe that he was released from house arrest in Rome and went on a fourth missionary journey, visiting Spain, Crete, the Greek cities of Turkey, and other parts of the Roman Empire. What part Timothy may have had on these travels we don't know, beyond the evidence of these letters.

At some stage, Paul left Timothy as his representative in Ephesus. It was not an easy assignment, as the letters will show.

His second letter is perhaps the last that Paul wrote and contains some moving testimony of how he faced death.

These two letters, and his letter to Titus, contain a lot of advice about church leadership as Paul prepares to hand responsibility over to the next generation.

Annabel Robinson

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®).