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Paul and Silas invite Timothy to join them

Timothy goes on his first missionary trip.
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On Paul’s second missionary journey, we are introduced to a young man from the city of Lystra named Timothy (Acts 16:1–5). – Slide 1
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Paul would later refer to Timothy as his son in the faith (1 Cor. 4:17; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2). – Slide 2
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Silas, one of Paul’s fellow preachers and traveling companions, had also travelled with Paul to Lystra. – Slide 3
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Paul, Silas, and Timothy would walk together from Lystra to Troas (Acts 16:6–10). – Slide 4
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Timothy’s mother (Eunice) and grandmother (Lois) had instructed him in the Scriptures from his childhood (2 Tim. 1:5; 3:15). – Slide 5
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People often wrongly assume that Lois and Eunice had written copies of God’s word in their home. However, due to the extremely high cost of such scrolls, only extremely wealthy individuals could afford to own even a single book of the Old Testament scrolls. If Lois and Eunice did not have written copies of the Scripture, how did they teach Timothy? – Slide 6
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Memorisation was central to Jewish education in the 1st century AD, serving as the primary method for internalizing Scripture. Rooted in Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and similar commands, the goal was to ‘inscribe’ God’s words on the heart. Lois and Eunice might have instilled the word of God into Timothy’s heart by having him recite the words that they themselves had memorised. In the first century, it was not uncommon for ten-year-old boys to have committed the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses) to memory. – Slide 7
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Lois and Eunice had also taught Timothy through their godly lives. They became a living embodiment of the command of Moses, ‘You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up’ (Deut. 6:7). <br/>Scripture was often sung or chanted. Cantillation (musical notes for reading the Torah) and melodic patterns made the text more memorable. – Slide 8
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God explicitly commanded Moses to write this song and teach it to the Israelites, so it would be passed down through generations as a perpetual witness and reminder (Deut. 32:1–43). We could also add Miriam's Song (Exod. 15) and Hannah's Song (1 Sam. 2). Young Timothy was indeed a blessed young man by having two such godly role models in his life. – Slide 9
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However, his father was a Greek (Acts 16:1–3) who had not allowed Timothy to receive the Jewish act of circumcision. Therefore, to keep from offending ‘the Jews who were in that region,’ Paul had Timothy circumcised. – Slide 10
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After a short time to heal, Timothy then left his mother and grandmother behind. – Slide 11
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It must have broken the hearts of these two godly women to see Timothy leave home. However, they knew that great things awaited him in preaching the gospel of Christ to the Greco-Roman world. – Slide 12
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We read the churches Timothy visited with Paul and Silas were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers (Acts 16:5). <br/>In later years Timothy was sent to help Christians grow in the faith in key cities like Corinth, Thessalonica, and Philippi. <br/>Paul was to write two letters to Timothy giving instructions for church leadership, guarding against false doctrines, and the qualifications for church officers. <br/>In the second letter Paul encouraged Timothy to boldly endure hardship and ‘fan into flame’ the spiritual gifts he had been given. – Slide 13
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