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TIMOTHY - IN THE MIDST OF CONFLICT!

Last week, instead of wearing my name tag I pinned on a tag which read “WARNING! LISTENING TO THIS TEACHER MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.” It’s one of those tags every teacher of God’s Word ought to wear from time to time simply to remind listeners that they need to think for themselves. After all, false teachers still abound and one them may very well be teaching at Bethany or any other church in the valley.
The primary reason for wearing it, besides the fact that it is a good thing to do every once in a great while, is that the present series on Timothy lends itself to a good deal of speculation. As I attempt to reconstruct his life from a handful of scattered verses in Acts and some of Paul’s letters, other than I & II Timothy, guesswork is inevitable. On the other hand, in this smattering of verses and in the letters to Timothy, the Bible does give us some very specific information about Timothy himself. So what this means is that the lessons will constantly be sifting and shifting through three distinct levels of “knowledge.”
At the highest level, what I will call category I, is what the Bible clearly tells us. For example, we know for sure that this Timothy’s father was Greek and that his mother was Jewish and a believer. See Acts 16:1.
Then, given the facts of Acts, we can deduce what is in all likelihood reliable knowledge. This knowledge falls into what I will call category II - in all likelihood the truth. For example, we can deduce that Timothy’s father was not a believer. Luke, the writer of Acts, doesn’t spell this out for us one way or another. But it is a very strong likelihood from the way he included his wife’s faith as part of the contrast with her husband.
This deduction is strengthened in Paul’s second letter to Timothy where he doesn’t include Timothy’s father in the short list of those who spiritually impacted Timothy as a boy. In II Timothy 2:3 - 5 we read:
I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
We can also deduce, from what little we know of the father, that he was dead by the time Timothy was recruited to be part of Paul’s team on his second missionary journey in 48 A.D. We glean this knowledge from the fact that Luke tells us in Acts 16:1 that Timothy’s father “was a Greek.” This inference, however, isn’t as strong as the deduction that the father wasn’t a believer only because we have no other verse to support it. Nevertheless, it is in all likelihood true.
Then, given the facts and/or lack of facts we have reasonable speculation or what Lance Pierson in his book on Timothy calls an educated hunch. I will call this level of knowledge category III. It is that level where we can graciously choose to disagree with one another. Supposed knowledge at this level isn’t worth fighting over beyond verbally sparring with one another. It is that level where we ought to be quick to proclaim that it may be the truth, or is very nearly the truth, or would be the truth if things were different.
For example, one of Lance Pierson’s hunches is that Timothy’s father belonged to a wealthy family. This hunch is based, in part, on the fact that Timothy’s family was well-known in the area. But it is also based on his research into this part of the Roman Empire during the first century. Research told him that the Greek inhabitants were the better-educated class in society. As such, they were either employed by the Romans or had commercial transactions with the Romans. Either way, this meant they were better off than most.
In review, information in Category I is undoubtedly true for the Bible spells it out for us. Category II is in all likelihood true based on the rules of deduction and inference. Logic tells us it is true and while our reasoning could lead us astray we can be pretty confident of our knowledge at this level. At Category III our confidence in what we believe to be true diminishes considerably. In fact, it wanes to the point that we’re willing to admit that we could be way off base.
In Category I we have the fact that the marriage within Timothy’s home was racially mixed. In Category II we can readily conclude that it was religiously mixed and we can also deduce that the mother, Eunice, was not nominally Jewish. For she, along with her mother, instructed Timothy as a teacher would instruct a disciple. He came to know the Old Testament as well as we know the back of our hand; or rather as well as we think we know the back of our hand!
The facts of this mixed marriage, and what we can readily deduce from the facts, may very well make for a good “Mother’s Day” sermon. And, in light of what we know about Timothy’s impact on the Kingdom of God, it would undoubtedly be of great encouragement to all those mother’s who have faithfully instructed their children in the Lord.
But, it is at Category III, the category where we play out our hunches, that we are either personally touched at a much deeper level, and hence have a greater appreciation for all that God did in the life of Timothy and is doing in our life, or we walk away empty handed. Empty handed only in the sense that it didn’t speak to our inner being, but on the plus side we can see how it would be meaningful to someone else.
At Category III we can sense the tension in the home as Timothy was ushered into the world. We can imagine how the father and mother tossed around various names for the baby. The mother was inclined toward a good Jewish name like David, Joseph, or Daniel but the Father was determined to give the child a name more in keeping with his background. In the end, the father won this battle for they named the boy Timothy which to the Greeks meant “honored by the gods” or “revering the gods.”
As Greek names went, it was probably a name that Eunice could live with for in her mind she could substitute for “the gods” the phrase “the one true God of Israel.” In her mind, to her way of thinking, Timothy meant “honored or valued by God.” And in return Timothy would “revere, worship the one true God.” So the name became a reminder for her to pray that Timothy would indeed be valued by God and in return would worship the one true God.
But the name wasn’t the biggest battle that Eunice lost in the first few weeks of the baby’s life. She wasn’t allowed to give Timothy the Jewish “birthmark.” Granted, she may have had blind spots as to the commands of Scripture, as we all do; for like others she had soft-pedaled the command to not marry foreign men.
But, in light of the fact that she doesn’t come across as nominally Jewish, it is hard to imagine that she just didn’t think about circumcising the boy. To someone who had a pretty good handle on the Old Testament it would be a form of abuse to leave the child uncircumcised.
The only other conclusion is that the boy’s father forbid it. He said, “I don’t mind what silly stories you tell him on your lap, but I’m not having him scarred for life.” To the father the abuse would have been in letting the boy be “snipped.” To him, this act of manipulation made the boy look deformed.
You see, a baby triggers conflict within a marriage because it brings out the differences between the two parents. Eunice and her husband both thought that the baby was worth fighting over – of course, they only thought this way because the baby was born at such a young age. If Timothy had entered the world as a teenager he would have united the parents instead of dividing them against each other!
What all this means is that Timothy grew up in a home characterized by disagreement and in the wider community he bore the shame of it. To the Jewish community, he wasn’t kosher. He was uncircumcised which meant unclean, impure, and un-blessed. To the Greek community, since he was his mother’s boy, he was sneered at as a Jewish pig.
Being the product of a mixed marriage meant two things. First, within the home he was fought over by his parents. He magnified the differences between his dad and mom and those differences were played out before him; sometimes in a manner that was pretty ugly. Second, outside the home, within the neighborhood, he was a lonely outcast. The Jewish kids called him a Gentile dog and the Greek kids called him a Jewish pig. So it is easy to imagine him becoming an introvert and that is how he comes across in the pages of Scripture.
His childhood, may explain what we see of him as he joined Paul and Silas on their journey. You will recall that the first month went well for the team. The churches were strengthened with the news from Jerusalem and their numbers grew daily. But, it then seemed as if they couldn’t do anything right. The team tried to head south toward Ephesus and the Spirit restrained them. They then attempted to turn north into Bithynia and again the Spirit restrained them.
How they were restrained is unclear. What is clear, however, is that they were literally funneled, by the Spirit, toward Troas. It was at Troas that Paul received a vision for the team to come over to Macedonia – Europe. In Acts 16:9 - 10 we read:
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
You’ll note, it didn’t take them long to decide to hop on board a ship and go to Macedonia. After a dry spell, they were more than ready to respond to the call of this man of Macedonia; they were hungry for the work of the ministry. You will also note that Dr. Luke employed the pronoun “we” in v. 10 implying that he has now joined the team.
So the four of them made their way to Philippi where a lady by the name of Lydia became the first convert in Europe. Paul then meddled in the life of a slave girl who was being used by others for fun and profit. She was possessed by a demon and Paul, getting tired of being harassed by this girl, turned and commanded the demon to come out of her.
While this may have pleased the girl, it did nothing to endear Paul to her owners. When they realized that their little money machine had been shut down they took it out on Paul and Silas. They seized the two men, dragged them before the local magistrate, filed a formal complaint, and worked the crowd to their benefit. The judge, swayed by the unruly mob, ordered the two men stripped, flogged, and thrown into the maximum security unit.
Now let me ask you a question. Where were Luke and Timothy? More in keeping with this series, what was Timothy doing while Paul and Silas were being manhandled by the owners of this slave girl? What was he thinking? What was stirring within him? What was he feeling as he watched the violence unfold before him?
In answer to the first question, Luke and Timothy, at this point in time, were observers. They were undergoing training. Paul had not asked them to come up front for at this juncture they wouldn’t be expected to preach or to initiate action as Paul did in regards to the slave girl. Timothy’s initial job description probably included making travel arrangements, looking after the money, buying food and medicine, and finding the needed accommodations. Timothy who may have inherited some of his dad’s business skills, assuming his dad was a merchant, found all of this easy to do.
What this means is that he and Luke did the behind-the-scenes work. Sure, they saw what happened to Paul and Silas but the crowd was unaware of their connection to the two itinerant preachers. So while Paul and Silas were being flogged, all that Luke and Timothy could do was to look on and pray that in some way God would rescue them.
Now to Timothy’s credit, he didn’t quit at his point. But he must have felt like quitting. He had been in the middle of so many conflicts, (fights?) within his own home that he tended to shy away from conflict in the public arena. Anything that promised of conflict, anything that hinted at strong disagreement he avoided.
It is perhaps for this reason that we see, peppered throughout the letters to Timothy, Paul’s encouragement to the young man to fight the good fight, to not shy away from conflict but to confront it with the truth. Here are a few examples.
1Tim. 1:3 When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those who are teaching wrong doctrine. 4 Don’t let people waste time in endless speculation over myths and spiritual pedigrees. For these things only cause arguments; they don’t help people live a life of faith in God. 5 The purpose of my instruction is that all the Christians there would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere faith.
1Tim. 6:11 But you, Timothy, belong to God; so run from all these evil things, and follow what is right and good. Pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight for what we believe. Hold tightly to the eternal life that God has given you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.
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II Tim. 1:6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
Paul, due to the nature of his calling, as well as his temperament, had a habit of stirring up conflict. Conflict that he quickly, and somewhat naturally, confronted. But this wasn’t Timothy’s temperament. Some fault Timothy for this “flaw” but Paul never rebuked him for his tendency to shy away from a fight. Neither do I!

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