Timothy Added to Paul’s Mission Team; Macedonian Call Comes

“Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.  A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.  He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.  Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places for they all knew his father was a Greek.  As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.  So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily… And a vision appeared to Paul in the night:  a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’  And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”Acts 16:1-4, 9-10 (ESV. Read Acts 16:1-10).

At Lystra, young Timothy joined Paul and Silas.  Timothy is believed to have been converted about five years before when Paul made his first missionary journey and preached in Lystra.  Timothy had been well instructed in Jewish law and scripture by his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois (see 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15)  Timothy’s father was a Greek (Gentile).  Even though Paul had won the decision in Jerusalem that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised to become a part of the Christian fellowship, why did he, then, have Timothy circumcised?  Those who knew Timothy would have known that his parents were of a mixed marriage:  a Jewish maiden to a Greek man. In a strict Jewish home, the Jew, male or female, who married a non-Jew would have been considered “dead” and cast out by their Jewish kin.  And because it was Paul’s custom to go first in any new city to the Jewish synagogue to preach, teach and witness, he did not want to have a problem of a “half Jewish” member of the missions team uncircumcised.  Therefore, this rite was administered to Timothy before they moved on to other cities in the region.  They bore the news from the Jerusalem Council that Gentiles did not have to go through the rite of circumcision. The addition of Timothy was a boon to Paul’s work.  He calls him his “son in the gospel” (I Corinthians 4:17).  He evidently saw great potential in the young man, one who could take on leadership of the churches and the teaching ministry after Paul was no longer able to do the work.  Many have been the great preachers who have had the Paul/Timothy mentoring relationship.  I can think even now of several in ministry who were faithfully mentored by my dear husband, Rev. Grover D. Jones.

As they proceeded on their journey, they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit” to speak in Asia, Mysia, and Bithynia. People dwelling in those places were not yet Christians and needed to hear.  Why did Paul get the word not to go?  Could we say that “the time was not ripe” and that “God had other regions in mind”?  How did Paul get this strong impression not to go?  It could have been in a vision, much as Peter’s on the housetop in Joppa.  Maybe some prophet spoke to Paul and told him not to go to those regions.  Or it could have been by some inner urging so strong in Paul’s mind that he knew he should forego his plans to go further into Asia.  Other scholars reason that it could have been Paul’s illness which he referred to as his “thorn in the flesh” that would not go away.  In verse ten we suddenly have a first person plural pronoun:  “we sought to go into Macedonia” (v. 10).  Who is included in this “we” and why a sudden shift from “they” to “we”?  Many scholars believe that Luke the physician had joined Paul, Silas and Timothy at Troas.  Luke was the author of Acts.  So it seems a natural approach, if he indeed had joined the team there, that he would say, “we  sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (v. 10).  This call to go into Macedonia opened up Europe for an important area to spread the gospel.  Paul didn’t delay:  immediately the team moved in that direction.  With what success the gospel was heard and the Way accepted there! Praise be to God!