05/12/2025 – Day 316 – Acts – Chapter 15 – 16 / “A Son in the Faith” – Acts 16: 1 – 5
A heartwarming commentary from William Barclay on these five verses:
“It was five years since Paul had preached in Derbe and Lystra but when he returned his heart must have been gladdened for there had emerged a young man who was to be very dear to him. It was only natural that Paul should be looking for someone to take Mark’s place. He was well aware of the necessity of training a new generation for the work that lay ahead. He found just the kind of man he wanted in young Timothy. On the face of it, it is something of a problem that Paul circumcised had been declared unnecessary. The reason was that Timothy was a Jew and Paul had never said that circumcision was not necessary for Jews. It was the Gentiles who were freed from the ceremonies of the Jewish way of life.
In fact by accepting Timothy as a Jew, Paul showed just how emancipated he was from Jewish thought. Timothy was the son of a mixed marriage. The strict Jew would refuse to accept that as a marriage at all; in fact, if a Jewish girl married a Gentile boy or a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl, he would regard that Jewish boy or girl as dead. So much so, that sometimes a funeral was actually carried out. By accepting the child of such a marriage as a brother Jew, Paul showed how definitely he had broken down all national barriers.
Timothy was a lad with a great heritage. He had had a good mother and a good grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5). Often in the days to come he was to be a Paul’s messenger (1 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Thessalonians 3: 2-6). He was at Rome with Paul when the apostle was in prison (Philippians 1: 1; 2:19; Colossians 1:1; Philemon 1). Timothy was in a very special relationship to Paul. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:17) he called him his beloved son. When he wrote to the Philippians he said that there was no one whose mind was so much at one of his own (Philippains 2: 19-20). It seems very likely that Paul saw in Tomothy his successor when he had to lay down his work. Happy indeed is the man to whom it is given to see the result of his training in one who can take up the burden when he lays it down.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
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Questions for fellowship generation, the lifelong sanctification process:
- What does the text reveal about God’s character?
- How has this reading generated prayer for you and/or us?
- What themes stand out to you in this bible study?
- How does our reading fit into the bigger picture (creation, the fall, restoration, etc.)?
- What verse(s) jumped out at you like never before? Is it explainable at this point?
- Do you have any questions you would like to put before the group as to how to interpret any particular verse(s) in our reading. Let scripture testify to scripture: Share with us where you sense contradiction between passages elsewhere.
- What did you find convicting and inspiring at the same time? Share with us how the Spirit of God is working within you as a messenger, both within and outside of our fellowship group.
- Share with the group how our study is calling or confirming to you a new mission to glorify God in our times.