Q. What is the relationship between Timothy and the Apostle Paul? Where did they meet? Were they good friends? (Submitted by: J. P.) A. Paul and Timothy good friends? I don't think so, at least not at the beginning. Paul -- we hear of him first as Saul -- by his own admission, persecuted the Christians (Acts 22:4; 26:11; 1Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13), and when Stephen was martyred Saul held the garments of those who murdered him (Acts 7:58). Whether Timothy was a Christian at this time, we don't know, but if he was it's obvious there wouldn't have been any friendship between them. After Saul's conversion, however, Paul and Timothy became so close Paul was able to call him "my son in the faith" (1Timothy 1:2). Timothy and his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, apparently lived in either Lystra or Derby, two Greek cities just a few miles apart (Acts 16:1), and it seems Paul may have met Timothy at their home. |
