Magyar Egyház, 1975 (54. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1975-05-01 / 5. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 MAGYAR CHURCH THE MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER OF TIMOTHY Timothy the son, Eunice the mother, and Lois the grandmother represent the strongest spiritual trio stemming from the maternal line of any family group in the New Testament. The sublime faith of the mother and grandmother seems to have prepared the son for that greatest of all compliments, which Paul later bestowed when he called him “my dearly beloved son” (II Tim. 1:2). Only because of the early training that he had received from his mother and grandmother could Timothy earn this fond term from the childless and wifeless Paul. The latter loved Timothy as if he were his own son and spoke of him always with genuine pride. Only one verse in the Bible gives us an inescapable clue to the character of Timothy’s mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. Paul himself, writing that verse in his second epistle to his apostle Timothy, says, “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also” (II Tim. 1:5). Here is our complete Bible biography of these two women, who stand triumphantly alongside other great women of the New Testament. Their immortality comes entirely through their son and grandson, who was associated with Paul during a longer period than that of his other companions and was with him in both his outward labors and his intimate thoughts. Paul sent Timothy on the most delicate missions and put him over his most important congregations. Eunice and Lois had prepared him for such responsibilities. Their home was at Lystra, a city in the Roman province of Galatia. Timothy’s father was a Greek, while his mother was a Jewess. We do not even have the father’s name. Probably he had died during his son’s infancy. No doubt his mother, like the young widow today, had to go forth and earn her living outside her home. Maybe she gleaned as did Ruth. Maybe she wove tents as did Priscilla. Maybe she worked in a dye and textile business, such as Lydia owned. This is supposition, of course But the conspicuous part that the grandmother played is an indication the mother had to be away from home a great deal. In fact, the word “grandmother” appears in the Bible but once, and that is in connection with Lois. We can be sure she was a believing woman, as are most consecrated grandmothers. Eunice and Lois seem to step right from the pages of the Bible and tell us that nothing is more important in a mother’s life than the early training of her child. No record is given of the conversion to the faith of this mother and grandmother, but such records are not necessary. The imperishable record of their son and grandson is sufficient. Just suppose Timothy had not had the home training that he received up until the age of fifteen years, when Paul converted him in Lystra in about A.D. 45. On his second visit to Lystra, just after his separation from Barnabas, the hand of providence seemed to lead him to Timothy. Though Paul had lost a brother in Barnabas, he had gained a son in Timothy. The young Timothy now left his mother and grandmother and went forth with Paul and Silas to preach the gospel. We can imagine the sadness that this mother and grandmother experienced as they bade their beloved Timothy good-bye. But like Hannah of old, when she left her young Samuel in the House of the Lord at Shiloh, they could relinquish their earthly affection for Timothy and say also, “I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord” (I Sam. 1:28). We can be sure that Eunice and Lois knew well such stories from the Old Testament, then called the Books of Law and the Prophets, and that they had steeped Timothy in a knowledge of all the great judges, such as Samuel, and the most loved prophets, such as Jeremiah, and also the wisdom in Psalms and Proverbs.
