revealing to many of our readers avenues of witness and cooperation that have

hitherto remained closed or unsuspected.

Whether Paul was married is a moot point with students of Scripture.

That he had full liberty in the matter he makes clear in 1 Corinthians 9:5,

but we know that no wife ever accompanied him on his travels, or is mentioned

by him.

The first of the six hundred and thirteen commandments of Jewish

tradition is the law of marriage, and Maimonides says, 'He that lives to such

an age, and marries not, transgresseth a preceptive law'.  Paul could hardly

have described himself as a zealot for the tradition of his fathers (Gal.

1:14), nor would he have been commissioned by the Sanhedrin, as he was, had

he avoided marriage.  The truth seems to be that Paul was a widower, and for

the sake of the gospel and its ministry he refrained from marrying again.

Apparently he stood alone, and had no children.  God, in His tender mercy,

not only gave helpers, like Barnabas and Silas, who stepped into the breach,

fulfilled the purpose of their call and then retired, but He also bestowed

upon Paul a 'son', and thus gave him an object for love and solicitude, for

He knows as none other the hearts of men and their needs.  Timothy was a

young believer living either at Derbe or Lystra; his mother was a Jewess and

his father a Greek.  We learn from 2 Timothy 1:5, that both his mother

Eunice, and his grandmother Lois were believers, and from 2 Timothy 3:15 that

from his earliest childhood (brephos) he had been taught the holy Scriptures.

Timothy differed in several respects from Barnabas and Silas.

In the first place Barnabas and Silas were mature believers, and, in

the case of Barnabas, Paul was in the first instance taken under his wing and

introduced into the circle of faith at Jerusalem.  Silas was a leader, one

who had hazarded his life for Christ's sake, and a prophet.  There is however

a marked contrast between these men of standing and robust service, and

Timothy.  Timothy was young, and even as far on in the story as the writing

of the first epistle to Timothy, Paul says to him: 'Let no man despise thy

youth' (4:12), and in 2 Timothy 2:22: 'Flee also youthful lusts'.  Timothy

was apparently never robust in health, and was inclined to lean too much to

the abstemious side of life, so that Paul was obliged to write, in 1 Timothy

5:23: 'Be no longer a water drinker, but use a little wine for thy stomach's

sake and thine often infirmities'.  Those who cannot enter into the

circumstances of the case have made a difficulty of this interjection about

drinking water.  But the apparent irrelevance of 'elect angels',

'impartiality in judgment' and 'taking a little wine' vanishes when we enter

into the deep concern of Paul for his son in the faith who was placed in so

responsible a position.  Timothy was not naturally a bold man.  The very

contemplation of hazarding his life would be an agony.  To him Paul writes:

'God hath not given us the spirit of cowardice ... be not thou therefore

ashamed' (2 Tim. 1:7,8).  It was this man who was destined to succeed the

intrepid apostle, and who was told in his last letter that the work of an

evangelist and the endurance of afflictions went together (2 Tim. 4:5).

Secondly, both Barnabas and Silas were Jews.  In the case of Silas his

usefulness was increased by the fact that he was a Roman citizen, and so was

especially adapted for the work he did with Paul in Thessalonica and Corinth.

Timothy was connected by birth both with Jew and Greek, and to ensure his

acceptance in the synagogue ministry, which was a feature of great importance