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"And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto
the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches"
(Acts 15: 40, 41).
These verses are the beginning of another section of the correspondence seen in the
structure, and it will be useful to have the whole passage before us, shorn of detail, as we
draw to its conclusion.
A | 12: 24. The Word of God grew and multiplied.
B | 12: 25. Barnabas and Saul. John Mark taken.
C | 13: 1-3. Barnabas and Saul. Separated.
D | 13: 4 - 14: 28. The mission in Galatia.
D | 15: 1-35. The conference in Jerusalem.
B | 15: 36-39. Barnabas and Saul. John Mark to Cyprus.
C | 15: 40 - 16: 4. Saul and Timothy approved.
A | 16: 5. The churches established and increased.
The choice of Silas and Timothy is seen to be in correspondence with the separation of
Barnabas and Saul by the Holy Spirit in Acts 13: 1-3. The choice of Silas was
important, but the choice of the next servant of the Lord was critical. Returning to Derbe
and Lystra, the Apostle finds a certain disciple there named Timothy--his father a Greek
and his mother a Jewess who believed. From what we can gather from the Scriptures,
Timothy was a young man, and of a retiring disposition, one who needed to be reminded
in a letter that the Lord had not given a spirit of cowardice, and to be told to be "no
longer a water-drinker". This young man had, from his infancy, been taught that Holy
Scriptures, and was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. It
will be remembered that Luke simply tells us that the church at Antioch decided to send
Paul and Barnabas up to Jerusalem, and we only learn from Paul himself that he went up
by revelation. So here, Timothy's fitness for the work is set forth in everyday language.
We learn, first, that he was "a disciple"; secondly, that his mother was a "Jewess who
believed, but his father was a Greek"; and thirdly, that he was "well reported of", not
only in his own home town of Lystra, but also in the adjacent city of Iconium. He was,
therefore, likely material.
Timothy's more particularly spiritual qualifications we learn from Paul himself. In his
first letter to Timothy, giving him his "charge", the Apostle writes: "This charge I
commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee."
We know that Silas was a prophet (Acts 15: 32), and it may be that he was inspired to
indicate the Lord's will with regard to Timothy. Something of this sort would have been
necessary in view of the defection of John Mark, and Timothy's youthful and timid
nature. At some time also--and probably at the time of his call--Timothy received a
spiritual gift, for we read:
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying
on of the hands of the presbytery" (I Tim. 4: 14).
"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in
thee by the putting on of my hands" (II Tim. 1: 6).