TIMOTHY
416
TIMOTHY
ciders of Ephesus (ver. 17-35) renders it unUkcl.v that lie was tlien left tliere with authority. The absence of liis name from eh. xxvii in like manner leads to the conclusion tiiat he did not share in the perilous voyage to Italy. He must iiave joined him, however, apparent- Iv. soon after his arrival in Kome, and was with him wiien the epistles to the I'hilippians, to the Colossians, and to Pliilemon were writien (Thil. i, 1 ; ii, 19; Col. i, 1; I'hilem. 1). All the indications of this period point to incessant missionary activity. As before, so now, he is to iirccedc the personal coming of the apostle, inspect- ing, advising, reporting (Phil, ii, 19-23), caring especial- Iv for the ;\Iacedonian cliurches as no one else could care. The special messages of greeting sent to him at a later date (2 Tim. iv, 21) show that at Kome also, as else- where, he had gained the warm affection of those among wliom he ministered. Among tliose most eager to be iluis remembered to him we lind, according to a fairly Mipported liypothesis, the names of a Roman noble, Pu- dens (q. v.), of a future bishop of Kome, Linus (q. v.), .•md of the daughter of a British king, Claudia (Will- iams, ClciiilLi and I'udens ; Conybeare and Ilowson, ii, 501; Alford, I'Jjccursus in Greek Test, iii, 104). It is interesting to tliiidi of the young evangelist as hav- ing been the instrument by v.hich one who was sur- rounded by the fathomless impurity of the Roman world was called to a higher life, and the names which would otherwise have appeared only in the foul epigrams of !Martial (i, 32; iv, 13; v, 48; xi, 53) raised to a perpet- ual honor in the salutations of an apostolic epistle. An article {They of dvsar's Household) in Joiirn. of Class, and Sacred P//ilolor/t/, No. x, questions this hypothesis, on the groimd that the epigrams are later than the epis- tles, and that they connect the name of Pudens with heathen customs and vices. On the other hand, it may be urged that the bantering tone of the epigrams forbids us to take them as evidences of character. Pudens tells JNIartial that he does not "like his poems." "Oh, that is because you read too many at a time" (iv, 29). He begs him to correct their blemishes. "You want an autograph copy, then, do youV" (vii, 11). The slave Kn- or Eucol|)()s (the name is possibly a wilful distor- liiin of Eubulus) does what might be the fulfilment of a Christian vow (Acts xviii, 18), and this is the occasion of the suggestion which seems most damnatorj' (iMartial, v, 48). With this there mingles, however, as in iv, 13 ; vi, 58, the language of a more real esteem than is com- mon in i\Iartial (comp. some good remarks in Galloway, .1 Cleri/iimans /Iolidai/s,\).iic>-49').
To the close of this period of Timothy's life we may probably refer the imprisonment of Ileb. xiii, 23, and the trial at which he "witnessed the good confession" not iniwortliy to be likened to that of the Great Confessor before Pilate (1 Tim. vi, 13). Assuming the genuine- ness and the later date of the two epistles addressed to bim (see below), we are able to put together a few no- tices as to ids later life. It follows from 1 Tim. i, 3 that he and his master, after the release of the latter from liis imprisonment, revisited the proconsular Asia; that the apostle then continued his journey to Jlaeedonia, while the disci[)le remained, half reluctantly, even weep- ing at the separation (2 Tim. i, 4), at Ephesus, to check, if possible, the outgrowth of heresy and licentiousness which had sprung up tliere. Tiie time during which he was thus to exercise autliority as the delegate of an apostle — a vicar apostolic rather than a bishop — was of uncertain duration (1 Tim. iii, 14). The position in which he found himself might well make him anxious. He had to ride presbyters, most of whom were older than himself (iv, 12), to assign to each a stipend in pro- portion to bis work (v, 17), to receive and decide on charges that might be brought against them (ver. 1, 19, 20), to regidate tlie almsgiving and the sisterhoods of the Church (ver. 3-10), to ordain presb3'ters and dea- cons (iii. 1-13). There was the risk of being entangled in the disputes, prejudices, covetousness, sensuality, of a great city. There was the risk of injuring health and
strength by an overstrained asceticism (iv, 4; v, 23). Leaders of rival sects were there — Ilymemeiis, Philetus, Alexander — to oppose and thwart him (i, 20 ; 2 Tim. ii, 17 ; iv, 14, 15). The name of his beloved teacber was no longer honored as it had been ; the strong affection of former days had vanished, and "Paul the aged" had become unpopular, the object of suspicion and dislike (comp. Acts XX, 37; 2 Tim. i, 15). Only in the nar- rowed circle of the faithful few — Aquila, Priscilla, JNIark, and others — who were still with him was he likely to find sympathy or support (iv, 19). We cainiot wonder that the apostle, knowing these trials, and, with his marvellous power of bearing another's burdens, making them his own, should be full of anxiety and fear for his disciple's steadfastness ; that admointions, appeals, warn- ings, should follow each other in rapid and vehement succession (1 Tim. i, 18; iii, 15; iv, 14; v, 21 ; vi, 11). In the second epistle to him this deep personal feeling utters itself yet more fully. The friendship of twenty years was drawing to a close, and all memories connect- ed with it throng upon the mind of the old man, now ready to be offered : the blameless youth (2 Tim. iii, 15), the holy household (i,5), the solemn ordination (ver. 6), the tears at parting (ver. 4). The last recorded words of the apostle express the earnest hope, repeated yet more earnestly, that he might see him once again (iv, 9, 21). Timothy is to come before winter, to bring with him the cloak for which in that winter there woidd be need (ver. 13). We may hazard the conjecture that he reached him in time, and that the last hours of the teacher were soothed by the presence of the disciple whom he loved so truly. Some writers have even seen in Heb. xiii, 23 an indication that he shared Paul's im- prisonment, and was released from it by the death of Nero (Conybeare and Ilowson, ii, 502; Neander, Pjhmz. und Lett, i, 552), Beyond this all is apocryphal and un- certain.