Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
This verse introduces Timothy, a young disciple Paul meets in the towns of Derbe and Lystra — small cities in what is now central Turkey — during Paul's missionary travels across the Roman Empire. Timothy had a mixed heritage: his mother Eunice was Jewish and a Christian believer, while his father was Greek (non-Jewish), making Timothy someone who lived between two distinct worlds. Paul would go on to become a mentor and father-figure to Timothy, and Timothy became one of his most trusted companions in spreading the early Christian faith. This brief introduction sets the stage for one of the most significant mentoring relationships in the New Testament.
Lord, you saw Timothy in a small, overlooked town before anyone else did. Remind me that you see me too — in all my complicated, in-between history. Use what I think disqualifies me. Call me out of where I'm comfortable and into something worth giving my life to. Amen.
Nobody chooses their starting point. Timothy didn't pick a Jewish mother and a Greek father — he was born into the tension between two worlds, likely navigating the awkwardness of that divide from childhood on. He didn't have a clean faith lineage, an impressive résumé, or connections in the right circles. He was just a disciple in a small town nobody had heard of. And yet Paul saw exactly who Timothy was and invited him into the work anyway. There's something worth sitting with here: God doesn't need you to have it all sorted before he uses you. Your background — the complicated parts, the mixed heritage, the in-between identity you've never quite known how to explain — isn't a disqualifier. It might be the very thing that makes you irreplaceable in the particular work you're being called into. What 'small town' are you waiting to be found in?
What does this verse alone tell us about Timothy, and what might his mixed Jewish-Greek heritage suggest about the kind of person Paul was looking for as a companion?
Have you ever felt like your background — your family history, cultural tension, or past — disqualified you from something significant? How did that belief shape your choices?
Paul specifically sought out someone young, relatively unknown, and from a complicated home situation. What does that challenge us to assume about where and in whom God invests?
Who in your life might be a 'Timothy' — someone younger or less polished who could use you to call them toward something bigger than where they currently are?
If someone like Paul showed up and invited you into something significant, what would your honest first response be — and what would it take to say yes?
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,
Colossians 1:1
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Philippians 1:1
To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 Timothy 1:2
And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
Acts 14:1
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2 Timothy 3:16
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.
2 Timothy 1:5
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
1 Corinthians 7:14
Now Paul traveled to Derbe and also to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer [in Christ], however, his father was a Greek.
AMP
Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.
ESV
Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek,
NASB
Timothy Joins Paul and Silas He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek.
NIV
Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.
NKJV
Paul went first to Derbe and then to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek.
NLT
Paul came first to Derbe, then Lystra. He found a disciple there by the name of Timothy, son of a devout Jewish mother and Greek father.
MSG