How old was Timothy?

[Sephania]

Does anyone know how old Timothy was?

 

[Sephania]

Anyone?

 

[Yovel]

1Ti 1:2 to Timothy, my true child in faith: Grace, mercy, and shalom, from God our Father and Messiah Yeshua our Lord. HNV

1Ti 4:12 Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. HNV

2Ti 1:2 to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and shalom, from God the Father and Messiah Yeshua our Lord. HNV

I don't know how old Timothy was but it sounds like he must have been young since Shaul said to him "my beloved child" more than once and "Let no man depise your youth." I would guess between 16 and 20.

 

[Sephania]

I'm trying to pinpoint when he might have been born, approximately. It will take a little sleuthing, with deducing when he first came to Paul and where was paul in his ministry and approx how long that was from his calling, etc. I was hoping someone out there had done the math already so I don't have to.

 

[Yovel]

I'm trying to pinpoint when he might have been born, approximately. It will take a little sleuthing, with deducing when he first came to Paul and where was paul in his ministry and approx how long that was from his calling, etc. I was hoping someone out there had done the math already so I don't have to.

Sorry I was no help.

 

[jgonz]

I seem to remember being taught at one point that Timothy was in his early 20's by the time Paul was writing to him. By that time he was leading his own congregation.... But at any rate, Paul looked at him as a "child" because he had "raised" him in the Faith.

Don't know if that helps At All, but there it is.

 

[Sephania]

I am trying to see where what Paul wrote him falls on the CE dateline.

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15 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.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.


I am trying to see where this was said. How old was Timothy when he was a child and what were considered the Holy Scriptures? Surely not the letters of Paul, right, but rather the Torah, the tenach, which he heard in synogogue? Or where? He wasn't circumcised, but had a Jewish mother and greek father. So did his mother teach him Torah?

 

[Sephania]

Sorry I was no help.

That's Ok , thanks for trying though.

 

[P_G]

Well

We know that between when Shaul took him with him on his second missionary journey

Act 16:1 He came to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain talmid was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed; but his father was a Greek.
Act 16:2 The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him.
Act 16:3 Sha'ul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

And when Timothy became Roeh

1Ti 1:2 to Timothy, my true child in faith: Grace, mercy, and shalom, from God our Father and Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
1Ti 1:3 As I urged you when I was going into Macedonia, stay at Ephesus that you might charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine,

That there was about a 15 year difference so most scholors say that in Acts Timothy is about 14 / 15 years old and about 30 when Shaul writes the first letter

PG

 

[Andyman_1970]

Remember the age that a rabbi would call a talmidim (bet Talmud) was around the age of 15-20. So Timothy being a disciple of the rabbi Paul was from what I have studied probably became Paul's talmidim about the age of 15 or so.

 

[Sephania]

So the scriptures he studied as a child would have been Torah, Tenach then?

15 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.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

 

[P_G]

So the scriptures he studied as a child would have been Torah, Tenach then?

Oh by all means Sis come on now you know that most of the Brit was not penned until after 60 AD or so. He would have come to know Y'shua from the missionaries and their oral account of him

PG

 

[Sephania]

See that is why I am trying to get a fix on his age, when he was born. etc. Missionaries? I don't know about that PG, he did have a Jewish mother and from what I've learned they were in charge of the bringing up of the little ones in torah at home, until they were yeshiva age I think.

See, Paul is saying you can know about Yeshua ( then it would be his coming) just from reading the tenach

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.

I'm just trying to clarifiy that was what he is saying. For if true that has great meaning.

 

[P_G]

Sure Sis the scriptures all point to the saving grace of the moshiach that is why all prophecy points to Y'shua. We testefy from the prophecy and we are saved as was Avaraham by faith

PG

 

[Tishri1]

didnt they have to be 30 something to be leaders?

 

[Sephania]

That would be the age of a Rabbi, but I don't think Tim was considered that, was he?

 

[djaker]

Howdy This was from last Sunday's sermon when our pastor suggested Timothy could be 40 yrs of age. Similarly, a google search for age of Timothy had further support. Hope it helps

The Greek term for “youth” is neotes. In this culture, someone could be called a “youth” until they were forty years old. According to Irenaeus, “Thirty is the first stage of a young man’s age, and extends to forty, as all will admit.”[1] Earle comments, “The word for ‘youth’ (KJV) is neotēs, ‘used of grown-up military age, extending to the 40th year.’”[2]​

Paul picked up Timothy on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:1). 1 Timothy was written fourteen years later. If Timothy was sixteen years old, when Paul first worked with him, he would be at least thirty at this point. Paul probably gave this command, because older men were considered to be wiser than men in their thirties, and he wanted to encourage Timothy to stand up for himself.
[1] Irenaeus II. 22.5. Cited in Stott, John Guard the truth: The message of 1 Timothy & Titus. The Bible Speaks Today. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 1996. 35.

[2] Earle, R. 1 Timothy. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 11: Ephesians through Philemon (F. E. Gaebelein, Ed.) Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. 1981. 374.