All Things To All Men

Acts 16:1-5

After separating from Barnabas, Paul took Silas and began to visit the churches they had started. At Lystra or Derbe, a woman named Lois, and her daughter Eunice had been saved. Eunice’s son, Timothy, was just a child when Paul first went to Derbe.

“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: Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.” (Acts 16:1-2)

When Paul returned to Derbe, Timothy was no longer a child and was earning considerable respect from the Christians even in the churches at Lystra and Iconium. He was obviously already active in ministry before he was called into the work.

“Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.” (Acts 16:3)

Although his mother was Jewish, Timothy’s father was a Greek, and Timothy had never been circumcised. To the Jews this was even more offensive than being a gentile because it implied one disdained his Jewish heritage, preferring to be thought a gentile. To alleviate that antagonism, Paul had Timothy circumcised. It is an indication of the lengths Paul was willing to go in order to reach people. He describes it in I Corinthians 9:20-23. "And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”

The Holy Spirit made Timothy willing to meet the Jewish requirements in order to witness to the Jews. What a contrast with David Brainerd’s constant demands that the Indian women wash his clothes and prepare his food in the manner he was used to or rhw modern missionaries who have to live in a mansion and have servants or “The people won’t respect you.” Love will make the discomfort and disrespect bearable, if it enables us to win people.

“And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.” (Acts 16:4-5)

As Paul and Silas visited the churches they delivered the message the church at Jerusalem had sent to Antioch, that salvation was not dependent on keeping the Law, but on faith in Christ, as the Apostles and elders had concluded. This eliminated doubts of their salvation that false teachers were causing, and freed people to trust Christ freely. It resulted in new churches being established, and older ones growing.