When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and I am persuaded in you also.
All Commentaries on 2 Timothy 1:5 Go To 2 Timothy 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you.
This is another commendation, that Timothy came not of Gentiles, nor of unbelievers, but of a family that served Christ from the first. Acts 16:1-3
Which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice.
For Timothy, it says, was the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess, and believed. How a Jewess? How believing? Because she was not of the Gentiles, but on account of his father, who was a Greek, and of the Jews that were in those quarters, he took and circumcised him. Thus, as these mixtures of Jews and Gentiles took place, the Law began gradually to be dissolved. And mark in how many ways he shows that he did not despise him. I serve God, he says, I have a true conscience for my part, and you have your tears, and not your tears only, but for your faith, because you are a laborer for the Truth, because there is no deceit in you. As therefore you show yourself worthy of love, being so affectionate, so genuine a disciple of Christ; and as I am not one of those who are devoid of affection, but of those who earnestly pursue the Truth; what hindered me from coming to you?
And I am persuaded that in you also.
From the beginning, he means, you have had this excellency. You received from your forefathers the faith unfeigned. For the praises of our ancestors, when we share in them, redound also to us. Otherwise they avail nothing, but rather condemn us; wherefore he has said, I am persuaded that in you also. It is not a conjecture, he means, it is my persuasion; I am fully assured of it. If therefore from no human motive you have embraced it, nothing will be able to shake your faith.
