Philippians 2:22 – tried and tested

Now you know his testedness, that as a child with a father, he slaves with me for the evangel.

What Paul writes about Timothy is not news to the Philippians. They knew from their own experience that what is here testified of him is true. No one but Timothy alone, who, together with Paul, has acted as a slave to pass on the Good News. “As a child with a father”. That typifies the relationship between the apostle and his younger co-worker. In many places Paul calls Timothy his child (1Tim.1:18). “…my beloved and faithful child” (1Cor.4:17; 2Tim.1:2). “My genuine child in faith” (1Tim.1:2).

The metaphor of child is easy to understand. For it was through Paul’s preaching that Timothy had become believer and was thus, as it were, spiritually ‘begotten’ by him (Acts 16:1,2). But not only that: Paul subsequently also became a role model for Timothy. Together they have effaced themselves for the cause of the Gospel. That service was not a temporary fad. Or a fad that can’t withstand ’the heat of the day and the cold of the night’. No, Timothy had been tried and passed the test. Proof for this had been provided. What a testimony!

Delen: