having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, in you also.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 5. Thy grandmother, Lois. The principal intention Saint Paul seems to have had in writing this second epistle to Timothy, was, to comfort him under the many hardships under which he laboured for the faith of Christ. To this end he endeavours first to strengthen his faith, by calling to his mind the example given him in his grandmother, as also in his mother, Eunice. Some likewise think Saint Paul is here exhorting Timothy to a desire of martyrdom, in the perfect discharge of his ministry, by his own example; as the same writers think it most probable that he was confined in prison at Rome, or at Laodicea, at the time he wrote this epistle. Dionysius Carthus.—Certain [1] that in thee also. Witham.