“Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek<\/em>” (Acts 16:3).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe Jews in the region would have correctly assumed that Timothy was uncircumcised and not a practicing Jew because of his father. It isn’t that he could not enter the covenant. There are many examples of Israelites being circumcised later in life. For example,<\/p>\n
“For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD-to whom the LORD swore that He would not show them the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way<\/em>” (Joshua 5:6-7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThere would be no need to lie about whether he was or not circumcised. A Jew who was concerned need only ask. It would be very similar to our asking a person if they were baptized (Acts 19:3). Of course, as Christians, neither Paul nor Timothy would want to lie, so the simple solution was to have Timothy circumcised as was his right under the Law of Moses. While Timothy would remain a Christian, he could be accepted in Jewish society.<\/p>\n
But you should also keep in mind that it would be incorrect to apply our societal standards to the past. Common tasks such as bathing and other toiletries were not always done in complete privacy at all times. Even if a person were to lie about his status as an Israelite, it would eventually be exposed by either his lack of knowledge of the Law of Moses, the Hebrew language, or someone eventually noticing he was not circumcised.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I saw the recent reader’s question – “Why did Paul have Timothy circumcised after the council at Jerusalem?” And your answer “In regards to why Timothy was circumcised after the Jerusalem council, it is simply because Paul met Timothy after that council. Timothy wanted to join Paul, but because they were working among the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[480,331],"class_list":["post-46842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-circumcision","tag-timothy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22974,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-have-timothy-circumcised-after-the-council-in-jerusalem\/","url_meta":{"origin":46842,"position":0},"title":"Why did Paul have Timothy circumcised after the council in Jerusalem?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was scanning the questions and found\u00a0the Jewish lineage one. Timothy was counted as Jewish because of his mother. Paul circumcised him and we know that Timothy's father was a Gentile while his mother and grandmother were Jewish. Why did Paul have Timothy circumcised after the council at Jerusalem?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23081,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/but-he-didnt-have-to-be-circumcised\/","url_meta":{"origin":46842,"position":1},"title":"But He Didn’t Have to be Circumcised!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier Didn\u2019t we just have a whole debate in Jerusalem that discovered Christians didn\u2019t have to be circumcised? In fact, in Paul\u2019s letter to the Galatians, he will brag that no one made Titus get circumcised during that meeting (Galatians 2:1-3). Yet, Paul circumcised Timothy. What\u2019s up with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Acts_of_the_Apostles_Chapter_16-1_Bible_Illustrations_by_Sweet_Media-300x220.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1803,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-apostle-paul-keep-the-laws-found-in-the-torah\/","url_meta":{"origin":46842,"position":2},"title":"Did the apostle Paul keep the laws found in the Torah?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did the apostle Paul keep the laws found in the Torah? If so, why do people reject them today? Answer: \"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86240,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-peter-be-in-rome\/","url_meta":{"origin":46842,"position":3},"title":"How could Peter be in Rome?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read from many early Church fathers that Peter was in Rome and preached in Rome. Still, in Galatians 2:7-9 at the Jerusalem Council, the agreement is made that Peter would only go to the Jews, not the Gentiles, so Peter would be breaking that agreement if he went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9356,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-the-vow-paul-took-at-cenchrea\/","url_meta":{"origin":46842,"position":4},"title":"Could you explain the vow Paul took at Cenchrea?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you please explain the vow Paul took at Cenchrea that made him cut off his hair recorded in Acts 18:18? Answer: Paul stated once, \"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43850,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/because-we-are-to-sing-psalms-and-the-psalms-mention-instrumental-music-doesnt-this-mean-we-can-use-instrumental-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":46842,"position":5},"title":"Because we are to sing psalms and the Psalms mention instrumental music, doesn’t this mean we can use instrumental music?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a friend who says it's OK to use instruments in worship because of Psalms. \u00a0He says that we are commanded to sing psalms to which he says how can we sing psalms and not believe what it says when David said to praise God with instruments. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}