When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee. — It is for the “unfeigned faith” which he was confident dwelt still in his dearest and best loved companion, whom he had intrusted with the care of the Ephesian church, that he thanked God. (See 2 Timothy 1:3.)
It is more than probable that some special instance of this unfeigned faith on the part of the chief pastor of Ephesus had come to the Apostle’s knowledge, and cheered that great loving heart of his while he languished in prison.
Which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice... — We know, in the course of his second missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3) St. Paul was brought into contact with this pious family at Lystra. It has been suggested that Lois, Eunice, and Timothy were kinsfolk of St. Paul, hence his intimacy with the family, and his knowledge of their faith; hence, too, perhaps, his devoted and unbroken friendship for Timothy. We are told (Acts 16:1) that this Eunice was a Jewess, married to a Greek. Lystra is no great distance from Tarsus — whence St. Paul came. The supposition is just possible; but it is only an ingenious thought, there being no data to support it. Of the names — Lois is the same with the more familiar Lais; Eunice is an equivalent of the Latin Victoria.