Eunice

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(Εὐνίκη; the spelling Εὐνείκη of TR [Note: Textus Receptus, Received Text.]is erroneous)

Eunice, the mother of Timothy ( 2 Timothy 1:5) is referred to in  Acts 16:1 as a Jewess who believed. Her husband, however, was a Greek, and we find that, although she was a Jewess, she had refrained from circumcising her son, probably out of respect for her husband’s opinions. The grandmother of Timothy is alluded to as Lois ( q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] ), and she was in all likelihood the mother of Eunice, Some have put forward the conjecture that, as both Lois and Eunice are Greek names, the women were Jewish proselytes, but this is improbable; nor is it likely that the father of Timothy was in any way attached to the Jewish religion. The Apostle refers to the faith of both Lola and Eunice ( 2 Timothy 1:5) and to their careful training of Timothy in the Jewish scriptures (3:15). As to find Eunice described as a ‘Jewess who believed,’ on St. Paul’s second visit to Lystra ( Acts 16:1), she was probably converted to Christianity on the Apostle’s first visit to the town. One of the cursives 25 adds the word χήρας in  Acts 16:1; and although this is undoubtedly a marginal gloss that crept into the text, it may refer to an early tradition that Eunice was a widow at the date of the Apostle’s visit to Lystra, and would give added emphasis to the injunction of  1 Timothy 5:4 regarding the treatment of widows by their children or grandchildren,

W. F. Boyd.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Timothy's mother. "In her unfeigned faith made its dwelling" ( Enookesen ); a believing Jewess, but wedded to Timothy's father a Greek, i.e. a pagan ( Acts 16:1). It is an undesigned coincidence, and so a mark of truth, that in the history just as in the epistle the faith of the mother alone is mentioned, no notice is taken of the father. Probably converted at Paul's first visit to Lystra ( Acts 14:6-7). The one parent's faith sanctified the child ( 1 Corinthians 7:14). The Scriptures were her chief teaching to Timothy from childhood ( 2 Timothy 3:15). Lois, her pious mother and Timothy's grandmother, had doubtless taught herself in them: hereditary piety.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

the mother of Timothy, who was a Jewess by birth, but married to a Greek, Timothy's father,  2 Timothy 1:5 . Eunice had been converted to Christianity by some other preacher,  Acts 16:1-2 , and not by St. Paul; for when that Apostle came to Lystra, he found there Eunice and Timothy, already far advanced in grace and virtue.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The mother of Timothy and daughter of Lois; she was a Jewess though her husband was a Greek,  Acts 16:1   2 Timothy 1:5 . She transmitted to her son the lessons of truth she herself had received from a pious mother; and Paul, on his arrival at Lystra, found them rooted and grounded in the truth as it is in Christ.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

EUNICE . The Jewish mother of Timothy (  2 Timothy 1:5 ,   Acts 16:1 ), married to a Gentile husband, and dwelling at Lystra. She had given her son a careful religious training, but had not circumcised him.

A. J. Maclean.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Timothy's mother, 'a Jewess that believed,' and of whose 'unfeigned faith' Paul testified.  Acts 16:1;  2 Timothy 1:5 .

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Euni'ce. (Good Victory). Mother of Timotheus.  2 Timothy 1:5. (A.D. before 47).

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Timothy 1:5Timothy

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Acts 16:1 2 Timothy 3:15

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ū̇ - nı̄´sē , ū´nis ( Εὐνίκη , Eunı́kē , is the correct reading, and not Εὐνείκη , Euneı́kē , which is read by the Textus Receptus of the New Testament of Stephen, three syllables: Eu - nı́ - kē , literally, "conquering well";  2 Timothy 1:5 ): The mother of Timothy.

1. Eunice's Home

Her name is Greek and this might lead to the inference that she was a Gentile by birth, but such a conclusion would be wrong, for we read in  Acts 16:1 that she was a Jewess. Her husband however was a heathen Greek She was in all probability a daughter of Lois, the grandmother of Timothy, for both of those Christian women are spoken of, in one breath, by Paul, and this in high terms of commendation.

2. How She Trained Her Son

Timothy had not been circumcised in childhood, probably because of his father's being a Gentile; but the mother and the grandmother did all that lay in their power to train Timothy in the fear of God and in the knowledge of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. "From a child" Eunice had taught her boy to "know the holy scriptures" ( 2 Timothy 3:15 the King James Version). It is right therefore to connect this home training of Timothy in the fear of God, with his and his mother's conversion to the gospel. His name Timothy - chosen evidently not by the father, but by Eunice - signifies "one who fears God." The "wisdom" of the Hebrews consisted not in worldly prudence or in speculative philosophy, but in the fear of the Lord, as is shown in such passages as   Psalm 111:10 , and in Job 28, and in Proverbs throughout. His name, as well as his careful home training, shows how he was prepared to give a welcome both to Paul and to the gospel proclaimed by him, when the apostle in his first great missionary journey came to Lystra, one of the cities of Lycaonia or Southern (?) Galatia, where Eunice and her family lived. This is implied in the account of Paul's second missionary journey ( Acts 16:1 ), where we read that he came to Lystra, and found there a certain disciple named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman who was a Jewess, who believed.

3. Her Conversion to Christ

It is therefore certain that Eunice and Timothy were not brought to a knowledge of the gospel at this time, but that they were already Christians; she, "a believer"; he, "a disciple." This evidently means that Eunice, Lois and Timothy had been converted on Paul's former visit to Lystra. This conclusion is confirmed in  2 Timothy 3:11 , where Paul recalls to Timothy the fact that he had fully known the persecutions and afflictions which came to him at Lystra. The apostle repeats it, that Timothy knew what persecutions he then endured. Now this persecution occurred on Paul's first visit to that city. Eunice was therefore one of those who on that occasion became "disciples." And her faith in Christ, and her son's faith too, were genuine, and stood the test of the "much tribulation" of which Paul warned them ( Acts 14:22 the King James Version); and on Paul's next visit to Lystra, Eunice had the great joy and satisfaction of seeing how the apostle made choice of her son to be his companion in his missionary work. Eunice is not afterward mentioned in the New Testament; though it is a possible thing that there may be reference to her in what is said about widows and the children of widows in   1 Timothy 5:4 ,  1 Timothy 5:5 .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( Εὐνίκη , Good Victory, originally the name of one of the Nereids), the mother of Timothy, and the wife of a Greek; spoken of ( 2 Timothy 1:5) as possessing unfeigned faith, and described in  Acts 16:1 as a believing Jewess ( Γυνὴ Ι᾿Ουδαία Πιστή ). A.D. ante 47. (See Timothy).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Euni´ce, the mother of Timothy, a Jewess, although married to a Greek and bearing a Greek name, which signifies good victory. She was a believer in Christ, and even her mother Lois lived in the faith of the expected Messiah, if she did not live to know that he had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth .