Was Paul the Father of Timothy?

QUESTION: Was Paul a married man and the father of Timothy, whom he calls his son?

ANSWER: In Acts 16:1, 3 we read that he was the son of a Christian Jewess, but his father was a Greek. Hence Timothy was uncircumcised when he was converted. This proves that his father was a Gentile.

— Steele's Answers, p. 233.

The Greeks Who Wanted to See Jesus (John 12:20-23)

QUESTION: Did the Greeks who desired to have an interview with Christ (John 12:20-23) secure an introduction to him?

ANSWER: The sacred scholars disagree in their answer. Christ's reply to the request was evidently made to Andrew and Philip with the intention of granting the request, but the voice from heaven interrupted and changed the scene. If these monotheistic Greeks were anxious to ask Jesus whether they were excluded from the benefits of his mission, they would find an encouraging answer in his declaration, "If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto myself." If they did not secure a personal interview, they doubtless were in the multitude of listeners to Christ's address.

— Steele's Answers pp. 157, 158.

Restoration of All Things (Acts 3:21)

QUESTION: Explain Acts 3:21, "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God. spake by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began," or from of old, as the American Revised Version has it.

ANSWER: The difficulty is in the word "restoration" or "restitution," the original of which is used nowhere else in the N. T. I think it means the fulfillment of all the predictions respecting Christ; in the Old Testament. When a prediction is made, the prophet commits his veracity to the result, and the fulfillment makes it; good, restoring it to its unquestioned state, as many before that may have doubted the truthfulness of the prediction. In verse 18 Christ's sufferings are declared to be fulfillment of prophecy, and here his stay in heaven is a fulfillment of other predictions relating to the universal spread of the preached Gospel until the totality of the Gentiles — not as individuals, but nations, including the Jews — be brought in. Before such times shall have passed Christ comes not from heaven.

— Steele's Answers p. 147.

Where Were the Money Changers?

QUESTION: In what part of the Temple did Christ find the money changers and those that sold animals suitable private enrichment?

ANSWER: Not in the holy of holies consecrated to the high priests only (and he could enter it only on the day of atonement), nor in the court of the priests sacred to them only, nor in the court of the women prohibited to all who were not Hebrews, but in the court of the Gentiles where none but "proselytes of righteousness," monotheistic, circumcised Gentiles, were permitted to enter. Here enterprising Jewish traders were doing a thriving business with the consent of the priests who shared their gains and were especially mad when Jesus touched their pocket nerve. They had turned the worship of Jehovah into the adoration of Mammon the almighty shekel for their own for sacrifice.

— Steele's Answers p. 143.