This charge I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which led the way to you, that by them you may wage the good warfare;
according to the prophecies which went before on thee: MacKnight contends that in the apostolic age some were pointed out by revelation as persons fit to be invested with particular offices in the church and that Timothy was appointed an evangelist by revelation. It also could have been that the prophecies Paul referred to were the normal predictions made by Timothy’s acquaintances who, in view of his early zeal and dedication to Christ’s cause, predicted that he would eventually attain such an office.