2 Timothy 1:5

‘Having been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am fully persuaded, in you as well.’

The joy that he would enjoy was partly due to the unfeigned faith that Timothy had, a faith which he had learned from his mother and grandmother. For they had also had the same kind of faith. And Paul was convinced that as well as that faith being in them, it was in Timothy also. He was the happy product of a godly home, the kind of home that God purposed that all Christian women should produce (1 Timothy 2:15), and all had had lives that brimmed over with their faith in God. It could be seen in everything that they did and said.

While both were Jewesses it is probable that Christian faith was in mind, for his mother had married a Gentile (Acts 16:1), hardly the action expected of a dedicated Jewess, unless as a slave she had had little choice.

For ‘indwelling faith’ compare the ‘indwelling word’ which induces faith (Colossians 3:16), the ‘indwelling Christ’ Who dwells in us through faith (Ephesians 3:17), the ‘indwelling Holy Spirit’ (2 Timothy 1:14; Romans 8:11) and ‘the indwelling God’ Who is in us and walks with us (1 Corinthians 6:16). This is the opposite of, and the remedy for ‘indwelling sin’ (Romans 7:7).