Paul's closest and youngest colleague — son of a Jewish mother (Eunice) and a Greek father, from Lystra in Asia Minor, converted on Paul's first journey and taken along as a junior partner on the second (Acts 16:1-3). He is named as co-sender of six of Paul's letters, including this one, and the two letters addressed TO him are the tenderest Paul wrote. ⚠ He had been sent ahead to Corinth to represent Paul (1 Corinthians 4:17) on a mission that seems to have gone badly, which is part of why the relationship needed the repair 2 Corinthians performs — so the letter of reconciliation is pointedly co-signed by the very envoy the Corinthians had mistreated. Paul calls him 'my beloved and faithful child in the Lord', worries that he is timid, and tells him not to let anyone despise his youth.