Principles tend to lose their meaning and significance out of context. So, let’s get into context. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior of the world, gave His trained disciples this commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples in all the nations….” Literally He said, “Disciple the nations.” A big assignment! And it remains the commission of Jesus’ church. Because He has all authority and power in heaven and on earth, it will be accomplished.

In 2 Timothy 2:2 we learn the strategy by which the commission will be achieved. Paul the apostle wrote to his young colleague Timothy these words: “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” In short, the legacy of the gospel and its implications that Paul had built into Timothy was now to be built into trustworthy men who would in turn do the same with others. What is put in motion is multiplication. The book of Acts relates the great movement of the Spirit at Pentecost, resulting in 3,000 converts. Luke says they were added to the church. But from that point on in Acts, growth in the church uses the term *multiplied. That is, converts became missionaries winning others.

The Timothy Principle simply means training other people in the gospel so they can do the same with others, and so on. It is a vision. I am not sure where Paul picked up the principle, but I assume it was a common practice he learned from his Jewish mentor Gamaliel. The classic illustration is Jesus’ training of the Twelve. But it wasn’t long after the converted Saul of Tarsus was sent out with Barnabas to spread the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles that young Timothy came on the scene. He was a believer, having learned the Scriptures from his mother and grandmother. His dad was a Greek. This young man had a good reputation among believers—and I note Paul checked this out before doing anything else. He got a good report, so Paul enlisted Timothy to join him and Barnabas on their mission. In a sense Timothy became an apprentice.

I observe that men who understand this Timothy Principle always watch for such men. And in 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul qualifies those to be enlisted as faithful: men who can be counted on. No question. Sometimes it takes a while to determine a man’s status; and there may be some fallout. But the instruction stands. Proverbs says, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint” (25:19).

The Timothy Principle involves enlisting other men in “discipling the nations.” We don’t want to lose or obscure that plain vision. And while all of this is conducted within the framework of the visible church, it is not limited to those called to the pastoral ministry. God calls men to serve the church as pastors; and, while the Timothy Principle applies to them, it is not limited to them. The qualification in 2 Timothy 2:2 is faithfulness. And among the faithful God calls some to the pastoral ministry. That’s the context in which this happens. Timothy himself pastored churches after having spent significant time with Paul. On one occasion Paul left him in Ephesus to oversee the church there. So, as a pastor, Timothy was to watch for and train other men. It’s part of the package.

This then attracts us to ask, What were “the things” Timothy heard from Paul among many witnesses? If I enlist a faithful man and begin to commit to him the things I have learned, I need to have a clear mind as to what those things are. Should we call this the curriculum? Fortunately we don’t have to guess what these things were. Paul reviews them in 2 Timothy 3:10–11: “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings….” Because Timothy was with Paul in the ministry of the Word, he learned these things, including what it meant to be persecuted. Such exposure to these things equipped Timothy to follow in the steps of his mentor, even to prison. With it all he trained other men to train other men so they could train other men.

And that’s the principle.

Kenneth G. Smith | Pittsburgh, Pa.