Teaching: Teachable Teachers

“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:1-2

In Second Timothy, Paul teaches Timothy so that Timothy can teach teachers who will then teach others. In other words, the others learn from the faithful who learn from Timothy whose teacher is Paul, the writer of this letter. Are you confused yet?

Imagine that Paul is like your grandpa, and Timothy is your dad. Grandpa writes this beautiful, passionate letter to your dad encouraging him to stay strong in the gospel so that he can teach you the truth about Jesus. Your uncles, Phil and Herman (1 Tim. 1:16 – short for Phygelus and Hermogenes), have rejected everything that grandpa taught them, and they have made up brand new (and incorrect) things to teach their kids. Grandpa wants to make sure that Timothy does not follow that wrongful path. If Timothy has any hope of being a good teacher for you, he will have to be a faithful student of grandpa. Furthermore, you will have a child yourself one day who will need to learn from you. Will you faithfully learn from your father in order to teach your child the truth?

Now, this letter is not really about family relations. Paul and Timothy are not blood relatives, and Timothy is not necessarily just teaching his children. Paul is a traveling missionary, and Timothy is the pastor of a church. That being said, Paul thinks of Timothy like a spiritual son because Paul trained him in the gospel (2 Tim. 1:2). Now, Paul is charging him to teach the gospel to others.

None of us are first century pastors in Mediterranean Europe, so it can be difficult to put ourselves in Timothy’s shoes, but I do think we can learn a lot from this letter.

First, we must be good students. We all have teachers, parents, and church leaders to whom we may or may not listen. God has placed these people in our lives so that we can learn from them. Not only do they have years of life experience, but many of them have been taught the truth of Jesus. In order to know the gospel, someone has to teach us the gospel. These leaders and teachers have faithfully taught the gospel so that we will know the truth. We cannot walk away from these faithful leaders and all that they taught us.

Second, we must be good teachers (by being good students). Many of us may be trying to share our faith and help new Christians mature, but this can be difficult work. Second Timothy shows us that teachers must be learners. As we read Paul’s letter, we can tell that he is hurt that some have rejected the truth (Uncle Phil and Herman). These men failed to follow Paul’s teachings, and their own followers therefore suffer. Because of this, Paul reminds Timothy again and again of what the gospel is (2 Tim. 2:8-13) and the importance to sticking to it (2 Tim. 1:13-14). When we think of our own leaders and teachers, are we more like faithful Timothy or the bad uncles? Who do we want our own students to be like?

In all this, the goal is that we and those we teach become more like Jesus. Since Christ does not physically walk among us, we have to look to the examples of people who are filled with the Spirit. For instance, Paul encourages the Corinthians to, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ,” (1 Cor. 11:1 NKJV). Paul knows Jesus, and he knows that if others follow him, they will know Jesus as well. We can be these examples of Christ to those we teach, but we have follow godly examples ourselves in order to do it.