“A vision without a plan is but a dream.” (Anon) Likewise, programs without a strategy lead to confusion. Programs are for the people who design them. Strategies accomplish well-defined goals.
1 Timothy was written to instruct Paul’s young protégé in how to shepherd the flock at Ephesus. Individuals in the church were “teaching strange doctrines.” (v. 1:3) These false teachers were seeking to change the direction of the ministry according to their desires rather than “furthering the administration of God.” (v. 1:4). They were claiming authority for what was done in the church to promote their agenda rather than accomplishing God’s purpose.
Those who sought to be teachers of the Law were lording it over the flock. The term translated “command” in v. 1:18 (NASB) is too strong. Paul was “coming alongside” (Gk paraggello, para, alongside and “aggellos,” a messenger) and “entrusting” (paratithemi, para, beside, and tithemi, to stand) to Timothy, providing instruction as to a son. These instructions follow in the rest of this epistle and require careful examination and application. These are abiding principles, not programs, that every local congregation should adhere to.
Paul uses strong words to explain what Timothy was up against. He wrote, “fight the good fight.” (v. 1:18) The Greek term, “fight,” is strategos, from which we get the English term, strategy. It refers to leading an army. This concept was familiar due to the influence of Greek, Roman, and Jewish warfare. Paul was not recommending programs, but preparation for conflict.
Unlike those who sought to be teachers of the Law and, hence, to lord it over the flock, Timothy’s task was to strategize with the goal of winning the spiritual battle. In a spiritual conflict, both sides are working toward victory. The cost of losing or even compromising is too great. These instructions on how a local church should operate are timeless.
Timothy had the encyclical we know as the book of Ephesians, which provides a clear presentation of the doctrine of the local church. In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul gives God’s goal for the local church.
. . .the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Eph 4:12-16)