20 Bible Verses About Mentorship, from Moses and Joshua to Paul and Timothy

Exodus 18:19-20

“Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.”

Reflection: Jethro, the priest of Midian and Moses’ father-in-law (Exodus 18:1), watches Moses judge the people alone “from morning till evening” and tells him, “You are not able to do it alone” (18:18). His advice has two parts: Moses keeps the work of bringing cases to God and teaching the laws, and able men who fear God and hate a bribe judge the smaller matters. Verse 24 records that Moses “listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.”

Deuteronomy 31:7-8

“Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’”

Reflection: Moses is 120 years old and has been told he will not cross the Jordan (31:2), so he commissions Joshua “in the sight of all Israel.” The charge repeats what he has just said to the whole people in verse 6: be strong and courageous, for the Lord “will not leave you or forsake you.” Joshua had served as Moses’ assistant, and Exodus 33:11 says the young man “would not depart from the tent.” Deuteronomy 34:9 says Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom “for Moses had laid his hands on him.”

2 Kings 2:9

“When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.’ And Elisha said, ‘Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.’”

Reflection: Elijah had called Elisha from ploughing by casting his cloak on him, and Elisha “went after Elijah and assisted him” (1 Kings 19:19-21). On Elijah’s last day Elisha three times refuses to leave him, and when Elijah asks what he can do for Elisha, Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, the share Deuteronomy 21:17 gives a firstborn son. After Elijah is taken, Elisha picks up the fallen cloak and parts the Jordan with it, and the prophets at Jericho say, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha” (2 Kings 2:15).

Psalm 78:4-7

“We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”

Reflection: The psalm opens with a teacher passing on “things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us” (78:3). Verses 5-6 describe teaching meant to pass through several generations: God commanded the fathers to teach their children, so that “the children yet unborn” would learn it and tell their own children. Verse 7 gives the aim, that they “set their hope in God and not forget the works of God.”

Proverbs 1:8-9

“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”

Reflection: The first address to “my son” in Proverbs follows straight after the book’s motto, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7). Both parents teach here: the father gives instruction and the mother teaching, and the son is told to keep both. Verse 9 compares their teaching to a garland on the head and pendants at the neck.

Titus 2:3-5

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”

Reflection: Paul had left Titus in Crete to set the churches in order (Titus 1:5), and chapter 2 tells him what to teach each group. Of the groups named in verses 2-6, the older women are the ones given a teaching task: they are to “teach what is good” and train the young women. The reason given at the end of verse 5 is “that the word of God may not be reviled.” Titus himself is told to be “a model of good works” to the younger men (2:6-7).

Luke 6:40

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

Reflection: Jesus says this in the sermon he gives on “a level place” (Luke 6:17), straight after asking, “Can a blind man lead a blind man?” (6:39). The saying sits between that question and the one about the speck in a brother’s eye and the log in one’s own (6:41), both about seeing clearly before leading or correcting anyone. Mark 3:14 gives the first purpose of Jesus’ own training of the Twelve: he appointed them “so that they might be with him.”

Matthew 28:19-20

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Reflection: The risen Jesus speaks to “the eleven disciples” on a mountain in Galilee (28:16), and sends them to make more disciples. The two verses name two parts of that work: baptizing, and “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” The commission ends with a promise, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

1 Corinthians 11:1

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Reflection: The verse follows Paul’s words about doing everything to the glory of God, where he says he tries to please everyone, “not seeking my own advantage, but that of many” (10:33). Earlier in the letter he calls himself the Corinthians’ father in Christ and says he is sending Timothy “to remind you of my ways in Christ” (4:15-17). The imitation he asks for has a limit: they are to copy him as he copies Christ.

Philippians 4:9

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Reflection: Paul lists four ways the Philippians took in what he taught: they learned it, received it, heard it, and saw it in him. Because the list includes what they “saw,” what they are told to practise includes his conduct as well as his words. In chapter 2 he describes Timothy’s years with him in family terms: “as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel” (2:22).

1 Thessalonians 2:8

“So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.”

Reflection: Paul writes with Silvanus and Timothy (1:1) and describes their time with the Thessalonians in two family pictures, “like a nursing mother taking care of her own children” (2:7) and “like a father with his children” who exhorted and encouraged each one (2:11). Between them he says they shared “our own selves” along with the gospel. Verse 9 adds that they worked night and day so as not to be a burden.

2 Timothy 1:6-7

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

Reflection: Timothy’s faith “dwelt first” in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (1:5), and Paul adds his own part: the gift of God that is in Timothy “through the laying on of my hands.” He reminds Timothy to fan that gift into flame, and verse 7 gives the reason he need not hold back: God gave “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

2 Timothy 2:2

“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.”

Reflection: Paul writes to Timothy as “my child” (2:1), and the sentence names four links in a chain of teaching: Paul, Timothy, the faithful men Timothy entrusts it to, and the others they will teach. Timothy heard it “in the presence of many witnesses,” and the men he chooses are to be both faithful and able to teach. Later in the letter Paul tells him to continue in what he has learned, “knowing from whom you learned it” (3:14).

Acts 20:32

“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

Reflection: Paul says this in his farewell to the elders of Ephesus, whom he had called to meet him at Miletus (20:17). He reminds them that for three years he “did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears” (20:31), and warns that “fierce wolves” will come after his departure (20:29). Having taught them himself, he now commends them to God and to “the word of his grace, which is able to build you up.”

Hebrews 13:7

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

Reflection: The leaders here are described in the past tense, “those who spoke to you the word of God,” and readers are told to consider “the outcome of their way of life” and copy their faith. Verse 17 turns to the leaders the church has now: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls.”

1 Peter 5:5

“Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”

Reflection: Peter writes “as a fellow elder” and tells the elders to shepherd the flock, “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock” (5:3). He then turns to the younger, who are to be subject to the elders, and to everyone, who are to clothe themselves with humility toward one another. The closing line is the same saying James 4:6 quotes.

Proverbs 27:17

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

Reflection: The proverb compares what one person does for another to iron sharpening iron. Earlier in Proverbs 27, a friend’s value lies in what he says: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (27:6), and “the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel” (27:9).

Proverbs 9:9

“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”

Reflection: The two verses before it describe the opposite case: correcting a scoffer brings abuse and hatred, while a wise man who is reproved “will love you” (9:7-8). Instruction adds to the wisdom a wise man already has. Verse 10 names where wisdom begins: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Proverbs 19:20

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.”

Reflection: This proverb speaks to the one being taught. It asks for two things, listening to advice and accepting instruction, and places the gain “in the future.” Verse 27 of the same chapter states the reverse: “Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.”

Proverbs 15:22

“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”

Reflection: Plans fail without counsel and succeed “with many advisers.” The proverb recommends a number of advisers, as Proverbs 11:14 does for a whole people: “in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”