1 Timothy 6:12

1Ti_6:12

Fight the good fight of faith.

The good fight

War is a terribly earnest business which will not bear to be trifled with. Of all things under the sun, this work of fighting, if it is to be done at all, is one that must be done with all our heart and mind. It is no mere holiday affair of plumes and epaulettes, and drums and trumpets, and flags and fine parade. Only certain ruin will come to those who go into it in that spirit, with a light and careless heart. Well, now, it is to such a work that Paul likens the Christian life, and it is in the same earnest spirit that he would have us to deal with it. Of course, there are many points in which it differs altogether from the warfares of this world: they work sorrow and desolation and death, but this brings joy and fruitfulness and life. They doubtless call forth heroic qualities of courage and devotion, which, however, are often sullied by fierce and pitiless passion; but this conflict of ours, while it demands equal courage and devotion, is gentle also, and merciful, ready to suffer loss, but not to inflict loss. Oh, very true, in times like ours this conflict differs materially from that which Paul and Timothy had to wage in the early martyr ages of the Churchs story. The wild beasts at Ephesus, the stonings in Jerusalem, the prison and the stake and the cross of those days, all have vanished from the warfare, which you may think, therefore, now hardly deserves so great a name. Yet a warfare it is still, not without its peril and its privation, and its enemy, and its conflict, partly within and partly without; and it needs now, as ever, a brave and an earnest heart. Is our religion at all like a real, earnest battle? Were I speaking to you of your common everyday life, with its labour and weary wrestle to keep the wolf from the door, I might call it a hard battle for the poor man; and some of you, I daresay, would be ready enough to reply, Ay, that it is, and we know it well enough, too--a hard, weary, ceaseless struggle; and sometimes we could almost wish we were well through it, and could be at rest. So, then, the words have clear meaning to many of us--I daresay to most of us. But could you say now as much about the affairs of your spiritual life? That is what Paul had in his eye. But have you ever maintained any such battle for integrity and truth, for the soul and for God, as you have often done for meat and drink, and raiment, and a respectable position. Assuredly, if we are true followers of Christ we shall find plenty of enemies to contend with--enemies who are ready to take advantage of every opportunity, and who are not to be overcome without long and resolute battle. You shall find these foes at the outset within yourselves. And the first part of every mans battle is to overcome and master these. I do not much value a warfare which is chiefly to get the better of other people. I do not believe that there is much good fighting in any one till he has first conquered himself. The battle begins, therefore, in our own heart and life. It is well to know that, for some are far more alive to their neighbours danger than they are to their own; and so long as they are of that mind they will never fight to any purpose the fight to which we are called. The nearest foes are those that are first to be dealt with, and there is no victory for us until these are overcome, and our nearest foes are those within ourselves. There are doubts, perhaps, perplexing your mind and chilling your faith, and you must fight your way into clearness, facing them like a thoughtful, earnest man; for if you do not you may well chance to settle down in chill indifference to all that is at stake. Then there are lusts and appetites of the flesh which perhaps hotly assail you, and you must contend with them, and beat them into subjection, for otherwise they will grow just as they are gratified, and bind you in a bondage of shame. And there are still more malignant lusts of the mind, as envy, pride, malice, hatred, uncharitableness, revenge; and we must do resolute battle with these and slay them, for if we let them live on they will soon leave no life in us. And there is the love of the world and the things of the world, and we must set ourselves to deny and resist that; for oh, how many heartless souls there are that succumb to these allurements, and never strike one blow or win one victory in the good fight, because their hands have been weakened and their arms have been blunted by the world which they had folded to their hearts. But our warfare is not confined to these inward wrestles with deceitful lusts and hurtful snares; it is not our own souls only that have to be saved. You might be religious after a fashion, and yet rather a selfish kind of man, if that were all that you were caring for. And the selfish man, no matter even though his self-seeking concerns his highest interests, the selfish man is not the true Christian man. Our battlefield is the world. We may not stand neutral in any righteous cause. Is there ignorance, breeding its poisonous crop of superstition, which we can in any wise help to remove? Is there injustice done which we can either arrest or redress? Then it will not do for you and me to stand by and say it is no concern of ours. This is called a good fight, and surely with good reasons. Sometimes we are in the way of saying, that was a good fight, when all we mean is that it was well and stoutly contested; we praise the combatants simply because they did their part well. But here the phrase has afar deeper meaning than that. This is a good fight, whether we do our part in it well or ill. It is the cause that makes it good, as it is the cause alone that makes any warfare right. Alas! how few of the worlds wars can lay any claim to that name. And to do all this by persuasion, by pity, by tender sympathy, by bearing each others burdens, by the truth spoken in love, by meek and patient suffering for righteousness sake, by faithful example, by brotherly kindness and charity. So with good weapons the good fight is to be fought. Not with wrangling and bitterness, not by malice and cunning, not by persecution and hatred, but by the gentle drawing of all cords of love. Think not to gain the victory here by ways or by forces which Christ has never used. But it is also called a fight of faith. And for that, too, there is good reason. It is a fight for faith, but specially and still more it is a fight by faith. Only by faith can the victory be won. It is a fight for the faith. Always the Christian has to do battle for the faith once delivered to the saints, to retain it for himself, and to hand it down to his children, and to maintain it for the world. Sad it is to think that after so many centuries of Christian history, it would almost seem as if the enmity to the gospel only grew more intense and more bitter. The culture and highest education of this age has, alas! largely drifted away from it into atheism agnosticism, esoteric Buddhism, and what not. What we have to contend for is faith in God, and for Christ as the revelation of God, and for faith in the immortal spirit and the life which is eternal; in short, for faith in its essential truth and in its purity, as Christ lived it and taught it, and as the apostles proclaimed it by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And as our good fight is for the faith, so also it is by faith that it must be carried on. It will not be well if we take to other weapons. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. He who said that was a master of clear and convincing reason. Very far was he from despising the intellect which God had given him for ordering all his thoughts aright. Always the soldier must have faith in his commander, faith in his skill, his courage, his loyalty, his capacity; and if he cannot trust these he is sure to be beaten. The rank and file, amid the smoke and dust of the conflict, perceive nothing but what lies close at their hand, and they may not be able to understand why they are ordered to keep this post or retire from that, why to rush on one peril, why to avoid another; but if they have faith in their leader they will say, He knows best; it is our business to be where he would have us to be, and to do what he would have us to do, and if we fall what matter, so long as the fight only be won? Without such a faith there would be no battle gained. There is nothing for us, then, but to fight on in faith: and if we do not, if we choose our own way and not Christs, does not our past experience tell us that that way leads to sorrow and disaster? When was it that you fell before the tempter, and were brought, perhaps, to shame? When was it that your efforts to do good to others proved barren and fruitless? Was it not then, when you were full of self-confidence and had lost your faith in God? And when were your victories won, when did you make any progress in godliness? Was it not then, when you put your trust in Christ and did His will, and left Him to make it all Clear in His own good time? (W. C. Smith, D. D.)

The fight

It is a curious fact that there is no subject about which most people feel such deep interest as fighting. This is a simple fact, whatever way we may try to explain it. We should call that Englishman a dull fellow who cared nothing about the story of Waterloo, or Inkermann, or Balaclava, or Lucknow. We should think that heart cold and stupid which was not moved and thrilled by the struggles at Sedan, and Strasburg, and Metz, and Paris, during the war between France and Germany. But there is another warfare of far greater importance than any war that was ever waged by man. This warfare, I am aware, is a thing of which many know nothing. Talk to them about it, and they are ready to set you down as a madman, an enthusiast, or a fool. And yet it is as real and true as any war the world has ever seen. It has its hand-to-hand conflicts and its wounds. It has its watchings and fatigues. It has its sieges and assaults. It has its victories and its defeats. Above all, it has consequences which are awful, tremendous, and most peculiar.

I. True Christianity is a fight. True Christianity! Let us mind that word true. There is a vast quantity of religion current in the world which is not true, genuine Christianity. The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, indolence, and security. With whom is the Christian soldier meant to fight? Not with other Christians. Wretched indeed is that mans idea of religion who fancies that it consists in perpetual controversy! No, indeed! The principal fight of the Christian is with the world, the flesh, and the-devil. These are his never-dying foes. Unless he gets the victory over these three, all other victories are useless and vain. He must fight the flesh. Even after conversion he carries within him a nature prone to evil, and a heart weak and unstable as water. He must fight the world, The subtle influence of that mighty enemy must be daily resisted, and without a daily battle can never be overcome. The love of the worlds good things--the fear of the worlds laughter or blame--the secret desire to keep in with the world--the secret wish to do as others in the world do, and not to run into extremes--all these are spiritual foes which beset the Christian continually on his way to heaven, and must be conquered. He must fight the devil. That old enemy of mankind is not dead. Remember the maxim of the wisest general that ever lived in England--In time of war it is the worst mistake to underrate your enemy, and try to make a little war. This Christian warfare is no light matter. Saved souls will always be found to have fought a fight. Let us not think that in this war we can remain neutral and sit still. Such a line of action may be possible in the strife of nations, but it is utterly impossible in that conflict which concerns the soul. The boasted policy of non-interference--the masterly inactivity which pleases so many statesmen--the plan of keeping quiet and letting things alone--all this will never do in the Christian warfare. It is a fight of universal necessity. No rank, or class, or age, can plead exemption, or escape the battle. Ministers and people, preachers and hearers, old and young, high and low, rich and poor, gentle and simple, kings and subjects, landlords and tenants, learned and unlearned--all alike must carry arms and go to war. It is a fight of perpetual necessity. It admits of no breathing time, no armistice, no truce. On week-days as well as on Sundays--in private as well as in public--at home by the family fireside as well as abroad--in little things like management of tongue and temper, as well as in great ones like the government of kingdoms--the Christians warfare must unceasingly go on.

II. True Christianity is the fight of faith. Success depends entirely on believing. A general faith in the truth of Gods written Word is the primary foundation of the Christian soldiers character. A religion without doctrine or dogma is a thing which many are fond of talking of in the present day. It sounds very fine at first. It looks very pretty at a distance. But the moment we sit down to examine and consider it, we shall find it a simple impossibility. We might as well talk of a body without bones and sinews. As for true Christians, faith is the very backbone of their spiritual existence. No one ever fights earnestly against the world, the flesh, and the devil, unless he has engraven on his heart certain great principles which he believes. A special faith in our Lord Jesus Christs person, work, and office, is the life, heart, and mainspring of the Christian soldiers character. Habitual lively faith in Christs presence and readiness to help is the secret of the Christian soldier fighting successfully. He that has most faith will always be the happiest and most comfortable soldier. Nothing makes the anxieties of warfare sit so lightly on a man as the assurance of Christs love and continual protection. Let us turn to the pages of early Church history. Let us see how the primitive Christians held fast their religion even unto death, and were not shaken by the fiercest persecutions of heathen emperors. For centuries there were never wanting men like Polycarp and Ignatius, who were ready to die rather than deny Christ. Fines, and prisons, and torture, and fire, and sword, were unable to crush the spirit of the noble army of martyrs. The whole power of imperial Rome, the mistress of the world, proved unable to stamp out the religion which began with a few fishermen and publicans in Palestine! And then let us remember that believing in an unseen Jesus was the Churchs strength. They won their victory by faith. Let us examine the story of the Reformation. Let us study the lives of its leading champions--Wycliffe, and Huss, and Luther, and Ridley, and Latimer, and Hooper. Let us mark how these gallant soldiers of Christ stood firm against a host of adversaries, and were ready to die for their principles. What battles they fought! What controversies they maintained! What contradiction they endured! What tenacity of purpose they exhibited against a world in arms! And then let us remember that believing in an unseen Jesus was the secret of their strength. They overcame by faith.

III. True Christianity is a good fight. Good is a curious word to apply to any warfare. All worldly war is more or less evil. The Scripture does not call the Christian fight a good fight without reason and cause.

1. The Christians fight is good because fought under the best of generals. The Leader and Commander of all believers is our Divine Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ--a Saviour of perfect wisdom, infinite love, and almighty power. The Captain of our salvation never fails to lead His soldiers to victory.

2. The Christians fight is good, because fought with the best of helps. Weak as each believer is in himself, the Holy Spirit dwells in him, and his body is a temple of the Holy Ghost.

3. The Christian fight is a good fight, because fought with the best of promises.

4. The Christians fight is a good fight, because fought with the best of issues and results.

5. The Christians fight is good, because it does good to the soul of him that fights it. All other wars have a bad, lowering, and demoralizing tendency. They call forth the worst passions of the human mind. They harden the conscience, and sap the foundations of religion and morality. The Christian warfare alone tends to call forth the best things that are left in man. It promotes humility and charity, it lessens selfishness and worldliness, it induces men to set their affections on things above.

6. The Christians fight is a good fight, because it does good to the world. All other wars have a devastating, ravaging, and injurious effect. But go where you please, you will find that the presence of a few true Christians is a blessing. Surely this is good!

7. Finally, the Christians fight is good, because it ends in a glorious reward for all who fight it.

(1) It may be you are struggling hard for the rewards of this world. Perhaps you are straining every nerve to obtain money, or place, or power, or pleasure.

(2) It may be you know something of the Christian warfare, and are a tried and proved soldier already. (Bp. Ryle.)

The Christian warfare; or, the good fight of faith

I. In what respects the Christian life is the fight of faith.

1. There are enemies of our salvation, and there must be faith in the soul to set against them. Where there are not two parties, there can be no fight. There is no fighting in heaven, for there are no enemies there (Rev_21:25). There is none of this fighting in the unbelieving world neither; for the enemies have all there alone, and there is no faith to set against them (Luk_11:21).

2. Faith has the chief interest in this fight. In it there will be use for all the graces, the doing and suffering graces: yet the fight has its name from faith, as that which has the chief hand in it. It carries on the fight, and obtains the victory--Whom resist, steadfast in the faith (1Pe_5:9).

3. Lastly, the great design of a holy God, in that fight is the trial of faith. Hence says the apostle (1Pe_1:6-7).

II. In what respects it is a good fight?

III. Why is the Christian life, in the disposal of holy providence, made a fight? No doubt the Lord could have given His people a constant sunshine as well on this side as the other side of death, and cleared the way of those armed adversaries that are ready to attack them.

1. That the members may be conformed to their Head in their passage through the world.

2. That the nothingness, and utter unworthiness of the creature, which is to wear the crown of glory for ever, may convincingly appear; so as they themselves and all others may see it is owing purely to free grace, not to them (Deu_8:2).

3. For the greater confusion of the grand adversary, who, attacked Him in person in the world, and whom He causeth poor weak creatures to triumph over after they have maintained a fight with Him (Rom_16:20).

4. For the greater glory of the Captain of their salvation, the more full display of the freedom of grace, and the efficacy of His blood and Spirit.

5. For that they may have a greater variety of experiences--Patience worketh experience; and experience, hope (Rom_5:4).

6. Lastly, that heaven may be the more sweet to them, when they come to it.

IV. Why their fight is called a fight of faith. The reason is, because by that means all the glory of the victories obtained redounds to free grace, not to the sinner himself, It is of faith, that it might be by grace (Rom_4:16).

V. I will touch at some particular fights of faith the Christian may have in his course heavenward, such as--

1. In a call to some more than ordinary work or duty.

2. In desertion.

3. In temptations from Satan.

4. In afflictions.

5. With this present evil world.

6. With sin.

7. With death.

Some have a fighting life with the world all their days: but, alas! it is not the fight of faith with it, but a sinful faithless fighting with it, that carries on the ruin of their souls. Ye will know this faithless fight with it by these two things.

1. All their fight is to get something of the world, not to be kept from the spiritual evil of the world.

2. Their fight they have with the world takes away from them all favour of the Word of God and of religion.

We must then stay our hearts by faith--

1. Firmly believing the Scripture accounts of the unseen world (Heb_11:1).

2. Firmly believing the Scripture account of the way to heaven; that Christ is the way to it (Joh_14:6); and that by faith we walk in Him to it (Col_2:6).

3. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for your safe passage to the upper part of the unseen world (Psa_73:24; Psa_31:5); committing your soul to Him, rolling the weight of your through-bearing on Him as the Captain of salvation appointed of God to bring many sons to glory.

4. Believing that your Lord Christ is Lord of the unseen world, and that the whole compass of it above and below is under His dominion (Rev_1:18). (T. Boston, D. D.)

The problem of life

Human life is not a consummated and perfected thing; it is a struggle, a conflict universally; and that not by accident, not by the intrusion of any unexpected obstacle, not by the re-establishment of the original and fundamental policy of creation, but by the very genius of creation. This conflict inheres in the very problem which the physical existence was set to work out. All acts of development from childhood to manhood are in the nature of aggression, of vigilance, of impulsion, of pressure onward, with more or less pain and penalty. The unfolding of every faculty is like a birth, and has its pain, its throe; and the organization of character comes by the drill of each separate organ. The making of a perfect man, according to the large ideal of Christ Jesus, obliges men to compel themselves in such a way that the whole process of education takes on the form of a conflict. Men recognize this outwardly. No man gains the aptitudes which are required for the maintenance of his physical existence without earnest study, without great patience, without much self-denial, without long drill, without hard work. You cannot acquire skill in your fingers without making them war against the tool, against matter, and against the laws by which matter is governed. Let us look at some points of the conflict which belongs to personal experience, which takes on different forms, and which all feel, more or less, in some form. There is, in the first place, the control of a mans own disposition, the control of his appetites and passions, which are indispensable servants, and strong-handed servants, but which are very dangerous masters, that slip easily into the seat of authority. Without appetites and passions, a man would languish as a plant without sap; there would be neither vigour nor success in his life; and yet, indispensable as they are as pioneers and engineers, they are dangerous. And multitudes of men, not knowing how to make suitable war upon domineering passions and appetites, are perpetually broken down. Then come the whole range of irritable and malign feelings. Irritableness is merely sensibility exercised in a certain direction. In general sensibility is a great blessing. Quickness to respond to fact, to truth, to that which is right, is a Divine blessing to any soul. At the same time, quickness is the peculiar difficulty of temper, which acts without thinking, without direction, and without discretion. A man who was without susceptibility to the impulse of anger would have no power of resistance or self-defence. Multitudes of evil which, if permitted to get control of us, would be most pernicious, and often fatal, are repelled by the sudden impulse of indignation. Thousands and thousands of temptations you must destroy at once, or they will destroy you. How many men, under such circumstances, know how to carry themselves evenly and justly, making anger turn to indignation, and making indignation turn to profit in moral results? How many are there who have no need to fight? Is your anger a patient steed so subdued to the saddle and bridle that you can ride it without watch and care? Is it an easy thing for you to maintain sweetness and equanimity? What man ever attempted to live a Christian life who has not had a painful consciousness of the need of conflict in regard to his temper and malign feelings? Then there is the more subtle danger of self-indulgence in every one of its forms. In this realm there is a perpetual seeking after immediate pleasure. There is, then, need that a man should rouse himself continually, and in every direction, that he should be up and around, that he should be vigilant and laborious as against this fatal spirit of quietude--this anchoring of the soul in still waters. But what shall I say of the conflict that every man has in life with pride, and with the love of praise, which leads one to violate others rights, and to seek, in an undue measure, his own welfare? Let no one suppose that this conflict is necessarily one of dreariness, and that the Christian life, because it is a life of conflict, is therefore a life of morbid suffering or pain. It is a conflict that every man goes through who masters the mathematical science; but is it a painful conflict? When the awkward boy first goes to the school of manners, and is obliged to throw back his shoulders, and turn out the palms of his hand, and step with an appropriate instead of a clownish tread, it is a painful thing for him to do, and to do continually, and to form the habit of doing; but nobody says of children when they are sent to the dancing school, Poor children! What a conflict they are going through! And yet, it is a conflict that they are going through. And at every step of the education of his body or of his disposition, of his physical organs, or of his thought and feeling, a man is going through a conflict, and a conflict that sometimes is accompanied by bitter pain. There are sometimes exigences, though they are very rare, which bring men into an elevated condition without much struggle; but the ordinary experience of men in Christian life is one in which they press forward and overcome just as a man does who produces results by thought, by work, by patience in strife. The whole of Christian life is a conflict in that way. See how men are surrounded. See how the shopmate is obliged to repel the sagacious influences of him who stands near him. See how the moral tone of a man may be lowered by the vulgarity and impurity of the man who sits next to him, and thrusts vile paragraphs under his eye, and narrates in his ear stories that are not fit for him to hear or repeat. No thermometer in the open air was ever more subject to the thermal influences of nature than men are to the influences that are exerted upon them on every side; and we are constantly to wage a conflict of resistance with every man we meet, and with all the circumstances in which we are placed, that we may turn them to account, and that we may frustrate and thwart the mischief that is in them. But these are comparatively small things. How is it when you are father and mother, and a nest full of birds come down to you with your faults exaggerated in them, and the faults of two or three of your ancestors thrown in, and you are to bring up those children, strong-willed, and constantly breaking out into this and that mischief? How many persons there are who have been discouraged and almost heart-broken by the burden that God has laid upon them to develop, to train, and to graduate successfully into life, a houseful of children! It is a burden that you have to carry. It is a warfare that you have to meet. Then there are social surroundings, infelicities, hardships, difficulties, tasks of support, catastrophes, which overtake men in life. If you will be kind enough to go down stream the water will not bubble around you a particle; it will make your passage very easy; but now turn about and go up stream, and see how the force of the current heaps the water about you. So long as a man is content to go down stream in life, and does not attempt to go up stream, he goes easy; but let him undertake to go up stream for the sake of a higher life, and see if on every side he does not find difficulties to be overcome and trials to be borne. But, if he perseveres, by and by so many of them will be mastered and he will have gained such momentum that his career will be, comparatively speaking, joyous, though it may not be easy. The rising from one plane or sphere to another plane or sphere is always with difficulty. How, then, shall we maintain this conflict? Largely by volition in respect to new things, and by reducing to habits, as far as possible, things with which we are familiar. It is in the power of a man to make automatic thousands of acts that at first he was obliged to force himself to perform. We have not really learned a thing till we have learned it so that the learning ceases to be conscious. We are also to fight this conflict as much as possible by adopting the principle, or by recognising the fact and making it a principle of practical life, that there is in every man an equipollent force over against each faculty that is in him; that if there is selfishness there is generosity; that if there is hatred there is love; that if there is avarice there is benevolence; that if there is fear there is hope; and that in the discipline of a mans nature it is not so wise to directly attack the evil as to excite the corresponding good, and let that take the control of the evil. Is a man prone to think of things that he ought not to think of? Let him think of things that he ought to think of. Let him give the mind another direction and indulge in another class of thoughts. Does a child hurt itself? See how the nurse or the mother catches up some mirror, some brilliant object, and flashes it in the childs eye to divert its attention from its pain. It is not wise to mourn over a child that is hurt or to look at its bruise; it is wise, rather, to direct its thoughts to something else Then, aside from these things, fill your soul from day to day with the great truths which are given to us in the gospel of Christ. (H. W. Beecher.)

The good fight

I. It is severe. Our enemies are many, strong, united.

II. It is painful. It is the house divided against itself. One desire in antagonism to another.

III. It is constant. Foes never tire, we must never rest. (Homilist.)

The Christian warfare

I. Survey the field of battle. This world is a great battlefield. Upon its bosom are two armies. They are disproportionate in numbers. The one is large, united, armed, disciplined, and determined. The other is small, sometimes trembling and irresolute, with here and there a bold and earnest hero, but for the most part but indifferent soldiers. Their appearance and preparations are best described in 1Ki_20:27; and it may be that this very passage was intended as a type of them: The children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country. In this position they are both ready for the battle; but alas! the one is oftentimes more ready than the other. The first is united, and it fills the country: the other is as two flocks of kids. The first is armed with every conceivable weapon: the other has but one. The first is disciplined and determined: the other is simple and feeble. And yet, withal, there is no doubt of the issue. Every soldier in the little army is unconquerable. Many and many an antagonist is conquered and subdued. To what, then, must we attribute this remarkable success? Not to their numbers, certainly; for they are the fewest of any people. Not to their wisdom; for they are the foolish of this world. Not to their strength; for they are the weak things of it. It is to their Captain who commands them. He is the cause of this incessant victory against their overwhelming odds. The first army is commanded, indeed, by a mighty prince. No common general is he. Uniting every species of ability and strength save one, he is altogether invincible by any other might than that of our Commander; but before Him he has no success.

II. We are now to investigate the nature of their warfare. The apostle here calls it a good fight, and a fight of faith; by which terms he shows us at once the object and method of warfare.

1. Take its object. It is the very opposite of the world. The object of the true soldier of Christ is to win souls to Him, to save men from hell, to make known the salvation purchased by Christ, and the promised freedom of the soul from sin.

2. Take, next, the principles of this warfare. Here again we see the difference between these two contending armies. In Satans army every conceivable weapon is authorized. Lying, equivocation, misrepresentation, forging of books, corruptions of human writings, and the base and unholy trickery of false miracles, are resorted to as occasion may demand. Not such are the principles upon which Christians are called to fight. To them it is not permitted to act but according to the will and Word of God.

3. Let us regard, then, the methods by which the army of Christ are required to maintain their ground in the world. There are three modes of warfare by which they do this. They disarm their opponents, they silence the enemy, they bring them over to their side. These are the results of the Christians mode of warfare.

III. But I proceed to consider the weapons which the christen warrior uses. Will all the tradition, or all the philosophy, or all the science of the world break any sinners heart, or bring him into captivity, or destroy the power of his sins? They are not the Christians sword, and with such shall no man prevail. But let us bring the gospel to bear upon these cases. Let us set before the young man, the infidel, or the selfish worldling the love of God in Christ, exhibiting as it does on the one hand the peril and necessary judgment of sin, and on the other the glorious remedy which is provided, and you bring the only weapon which will pierce their hearts. The Scripture, then, is our weapon.

IV. The discipline which is necessary for so great a conflict.

1. Keep under the body. A habit of self-restraint is an essential element in Christian warfare.

2. Another direction is to endure hardness. Softness, and that temper which makes us shrink from opposition and the rough usage which we may meet with in our career, is often a sad hindrance to the Christian.

3. But the main thing is, that he should study the use of his weapon.

4. Last of all, pray. (W. Harrison, M. A.)

Lay hold on eternal life.

Mans great duty

While there is eternal life in the gospel sufficient for all, none are specially excluded from its benefits. Those only are excluded who exclude themselves, and refuse to be saved on Gods own terms. His proclamation of mercy to a lost, rebel world, is clogged with no exceptions.

I. Consider our need of eternal life. Greatest gift of God! eternal life is deliverance from eternal death, the curse of a broken law, and the doom of a burning hell. Eternal life is eternal blessedness--the pardon of sins guilt, and freedom from its tyrannous power.

II. Consider how we obtain eternal life.

III. Consider more particularly what we have to do, to obtain eternal life. Do! It is not to make ourselves worthy of it; nor to attempt to merit it; nor to wait till we are holy before we come to Christ. Salvation is not of works, but of faith.

IV. Consider when we are to lay hold on eternal life--When--but now? If the body is in great danger, and means of safety and escape are offered, there is no occasion to press them on men; to cry, lay hold on life, or say, do it now. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Eternal life within present grasp

Lay hold on eternal life. Observe that this precept is preceded by another Fight the good fight of faith. Those who lay hold on eternal life will have to fight for it. As my text follows the command to fight the good fight of faith, it teaches us that the best way of contending for the faith is, for ourselves personally to lay hold on eternal life. You cannot defend the faith by mere reasoning. There is a higher and a better life than that which is known to the most of men. There is an animal life which all possess; there is a mental life which lifts us up above the beasts; bat there is another life as much above the mental life as the mental life is above the mere animal life. The bulk of men are not aware of this, and when they are told of it they do not believe the statement. Dream not that any of you will ever obtain eternal life hereafter unless you receive it in this life. Where death finds you eternity will leave you.

I. Lay hold on eternal life, that is, believe in it. You cannot lay hold on it unless you know it to be a reality. We do not lay hold on shadows, or fictions, or fancies. It is needful, therefore, to begin by a realizing faith.

1. That we may believe in this life, let me say that Holy Scripture constantly describes men unrenewed by Divine grace as being dead; they are dead in trespasses and sins.

2. The Scripture represents believers everywhere as possessing everlasting life. He that believeth in Him hath everlasting life.

3. This life is produced by the operation of the Holy Spirit within the heart.

4. What a difference this quickening has made in those who have received it! What a marvellous life it is! It brings with it new perceptions, new emotions, new desires. It has new senses: there are new eyes, with which we see the invisible; new ears, with which we hear the voice of God, before inaudible. Then have we a new touch, with which we lay hold on Divine truth; then have we a new taste, so that we taste and see that the Lord is good. This new life ushers us into a new world, and gives us new relationships and new privileges. I want you all to get this idea into your heads--I mean all of you who have not learned this fact as yet: there is a life superior to that of common men--a life eternal, to be enjoyed now and here. I want this idea to become a practical force with you. Stephenson got the notion of a steam-engine into his brain, and the steam-engine soon became a natural fact with him. Palissy, the potter, had his mind full of his art, and for it he sacrificed everything till he gained his end; so may you, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, lay hold upon eternal life as being a blessed possibility; and may you be moved to seek it! There is an eternal life; there is a life of God in the soul of man; and I trust that you will each one resolve, If it is to be had I will have it. Henceforth direct your thoughts and desires this way.

II. But this is not enough: it is merely the door-step of the subject. Lay hold on eternal life: that is to say, possess it. Get it into your own soul: be yourself alive. How is eternal life grasped?

1. It is laid hold of by faith in Jesus Christ. It is a very simple thing to trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet it is the only way of obtaining the eternal life.

2. This life once laid hold upon is exercised in holy acts. From day to day we lay hold on eternal life by exercising ourselves unto godliness in deeds of holiness and lovingkindness. Let your life be love, for love is life. Let your life be one of prayer and praise, for these are the breath of the new life.

3. In laying hold upon it, remember that it is increased by growth. Zealously grasp more and more of it. Do not be afraid of having too much spiritual life. Lay hold on it; for Christ has come not only that we may have life, but that we may have it more abundantly.

4. Remember that spiritual life is enjoyed in the fullest sense in close communion with God. This is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.

III. Lay hold on eternal life. That is, watch over it, guard it, and protect it. Most men will preserve their lives at any cost. Unless they are drunk or mad, they will do anything for dear life: Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

1. Let every believer regard the life of God within him as being the most precious possession, more valuable by far than the natural life. It would be wise to lay down a thousand natural lives, if we had them, in order to preserve the spiritual life.

2. To that end the apostle bade Timothy flee from those things which are detrimental to that life. Thou, O man of God, flee these things. A man that is very careful of his life will not remain in a house where fever has been rife.

3. Then the apostle tells Timothy to seek after everything that would promote his eternal life. He says, Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness: seek after that which will exercise and develop your highest life. Frequent those hills of holiness where the atmosphere is bracing for your new-born spirit.

4. God help us to lay hold on eternal life, and to that end above all things lay hold on Christ! We only live in Him: He is our life. To be divided from Christ is as surely death to us as it would be death to the body to be separated from the head.

IV. Lay hold on eternal life, that is, fulfil it. Labour that the time of your sojourning here shall be occupied, not with this poor, dying existence, but with the eternal life.

1. Fulfil the higher and the eternal life in every position of society. The chapter opens with advice to servants, who then were slaves. Their earthly life was wretched indeed, but the apostle bids them live, not for this present life, but for the eternal life.

2. Fulfil this better life, also, by leaving alone those questions which would swallow up the hour. See how Paul destroys these devourers--Questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

3. Further, the apostle bids us do this so as to surmount the temptations of selfishness. He warns us that they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

V. Last of all, exact eternal life. By the two hands of faith and hope lay hold on eternal life as the great reward of the righteous.

1. Let me suggest that we think much about the life to come. We shall soon be there in the endless home, let us send our thoughts thither like couriers in advance.

2. When you think of it, and your heart grows warm with the thought, then count it very near. Suppose you are to live a comparatively long life, yet no human life is really long.

3. Rehearse eternal life! Rehearse the service and joy of heaven! They have rehearsals of fine pieces of music; let us have a rehearsal of heavens harmonies. The thing is practicable. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1 Timothy

ONE WITNESS, MANY CONFESSORS

1Ti 6:12-14.

You will observe that ‘a good confession,’ or rather ‘the good confession,’ is said here to have been made both by Timothy and by Christ. But you will observe also that whilst the subject-matter is the same, the action of Timothy and Jesus respectively is different. The former professes, or rather confesses, the good confession; the latter witnesses. There must be some reason for the significant variation of terms to indicate that the relation of Timothy and Jesus to the good confession which they both made was, in some way, a different one, and that though what they said was identical, their actions in saying it were different.

Then there is another point of parallelism to be noticed. Timothy made his profession ‘before many witnesses,’ but the Apostle calls to his remembrance, and summons up before the eye of his imagination, a more august tribunal than that before which he had confessed his faith, and says that he gives him charge ‘before God’ {for the same word is used in the original in both verses}, ‘who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus.’ So the earthly witnesses of the man’s confession dwindle into insignificance when compared with the heavenly ones. And upon these thoughts is based the practical exhortation, ‘Keep the commandment without spot.’ So, then, we have three things: the great Witness and His confession, the subordinate confessors who echo His witness, and the practical issue that comes out of both thoughts.

I. We have the great Witness and His confession.

Now, you will remember, perhaps, that if we turn to the Gospels, we find that all of them give the subject-matter of Christ’s confession before Pilate, as being that He was the King of the Jews. But the Evangelist John expands that conversation, and gives us details which present a remarkable verbal correspondence with the words of the Apostle here, and must suggest to us that, though John’s Gospel was not written at the date of this Epistle, the fact that is enshrined for us in it was independently known by the Apostle Paul.

For, if I may for a moment recall the incident to you, you will remember that when Pilate put to the Saviour the question, ‘Art Thou a King?’ our Lord, before He would answer, took pains to make quite clear the sense in which the judge asked Him of His royal state. For He said, ‘Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of Me? If it is your Roman idea of a king, the answer must be, "No." If it is the Jewish Messianic idea, the answer must be, "Yes." I must know first what the question means, in the mind of the questioner, before I answer it.’ And when Pilate brushes aside Christ’s question, with a sort of impatient contempt, and returns to the charge, ‘What hast Thou done?’ our Lord, whilst He makes the claim of sovereignty, takes care to make it in such a way as to show that Rome need fear nothing from Him, and that His dominion rested not upon force. ‘My Kingdom is not of this world.’ And then, when Pilate, like a practical Roman, bewildered with all these fine-spun distinctions, sweeps them impatiently out of the field, and comes back to ‘Yes, or No; are you a King?’ our Lord gives a distinct affirmative answer, but at once soars up into the region where Pilate had declined to follow Him: ‘To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth.’ ‘Before Pontius Pilate he witnessed the good confession.’ And His confession was His royalty, His relation to the truth, and His pre-existence. ‘To this end was I born,’ and the next clause is no mere tautology, nor a non-significant parallelism, ‘and for this cause came I into the world.’ Then He was before He came, and birth to Him was not the beginning of being, but the beginning of a new relation.

So, then, out of this great word of our text, which falls into line with a great many other words of the New Testament, we may gather important and significant truths with regard to two things, the matter and the manner of Christ’s witnessing. You remember how the same Apostle John--for whom that word ‘witness’ has a fascination in all its manifold applications--in that great vision of the Apocalypse, when to his blessed sight the vision of the Master was once given, extols Him as ‘the faithful witness, and the First-begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth.’ And you may remember how our Lord Himself, after His conversation with Nicodemus, says, ‘We speak that we do know, and bear witness to that we have seen,’ and how again, in answer to the taunts of the Jews, He takes the taunt as the most intimate designation of the peculiarity of His person and of His work, when He says, ‘I am one that bear witness of Myself.’ So, then, we have to interpret his declaration before Pilate in the light of all these other sayings, and to remember that He who said that He came to bear witness to the truth, said also, ‘I am the truth,’ and therefore that his great declaration that He was the witness-bearer to the truth is absolutely synonymous with His other declaration that He bears witness of Himself.

Now, here we come upon one of the great peculiarities of Christ as a religious teacher. The new thing, the distinctive peculiarity, the differentia between Him and all other teachers, lies just here, that His theme is not so much moral or religious principles, as His own nature and person. He was the most egotistical man that ever lived on the face of the earth, with an egotism only to be accounted for, if we believe, as He Himself said, that in His person was the truth that He proclaimed, and that when He witnessed to Himself He revealed God. And thus He stands, separate from all other teachers, by this, that He is His own theme and His own witness.

So much for the matter of the good confession to which we need only add here its pendant in the confession before the High Priest. To the representative of the civil government He said, ‘I am a king,’ and then, as I remarked, He soared up into regions where no Roman official could rise to follow Him, and to the representative of the Theocratic government He said, ‘Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.’ These two truths, that He is the Son of God, who by His witness to the truth, that is, Himself, lays the foundations of a Monarchy which shall stretch far further than the pinions of the Roman eagles could ever fly, and that he is the Son of Man who, exalted to the right hand of God, is to be the Judge of mankind--these are the good confessions to which the Lord witnessed.

Then with regard to the manner of His witness. That brings us to another of the peculiarities of Christ’s teaching. I have said that He was the most egotistical of men. I would say, too, that there never was another who clashed down in the front of humanity such tremendous assertions, with not the faintest scintilla of an attempt to prove them to our understandings, or commend them by any other plea than this, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you!’

A witness does not need to argue. A witness is a man who reports what he has seen and heard. The whole question is as to his veracity and competency. Jesus Christ states it for the characteristic of His work, ‘We speak that we do know, and bear witness to that we have seen.’ His relation to the truth which He brings to us is not that of a man who has thought it out, who has been brought to it by experience, or by feeling, or by a long course of investigation; still less is it the relation which a man would bear to a truth that he had learnt from others originally, however much he had made it his own thereafter: but it is that of one who is not a thinker, or a learner, or a reasoner, but who is simply an attester, a witness. And so He stands before us, and says, ‘The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. Believe Me, and believe the words, for no other reason, primarily, than because I speak them.’ In these two respects, then, the matter and the manner of His witness, He stands alone, and we have to bow before Him and say, ‘Speak, Lord! for thy servant heareth.’ ‘Before Pontius Pilate He witnessed a good confession.’

II. We have here suggested to us the subordinate confessors who echo the Lord’s witness.

It is a matter of no consequence when, and before whom, this Timothy professed his good profession. It may have been at his baptism. It may have been when he was installed in his office. It may have been before some tribunal of which we know nothing. That does not matter. The point is that a Christian man is to be an echo of the Lord’s good confession, and is to keep within the lines of it, and to be sure that all of it is echoed in his life. Christ has told us what to say, and we are here to say it over again. Christ has witnessed; we are to confess. Our relation to that truth is different from His. We hear it; He speaks it. We accept it; He reveals it. We are influenced by it; He is it. He brings it to the world on His own authority; we are to carry it to the world on His.

Be sure that you Christian men are echoes of your Master. Be sure that you reverberate the note that He struck. Be sure that all its music is repeated by you And take care that you neither fall short of it, nor go beyond it, in your faith and in your profession. Echoes of Christ--that is the highest conception of a Christian life.

But though there is all the difference between the Witness and the confessors, do not let us forget that, if we are truly Christian, there is a very deep and blessed sense in which we, too, may witness what we have seen and heard. A Christian preacher of any sort--and by that I mean, not merely a man who stands in a pulpit, as I do, but all Christian people, in their measure and degree--will do nothing by professing the best profession, unless that profession sounds like the utterance of a man who speaks that he knows, and who can say, ‘that which our eyes have beheld, that which we have handled, of the Word of life, we make known unto you.’ And so, by the power of personal experience speaking out in our lives, and by the power of it alone, as I believe, will victories be won, and the witness of Jesus Christ be repeated in the world. Christian men and women, the old saying which was addressed by a prophet to Israel is more true, more solemnly true of us, and presses on us with a heavier weight of obligation, as well as lifts us up into a position of greater blessedness: ‘Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.’ That is what you and I are here for--to bear witness, different and yet like to, the witness borne by the Lord. We have all to do that, by words, though not only by them. That is the obligation that a great many Christian people take very lightly. That yoke of Jesus Christ many of us slip our necks out of. If He has witnessed, you have to confess. But some of you carry your Christianity in secret, and button your coats over the cockade that should tell whose soldiers you are, and are ashamed, or too shy, or too nervous, or too afraid of ridicule, or not sufficiently sure of your own grip of the Master, to confess Him before men. I beseech you remember that a Christian man is no Christian unless ‘with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,’ as well as ‘with the heart’ belief is exercised unto righteousness.

III. Lastly, we have here the practical issue of all this.

‘I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, that thou keep the commandment without spot.’ The ‘commandment,’ of course, may be used in a specific sense, referring to what has just been enjoined, but more probably we are to regard the same thing which, considered in its relation to Jesus Christ, is His testimony, as being, in its relation to us, His commandment. For all Christ’s gospel of revelation that He has made of Himself to the world, is meant to influence, not only belief and feeling, but conduct and character as well. All the New Testament, in so far as it is a record of what Christ is, and thereby a declaration of what God is, is also for us an injunction as to what we ought to be. The whole Gospel is law, and the testimony is commandment, and we have to keep it, as well as to confess it. Let me put the few things that I have to say, under this last division of my subject, the practical issue, into the shape of three exhortations, not for the sake of seeming to arrogate any kind of superiority, but for the sake of point and emphasis.

Let the life bear witness to the confession. What is the use of Timothy’s standing there, and professing himself a Christian before many witnesses if, when he goes out into the world, his conduct gives the lie to his creed, and he lives like the men that are not Christians? Back up your confession by your conduct, and when you say ‘I believe in Jesus Christ,’ let your life be as true an echo of His life as your confession is of His testimony. Else we shall come under the condemnation, ‘Nothing but leaves,’ and shall fall under the punishment of the continuance of unfruitfulness, which is our crime as well as our punishment. There is a great deal more done by consistent living for, and by inconsistent living against, the truth of the Gospel, than by all the words of all the preachers in the world. Your faults go further, and tell more, than my sermons, and your Christian characters will go further than all the eloquence of the most devoted preachers. ‘There is no voice nor language, where their sound is not heard. Their line is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.’

Again, let the thought of the Great Witness stimulate us. He, too, took His place by our sides, though with the differences that I have pointed out, yet with resemblances which bring Him very near us. He, too; knew what it was to stand amongst those who shrugged their shoulders, and knit their brows at His utterances, and turned away from Him, calling Him sometimes ‘dreamer,’ sometimes ‘revolutionary,’ sometimes ‘blasphemer,’ and now and then a messenger of good tidings and a preacher of the gospel of peace. He knows all our hesitations, all our weaknesses, all our temptations. He was the first of the martyrs, in the narrower sense of the word. He is the leader of the great band of witnesses for God. Let us stand by His side, and be like Him in our bearing witness in this world.

Again, let the thought of the great tribunal stimulate us. ‘I give thee charge before God, who quickeneth all things--and who therefore will quicken you--and before Jesus Christ, that thou keep this commandment.’ Jesus, who witnessed to the truth, witnesses, in the sense of beholding and watching, us, knowing our weakness and ready to help us. ‘The faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth,’ is by us, as we witness for Him. And so, though we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, the saints in the past who have witnessed for God, and been witnessed to by Him, we have to turn away from them, and ‘look off’ from all others, ‘unto Jesus.’ And we may, like the first of the noble army of martyrs, see the heavens opened, and Jesus ‘standing’--started to His feet, to see and to help Stephen--’at the right hand of God.’

Brethren, let us listen to His witness, let us accept it, setting to our seals that God is true. Then let us try to echo it back by word, and to attest our confession by our conduct, and then we may comfort ourselves with the great word, ‘He that confesseth Me before men, Him will I also confess before My Father which is in Heaven.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:12 The promise of eternal life moderates the appeal of wealth (cp. 6:19). • Paul is probably referring to the time when Timothy declared his faith at baptism.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Ti 6:12. Τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα, the good fight) In antithesis to strifes of words, 1Ti 6:4. ἐπιλαβοῦ, lay hold of) as something that is within reach and near at hand. Leave to others their own questions, ibid. A Metonymy of the consequent for the antecedent, with the argument drawn from what is easy [laying hold of eternal life is easy as contrasted with the questions and strifes in 1Ti 6:4]. The same expression is found at 1Ti 6:19. It is a simile taken from the race-course and the prizes; comp. 2Ti 4:7, etc.—ἐκλήθης καὶ ὡμολόγησας, thou hast been called and hast professed) The divine calling and profession of believers are correlatives. Both take place in baptism. [If at any time thou hast made a promise to GOD, He Himself deems that thou art bound to Him; and that is remarkable good-will on His part.—V. g.] τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν) that [not [50], as Engl. Vers.] good profession, [viz. that concerning the kingdom of Christ, 1Ti 6:13.—V. g.] So also in the following verse [“Christ Jesus, that witnessed—that good profession”]. But the words differ: Thou hast professed, accompanied with the assent of witnesses: He witnessed, though Pontius Pilate did not assent.—ἐνώπιον πολλῶν μαρτύρων, before many witnesses) who would testify against thee, if thou wert to fall away.

[50] Vercellensis of the old ‘Itala,’ or Latin Version before Jerome’s, probably made in Africa, in the second century: the Gospels.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti_6:12. Ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως] Here, as in 1Ti_1:18 (τὴν καλὴν στρατείαν), we must not overlook the definite article. The struggle to which Timothy is summoned is the struggle (comp. 1Co_9:25) of the faith appointed to Christians; on this comp. 2Ti_4:7

ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς] ἐπιλαμβάνειν (comp. 1Co_9:24 and Php_3:12, where the apostle uses the expressions λαμβάνειν and καταλαμβάνειν) denotes the actual grasping, αἰώνιος ζωή being regarded as the βραβεῖον; not, however, according to Winers remark (p. 293 [E. T. p. 392]), as result of the struggle, but as object of the striving. It is not improbable that Paul is here speaking figuratively. It is different, however, with the next words: εἰς ἣν ἐκλήθης, by which eternal life is pointed out as the goal of Timothys vocation; comp. 1Pe_5:10.

καὶ ὡμολόγησας τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν] Heinrichs incorrectly takes καί for καὶ γάρ: for thou hast also. Commonly this clause is made to depend still on εἰς ἥν (Leo: εἰς ἥν pertinet non solum ad ἐκλήθης, sed etiam ad ὡμολόγησας). De Wette, on the contrary (Wiesinger and van Oosterzee agree with him), rightly regards it as simply co-ordinate with εἰς ἣν ἐκλήθης. So, too, Hofmann: the relative clause, as is not seldom the case in Greek, passes into a clause independent of the relative. Still the two clauses must be taken as standing in close connection; Timothys καλὴ ὁμολογία is the answer which he gave to the κλῆσις proclaimed to him (so, too, Hofmann).

τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν] In this phrase, too, expositors have not observed the definite article. Paul does not say that Timothy confessed a confession good in its contents and in the enthusiasm of its utterance, de Wette; but that he confessed the good confession, i.e. the definite confession of Christ to which the disciples of the Lord are appointed. Hence it is quite wrong to think of ὁμολογία as a vow or the like; that contradicts the constant usage of the N. T.; comp. 2Co_9:13; Heb_3:1; Heb_3:4; Heb_3:14; Heb_10:23.

Paul is clearly referring here to a definite fact in Timothys life, but what it was he does not say. Chrysostom says: ἀναμιμνήσκει τῆς κατηχήσεως αὐτόν, and thinks therefore of the confession of Timothy at his baptism. Others, on account of 1Ti_6:13, understand it of a confession which Timothy had confessed during a persecution. According to most, Paul is here thinking of the same act as that to which 1Ti_4:14 refers. Since in this whole section, 1Ti_6:11-16, there is nothing to direct the attention to Timothys official position, and since the ὁμολογία is closely joined with the ἐκλήθης, the view first given is to be considered the right one (Hofmann).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti 6:12 . ἀγωνίζου … ἀγῶνα : There is evidence that ἀγωνίζομαι ἀγῶνα had become a stereotyped expression, perhaps from the line of Euripides: καίτοι καλόν γʼ ἂν τόνδʼ ἀγῶνʼ ἠγωνίσω ( Alcestis , 648 or 664). See an Athenian inscription quoted by Moulton and Milligan, Expositor , vii., vi. 370. Nevertheless the metaphor has its full force here, and in 2Ti 4:7 : Engage in the contest which profession of the faith entails; it is a noble one . Allusions to the public games are notoriously Pauline (1Co 9:24 ; Phi 3:12 ). The present imperative indicates the continuous nature of the ἀγών , while the aor. ἐπιλαβοῦ expresses the single act of laying hold of the prize (so 1Ti 6:19 ). It does not seem an insuperable objection to this view that καταλαμβάνω is the word used in 1Co 9:24 , Phi 3:12 . On the other hand, Winer-Moulton ( Gram. , p. 392) argues from the asyndeton ( cf. Mar 4:39 ) that ἐπιλαβοῦ , κ . τ . λ . forms one notion with ἀγωνίζου ; that “it is not the result of the contest, but itself the substance of the striving”. Yet in 1Ti 6:19 ( ἵνα ἐπιλάβωνται τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς ) there is nothing in the context suggestive of struggle.

εἰς ἣν ἐκλήθης : We are called to eternal life (1Co 1:9 ; 1Pe 5:10 ); it is placed well within our reach; but it is not put into our hands; each man must grasp it for himself.

καὶ ὡμολόγησας , κ . τ . λ .: This clause has no syntactical connexion with what has preceded. It refers to ἀγῶνα , the contest on which Timothy entered at his baptism, when he was called, enrolled as a soldier in the army of Jesus Christ (2Ti 2:4 ; 1Co 9:7 ), and professed fidelity to his new Leader (his response to the divine call) before many witnesses. ὁμολογία is perhaps best referred to a formal profession of faith, here as in the reff. Cyril Jer., when recalling the baptismal ceremonies to the newly baptised, says in reference to their profession of belief in the Trinity, ὡμολογήσατε τὴν σωτήριον ὁμολογίαν ( Cat . xx. 4).

In the primitive Church the baptism of an individual was a matter in which the Church generally took an interest and part. The rule laid down in The Didache , 7, shows this: “Before the baptism let him that baptizeth and him that is baptized fast, and any others also who are able”. Also Justin Martyr, Apol . i. 61, ἡμῶν συνευχομένων καὶ συννηστευόντων αὐτοῖς . These passages explain “the many witnesses” of Timothy’s good confession. It is not so natural to refer the good confession to a crisis of persecution, or to his ordination. The epithet καλήν here and in the following verse does not characterise the particular act of confession made by Timothy or by Christ, but refers to the class of confession, its import, as Ell. says.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fight the good fight--BIRKS thinks this Epistle was written from Corinth, where contests in the national games recurred at stated seasons, which will account for the allusion here as in Co1 9:24-26. Contrast "strifes of words" (Ti1 6:4). Compare Ti1 1:18; Ti2 4:7. The "good profession" is connected with the good fight (Psa 60:4).

lay hold on eternal life--the crown, or garland, the prize of victory, laid hold of by the winner in the "good fight" (Ti2 4:7-8; Phi 3:12-14). "Fight (literally, 'strive') with such striving earnestness as to lay hold on the prize, eternal life."

also--not in the oldest manuscripts.

professed a good profession--Greek, "didst confess THE good confession," namely, the Christian confession (as the Greek word is the same in this verse as that for "confession" in Ti1 6:13, probably the profession here is the confession that Christ's kingdom is the kingdom of the truth, Joh 18:36-37), at thy being set apart to thy ministerial function (whether in general, or as overseer at Ephesus): the same occasion as is referred to in Ti1 1:18; Ti1 4:14; Ti2 1:4.

before many witnesses--who would testify against thee if thou shouldest fall away [BENGEL].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith] "Agonize the good agony." Thou hast a contest to sustain in which thy honour, thy life, thy soul, are at stake. Live the Gospel, and defend the cause of God. Unmask hypocrites, expel the profligate, purge and build up the Church, live in the spirit of thy religion, and give thyself wholly to this work.

Lay hold on eternal life] All this is in allusion to the exercises in the public Grecian games: Fight, conquer, and seize upon the prize; carry off the crown of eternal life!

Whereunto thou art also called] The allusion to the public games is still carried on: Thou hast been called into this palaestra; thou hast been accepted as one proper to enter the lists with any antagonists that may offer; in the presence of many witnesses thou hast taken the necessary engagements upon thee, and submitted to be governed by the laws of the stadium; many eyes are upon thee, to see whether thou wilt fight manfully, and be faithful. Timothy's faith was undoubtedly tried by severe persecution. In Heb 13:23, it is said: Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty. Hence it appears that he was imprisoned for the testimony of Christ, and perhaps it was then, more than at his ordination, that he made the good confession here mentioned. He risked his life and conquered. If not a martyr, he was a confessor.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12 Fight the good fight of faith In the next epistle he says,

“He who hath become a soldier doth not entangle himself with matters inconsistent with his calling.” (2 Timothy 2:4.)

In like manner, in order to withdraw Timothy from excessive solicitude about earthly things, he reminds him that he must “fight;” for carelessness and self-indulgence arise from this cause, that the greater part wish to serve Christ at ease, and as if it were pastime, whereas Christ calls all his servants to warfare.

For the purpose of encouraging him to fight such a fight courageously, he calls it good; that is, successful, and therefore not to be shunned; for, if earthly soldiers do not hesitate to fight, when the result is doubtful, and when there is a risk of being killed, how much more bravely ought we to do battle under the guidance and banner of Christ, when we are certain of victory? More especially, since a reward awaits us, not such as other generals are wont to give to their soldiers, but a glorious immortality and heavenly blessedness; it would certainly be disgraceful that we, who have such a hope held out to us, should grow weary or give way. And that is what he immediately afterwards adds, —

Lay hold on eternal life As if he had said, “God calls thee to eternal life, and therefore, despising the world, strive to obtain it.” When he commands them to “lay hold on it,” he forbids them to pause or slacken in the middle of their course; as if he had said, that “nothing has been done, till we have obtained the life to come, to which God invites us.” In like manner, he affirms that he strives to make progress, because he has not yet laid hold. (Philippians 3:12.)

To which also thou, hast been called Because men would run at random, and to no purpose, if they had not God as the director of their course, for the purpose of promoting their cheerful activity, he mentions also the calling; for there is nothing that ought to animate us with greater courage than to learn that we have been “called” by God; for we conclude from this, that our labor, which God directs, and in which he stretches out his hand to us, will not be fruitless. Besides, to have rejected the calling of God would be a disgraceful reproach; and, therefore, this ought to be a very powerful excitement: “God calls thee to eternal life; beware of being drawn aside to anything else, or of falling short in any way, before thou hast attained it.”

And hast confessed a good confession By mentioning his former life, the Apostle excites him still more to persevere; for to give way, after having begun well, is more disgraceful than never to have begun. To Timothy, who had hitherto acted valiantly, and had obtained applause, he addresses this powerful argument, that the latter end should correspond to the beginning. By the word confession I understand not that which is expressed in words, but rather what is actually performed; and that not in a single instance merely, but throughout his whole ministry. The meaning therefore is: “Thou hast many witnesses of thy illustrious confession, both at Ephesus and in other countries, who have beheld thee acting faithfully and sincerely in the profession of the gospel; and, therefore, having given such a proof of fidelity, thou canst not, without the greatest shame and disgrace, shew thyself to be anything else than a distinguished soldier of Christ.” By this passage we are taught in general, that the more any of us excels, the less excusable is he if he fail, and the stronger are his obligations to God to persevere in the right course.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.—Then, again, with the old stirring metaphor of the Olympic contests for a prize (1Co_9:24; Php_3:13-14)—the metaphor St. Paul loved so well, and which Timothy must have heard so often from his old master’s lips as he preached and taught—he bids the “man of God,” rising above the pitiful struggles for things perishable and useless, fight the noble fight of faith; bids him strive to lay hold of the real prize—life eternal. The emphasis rests here mainly on the words “the good fight” and “eternal life.” These things are placed in strong contrast with “the struggle of the covetous” and its “miserable, perishable crown.” “The good fight,” more closely considered, is the contest and struggle which the Christian has to maintain against the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is styled the “good fight of faith,” partly because the contest is waged on behalf of, for the sake of, the faith, but still more because from faith it derives its strength and draws its courage. “Eternal life” is the prize the “man of God” must ever have before his eyes. It is the crown of life which the Judge of quick and dead will give to the “faithful unto death.” (See Jas_1:12; Rev_2:10.)

Whereunto thou art also called.—The “calling” here refers both to the inner and outward call to the Master’s work. The inner call is the persuasion in the heart that the one vocation to which the life must be dedicated was the ministry of the word; and the outward call is the summons by St. Paul, ratified by the church in the persons of the presbyters of Lystra.

And hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.—More accurately translated, and thou confessedst the good confession . . . These words simply add to the foregoing clause another ground of exhortation: “Thou wast called to eternal life, and thou madest the good confession.” When—has been asked—was this good confession made? Several epochs in the life of Timothy have been suggested. Were it not for the difficulty of fixing a date for so terrible an experience in Timothy’s, comparatively speaking, short life, it would appear most probable that the confession was made on the occasion of some persecution or bitter trial to which he had been exposed. On the whole, however, it appears safer to refer “the good confession” to the time of his ordination. In this case the many witnesses would refer to the presbyters and others who were present at the solemn rite.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. Fight the good fight of faith] St Paul has now mounted above the lower ground in which Timothy was to maintain the true pastor’s rôle against his rivals. ‘The faith,’ i.e. the Christian creed, the Christian life, is now a ‘fight,’ ‘a strife,’ a ‘race,’ against time and sense, earth and hell. The metaphor is the most inspiring perhaps to the Apostle himself of all his metaphors as it is also his last; see 2Ti_4:7, ‘I have fought the good fight,’ ‘run the fair race.’ Taken from the Greek games, the word ‘fight’ can be only mimic fight, if it be referred to the wrestling or the boxing contest; and if, as 2Ti_4:7, ‘I have finished the course’ suggests, the running contest is meant, ‘fight’ is misleading. Not much less so is Farrar’s and Alford’s ‘strive the good strife.’ But for the associations which have gathered round our familiar ‘fight,’ and which have prevailed perhaps with the Revisers, we should be surely nearest—for a reader coming fresh to it—with the rendering ‘contest.’ And the weighty verb, present in tense, placed at the commencement of the sentence, is better represented by Longfellow’s ‘Be a hero in the strife’ than by keeping too close to the identity of verb and noun. We may render then, Play thou the man in the good contest of the Faith.

lay hold on eternal life] More force is given to the intended point by R.V. the life eternal. The verb and noun recur 1Ti_6:19, but the epithet is changed to ‘the true,’ ‘the real.’ (see note.) And this at once suggests to us that ‘eternal life’ is not regarded by St Paul here only as ‘the prize,’ but as also the ‘straight course’ to be now vigorously laid hold of; that ‘the life eternal’ in fact is exactly the same as ‘the life which now is, and the life which is to come’ of 1Ti_4:8, where the metaphor is also of the games. See notes there. Christ is our ‘strength’ as well as our ‘right’; ‘the path’ as well as ‘the prize.’ The present imperative refers to the bearing of Timothy through the whole contest; the aorist is, as it were, the voice of the earnest friend standing at a critical corner of the course and rousing him to renewed energy, ‘now lay hold.’ What Cambridge athlete of the river or the path but knows the value of this? What Christian athlete of the heavenly course? In no way more beautifully could the view now given be expressed than in Dr Monsell’s hymn:

‘Fight the good fight with all thy might,

Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right;

Lay hold on life, and it shall be

Thy joy and crown eternally.

Run the straight race through God’s good grace,

Lift up thine eyes and seek His Face;

Life with its way before us lies,

Christ is the path, and Christ the prize.’

whereunto thou art also called] Properly, omitting ‘also,’ thou wast called at thy baptism, and, more particularly still, at thy ordination, cf. 1Ti_1:18, 1Ti_4:14. Compare the present language of the Prayer-Book; Order for Private Baptism—‘Our Lord Jesus Christ doth not deny His grace and mercy unto such Infants, but most lovingly doth call them unto Him’; the Catechism—‘He hath called me to this state of salvation,’ ‘God the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of God’; Ordering of Priests—‘Thou hast vouchsafed to call these thy servants here present to the same office and ministry.’ The direct metaphor is no longer probably continued.

hast professed a good profession] Lit., as R.V. didst confess the good confession; ‘the good confession’ like ‘the good contest’ with reference to its spiritual character, the faith and obedience of Christ. See next verse.

before many witnesses] in the sight of, the word being taken up in the appeal of the next verse to ‘a more tremendous Presence’ (Ellicott).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fight the good fight of faith,.... The apostle suggests to Timothy, that he had other business to do than to mind the things of this world; his life was a state of warfare; he was a soldier, and was not to entangle himself with the things of this life; he had many enemies to engage with, as Satan, and his principalities and powers; sin, and the lusts of the flesh; the world, and the men of it, and a great fight of afflictions to endure with them; as also false teachers, with, whom particularly he was to fight the good fight of faith, that so the truth of the Gospel, which they resisted, might continue with the saints. This fight is called "the fight of faith"; partly in opposition to the law, and to , "the fight", or "war of the law" the Jews (r) so much talk of; and in which the false teachers, in the apostle's time, were so much engaged, and against whom the apostles set themselves; and partly because the doctrine of faith, the faith of the Gospel, the faith once delivered to the saints, is what they earnestly contended, strove, and fought for; and because the grace of faith, as conversant with the Scriptures of truth, was the weapon they fought with: and this may be called a "good fight", because it is in a good cause, the cause of God and truth; and under a good Captain, Jesus Christ the Captain of our salvation; for which good weapons are provided, even the whole armour of God, and which are not carnal, but spiritual and mighty; to which may be added, that those who are engaged in this fight may be sure of victory, and the crown of glory, life, and righteousness: so that when they have done fighting they have nothing else to do but to

lay hold on eternal life; as Timothy for his encouragement is here bid to do. Eternal life is the prize of the high calling of God, which is held up, and held forth to those who are fighting the Lord's battles; and this they should look unto as the recompense of reward; and this they may lay hold upon, even now by faith, believing their interest in it, their right unto it, and that they shall enjoy it; of which they may be the more assured, because of their effectual calling:

whereunto thou art also called; not barely by the external ministration of the Gospel, in which sense many are called, but few chosen and saved; but internally, by the special grace and power of the Spirit of God; and such who are so called, are not only called to grace, but to eternal glory; and the God of all grace, who has called unto it, of his sovereign good will and pleasure, is faithful, and will bestow it. The word "also" is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in the Vulgate Latin, and in all the Oriental versions; but it seems to be emphatic, and is used to strengthen Timothy's faith, as to the enjoyment of eternal life; since it was not only the reward of grace, following upon the good fight of faith, but was that also to which he was called by the grace of God:

and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses; both before the brethren at Lystra, at his baptism and admission into the church, before whom he gave an account of his faith, and made a profession of it; and who, upon this, and his agreeable life and conversation, gave a good report of him to the Apostle Paul, Act 16:1 and before the apostle, and the rest of the elders, when they laid their hands on him, whereby an extraordinary gift was conveyed unto him, Ti1 4:14 or it may be before the men of the world, some violent persecutors, before whom he bravely, and with great intrepidity, professed his faith in Christ Jesus; and which he continued constantly to do, in every place wherever he came; and which being done so often, and so publicly, is a reason why he should keep on till the battle was over.

(r) Zohar in Numb. fol. 99. 4. T. Hieros. Taanith, fol. 69. 2. & Bab. Chagiga, fol. 14. 1. Megilia, fol. 15. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 93. 2. & 111. 2. Midrash Ruth, fol. 31. 4. Echa Rabbati, fol. 53. 2. Caphtor, fol. 93. 2. & Seder Olam Rabba, c. 25. & Jarchi in Cant. iii. 8.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Ver. 12. Fight the good fight] Not only follow after the former graces, but fight for them, rather than fail of them.

Lay hold on eternal life] While others lay hold on wealth, honours, &c. Catch at the crown, which is hanged up on high, as it were, and provided for conquerors only, that so fight as to finish, 2Ti 4:7-8. Tempus est nos de illa perpetua iam, non de hac exigua vita cogitare, could the heathen orator say (Cic. ad Attic. x.). It is high time now we should think of heaven. Catch at the opportunity, as the echo catcheth the voice.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fight the good fight of faith - The noble conflict in the cause of religion; see the notes on Eph 6:10-17; compare notes on 1Co 9:26-27. The allusion is to the contests at the Grecian games.

Lay hold on eternal life - As the crown of victory that is held out to you. Seize this as eagerly as the competitors at the Grecian games laid hold on the prize; see the notes on 1Co 9:25.

Whereunto thou art also called - That is, by the Spirit of God, and by the very nature of your profession. God does not “call” his people that they may become rich; he does not convert them in order that they may devote themselves to the business of gain. They are “called” to a higher and nobler work. Yet how many professing Christians there are who seem to live as if God had “called” them to the special business of making money, and who devote themselves to it with a zeal and assiduity that would do honor to such a calling, if this had been the grand object which God had in view in converting them!

And hast professed a good profession before many witnesses - That is, either when he embraced the Christian religion, and made a public profession of it in the presence of the church and of the world; or when he was solemnly set apart to the ministry; or as he in his Christian life had been enabled publicly to evince his attachment to the Saviour. I see no reason to doubt that the apostle may have referred to the former, and that in early times a profession of religion may have been openly made before the church and the world. Such a method of admitting members to the church would have been natural, and would have been fitted to make a deep impression on others. It is a good thing often to remind professors of religion of the feelings which they had when they made a profession of religion; of the fact that the transaction was witnessed by the world; and of the promises which they then made to lead holy lives. One of the best ways of stimulating ourselves or others to the faithful performance of duty, is the remembrance of the vows then made; and one of the most effectual methods of reclaiming a backslider is to bring to his remembrance that solemn hour when he publicly gave himself to God.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Fight the good fight. Literally, strive [8] a good strife. St. Paul oftentimes brings this comparison of men striving for a prize. --- And hast confessed a good confession before many witnesses, not only when baptized, not only when thou wast ordained a bishop, but by thy constancy and sufferings and persecutions, says St. John Chrysostom, thou we know not the particulars. (Witham) --- Timothy had made profession of his faith at his baptism, at his ordination, and during the whole course of a life which, through many labours and persecutions, had been dedicated entirely to promote the faith. (D. Thomas [St. Thomas Aquinas]) --- Like him let us also combat, if we aspire after the same triumph and prize.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Certa bonum certamen, Greek: agonizou ton kalon agona, which may be by running as well as by fighting.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The fight of faith is our encountering that opposition which we meet with from the world, the flesh, or the devil, for a strenuous defending the doctrine of faith, or making it good by a life suitable to the rule of faith. This is called a

good fight, either in opposition to the bad fights of the men of the world in maintenance of their lusts, or the ludicrous fights usual in their public games, or of the intrinsic nobleness and exercise of it, or the good event or issue of it; and Timothy is bid to fight it, by a metaphor either drawn from soldiers, or such as excrcise themselves in their games.

Lay hold on eternal life; by eternal life is meant a right and title to it, which he calls to him to lay hold on, as is thought, by a metaphor from those that were exercised in their games, and did what they could first to lay hold of the prize proposed to conquerors.

Whereunto thou art also called; to which eternal life, or rather to which good fight, thou art called, both by the internal call of God’s Spirit, and by thy more external call to the ministry.

And hast professed a good profession before many witnesses; and to which thou hast obliged thyself by covenant or promise, made either in thy baptism, or when thou wert set apart to thy ministry, or of which thou hast given a pledge, by thy profession and practice, in the sight of the Christians in Ephesus.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Fight—For such hostile foes will not only come to battle, but to ceaseless war.

Good fight—It is the battle of good against evil; the war of right against wrong, for which wrong is to blame; for it has no right to exist, much less to fight.

Of faith—Which means faith in Christ, in God, in heaven, in holiness, and in truth. In this great fight there is no room for mistake or doubt; or for fear of failure, or destruction, if we only fight. It is the coward or the apostate alone that is ever conquered and undone.

Lay hold on—As a prize of victory, eternal life.

Called—By a divine summons, as Paul himself was “called to be an apostle.”

Professed… profession—Rather, hast confessed the good confession. This refers not to any one particular profession, any more than fight refers to any particular battle. Timothy’s ministry at Ephesus was to be a fight; his preaching Jesus was the good confession; the many witnesses are not only men (Heb_12:1) but the elect angels, (v, 21,) Christ Jesus, and God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The faith for faith, A.V; the life eternal for eternal life, A.V; wast for art also, A.V and T.R.; didst confess the good confession for hast professed a good profession, A.V; in the sight of for before, A.V Fight the good fight. This is not quite a happy rendering. jAgwn is the "contest" at the Olympic assembly for any of the prizes, in wrestling, chariot-racing, foot-racing, music, or what not. jAgwnizesqai ton ajgwna is to "carry on such a contest". (comp. 2Ti_4:7) The comparison is different from that in 1Ti_1:18, Ina strateuh... thn kalhan," That thou mayest war the good warfare." The faith. There is nothing to determine absolutely whether hJ pistiv here means faith subjectively or "the faith" objectively, nor does it much matter. The result is the same; but the subjective sense seems the most appropriate.

Lay hold, etc.; as the brabeion or prize of the contest. (see 1Co_9:24, 1Co_9:25) Whereunto thou wast called. So St. Paul continually (Rom_1:1, Rom_1:6, 7 8:28, 30; 1Co_1:29; Eph_4:1; 1Th_2:12; and numerous other passages) He seems here to drop the metaphor, as in the following clause. Didst confess the good confession. The connection of this phrase with the call to eternal life, and the allusion to one special occasion on which Timothy "had confessed the good confession" of his faith in Jesus Christ, seems to point clearly to his baptism. (see Mat_10:32; Joh_9:22 Joh 12:42; Heb_10:23) The phrase, "the good confession," seems to have been technically applied to the baptismal confession of Christ. (compare the other Church sayings, 1Ti_1:15 1Ti_3:1 1Ti_4:9; 2Ti_2:11; Tit_3:8) In the sight of many witnesses. The whole congregation of the Church, who were witnesses of his baptism (see the rubric prefixed to the Order of "Ministration of Public Baptism" in the Book of Common Prayer).

The good fight and its results.

Instead of the struggle of the covetous for wealth, there ought to be the struggle of the faithful to lay hold on the prize of eternal life.

I THE CHRISTIAN STRUGGLE. "Fight the good fight of faith.

1. The enemies it, this warfare. The world, the flesh, and the devil; the principalities and powers; the false teachers, with their arts of seduction.

2. The warfare itself. It is "a good fight.

(1) The term suggests that Christian life is not a mystic quietism, but an active effort against evil.

(2) It is a good fight, because

(a) it is in a good cause for God and truth and salvation;

(b) it is under a good Captain Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation;

(c) it has a good result life.

3. The weapons in this warfare. "Faith." It is "the shield of faith". (Eph_6:16) This is not a carnal, but a spiritual weapon. Faith represents, indeed, "the whole amour of God," which is mighty for victory. It is faith that secures "the victory that overcometh the world". (1Jn_4:4, 1Jn_4:5)

II THE END OF THE CHRISTIAN STRUGGLE. "Lay hold on eternal life.

1. Eternal life is the prize, the crown, to be laid hold of by those who are faithful to death.

2. It is the object of our effectual calling. "To which thou wast called" by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.

3. It is the subject of our public profession. And didst confess the good confession before many witnesses." Evidently either at his baptism, or at his ordination to the ministry, when many witnesses would be present. 4. This eternal life is to be laid hold of.

(1) It is held forth as the prize of the high calling of God, as the recompense of reward.

(2) But the believer is to lay hold of it even now by faith, having a believing interest in it as a possession yet to be acquired in all its glorious fullness. T.C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fight the good fight of faith - Not about words. Lay hold on eternal life - Just before thee. Thou hast confessed the good confession - Perhaps at his baptism: so likewise, ver. 13; but with a remarkable variation of the expression. Thou hast confessed the good confession before many witnesses - To which they all assented. He witnessed the good confession; but Pilate did not assent to it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ver. 12. Maintain the good contest of the faith—literally, contend the good contest; but this does not quite accord with English usage; and I deem it better to depart a little from the precise form of the original, than to use an unsuitable combination of words, or convey a wrong impression. This last is what is done by fight the fight of the Authorized Version, and strive the strife of Ellicott and Alford. Neither strife nor fight suggests to an English ear the kind of struggle here indicated under a form of expression that bears respect to the ancient games. These games were simply strenuous contests for the mastery in trials of strength and skill; and it is of importance to retain the term contest, though we can scarcely couple it with the cognate verb. The contest, however, is characterized as good, to distinguish this spiritual contest from the carnal and ambitious wrestlings on the arena. And it is further characterized as that of the faith—meaning thereby the specific exercise of faith in the person and work of Christ. The adherents of this faith were like men contending for the mastery against the powers of evil working everywhere in the world around them; they must therefore quit themselves like men, in order to succeed in the conflict. Then the connection is indicated between the contest and the prize: lay hold of eternal life, which, as Winer notes (Gr. § 43, 2), must mean, Do it in and through the contest; for the laying hold of eternal life is not represented as the result of the contest (though it might have been so), but as itself the substance of the contest: one must grasp the reality, in a measure now, in order to maintain the struggle aright, and reach the life in its full and final heritage of blessing. (The change of tense, too, is significant, the first imperative in the present, ἀγωνίζου, the second in the aorist, ἐπιλαβοῦ—the former having respect to an action already commenced and to be continued, the latter to an action which is in a manner done at once (see Winer, § 43, 3).)

Having mentioned eternal life, the apostle now drops the figure, and brings the great reality into connection with the Christian calling: unto which thou wert called, and didst confess the good confession before many witnesses. The period referred to is undoubtedly that of his formally embracing the faith of Christ’s gospel. Timothy was then called to receive the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23; 1Pe 5:10); and then also made confession of his belief in the truth in Christ, though the precise moment of his doing so in public before many witnesses, as it is here put, might be either at his baptism or his ordination to the work of the ministry. These are the occasions that naturally present themselves to one’s mind in connection with such a statement, and it is needless to think of any other.

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The whole verse is an allusion to the Olympic games, particularly to that of racing, where the garland or crown being hung up at the end of the goal, he that came first did lay hold of it, and take it to himself; and because these games were performed in the sight of many spectators, the apostle continues the allusion, and says, Timothy had before many witnesses professed his readiness to suffer for the faith.

The sense of the apostle in this advice seems to be this: "Fight the good fight of faith: go on by faith to overcome all temptations and difficulties; press toward the mark, till thou hold on the prize, which is eternal life: to which spiritual welfare and Christian race thou gavest in thy name, when being baptised and ordained, thou madest a public profession of the faith before many witnesses."

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. Fight the good fight of faith. The thought is of a soldier. See 1:18. The Christian life is a struggle. Oppose hurtful earthful lusts, but seize upon eternal life. Hast professed a good profession. When called to eternal life. “This refers probably to his baptism, when, as we know from very early times, a public profession of faith was made.”—Speaker's Commentary. “The Divine call, and the confession of believers are correlatives; they imply each other.”—Bengel. Compare Acts 8:37.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

12. After ἥν the rec. text inserts καί, but it is omitted by all the uncials.

12. ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα κ.τ.λ. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold (as a prize) on eternal life. The metaphor of life as a gymnastic contest was one which naturally suggested itself to those who had witnessed the Olympian or Isthmian games which played, even as late as the Apostolic age, so important a part in Greek national life. Philo uses the illustration again and again. He notes, e.g. (Leg. All. iii. 71), the training and (Leg. All. i. 31) the diet of the athletes; he speaks (de Migr. Abr. 24) of the race and of the crown, which he says is the Vision of God (de mut. nom. 12); and in one striking passage he uses language comparable to that here employed by St Paul: κάλλιστον ἀγῶνα τοῦτον διάθλησον καὶ σπούδασον στεφανωθῆναι … καλὸν καὶ εὐκλεᾶ στέφανον ὃν οὐδεμία πανήγυρις ἀνθρώπων ἐχώρησε (Leg. All. ii. 26). The metaphor is also found in the Ep. to the Hebrews (Heb 12:1) and in the Book of Wisdom (Wis 4:2), and is a favourite one with St Paul; cp. 1Co 9:24; Php 3:12; Php 3:14 and 2Ti 4:7 where he says of himself τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι. It is worth noting that the phrase is found almost verbatim in Euripides:

καίτοι καλόν γʼ ἂν τόνδʼ ἀγῶνʼ ἠγωνίσω (Alcest. 648).

This contest is τῆς πίστεως, of faith (not ‘of the faith’); it is the personal warfare with evil to which every Christian is called; the καλὴ στρατεία in 1Ti 1:18 is, on the other hand, a contest with human opponents.

ἐπιλαβοῦ. St Paul uses ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι only here and at 1Ti 6:19; it is a common LXX. word, and means to lay hold of. The aorist imperative marks the single act of reaching out for the crown, while the present ἀγωνίζου marks the continued struggle.

τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς. This is the ‘crown’ or βραβεῖον for the victor in the contest; cp. Jas 1:12; Rev 2:10.

εἰς ἣν ἐκλήθης, whereunto thou wast called. Some have found here an allusion to the voice of the herald calling the combatant into the arena; but eternal life is not the arena of the contest, but the reward. The metaphor is not to be pressed so closely.

καὶ ὡμολόγησας τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν κ.τ.λ., and didst confess the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. This does not refer (a) to any special moment of persecution in Timothy’s life (for which we have no evidence), or (b) to his ordination; cp. 1Ti 4:14; but (c), as the close connexion with the preceding εἰς ἢν ἐκλήθης and the main thought in the next verse shew, to his baptism, as the moment at which he made his ὁμολογία or confession of faith in the Christian Revelation.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12.] Strive the good strife (see ref. and ch. 1:18: 1Co 9:24 ff. Php 3:12 ff.) of the faith (not ‘of faith,’ abstract and subjective: but that noble conflict which the faith,—the profession of the soldier of Christ, entails on him), lay hold upon (as the aim and object of the lifelong struggle; the prize to be gained: so that the second imperative is, as Winer well observes, edn. 6, § 43, not the mere result of the first, as in ‘divide et impera,’ but correlative with it and contemporaneous: ‘strive …, and while doing so, endeavour to attain’) everlasting life, to which thou wast called (here apparently the image is dropped, and the realities of the Christian life spoken of. Some have supposed an allusion to the athletes being summoned by a herald: but it seems far-fetched—and indeed inaccurate: for it was to the contest, not to the prize, that they were thus summoned), and didst confess (we must not supply εἰς ἥν again before ὡμολόγησας, with Mack, al.,—‘in reference to which,’—a most unnatural construction: but regard it, with De W., as simply coupled to ἐκλήθης) the good confession (of faith in Christ: the confession, which every servant of Christ must make, on taking upon himself His service, or professing it when called upon so to do. From the same expression in the next verse, it would seem, that the article rather represents the notoriousness of the confession, ‘bonam illam confessionem,’ than its definite general character. There is some uncertainty, to what occasion the Apostle here refers; whether to the baptism of Timotheus,—so Chrys. (?), Œc., Thl. (alt.), Ambr., Grot., Beng., &c.: to his ordination as a minister,—so Wolf, al.: to his appointment over the church at Ephesus,—so Mack: to some confession made by him under persecution,—so, justifying it by what follows, respecting our Lord, Huther, al. Of these the first appears to me most probable, as giving the most general sense to ἡ καλὴ ὁμολογία, and applying best to the immediate consideration of αἰώνιος ζωή, which is the common object of all Christians. The reference supposed by Thdrt. (πάντας παρʼ αὐτοῦ δεξαμένους τὸ κήρυγμα μάρτυρας εἶχε τῆς καλῆς ὁμολογίας), Calv., al., to Timotheus’s preaching, is clearly inadmissible) before many witnesses.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. ἀγωνίζου] cf. 4:10, II 4:7 note.

ὡμολόγησας] The time is almost certainly the same as that of ἐκλήθης, i.e. baptism. That would have been his public confession (cf. Rom 10:9) of faith in Christ. The phrase ἡ κ. ὁμολογ. is applied to the confession of a martyr at his death in Martyr. Ign. Antiochene Acts, c. 4.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fight the good fight [αγωνιζου τον καλον αγωνα] . A phrase peculiar to the Pastorals. Comp. 2Ti 4:7. Not necessarily a metaphor from the gymnasium or arena, although ajgwn contest was applied originally to athletic struggles. But it is also used of any struggle, outward or inward. See Col 2:1; Col 4:12.

Lay hold [επιλαβου] . o P. Frequent in Luke and Acts. Occasionally in this strong sense, as Luk 20:20; Luk 23:26; Act 18:17, but not usually. See Mr 8:23; Luk 9:47; Act 9:27.

Professed a good profession [ωμολογησας την καλην ομολογιαν] . Both the verb and the noun in Paul, but this combination only here. For the use of kalov good see ch. 1ti 1:18, and ver. 12. Rend. confessed the good confession, and see on your professed subjection, 2Co 9:13. It is important to preserve the force of the article, a point in which the A. V. is often at fault.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.